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Streaming video will fight internet piracy claims Quickflix CEO

Quickflix CEO Chris Taylor has claimed that the advent of the company’s streaming video service will impact internet piracy.

The service is the first to the Australian online movie market with streaming content, initially to Sony devices.

Taylor told Encore: “I’ve always believed that the best antidote to piracy is with a legal provider. The success of Netflix in the US is evidence of that. An affordable and accessible service will succeed in the face of piracy.”

He pointed to a report earlier this year. Sandvine’s Global Internet Report stated that in early 2011, Netflix usurped Bittorent in online activity as the streaming video service accounted for 24.71% of peak time aggregate traffic in the US, over the P2P service’s 17.23%.

The report also showed that in markets where there are no legal services, pirate services flourished.

Netflix announced yesterday they will launch in the UK and Ireland, taking on Amazon’s LoveFilm, however put a stop on further international expansion.

Locally, Quickflix’s closest competitor BigPond, left the DVD market on 30 September when Quickflix acquired BigPond’s DVDs, Blu-Rays and equipment. 

Despite this, the IPTV market is expanding with the BigPond’s movie download service, and the growth of Optus’s MeTV service. But Taylor told Encore: “We’re not demanding people to lock into contracts of broadband deals, and so forth. We don’t have the complexity of subsiding set top boxes. We’re not trying to sell other things of the back of content.”

“We’re very much focused on getting out there with our content. Our business model is unique and has done better in markets where pay TV penetration is higher and more affordable.”

Quickflix’s service will stream movies to Sony’s range of connected Bravia TVs, Blu-rays. From 10 November the service will expand to include PCs and Macs, with Sony’s PS3 later in the year.

Quickflix’s initial movie streaming service is priced at $14.99 per month with different bundled deals to include both streaming and their online DVD rental service.

The company will also include pay-per-view services early next year and a niche film service offering foreign films.

Quickflix has also secured TV personality Ruby Rose to present free entertainment content for subscribers and non subscribers featuring interviews, red carpet events, and reviews produced by Quickflix. The programming will be repackaged into a weekly entertainment show called Picture This for Nine’s Go channel.

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