HOLLYWOOD studios are likely to follow the record industry by making blockbuster films available for download over the internet within six months, according to Bob Wright, the chairman of NBC Universal.

Mr Wright, whose company owns Universal Studios, said that offering films on demand over the web was “something we have to do” as part of the industry’s battle against film piracy. He added: “I think we’re pretty close, but we are not there yet . . . At the end of this year or the beginning of next year we’ll be able to do that.”

Piracy is estimated to cost Hollywood studios several billion dollars a year from sales of counterfeit films mass-made in the Far East and Eastern Europe. Online piracy is rapidly emerging as a bigger threat, just as it has been for record companies, and analysts believe that the studios should begin offering downloads legally before file-swapping takes hold on a global scale.

Mr Wright said that film downloads could boost the returns of the big studios, whose income has suffered from a flat year at the box office. He also forecast that full-length feature films would be available for download on to mobile phones within a year.

Mr Wright was speaking at the launch of Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy (Bascap), a lobby group representing several industries.

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