Picasso and bullfighting are cultural touchstones in Spain. Now add Internet piracy.
The unauthorized downloading and streaming of movies and television shows from the Web is a growing problem for the entertainment industry around the world. In a few key countries such as Spain, however, it has become an epidemic that is forcing movie studios to consider no longer selling DVDs in the country.
A cavalier attitude toward piracy has made it mainstream behavior in Spain.
“Almost everybody I know downloads movies," said Mercedes Carrasco, 45, a student from Caceres who downloads about two movies each week.
“I don't think downloading movies for private use harms anybody," said Juan, a 41- year-old engineer from Madrid who declined to provide his last name. He said he downloads five or six movies a month, including recently all six “Star Wars" movies. “It's like exchanging a book with friends."
It's no surprise why average Spaniards think it's not a big deal: Unlike in the U.S., France and, under proposed legislation, Britain, piracy isn't against the law in Spain unless it's done for profit. The country's minister of culture, a former filmmaker who is backing a bill that would make it easier to shut off access to websites that facilitate piracy, blames the problem on deep-rooted cultural attitudes.
“Traditionally in Mediterranean countries, it's hard for people to understand that immaterial things can be worth as much as material things," said Angeles Gonzalez- Sinde.
Piracy is reshaping the movie business in Spain, much as it has done to the music business around the world. In 2003, there were 12,000 video stores in the country. By the end of 2008, there were 3,000.
Legitimate digital distribution isn't filling the gap. Apple Inc.'s iTunes, the world's biggest digital-media store, doesn't sell movies or television shows in Spain, as it does in Britain, France and Germany.
Between 2006 and 2008, illegal movie downloads in Spain went from 132 million a year to 350 million, according to research firm Media-Control GfK, at the same time that the number of DVDs sold or rented fell by 30%. Some studios now see Spain as a lost market.
“People are downloading movies in such large quantities that Spain is on the brink of no longer being a viable home entertainment market for us," said Michael Lynton, chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment.
If this were an isolated example, Hollywood could handle the blow. But Spain is on the verge of becoming the second country in which piracy has ravaged what was once a robust business. In 2008, the last of the major studios shut down their operations in South Korea for the same reason.
The unauthorized downloading and streaming of movies and television shows from the Web is a growing problem for the entertainment industry around the world. In a few key countries such as Spain, however, it has become an epidemic that is forcing movie studios to consider no longer selling DVDs in the country.
A cavalier attitude toward piracy has made it mainstream behavior in Spain.
“Almost everybody I know downloads movies," said Mercedes Carrasco, 45, a student from Caceres who downloads about two movies each week.
“I don't think downloading movies for private use harms anybody," said Juan, a 41- year-old engineer from Madrid who declined to provide his last name. He said he downloads five or six movies a month, including recently all six “Star Wars" movies. “It's like exchanging a book with friends."
It's no surprise why average Spaniards think it's not a big deal: Unlike in the U.S., France and, under proposed legislation, Britain, piracy isn't against the law in Spain unless it's done for profit. The country's minister of culture, a former filmmaker who is backing a bill that would make it easier to shut off access to websites that facilitate piracy, blames the problem on deep-rooted cultural attitudes.
“Traditionally in Mediterranean countries, it's hard for people to understand that immaterial things can be worth as much as material things," said Angeles Gonzalez- Sinde.
Piracy is reshaping the movie business in Spain, much as it has done to the music business around the world. In 2003, there were 12,000 video stores in the country. By the end of 2008, there were 3,000.
Legitimate digital distribution isn't filling the gap. Apple Inc.'s iTunes, the world's biggest digital-media store, doesn't sell movies or television shows in Spain, as it does in Britain, France and Germany.
Between 2006 and 2008, illegal movie downloads in Spain went from 132 million a year to 350 million, according to research firm Media-Control GfK, at the same time that the number of DVDs sold or rented fell by 30%. Some studios now see Spain as a lost market.
“People are downloading movies in such large quantities that Spain is on the brink of no longer being a viable home entertainment market for us," said Michael Lynton, chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment.
If this were an isolated example, Hollywood could handle the blow. But Spain is on the verge of becoming the second country in which piracy has ravaged what was once a robust business. In 2008, the last of the major studios shut down their operations in South Korea for the same reason.
