p2p news / p2pnet: p2pnet recently pointed out America’s Smithsonian is selling downloads which, if you’re into rare, indie music, are actually worth the $1 asking price.

But now, "Some of the biggest names in documentary filmmaking have denounced a recent agreement between the Smithsonian Institution and Showtime Networks Inc. that they say restricts makers of films and television shows using Smithsonian materials from offering their work to public television or other non-Showtime broadcast outlets," says the New York Times.

"I find this deal terrifying," Ken Burns, maker of ‘The Civil War’ and ‘Baseball’ documentaries is quoted as saying. "It feels like the Smithsonian has essentially optioned America’s attic to one company, and to have access to that attic, we would have to be signed off with, and perhaps co-opted by, that entity."

On March 9, Showtime and the Smithsonian unveiled Smithsonian Networks, a joint venture to develop TV programming, says the story. Details are being kept secret.

Smithsonian Networks has first refusal for commercial documentaries, "that rely heavily on Smithsonian collections or staff," says the story, going on:

"Those works would first have to be offered to Smithsonian on Demand, the cable channel that is expected to be the venture’s first programming service."

It’s, "not our obligation to help independent filmmakers sell their wares to commercial broadcast and cable networks," the NYT has Jeanny Kim, a vp for media services for Smithsonian Business Ventures, saying. "What it boiled down to is that we don’t have the financial resources, the expertise or the production capabilities" to continue to provide extensive access to materials, but not to reap any financial benefit from the result.

Film-maker Laurie Kahn-Leavitt said according to a Smithsonian staff member, her Tupperware! documentary would have fallen prey to the deal, "because much of the history of Tupperware is housed at the Smithsonian," says the NYT:

"The documentary, which won a Peabody Award in 2004, was broadcast on ‘American Experience,’ the PBS show produced by WGBH, the Boston public television station."

Margaret Drain, a vice president for national programs at WGBH, said she feared that public television programs like Nova and American Experience would suffer greatly because of the new restrictions, adds the story.

Also See:
rare, indie music - Downloads actually worth $1!, March 18, 2006
New York Times - Smithsonian Agreement Angers Filmmakers, April 1, 2006

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