Digital Deal Making: Between a right and a hard place

Last month, we explored the market factors shaping discussions concerning digital content rights and found the terrain a little tumultuous. For certain, there's been a lot of talk about how modes of digital distribution such as VOD, mobile and broadband are making inroads with consumers and threatening to supplant linear network broadcast in the coming decade. And consequently, broadcasters, cable and satellite providers and home entertainment companies are looking to lock up as many digital content rights as possible in an attempt to 'future-proof' their businesses. Producers, meanwhile, are often being asked for the same sets of digital rights by competing parties, so they're starting to take a closer look at what rights exist and who should get them.