The top news and charts for week ending January 14, 2008.
CES: Studios see big swell ahead for online distribution CES: Blu-ray growth forecast healthy Blockbuster eyes advanced kiosks |
Sony at CES Sony Electronics’ Randy Waynick (l.) shows writer/producer Dean Devlin the XEL-1, Sony’s first high-def OLED TV for the U.S. market, at CES in Las Vegas. See Click for more industry photos. |
"WAR" leads Top DVD Renters Chart "RESIDENT EVIL: EXTINCTION" leads Top DVD Sellers Chart "THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM" leads Top HD DVD Sellers Chart "RESIDENT EVIL: EXTINCTION" leads Top Blu-ray Sellers Chart |
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SWEETING: The race for fourth |
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LETTER TO THE EDITOR: HD DVD vs. Blu-ray |
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BETWEEN THE LINES: Closing the books on ’07 … almost |
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RED STATE, BLUE STATE: Toshiba strikes back with sales |
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DISC DISH: Becoming Jane, American Gangster |
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DVDIALOG: To live and eat in L.A. with Ben Gourley |
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THE DOWN LOW: More speculation for Apple rentals |
EU, Apple agree on price of iTunes
JAN. 10 | FROM VARIETY: LONDON — A European Union investigation into computer giant Apple has been dropped after the American company agreed to standardize its pricing policies across Europe for its iTunes music downloads.
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Trans World ends 2007 with loss
JAN. 10 | Despite earlier break-even projections, Trans World will wind up 2007 with a $15 million to $20 million net loss after a disappointing holiday season. The sobering news coincides with Trans World’s decision last month to shutter 138 primarily underperforming F.Y.E. and Suncoast stores as their leases were expiring.
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Blockbuster eyes advanced kiosks
JAN. 9 | Blockbuster plans to begin testing electronic download kiosks in its stores over the next several months, CEO Jim Keyes told analysts at the Citigroup 2008 Global Entertainment, Media and Telecommunications Conference in Phoenix Tuesday.
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Trans World liquidates 138 stores
JAN. 9 | In some year-end housekeeping, Trans World Entertainment has been liquidating 138 of its retail outlets over the last several weeks. The bulk of the closures, which started in early December, are of stores under Trans World’s F.Y.E. brand. About 40 of the shuttered outlets are part of Trans World’s DVD-centric Suncoast brand.
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Circuit City sales fall 9% in December
JAN. 8 | FROM TWICE: Circuit
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DEG says industry stable despite slight DVD dip
JAN. 7 | U.S. consumer spending on DVD sales and rentals fell 2.9% in 2007 , the Digital Entertainment Group (DEG) said today at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. That reflects rentals being flat at $7.5 billion, and sell-through declining 3.6% to $16 billion.
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CES: Best Buy, Sixth Avenue Electronics named DEG Retailers of the Year
JAN. 7 | LAS VEGAS—DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group named two hardware stores Retailer of the Year for 2007. Best Buy and New Jersey chain Sixth Avenue Electronics were revealed as the winners at a press conference at the Consumer Electronics Show here. In software, Warner Home Video was the biggest winner, with four honors.
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MusicGiants partners with Paramount
JAN. 11 | MusicGiants is expanding its high-end audio business with a film download partnership with Paramount Pictures Digital Entertainment.
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Echo Bridge to step up acquisitions
JAN. 10 | Echo Bridge Entertainment plans to step up acquisitions now that it has obtained new financing from JP Morgan Securities, according to Michael Rosenblatt, Echo Bridge chairman, president and CEO.
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Pioneering studio executive Cy Leslie dies
JAN. 9 | FROM VARIETY: Seymour "Cy" Leslie, former chairman and CEO of MGM/UA Home Entertainment Group, died of heart failure Jan. 6 in Roslyn, N.Y. He was 85.Leslie served as president of CBS Video Enterprises from 1980 to 1982 and was founder and chairman of the MGM/UA Home Entertainment Group until its sale in 1987.
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Police discover pirated DVD stash in South Africa
JAN. 9 | FROM VARIETY: JOHANNESBURG— Counterfeit DVDs valued at $30 million were discovered at O.R. Tambo Intl. Airport last week by South African police.
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NBC Universal Dean Martin Show suit settled
JAN. 8 | A lawsuit filed by NBC Universal asserting ownership to episodes of The Dean Martin Show, which aired on the station from 1965 to 1975, has been settled.
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Golden Globes ceremony, parties canceled
JAN. 8 | FROM VARIETY: Efforts by industry insiders to salvage next Sunday’s Golden Globe Awards festivities imploded Monday in a complicated scenario that mirrors the breakdown in trust and communication that has fueled the Writers Guild of America’s 11-week-old strike against Hollywood’s majors. By Monday evening, the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn.’s 65th annual kudos had been downscaled to an hourlong news conference.
