The outbursts of enraged anti-piracy rhetoric from Village Roadshow have slowed down in recent months. Ever since Malcolm Turnbull’s piracy forum, the company has kept its mouth shut as the Government works through a scheme to crack down on piracy in Australia. Today at its Annual General Meeting, however, the company told its shareholders that it’s “fighting the good fight” when it comes to piracy.
Speaking at the AGM, Village Roadshow’s chairman said that the piracy problem in Australia is costing it money, especially in its DVD business.
The executive added that Australia’s piracy laws will be in place “in the next few months”.
Here’s the excerpt:
In Film Distribution, we are managing our way throug admittedly difficult conditions of this transition period to a digital world. DVD sales continue to slowly but steadily decline whilst digital distribution revenues are increasing significantly, but as yet not to the level to compensate for those lost DVD revenues. But they will over time.
Of course, we are simultaneously fighting the “good fight” against Piracy. Plain and simple, it is theft. No one would go into a bookstore and walk out with books under their arms. The Australian Government has indicated strong support for introducing legislation which we anticipate will be in the next few months.
Read the full speech here (PDF).
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