Piracy news on 60 Minutes, from 1978 (video)

Posted by Xeni Jardin, September 19, 2007 8:32 AM | permalink

Following up on a recent Boing Boing post about a 1981 news clip in which ABC News anchor Ted Koppel hurtles through space while exploring home video legalities, BB reader Bill Simmon says,

YouTube also has an entire 60 Minutes segment from 1978 that's all about video piracy in which Harry Reasoner investigates the (then) new-fangled videotape technology and what it will mean to the content owners when any Tom, Dick or Harry can copy any movie or TV show for free.
The piece features a wonderfully gruff and self-righteous Jack Valenti, who's frothing over piracy didn't change in tone much over the next 30 years despite the movie industry raking in gobs of cash from the home video market.
YouTube links: Part one, Part two.

A memorable quote, from Reasoner: "They said it would happen, and it has. The day when you could go to the movies without leaving your living room!"

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Discussion

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#1 posted by Anonymous , September 19, 2007 9:38 AM

My favourite Harry Reasoner quote is "Saint's running in groups are likely to be ludicrous"

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#2 posted by OM

, September 19, 2007 10:17 AM

...Ah, Jack Valenti. Good to know he's now burning in Hell, waiting for the rest of his MafRIAA and WiMPAA cronies to join him in the pits.

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#3 posted by Mindbleach , September 19, 2007 4:01 PM

"...Battlestar Galactica, recorded off the air illegally..." Ah yes, life before the Betamax decision. How strange. And right before that, the notion of studios undercutting pirates by selling films on tape. Did it really take years for these bureaucracies to realize they could legally get rich doing exactly what others did to illegally get rich?

It's amazing that pre-release availability dates back into the 70s. Ralph Smith was very clear and intelligent: people want it, people can get it, people will get it. You can't stop the signal.

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#4 posted by Anonymous , September 19, 2007 6:09 PM

"Last September 20'th, the FBI raided Televideo"
Happy Anniversary, I guess.

The tape that this segment came from held up pretty well...
a professional inside job?

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#5 posted by Anonymous , September 19, 2007 9:21 PM

"whose" is possessive, "who's" is short for who is....