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DEG says industry stable despite slight DVD dip
JAN. 7 | U.S. consumer spending on DVD sales and rentals fell 2.9% in 2007 , the Digital Entertainment Group (DEG) said today at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. That reflects rentals being flat at $7.5 billion, and sell-through declining 3.6% to $16 billion.
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CES: Studios see big swell ahead for online distribution
JAN. 7| LAS VEGAS—Top digital executives from four major studios on Monday predicted an explosion of professionally produced video content on the Internet in 2008, driven by improved streaming quality, the proliferation of video-capable devices and the media companies’ need to find new business models for their content.
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CES: Studios plan to go live with BD Live
JAN. 7 | LAS VEGAS—Studios demonstrated several Web-enabled features on planned 2008 Blu-ray releases, including Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s Godzilla, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment’s AVP: Alien vs. Predator and Lionsgate’s Saw IV, during a Monday CES press conference.
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CES: Microsoft Xbox to pull in ABC, Disney shows on demand
JAN. 7 | FROM MULTICHANNEL NEWS: LAS VEGAS—Microsoft Sunday night said its Xbox Live service had become a serious alternative to the cable set-top box for the delivery of video content on demand.
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CES: Microsoft, NBC team on Olympics content online
JAN. 7 | FROM VARIETY: LAS VEGAS—Microsoft kicked off the Consumer Electronics Show here on Sunday night by announcing a major partnership with NBC to webcast the Olympic games on demand. Meanwhile, as adoption rates pick up rapidly, high-definition is expected to be a major topic of discussion at the event.
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CES: Sony cheers Warner move; preps advanced Blu-ray players
JAN. 6 | LAS VEGAS—Sony Corp. chief Howard Stringer reversed his previous description of the high-definition format war as "at a stalemate" in light of Warner Bros.’ abandonment of the HD DVD format and cheered what he now sees as a Blu-ray victory.
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CES: Toshiba vows to back HD DVD without Warner
JAN. 6 | LAS VEGAS—Toshiba expressed some shock over Warner Bros. Entertaiment's dropping support of HD DVD, but said it was not giving up on the format, during a Sunday press conference on the eve of the Consumer Electronics Show here.
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CES: Samsung, Panasonic, Sharp and Philips to bow new Blu-ray players
JAN. 6 | LAS VEGAS—Samsung in May will bow its fourth-generation Blu-ray Disc player, the manufacturer’s first straight Blu-ray set-top to offer picture-in-picture functionality.
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Disney builds Blu features for Sleeping Beauty
JAN. 6 | Walt Disney Home Entertainment confirmed that its first Web-enabled Blu-ray Disc title will be Sleeping Beauty, one of several Platinum Edition titles the studio plans to street in the high-def format this year. Bowing in the fall, Sleeping Beauty will feature online shopping via broadband connection and a BD Live “Virtual Castle” feature.
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CES: Blu-ray, new categories in D&M launches
JAN. 10 | FROM TWICE: LAS VEGAS— D&M brands came to International CES with multiple announcements, including ship dates and pricing for Blu-ray Disc players from Denon and Marantz, plans by Marantz to reenter the multichannel separates market, and the launch of what Marantz believes is the industry’s first A/V tuner/preamp with the ability to stream video from a networked PC.
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Blu-ray could win high-def battle
JAN. 10 | FROM VARIETY: Daily Variety has confirmed that Universal's commitment to backing HD DVD exclusively has ended. And Paramount has an escape clause in its HD DVD contract allowing it to release pics on Blu-ray after Warner Bros.’ decision to back that format exclusively.
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CES: Blu-ray shifts promo plans post-Warner
JAN. 9 | FROM TWICE: LAS VEGAS— Some members of the Blu-ray Disc Assn. were not declaring victory in the war of the high-definition disc formats Monday, but their actions seemed to be speaking louder than their words.
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CES: Samsung on track with dual-format player
JAN. 9 | FROM TWICE: LAS VEGAS— Samsung doesn’t plan this year to exit the rear-projection TV market despite the market’s decline, and it will launch its second dual-format HD disc player later this year as planned despite Warner’s surprise decision to pull out of the HD DVD market.
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CES: Blu-ray growth forecast healthy
JAN. 8 | LAS VEGAS—With momentum in the format war on their side, studio members of the Blu-ray Disc Assn. projected healthy format growth this year, according to research provided at a Monday Consumer Electronics Show press conference here. At an NPD Group CES session immediately following, however, analysts talked of ongoing obstacles for Blu-ray to win widespread acceptance.
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CES: Sony won’t declare Blu-ray victory
JAN. 8 | FROM TWICE: LAS VEGAS — While happy that Warner Bros. has joined the Blu-ray Disc camp, Sony would not declare an imminent victory in the contentious format war.
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Vudu pumps up high-def content, set-top storage
JAN. 7 | On-demand set-top box Vudu will add 70 new high-definition movie titles to its catalog later this month and in February roll out a $999 Vudu XL box that comes with a terabyte of storage, capable of holding 500 movies.
