YouTube hosting week-long Ghostbusters screening

Sadly not available for UK viewers

14 August 2009 12:31 GMT / By Duncan Geere

To comemmorate the 25th anniversary of the legendary Ghostbusters movie, YouTube has signed a deal with Sony to show the movie on its site for a week. However, UK users aren't able to watch it. Instead, they get a message saying "This video is not available in your country due to copyright restrictions".

Also, notably, the movie isn't playing in YouTube's normal video player - it's playing in Sony's "Crackle" player instead, embedded in the site where the regular player usually is. That seems an odd move from the site, which has become the de-facto standard for video on the web.

The film is being screened at 16:9 in "high quality" resolution. It has commercials in it, and the revenue will be shared between Sony and YouTube. Has Google finally found a way to start making big bucks from the site? Or is this more likely a one-off?

We'll keep you posted.

Read

Related
Full tags
Biz, Software, YouTube, Online, Google, Sony, Ghostbusters
UK Shopping
Amazon.co.uk, play.com, pixmania.co.uk, Currys.co.uk, Dixons.co.uk, 7dayshop.com, ebay.co.uk
US Shopping
Amazon.com, bestbuy.com, ebay.com

share Subscribe to RSS feeds email story save story print story pdf

Comments

  • That's absoloutly ludicrus,That the promotion is not available in this country because of copywright law's,so bloody frustrating that in the uk we get restricted on everything and anything,WHY ?,are we from another world,we do not belong to this earth,It P***es me right off knowing that UK has alowed this to happen,I mean com on people isn't it about time that we all stood up and said our piece on saying NO to restriction's like this ? Posted by Adrian Peace, United Kingdom
  • Ghostbusters and many more Sony movies are available in the Crackle.com ...Check it out. Posted by raj, usa
  • i dont like this Posted by abhijit, india
  • yet one more reason to give the pirate party uk a chance, im absolutely sick of this copyright nonsense...and in particular Sony, who i'd like to remind everyone is holding back the 360 game of Ghostbusters in europe til October just because they can. i suddenly want something very bad to happen to that company Posted by Nik, England
  • Yes copyrights are evil...until it's your intellectual property that's being protected. The problem is NOT with copyright. It is with a byzantine legal structure that has less to do with right, wrong, and justice than it does with manipulation of the law until its result no longer resembles its original intent. Unfortunately, if companies don't aggressively pursue copyright violations of ANY kind, they run the risk of losing control of their own properties. There are things I can't get in the U.S.A. for the same reason, but screaming "no fair!" won't really change anything will it? Posted by Doc, USA
  • Oh well I'll just have to buy the Blu-ray instead. Posted by indiecheese, United Kingdom
  • Take a stand. Restrict the viewing on YouTube, fine, I wont go and watch it at the flicks!

    Will hurt them more than you ;-)
    Posted by Macross, UK

(Will not be published)

  (Next time sign in to bypass captcha)

Latest in Biz

Latest on Pocket-lint.com

About Pocket-lint

Pocket-lint is your one stop shop for gadgets, technology and consumer electronics, bringing you the low-down on the latest televisions, cameras, phones, GPS and much more. Whether it's learning about what's hot in the world of Apple, finding out about the latest home cinema kit from Samsung and Sony or merely seeing what not to buy, we have you covered. So check out our reviews, news, comment, hands-on photo galleries and videos. Enjoy.

Pocket-lint.com poll

Q. Do you still buy CDs?

Vote YES Vote NO

» LAST TIME
When asked Do you want the Droid by Motorola? 53% said yes and 47% said no

Top 10 Broadband

Compare 50+
broadband packages

Home Broadband »

Top products

tip us on news

reviews hub

Rss feed

Follow us on Twitter