ABSTRACT
Chapter 24 has provided coverage of some aspects of electronic publishing, as there is increasing pressure from users, particularly in the academic and commercial research sectors, for fast and easy access to selected extracts of copyright material electronically rather than through the medium of photocopying. This chapter is devoted to full-scale electronic and multimedia publishing, and seeks to draw a distinction between publishers’ own initiatives and true licensing to third parties. Electronic publishing is now a significant feature of the publishing industry,
driven by technological and commercial developments. The old maxim ‘content is king’ has perhaps been matched by the maxim that ‘the consumer is king’; content providers across the creative industries have been forced to make major changes and investments to facilitate access to their wares as a result of user demands; however, they still face considerable opposition from some consumers who feel that copyright requirements impede access to material they expect to be provided free of charge (see The anti-copyright movement, open access and other initiatives in Chapter 1), and this has resulted in copyright being put under the microscope at international, multinational and national levels. It had been predicted that the so-called information superhighway in the
form of a full-scale multimedia network would be with us by the year 2000, providing homes and workplaces with telecommunications services, television (including interactive television, e.g. participation in game shows and panel discussion programmes), computer services, shopping services, entertainment and access to information on demand via a single fibre-optic pathway. 2000 was perhaps over-optimistic as a target, but at the time of writing we
are now very close to the scenario envisaged. Few could have imagined the pervasive influence of the internet; in particular, e-mail is now a standard means of communication both for business and for personal purposes; the internet provides a major source of information for the educational, academic and professional sectors as well as for the general public, with e-commerce over the net taken for granted. The initial obstacles to the information superhighway dream were the limitations on access to telecommunication
networks, combined with inadequate bandwidth to provide full-scale fast delivery of multimedia facilities via the internet. This situation has changed radically with the introduction of UK broadband services by providers such as BT, TalkTalk, Virgin and Sky; at the time of writing, it is estimated that there are approximately 2.9 billion internet users worldwide, with 22.3 million subscribers to broadband services in the United Kingdom and 83 million in households in the United States. UK television services transferred completely to digital services, supplied by cable, satellite, Freeview or a set-top box in October 2012; the major migration to digital took place in the United States by mid-2009. The convergence of a wide range of players from different industries has
continued, with telecommunication companies, cable service providers, internet service providers, television and satellite broadcasting services, social media sites, online retailers, electronic hardware and software producers and content providers sealing alliances. There has also been convergence within the film industry itself, with
Paramount (part of Viacom) acquiring Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks in late 2005 at a price of $1.7 billion and Disney acquiring the animation studio Pixar in early 2006 for $7.4 billion. In December 2009 Comcast, a major provider of cable television, telephone and internet services, moved to acquire from GE a 51 per cent share in NBC Universal, one of the largest film and television companies; in March 2013 it acquired full ownership. Many publishing companies are themselves part of conglomerates that may include film, television, newspaper, telecommunication and cable interests. The concept of cross-fertilization in terms of maximizing revenue from IP rights ‘within the family’ is still mooted as an ideal, but to date it has still not proved completely successful. Despite this, 2009 saw Disney acquire Marvel Entertainment and Warner Brothers bought DC Comics, and there have been a number of blockbusting films based on the heroes from these stables. The development of video-on-demand (VOD) services was initially slow
as the service depended on adequate bandwidth, but there are now numerous services on both sides of the Atlantic for the delivery of film and television content on demand to customers’ homes and also to devices including laptops, tablets and mobile phones; full-scale delivery of films by this method inevitably impacts on the video rental business (see Video on demand in Chapter 21). Have publishers been able to keep pace with technological developments?
Initially, some maintained a waiting brief; others formed strategic alliances with electronic producers (e.g. Dorling Kindersley’s early alliance with Microsoft); some of the larger companies, particularly those which were part of media conglomerates, entered the field to produce electronic products, the majority in CD-ROM form and based on existing print-on-paper products. Some projects were developed completely in-house, while others were developed together with software houses, sometimes on a joint venture basis.
