Blowing Smoke: A movie about poker, cigars, women, and getting screwed

Friday
March 24, 2006

Mark Cuban calls BS on Disney exec

Female Jackie D | Category: Movies
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How can one not smile at this MediaPost article on Mark Cuban?

There aren't many of us who could call bulls__t on Preston Padden--at least not in front of a room full of press and politicos. However, Mark Cuban, CEO of HDNet and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, did it twice in 10 minutes at the Consumer Electronics Association's 2006 Entertainment Policy Summit in Washington, D.C. Preston Padden, executive vice president-government relations, The Walt Disney Company, was trying to tell the audience that there had been over six million illegal downloads of Disney's animated hit movie, "The Incredibles." Mark wasn't buying it. "I call bulls__t!" he said, with no small degree of effervescence in his voice. "Maybe if you said 'Star Wars,' but 'The Incredibles'? No way!!!" If you read Mark's blog, you know that he has a very cheeky way of getting his point across. And, in this case, his point was spot-on. There is no version of reality where six million files of "The Incredibles" could have been downloaded, file shared or traded over the public Internet in the United States. It's just not possible.

So studio execs are liars, too? Say it ain't so.

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Comments

This jelled earlier in the week... Disney has does as much to deform intellectual property law as any agency on the landscape, correct? They've also set the standard for protecting copyright aggressively, suing Mom 'n Pop preschools who paint crude murals of Goofy on the lunchroom wall, etc. (The latter is their right.)

Now consider the speed with which Jobs has taken hold of the music industry via the Ipod. In January we saw a spate of arguments suggesting that Jobs is poised to take over Disney at the time of his choosing... From his current position on the board, he could do so almost whimsically.

This might be a very bad thing for the human mind.

Listen, I understand that people want to be paid for their work. I was happy to pay for Blowing Smoke, was not too inconvenienced by the process, and would not be heartbroken if the file proved to be watermarked... SO LONG AS I COULD PLAY IT ON ANY MACHINE I WANT UNTIL THE DAY I DIE.

Anyway, the bright spot in this comes from, of all people, the French. They're giving serious political consideration to telling Jobs to go fuck himself. I'm really grateful for that, considering that they have other things to worry about this week.

Comment by Crid on March 26, 2006 7:50 AM