14 DAY TRIAL // While the music industry still seems unable to "navigate" the new realities brought upon it by the internet, other entertainment businesses are at least showing some signs of willingness to adapt.
While TV networks and cable operators still do their best to prevent people from watching their favorite shows when they want to and on the device they want to, online video companies are creating a new market.
Netflix has been heralded as the foster child of this new web-first companies and the results speak for themselves. The company has several original shows that have gathered praise from fans and critics alike.
And Kevin Spacey, the star of its most praised show, House of Cards, has become the champion of not only Netflix, but this new model in which viewers get control over the content they buy.
In what looks like a great speech at Edinburgh International Television Festival, he talked about the new way of creating content, the new way of distributing it and about the importance of putting viewers first.
He argues that the success of House of Cars and other shows like it where all the episodes from one season were made available on launch date, proves that people want control and are willing to pay for it.
He believes that listening to what the viewers tell the media companies they want is the only way to adapt to this new reality and the only way to fight piracy. He doesn't believe that piracy will ever be eradicated, but he does believe that offering people choice will turn many pirates into paying customers.
He also talked about the fact that the format and the device people watch video on is becoming irrelevant. There's no real difference between a two-hour movie showing in a theater and a 10-hour series watched on an iPad, he said.
