November 22, 2006
Anyone for guilt-free free films?
Beijing: Who says you can’t beat the pirates and file-sharers on price? Not Quacor.com, a new Chinese website whose English tag-line says it all: "The world 1st website for copyright movie absolutely free!".
Quacor, which opened shop last weekend, is offering a roster of Chinese and foreign films ranging from chop-socky comedy Shaolin Soccer to hacker fantasy Matrix Reloaded for download or streamed viewing without charge.
If it sounds a bit too good to be true, it may well be: we cash-strapped comrades at the FT Beijing bureau have yet to manage to actually watch any of the films despite repeated efforts, and the site’s discussion board is full of complaints that it is not working.
Quacor staffers say their servers have simply been swamped by demand, though, and the site may still be, er, one to watch.
Essentially its business model rests (surprise, surprise) on advertising sales - both banners on the site and commercials shown cinema-style before each downloaded title.
In China, where movie piracy is rampant both on and off-line, the cost of licencing decent content may well be low enough to cover with advertising alone. The big international studios have already begun to recognise that slashing their DVD prices is the only way to build sales (for example, see story Fox in DVD distribution deal with China partner, behind the FT paywall). Local filmmakers are likely to be grateful to get any income at all for older movies.
Indeed, as Beijing gradually ratchets up the pressure on pirates, a legitimate download site should eventually be able to start charging for premium content and fresher titles. If it can get its servers working, of course.