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CES: Studios plan to go live with BD Live
JAN. 7 | LAS VEGAS—Studios demonstrated several Web-enabled features on planned 2008 Blu-ray releases, including Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s Godzilla, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment’s AVP: Alien vs. Predator and Lionsgate’s Saw IV, during a Monday CES press conference.
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Blu-ray will win format war at end of 2008, predicts Understanding & Solutions
JAN. 7 | After Warner Bros. Entertainment’s decision to release titles exclusively on Blu-ray Disc, research firm Understanding & Solutions forecasts that the high-definition format war will be resolved by the end of this year.
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CES: Web extras coming to Blu-ray
JAN. 7 | FROM TWICE: LAS VEGAS — San Francisco-based software developer Related Content Database is announcing at International CES here two new Blu-ray feature platforms — BD Live and BD Magic.
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CES: Sony cheers Warner move; preps advanced Blu-ray players
JAN. 6 | LAS VEGAS—Sony Corp. chief Howard Stringer reversed his previous description of the high-definition format war as "at a stalemate" in light of Warner Bros.’ abandonment of the HD DVD format and cheered what he now sees as a Blu-ray victory.
Click for Full Story
CES: Toshiba vows to back HD DVD without Warner
JAN. 6 | LAS VEGAS—Toshiba expressed some shock over Warner Bros. Entertaiment's dropping support of HD DVD, but said it was not giving up on the format, during a Sunday press conference on the eve of the Consumer Electronics Show here.
Click for Full Story
CES: Samsung, Panasonic, Sharp and Philips to bow new Blu-ray players
JAN. 6 | LAS VEGAS—Samsung in May will bow its fourth-generation Blu-ray Disc player, the manufacturer’s first straight Blu-ray set-top to offer picture-in-picture functionality.
Click for Full Story
Disney builds Blu features for Sleeping Beauty
JAN. 6 | Walt Disney Home Entertainment confirmed that its first Web-enabled Blu-ray Disc title will be Sleeping Beauty, one of several Platinum Edition titles the studio plans to street in the high-def format this year. Bowing in the fall, Sleeping Beauty will feature online shopping via broadband connection and a BD Live “Virtual Castle” feature.
Click for Full Story
Japan game sales at record high
JAN. 10 | FROM VARIETY: The booming popularity of Nintendo's Wii console and DS handheld sent the combined sales of game machines and gaming software in Japan to a record high last year, according to research by a Japanese publisher.
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PlayStation 3 big holiday seller
JAN. 8 | FROM VARIETY: Sony sold 1.2 million PlayStation 3 units in the North American market during the holiday period, the company announced on Monday.
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MusicGiants partners with Paramount
JAN. 11 | MusicGiants is expanding its high-end audio business with a film download partnership with Paramount Pictures Digital Entertainment.
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EU, Apple agree on price of iTunes
JAN. 10 | FROM VARIETY: LONDON — A European Union investigation into computer giant Apple has been dropped after the American company agreed to standardize its pricing policies across Europe for its iTunes music downloads.
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CES: Comcast launching high-def download service
JAN. 9 | Comcast Corp. will provide thousands of high-definition movies on demand and a new "wide-band" Internet service that can download high-def titles in four minutes over the Internet by the end of the year, CEO Brian Roberts told participants at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week.
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CES: Paid downloads a thing of the past
JAN. 8 | FROM VARIETY: LAS VEGAS—After years in which paid downloads saw little traction, Hollywood is focused on ad-supported streaming in 2008.
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TiVo taps Web video for season pass
JAN. 8 | FROM BROADCASTING & CABLE: TiVo subscribers will soon be able to watch Web video on their TV sets by using the company’s Season Pass functionality.
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Vudu pumps up high-def content, set-top storage
JAN. 7 | On-demand set-top box Vudu will add 70 new high-definition movie titles to its catalog later this month and in February roll out a $999 Vudu XL box that comes with a terabyte of storage, capable of holding 500 movies.
Click for Full Story
CES: Studios see big swell ahead for online distribution
JAN. 7| LAS VEGAS—Top digital executives from four major studios on Monday predicted an explosion of professionally produced video content on the Internet in 2008, driven by improved streaming quality, the proliferation of video-capable devices and the media companies’ need to find new business models for their content.
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Sony puts TV clips on YouTube channels
JAN. 7 | Sony Pictures Television will offer five-minute videos from such popular TV shows as Married With Children, News Radio and The Jeffersons on several ad-supported channels on YouTube.
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CES: Microsoft Xbox to pull in ABC, Disney shows on demand
JAN. 7 | FROM MULTICHANNEL NEWS: LAS VEGAS—Microsoft Sunday night said its Xbox Live service had become a serious alternative to the cable set-top box for the delivery of video content on demand.
Click for Full Story
CES: Studios see big swell ahead for online distribution
JAN. 7| LAS VEGAS—Top digital executives from four major studios on Monday predicted an explosion of professionally produced video content on the Internet in 2008, driven by improved streaming quality, the proliferation of video-capable devices and the media companies’ need to find new business models for their content.
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