Legal downloads of films should be encouraged: industry insider

By Kim Young-gyo

SEOUL, Nov. 26 (Yonhap) -- The South Korean film industry should develop a business model to encourage legal downloads, an insider said Wednesday.

"The film industry should recognize that a market of film downloads is making
enough profits and shows potential for diverse business models," said Kim
Jun-beom, a director at Cine 21i, the most popular online weekly film magazine in
Korea.
He was speaking at a forum on revitalizing the Korean film industry hosted by the
government-funded Korean Film Council in central Seoul late Wednesday.
"In the market of online services, the definition of the 'hold-back' system
should be changed from limiting the release dates of services in different
formats to lowering charges gradually and proportionately with the service
dates," Kim said.
"Hold-back" refers to the system that sets a certain period of time between when
a film is released in theaters and when its contents are released in different
formats, such as VHS and DVD,
"Those involved in the film industry must work together to make sure that all
copyright-related services legally produce profits," he said.
More than 94 percent of households in South Korea are reported to have broadband
connections.
According to the Korean Film Council, more than 47 percent of people surveyed
said they download movies from the Internet at least once a year.