Steve Jobs To Hollywood: Just Say "No" To High-Definition DVD

June 14th, 2004 at 3:00 PM - News by Bryan Chaffin

Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, has gone on record as a technology maven who thinks that Hollywood should not work with a new technology because of the threat of piracy. Mr. Jobs was speaking more as CEO of Pixar when he made the comments at a supposedly private meeting with Hollywood and tech execs, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.

The technology in question is "high-definition DVD," and Mr. Jobs wants his fellow Hollywood execs to not license movies for the new format until the tech world can assure that it is pirate-proof. According to the report, he says that as a last-resort, computer companies should not include high-definition DVD burners in new PCs. From the Wall Street Journal:

Steve Jobs stirred controversy a few years ago with his "Rip, Mix, Burn" advertising campaign, which encouraged consumers to use their computers to copy music. But when it comes to the consumeris ability to copy future generations of the DVD movie format, Mr. Jobs is sending a very different message.

At a recent private meeting with Hollywood studio heads and tech czars like Microsoft Corp.is Steve Ballmer and Hewlett-Packard Co.is Carly Fiorina, Mr. Jobs argued that studios shouldnit license their movies for use in the planned "high-definition DVD" format until Hollywood is assured by the tech industry that the discs canit be copied by new DVD burners that will come along. High-definition DVDs are being developed as a successor to the current digital-video-disc format and are expected to be on the market by next year, along with high-definition DVD burners.

Mr. Jobs even suggested that high-definition DVD burners not be bundled with computers at all -- a scenario he said in an interview was "extreme" and one that "I hope we donit have to get to, but it helps to put the issue in perspective." He said it is up to the tech industry to prove to Hollywood that high-definition content can be adequately protected.

There is more information on the subject in the full article at the Wall Street Journalis Web site (paid subscription required). The article includes information about commercial piracy, and other related issues concerning movie sales.