Video Business: Weekly E-News Summary
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The top news and charts for week ending January 28, 2008.

Top Stories

Sony pacts with Hewlett-Packard for manufacturing-on-demand
JAN. 24 | UPDATED: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has inked a deal with Hewlett-Packard to make smaller films from its library available through DVD manufacturing-on-demand, making it the first studio to enter the MOD business.
Click for Full Story

High-def DVD grows at faster pace than standard
JAN. 25 | High-definition DVD player sales during the fourth quarter spiked well above standard DVD at the comparable point in the earlier format’s life cycle.
Click for Full Story

Netflix income up 36% for 2007
JAN. 23 | After a rough-and-tumble year battling Blockbuster Online, Netflix beat analysts expectations, reporting a 6% increase in fourth-quarter earnings and a similar increase in new subscribers during the period.
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Baby Bash goes Wild
At AVN in Las Vegas, Baby Bash and friends promoted Mantra Films’ Girls Gone Wild: Baby Bash Live and Uncensored on Blu-ray and HD DVD, streeting Feb. 12.
Click for more industry photos.
Market Data

"GOOD LUCK CHUCK" leads Top DVD Renters Chart
Full Top DVD Renters Chart

"GOOD LUCK CHUCK" leads Top DVD Sellers Chart
Full Top DVD Sellers Chart

"THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM" leads Top HD DVD Sellers Chart
Full Top HD DVD Sellers Chart

"GOOD LUCK CHUCK" leads Top Blu-ray Sellers Chart
Full Top Blu-ray Sellers Chart

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Renters and buyers went for the easy laugh
with Good Luck Chuck this week. 


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Blogs

SWEETING: Web numbers
Paul Sweeting is editor of Content Agenda

JAN. 25 | The 2008 Digital Music Report released this week by the IFPI, the global music industry association, is a truly remarkable document.
Click for full column

BETWEEN THE LINES: One world? No way
Adding nuance to the day’s home entertainment news, with editor-in-chief Marcy Magiera.

One might assume that the home entertainment business internationally is one big, relatively homogenous market, similar to the U.S. But that would be a mistake.
Click for the full blog

RED STATE, BLUE STATE: Samsung dual format delays Profile 1.1 firmware
Making sense of the high-def battle between the red (HD DVD) and the blue (Blu-ray), with Susanne Ault.

But will it matter? Samsung’s current dual format model, the BD-UP5000, was expected to get firmware in January that would finalize its Profile 1.1 capabilities, including picture-in-picture playback.
Click for the full blog

DISC DISH: Resurrecting the Champ DVD
Notable new releases coming to the DVD front lines, with Samantha Clark.

Here's another Fox title. Resurrecting the Champ, which only grossed $3.1 million in a quick box-office run, will be released April 8 (prebook March 12) on DVD ($27.98).
Click for the full blog

DVDIALOG: Heath Ledger, 1979-2008
Chatting up the creative element, with Laurence Lerman.

As more information on the death of Heath Ledger continues to surface, armchair psychologists are beginning to form their opinions and present their cases on the late actor and what could possibly have driven him to his sad end.
Click for the full blog

THE DOWN LOW: Vudu price magic
The latest buzz on technology, downloads and viral videos.

Fledging movie set-top service Vudu has slashed a little over $100 off its original $399 price. But will the new $295 asking price, effective Jan. 24, make Vudu any more appealing to consumers?
Click for the full blog

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Retail News

WWE builds brand with boutique sections
JAN. 25 | World Wrestling Entertainment is pushing a boutique merchandising strategy to retail nationally in 2008, following F.Y.E.’s success with the concept.
Click for Full Story

Wal-Mart pressing for energy-efficient TVs, ACs by 2010
JAN. 25 | FROM TWICE: Wal-Mart announced a sweeping series of environmental and humanitarian policy changes that will impact its vendors and suppliers worldwide.
Click for Full Story

Netflix income up 36% for 2007
JAN. 23 | After a rough-and-tumble year battling Blockbuster Online, Netflix beat analysts expectations Wednesday, reporting a 6% increase in fourth-quarter earnings and a similar increase in new subscribers during the period.
Click for Full Story

Movie Gallery plans closure of 'several hundred' more stores
JAN. 23 | Movie Gallery filed a motion with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Richmond for permission to spend about $1 million to compensate employees of more stores it plans to close.
Click for Full Story

Apple shares plunge 11%
JAN. 23 | FROM VARIETY: Record revenue and profits and a very healthy first holiday for the iPhone weren’t enough to soothe Apple investors, as lower-than-expected guidance sent the computer and media device maker’s shares plunging 11% in after-hours trading Tuesday. Revenue growth was highest for the computer division, but iPod devices and services provided the majority of Apple’s coin—more than $5 billion during the quarter.
Click for Full Story

Wattles builds 6.5% stake in Circuit City
JAN. 22 | FROM TWICE: Investor and Ultimate Electronics owner Mark Wattles has amassed 11 million shares in Circuit City common stock, giving him a 6.5% stake in the retailer.
Click for Full Story

The format war cost home entertainment in 2007
JAN. 21 | The home entertainment industry suffered its first significant year-to-year decline in consumer spending in 2007, a victim of an overcrowded fourth quarter and the raging high-definition format war. But studio chiefs are heading into 2008 hopeful that growth in high-def will finally make up for losses in the maturing DVD format.
Click for Full Story

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Studio/Supplier News

WWE builds brand with boutique sections
JAN. 25 | World Wrestling Entertainment is pushing a boutique merchandising strategy to retail nationally in 2008, following F.Y.E.’s success with the concept.
Click for Full Story

Image, BTP close to terminating merger
JAN. 25 | BTP Acquisition Co.’s purchase of Image Entertainment appears close to collapse, as both parties are claiming the other is in breach of contract.
Click for Full Story

