I suspect only you-know-who knows why he may do what he does. And I also suspect that he doesn't feel the need to explain himself. And that's perfectly within his rights no matter how much some fans may wish he would do so. And fans who may not like it simply have to accept it because, unfortunately for those fans, that's just the way things are.
That being said though, much of what has happened with regard to forcing the take down of things from YouTube is well within DCP's rights. As has been discussed before in other topics, copyright law isn't all about making money.
I understand and appreciate everything you said, MB. You're a brilliant, wonderful person, looking at all angles.
What I can't figure out is why anything is locked away in some vault? Letting others see if, even if for free, like on youtube, is not only free for fans and for those who are introduced into fandom, but for the creators as well. All that publicity and hopeful expansion and at no cost! Yes, you-know-who-mixed-with-DCP is well within his (and theirs) rights under copyright law to scoure every website to take down anything that would allow people to see stuff for free while maybe, just maybe, there's two or three people out there who would pay for a DVD of it. One buck is one buck for right now. And that's how you-know-who-DCP thinks. Right now. This minute. Never mind about bringing in hundreds, if not thousands, of prospective fans who will pay to buy a DVD, or even a ton of DVD's, in the future. Why would anyone oppose free publicity unless they have something called ana...never mind.
But I must disagree with you, MB, on Warner's being the one who decided to keep the '04 DS pilot locked up in a vault. Other rejected pilots, including the LIS one, are freely available on the internet, including youtube. Only the DS one is kept under tight control (along with anything else that's DS). From circumstantial evidence it would appear that someone else has caused that. We know who it is. He knows who it is. It's you-know-who. What other explanation can there be? Yes, it's within his rights. I'll support that. But I won't support a, shall we say, "unintelligent" decision on his part to refuse to expand interest and fandom just so he can make sure that not one penny is lost "right now." Despite all the good things he has done for DCP, maybe it's time for DCP to find someone else to promote its wares rather than this, um, you know, not so intelligent, shall we say, person. He just grinds me. We want DS to continue to thrive and expand. Obviously, he's only thinking of the momentary. He doesn't realize the momentary is here for a just a moment and then is gone. There's no getting it back.
Release the '04 DS pilot to the internet for free and let more people find the glory of DS. But, of course, what do I know? I'm just a fan.
Gerard