Owner of 49er Video Talks About Changing Movie Biz

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My guest Nov. 17 live in the studio was John Merchant, the owner of Davis' own 49er Video. We talked about Blockbuster declaring bankruptcy, Netflix, Redbox, public libraries, cable and satellite television.

Criticism of Netflix is just a blip on the national radar, but censoring content is a serious subject. The movie in question is Trash Humpers, written and directed by provocateur Harmony Korine. Netflix refuses to stock the trashy little movie.

The things is, I saw this movie at South by Southwest 2010 and hated every second of it. Here's an excerpt of what I wrote for Boise Weekly at the time:

"By the time the popcorn arrived, we had been subjected to dialog about the benefits of people one day having no heads, fragments of racist and homophobic jokes, shrieks of "you gonna eat these pancakes with this soap" and other look-at-us-we're-disgusting nonsense. Korine showed the first of two brutal, pointless murders as the 20th and 21st people walked out... When I finally decided I too had all I could take of the repulsive and depressing non-narrative, I became the 35th attendee to walk out."

But even hating a movie as much as 35 of us did during SXSW, I can't sit by quietly and agree with the nation's most powerful home video distributor determining what content is and isn't acceptable. During the interview, I also brought up political content. While the opposition to Trash Humpers is related to obscenity, the activist group The Yes Men found their political activities made it difficult to get their latest movie out. So they employed peer-to-peer networks to distribute The Yes Men Fix The World. Read more about their situation here.

The issue gets even more serious when you think about transmission companies getting into the content business. Comcast intends to buy NBC-Universal, and the Department of Justice will likely approve it despite public outcry. I mentioned some recent analysis of the utter failure of merger supporters to offer any reason the merger is a good idea.

And one of the biggest stories we've had in a long time regarding Open Internet protections in the public interest is a fresh one. Just last night in New Mexico, over 400 people gathered for a public hearing with FCC commissioner Michael Copps, to demand the Federal Communications Commission regulate broadband service providers to stop them from favoring any paid content over the rest of Internet traffic.

Andrea Quijada of the Media Literacy Project said, "With a state poverty rate at 19 percent -- the third highest in the country -- we know that the Internet is not just about access. It is about the opportunities that openness creates. It is about ensuring a digital level playing field.”

Read more about the Future of the Internet here.

Big thanks to John Merchant for being my first in-studio guest on No Country For Young Men. 49er has been at its current location on Covell Blvd for over ten years, and Merchant has been in the business for much longer. I believe he said this Thanksgiving will mark the 15th anniversary of their Thanksgiving rental promotion.

The playlist from today's show is here.

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