AACS Final Licenses Go On-line

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"the AACS Final Adopter Agreement went discreetly on-line on June 5, without any fanfare or announcement..."

Cubist commentary

This very encouraging item posted June 5 was one of the only acknowledgements recognizing a development which many in the Blu-ray world had been eagerly anticipating -- the finalization of AACS licensing agreements. While this item reported on the finalization of the agreements which applied to the major studios, the Content Provider Agreement, which covers smaller publishers, remained an 'interim' agreement, leading to a flurry of discussion on-line about the cause for the delay, what changes could be expected in the fee structure and if Blu-ray could flourish without a reduction in fees. All that ended on Friday, June 19 when the 'final' agreement was posted. This contract included a reduction in mastering fees from $1,300 to $500 and a restructuring of the Content Provider license to allow either the original one time $3,000 fee or an annual $500/yr, topping out at $5,000 after 10 years. This will go a long way toward encouraging those who were on the fence about Blu-ray to jump into the mix. As we've said here before, with fewer than 1500 titles in release now, those producers who get into the game now stand to benefit by the comparatively few titles from which consumers can choose. We're ready -- let's get started!

File under: Blu-ray News