UMGD adds CEO to Urie position
JAN. 24 | Jim Urie has been promoted to CEO of Universal Music Group Distribution, the parent company to such divisions as DVD label Vivendi Visual Entertainment.
Click for Full Story

Sony releases MTV programs for PSP
JAN. 24 | Sony Computer Entertainment America has licensed MTV programming for viewing on the PlayStation Portable, which represents some of the first new non-Sony product released for the PSP in some time.
Click for Full Story

Sony pacts with Hewlett-Packard for manufacturing-on-demand
JAN. 24 | UPDATED: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has inked a deal with Hewlett-Packard to make smaller films from its library available through DVD manufacturing-on-demand, making it the first studio to enter the MOD business.
Click for Full Story

Internet piracy down in France
JAN. 24 | FROM VARIETY: Internet piracy is down in France, according to a report by research company Gfk. Some 900,000 French households illegally downloaded movies and music last year, down 37% on 2006.
Click for Full Story

Palm Pictures gets Together
JAN. 24 | FROM VARIETY: Palm Pictures has acquired North American and DVD rights of helmers Paul Taylor and Teddy Leifer’s We Are Together, a documentary about a choir of children in a South African orphanage ravaged by AIDS.
Click for Full Story

Sony lifts Schessel to president of worldwide affairs
JAN. 23 | Peter Schlessel has been named president of worldwide affairs at Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Click for Full Story

Oscar nominees line up on DVD release slate
JAN. 22 | One of the leading contenders for this year’s Oscars, No Country For Old Men, is slated to street on Blu-ray Disc and DVD on March 11.
Click for Full Story

It’s not the Web, it’s HBO
JAN. 22 | FROM MULTICHANNEL: HBO is giving its subscribers the opportunity to watch The Wire on their laptops.
Click for Full Story

China’s uphill piracy battle
JAN. 22 | FROM VARIETY: A leading Chinese IPR official has admitted that China is struggling to control online piracy and has called for more muscle and tougher punishments.
Click for Full Story

Oscar nominations announced
JAN. 22 | FROM VARIETY: Paramount Vantage and Miramax scored a double whammy as their No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood led nominations for the 80th annual Academy Awards with eight bids, including best picture. Also nominated for the top prize are Focus Features’ Atonement, Fox Searchlight’s Juno, and Warner Bros.’ Michael Clayton.
Click for Full Story

The format war cost home entertainment in 2007
JAN. 21 | The home entertainment industry suffered its first significant year-to-year decline in consumer spending in 2007, a victim of an overcrowded fourth quarter and the raging high-definition format war. But studio chiefs are heading into 2008 hopeful that growth in high-def will finally make up for losses in the maturing DVD format.
Click for Full Story

Cloverfield devours box office
JAN. 21 | VARIETY BOX OFFICE: Beauty and the beast made the weekend box office look more like summer than the heart of winter as Paramount’s Cloverfield enjoyed a monstrous debut of $41 million—the best January opening ever—and 20th Century Fox’s romantic comedy 27 Dresses fit like a glove in bowing at $22.4 million.
Click for Full Story

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High-Def News

High-def DVD grows at faster pace than standard
JAN. 25 | High-definition DVD player sales during the fourth quarter spiked well above standard DVD at the comparable point in the earlier format’s life cycle.
Click for Full Story

Blu-ray player sales jump after Warner move
JAN. 23 | On the heels of Warner Bros. Entertainment’s end of 2007 announcement about dropping its HD DVD support, Blu-ray Disc set-tops dominated 90% of all high-definition hardware unit sales for the week ended Jan. 12, according to the NPD Group.
Click for Full Story

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Videogames News

Sony releases MTV programs for PSP
JAN. 24 | Sony Computer Entertainment America has licensed MTV programming for viewing on the PlayStation Portable, which represents some of the first new non-Sony product released for the PSP in some time.
Click for Full Story

Wii whips up Nintendo profits
JAN. 24 | FROM VARIETY: Nintendo has revised up its revenue projection for the fiscal year ending in March, while reporting that net profit nearly doubled for the first three quarters of the year, to 258.93 billion yen ($2.4 billion). Sales of Nintendo's Wii console have passed 20 million units worldwide.
Click for Full Story

GameStop to co-sponsor WWE event
JAN. 22 | FROM TWICE: GameStop, the largest video gaming retail chain, will co-sponsor a free public event here next week by World Wrestling Entertainment that will include videogame tournaments, custom DVD giveaways and appearances by celebrity wrestlers.
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VOD News

ITunes rentals difficult to navigate, slow to download
JAN. 25 | TECH REVIEW: DVD retailers have nothing to fear from iTunes offering movie rentals just yet. Although iTunes is a monster in download sales, it doesn’t yet offer the kind of usability you can get from more seasoned online rental companies, such as CinemaNow and Movielink.
Click for Full Story

It’s not the Web, it’s HBO
JAN. 22 | FROM MULTICHANNEL: HBO is giving its subscribers the opportunity to watch The Wire on their laptops.
Click for Full Story

Click for MORE


Technology News

High-def DVD grows at faster pace than standard
JAN. 25 | High-definition DVD player sales during the fourth quarter spiked well above standard DVD at the comparable point in the earlier format’s life cycle.
Click for Full Story

Sony pacts with Hewlett-Packard for manufacturing-on-demand
JAN. 24 | UPDATED: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has inked a deal with Hewlett-Packard to make smaller films from its library available through DVD manufacturing-on-demand, making it the first studio to enter the MOD business.
Click for Full Story

Click for MORE



News Market Data Tipsheet Reviews New Releases Blogs Events Resources Videogames



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