• Variety, Friday, May 2, 2008 11:15 AM

Media execs love to gripe about the threat of piracy to their business, but the persistence of peer-to-peer media distribution has brought on a new call-to-arms: ubiquity. On the Web, that means "be accessible everywhere." Earlier this week, News Corp. COO Peter Chernin discussed that need, saying that consumers need to be able to access content at any time, in any way and at any place they desire-and for a reasonable price.

Why, because that's what they demand. But more than that, Chernin said that making legal content readily accessible at a reasonable price is the only way to combat piracy. Former Yahoo CEO Terry Semel, who sat in on the panel discussion with Chernin, added: "I don't think anyone's not paying attention to fraud, but the bulk of time is being devoted to where we're going."

Semel believes the open distribution strategy adopted by content providers represents a shift in the distribution of content that's as major as when the music biz went digital. Viral, organic distribution will ultimately help content owners sell more and better ads, he said.

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