A Canadian company is betting the house that the Big Five record labels will somehow get the multi-billion dollar pirate disc trade under control.

Montreal's Cinram International Inc has agreed to pay $US1.05 billion for AOL Time Warner's DVD and CD manufacturing, distribution and 'related' businesses in the US and Europe. It rationale is that DVDs will be the way everyone will eventually view images, including movies, in the future.

It says as part of the deal - expected to close this Fall - it'll sign exclusive long term agreements with Warner Home Video, Warner Music Group and New Line Cinema to make, print, package and physically distribute their DVDs and CDs in North America and Europe.

Cinram's buy includes manufacturing facilities in Olyphant, PA, Commerce, CA and Alsdorf, Germany as well as related US and European distribution facilities, as well as Ivy Hill Corp, a, "provider of packaging and printing services for DVDs and CDs of AOL-affiliated companies and third parties," and Giant Merchandising, "engaged in entertainment merchandising, retail licenses and private label marketing and distribution".

Not at all incidentally, three Cinram facilities in Louviers, Champenard and St Die, France, have 'completed' IRMA's (International Recording Media Association) Anti-Piracy Compliance Program.

"With nearly 100 plants enrolled worldwide, the IRMA Anti-Piracy Compliance Program (APCP) is well recognized as an effective weapon for replicators and duplicators in the combat against piracy," says Cinram.

"Cinram has always placed the fight against piracy at the forefront of its priorities," says Thierry Pasquet, CEO of Cinram France. "The certification of our French sites demonstrates once again our commitment to thwarting the plague of piracy and the importance for us of safeguarding our customers' intellectual proprietary rights."

Rumours that AOL Time Warner suits were laughing hysterically all the way to the bank are probably true.