F.C.C. Allows Movie Studios to Block Copying of New Video-on-Demand Releases

LOS ANGELES — In a significant victory for the major movie studios, the Federal Communications Commission on Friday approved a request to allow companies that sell movies via video-on-demand services to activate signals that would block the copying or other re-use in home entertainment systems of recent releases.

In approving activation of the so-called “selectable output control” in home entertainment systems, the commission’s media bureau in large part granted a petition that had been filed by the Motion Picture Association of America, which represents the major film studios, in May of 2008.

But to prevent the studios from blocking the copying of all films, the commission restricted its use to either a 90-day period from the first activation of the blocking technology for any film, or until the movie’s release in a prerecorded format like DVD or Blu-Ray, which ever comes first. The bureau also said it planned a detailed review of the technology’s impact, and required companies that use the technology to provide a report on its effect in its first two years.

Some public interest groups have strongly opposed the activation of the blocking technology, which exists but is dormant in many home video systems.

The order “will allow the big firms for the first time to take control of a consumer’s TV set or set-top box, blocking viewing of a TV program or motion picture,” the advocacy group Public Knowledge said in a statement on Thursday.

On another front, the National Organization of Theater Owners, which represents film exhibitors, had argued that activation of the blocking technology would counter the public interest by undercutting theaters, which might find themselves with shortened periods to exhibit a movie before it is sent directly into homes by way of cable-based on-demand services.

The film studios had argued that precisely such home-based viewing should be expanded — but only if they could use the blocking technology to assure that high-quality images purchased through demand services would not be resold by pirates or simply recirculated among friends.

In a statement, Bob Pisano, the motion picture association’s president, described the commission’s action as “a major step forward in the development of new business models by the motion picture industry.” Mr. Pisano also called the approval “an important victory for consumers,” including many who are unable to go to a theater.

In granting the waiver, the commission said it was influenced by arguments that earlier availability of movies in the home would benefit those with disabilities, and said it expected to monitor the efforts by the film industry and media companies to provide closed captioning and video description as part of their new services.