Village Roadshow to use new technology to fight piracy, starting with new TV series

[Len]

VILLAGE Roadshow has inked a 12-month deal to protect its lucrative new TV adaptation of cult 80s film Romper Stomper from pirates.

Tech firm Linius will use its video virtualisation system on the six-part miniseries, due to launch in Australia on streaming service Stan mid next year.

The technology has already been applied to the series in the pre-production process, ahead of expansion to the retail platform.

The system seeks to thwart pirates by splitting conventional video files to index the data inside, making it adaptable, searchable and otherwise usable on a more granular level than a standard video file.

It will mean there is no full video file for a pirate to steal, promising “an unprecedented level of security”.

The technology may also be used to served customised ads within video files.

In an announcement on the ASX, Linius anti-piracy boss Peter Cohen said reduction of video piracy was just the start of the technology’s applications for the film and television industries.

“This can have huge implications across all sectors of the industry,” he said.

The implementation of the system is being done in partnership with IBM.

Village Roadshow co-executive chairman and co-CEO Robert Kirby said the company had already invested directly in Linius and were trailing the technology in distribution of its content to platforms like Stan.

The move is the latest shot fired in the war on piracy by Village Roadshow, who last month vowed to come after content thieves in the courts.

“We plan, later this year, to sue any individual that continues to download pirated content. If we find that someone is infringing our content, we’ll send them a warning and we’ll also be suing them for damages,” co — CEO Graham Burke said at the time.

Romper Stomper is being produced by John Edwards and Dan Edwards, with investment from Stan and Screen Australia in association with Film Victoria, and international distribution by DCD Rights.

It will star Aussies Jacqueline McKenzie and Dan Wyllie, who also appeared in the original film, as well as Lachy Hulme, Sophie Lowe, David Wenham and Toby Wallace.