Disney exec: Piracy is just a business model

By Cory Doctorow at 11:43 am Tuesday, Oct 10

The co-chair of Disney's board has recognized piracy as a "business model" to be competed with, instead of a war to be fought on Disney's customers:

"We understand now that piracy is a business model," said Sweeney, twice voted Hollywood's most powerful woman by the Hollywood Reporter. "It exists to serve a need in the market for consumers who want TV content on demand. Pirates compete the same way we do - through quality, price and availability. We we don't like the model but we realise it's competitive enough to make it a major competitor going forward."

Pretty clever, though she also said this:

Sweeney outlined Disney's strategy as: being primarily about content because it drives everything else...

Content isn't king. If I sent you to a desert island and gave you the choice of taking your friends or your movies, you'd choose your friends -- if you chose the movies, we'd call you a sociopath. Conversation is king. Content is just something to talk about. Link