Chinese video site buys rights to stream Hollywood movies1 min read
Reading Time: < 1 minuteKu6.com, a prominent online video streaming site in China, has bought the rights to host Hollywood films . It has signed two content agreements with Sony Pictures Television and another major Hollywood studio. Ku6 is stated to be the first Chinese video portal to obtain copyrighted content from Hollywood on a contract basis.
CEO of Ku6 Media, Li Shanyou, announced that the company will be acquiring “several hundred(s) of Hollywood features and TV episodes”.
In December 2009, Ku6 deleted pirated content uploaded by its users and set up the “International Film & TV Co-Acquisition Fund” with Sohu.com, starting with a $10 million reserve of funds. The company takes the stand that these efforts, together with exclusive content cooperation with well-recognized local film and TV producers such as Huayi and Hairun, will boost their copyright protection policy highly.
“We firmly believe that respecting intellectual property rights is the global best practice for video portals, for today and in the future. We will provide more copyright protected content to our users.” CEO Li of Ku6 added in his company’s press statement.
Ku6 has ownership of two sites, with one of them hosting user-generated content, online news, and interactive entertainment programmes, while the other streams movies and television series in high-definition quality.
Rival site Tudou.com has recently raised an additional $50 million, to add to their $135 million fund, which will help them to make the shift towards original video programming. Another Chinese video site Youku.com has its own backing of $110 million.
Tudou informs that Singapore’s Temasek Holdings contributed $35 million to its latest round of fundraising.
