MPAA is a trade association representing seven of the major producers and distributors of filmed and digital entertainment for exhibition in theaters, for home entertainment and for television. We also create jobs in the United States at three times the rate of the rest of the economy. Digital networks offer new opportunities for delivering our entertainment products in international markets. In the next few months, several movie studios will launch new, encrypted on-line services. No one knows today which business model, or models, will prove most successful in getting digitized entertainment content to customers, but we may start to get some answers in the next few months.
Internet piracy is the single biggest impediment to digital trade today.
Piracy of copyrighted materials is not a new problem. In the last quarter century, MPAA and its associated anti-piracy organizations have spent a billion dollars fighting video piracy and signal theft around the world. At present, we have anti-piracy programs in over 80 countries. What is new in the fight against piracy in the Internet era is the speed and ease with which our products can be stolen and distributed illegally over digital networks. By the end of the year, they estimate that as many as one million illegal movie downloads will take place every single day.