Phillip Reynolds

New firm Caribbean Home Entertainment Limited (CariHome) is gearing-up to dent the multi-million dollar piracy industry in Jamaica by formalising the distribution of CDs and DVDs between licensors and retailers starting in September.

The company, soon to operate on a regional scale, holds the exclusive license for all Universal and Time Warner home entertainment products, as well as contracts with a number of other studios including Walt Disney, Touchstone and Miramax Films.

CariHome has also recently signed a deal with the producers of the popular children's programmes, Barney and Bob the Builder, which will also be among the titles to be distributed later this year.

"There is currently no formal distribution of home entertainment products across the Caribbean region," said company CEO Phillip Reynolds in an interview with the Business Observer.

Reynolds believed that aligning his company with Facey Commodity Trading - the parent company of CariHome - elevates the platform for distribution across the Caribbean.

"The Caribbean is sort of like the last frontier. It's the one region that was never sold the idea of proper home entertainment products," Reynolds said. He added that the business of buying and selling entertainment software in Jamaica was "very fragmented" and far from that which obtains in the developed world.

Reynolds noted that the market was dominated by a "booming bootlegging rental business" wherein "people just watch and throw away (the DVDs)". He praised the arrival of CariHome as the answer to Jamaica's entertainment distribution woes.

"It's not just the setting up of a company; we are looking to change the landscape of entertainment. We want to see more stores selling the products. even general convenience stores," he said.

Further, Reynolds disclosed that some 40 per cent of CDs and DVDs were sold in general convenient stores in North America and Europe. "There's a whole new revenue stream that can come about for the retailers," he said, noting between 30 and 40 per cent of the home entertainment software purchased were bought as gifts.

Through CariHome, the costs incurred by retailers would be cheaper than going abroad to purchase or freighting boxes of software, he said, adding that operations within the movie and music production business could be very expensive since it costs at least US$30,000 to author a DVD and those costs sometimes filter down to the small retailer, not capable of negotiating with the source.

In light of this, Reynolds believed his company could leverage on behalf of the retailers and as such, cushion a lot of the otherwise unavoidable costs.

He told the Business Observer that over the coming weeks, marketing and advertising of the company's services would be stepped up to increase awareness of its presence in the local market.

"The people who want your product, are coming to get it.You are marketing to people who don't yet know they want it," said Reynolds. He suggested that prices of DVDs in Jamaica should be on par with those sold in Europe and North America.

"There will be no price fixing.What we have is something called a dealer price. What somebody wants to sell it for above the dealer price is up to them."

Still, he reiterated that CariHome would not sell the product but was merely a licensee through which various entertainment software products would be distributed.
Reynolds argued that the absence of quality home entertainment software within the Caribbean market had fuelled the underground trade. He described the present piracy situation as a "squatters' paradise, no man's land".

Though Reynolds remained optimistic about the company's prospects in the market, the local fight against piracy still rages. While no known Jamaican studies have been conducted to assess the overall impact of copyright infringement on the national economy, the International Worldwide Alliance (IIPA) notes that piracy represented US$25-30 billion in global losses from illegal copies of music, films and video games.

The now two-year-old study confirms that Jamaica remains on the American Watch list which tracks intellectual property violations.

Notwithstanding, Reynolds maintained that "CariHome is not the police of DVD" and that there was a unit within the police force to tackle piracy. He added, however, that, "as the streets (continue to) dry-up", the authorities must be unwavering in their pursuit of pirates.

"For every one not bought that means they (the government) lose out on GCT and other taxes," he said.

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