Warner Brothers will stream videos in China

Warner Brothers followed MTV and MySpace's unique entry into the anti-piracy battle Tuesday with the announcement that it would begin a legal streaming video service in China. Users will "rent" Warner Brothers titles for between 60 cents and $1 per video, according to the company's statement. The release mention movies I Am Legend, Fool's Gold and Speed Racer as some of the first titles to be made available through the deal.

Union Voole Technology, a start-up based in Beijing, will partner with Warner Brothers to combat piracy amongst China's burgeoning Internet audience. Union Voole also has a deal with Sony and Warner Brothers to offer unlimited downloading for a monthly subscription fee. That program will launch Nov. 12.

"The fast-growing Chinese market already has significant broadband usage, with a projected 230 million users by the end of 2008," said Tony Vaughan, Managing Director of Warner Bros' Home Entertainment joint venture in China, CAV Warner, in the release. "Over 80 percent of the total China internet population has viewed online video content in the last six months alone, and now we can offer them a wider selection of top quality entertainment the way they want to watch it."

We'll see if the new service can catch on and eat into the gigantic pirated movie market in China, where industry experts estimated a $2.7 billion loss from pirated DVDs in 2005, according to the LA Times. 

For more:
- see the LA Times article here
- see the press release here 

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