Middle Management Copy?

VideoBusiness.com has come in with another piece of why the various players in the next generation DVD debate are lining up the way they are. The focus this time is everybody's favorite feature, managed copy, and how mandatory it should be. Microsoft is applying their considerable pressure to make sure it is mandatory, so that they can stay relevant and grow Windows as a part of the digitally connected home of the future.

But a previously unseen wrinkle is that adding the ability to make legal copies of movies may affect the current contracts and licensing agreements the studios have with their talent, licensed music, etc. We've already seen how such licensing conflicts have stalled or completely stopped some TV shows from arriving on shelves in the form of boxed sets, this could push the impact of next generation discs even further into the future.