Business Opportunities Weblog

Starting a Movie Streaming Site

By on February 21, 2011 in Ask the Readers

Photo by Ross Catrow

A reader asked:

Hello my name is Rolando, I want to ask you for your help. My friend and I are thinking about starting a video rental business that we are going to run it something like Netflix. We’ll charge a small fee every month to our members to see DVDs on the computer. Do I need to get a licenses for this? If so what kind of licenses do I need? We are going to have a web page with over 1,000 movies and for a fee the member can see as much as they want. Is this a legal please let me know and thank you for your help.

In the closing credits of a movie, it will usually tell you who to contact to negotiate licensing arrangements. In those very same closing credits, you will see a statement saying that broadcasting the video (or TV show) in any form is illegal and will usually be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Make sure you negotiate an agreement before you stream anything.

According to BusinessOfVideo.com, streaming licenses can be anywhere from pennies per play to $4 per movie per play. They added “One of the major reasons that Netflix does not have a lot of new content in their streaming offering is the fact that the licensing costs for new content is so high. Studios are still greedy and Netflix simply can’t afford to pay the costs associated with first run movies.”

Photo by Ross Catrow.

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Business Opportunities Weblog editor and publisher Dane Carlson lives in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, just 15 miles from Yosemite National Park. He accidentally became a professional blogger in 2001. He has added 12,203 posts to the site.

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  • http://www.melissadata.com Ray

    Movie legalities and copyright issues are very confusing when dealing with film companies and the industry in general. Glad that you are helping people here, a mistake here will cost most people more than they can afford.

  • Mahesh

    I’ve contacted Viacom and Universal. Viacom says that there’s a blanket legal clause keeping them from making digital content deals. Universal simply said they weren’t sure who to forward me to.
    Without some partnerships with the large movie studios, there’s no interest.

  • http://www.theidiotspace.blogspot.com/ King_Hermy

    Idiot Hollywood. They want 300,000 people paying $40 instead of 1,000,000,000 PEOPLE PAYING $1. Real stupid.

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