We've been working on some EFF docs on Hollywood's poor track-record on new technology. We all know about the studios suing to keep the VCR off the market (and now pre-recorded media accounts for 40 percent of Hollywood's bottom line, versus 26 percent for the box-office, which has nonetheless grown every year since the VCR was introduced), but how about the TV itself? Hollywood boycotted TV because it was afraid that the small-screen would Napsterize the movie-houses. But when Walt Disney needed money to build Disneyland (and Roy wouldn't give it to him), he did a deal to open the Disney vaults to the broadcasters. Once one of the studios broke ranks, the cartel fell apart, and TV became the Hollywood revenue juggernaut it is today.
I knew about this from reading my Disney library, which is 3000 miles distant in Toronto, and we needed citations now, so we gave Google Answers $40 to research the question. The answer is terrific, just chock-a-block with links and abstracts.
