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Paramount done with HD DVD next week
FEB. 28 | The March 4 releases Into the Wild and Things We Lost in the Fire will be Paramount Home Entertainment’s last titles in the HD DVD format, the studio confirmed. The studio pulled the plug on the HD DVD versions of other titles that had been announced for the format, including DreamWorks Animation’s Bee Movie (pictured), due March 11, and Sweeney Todd, due April 1. Their standard DVD versions will come out as planned. More

  • Movie Gallery closer to comeback
    FEB. 28 | As court proceedings continue largely in its favor, Movie Gallery is moving closer to exiting from Chapter 11 and implementing its reorganization plan without much interference.
  • Best Buy restructures management team
    FEB. 28 | FROM TWICE: Best Buy has made a series of executive changes designed to aggressively capitalize on growth opportunities, the company said.
  • Disney joins Band wagon
    FEB. 28 | FROM VARIETY: Disney Interactive Studios on Tuesday unveiled plans for Ultimate Band, a new music simulation it plans to launch in the fall that will compete with Guitar Hero and Rock Band.
  • Redbox will add kiosks at 1,800 Walgreens
    FEB. 27 | Redbox will add kiosks at about 1,800 Walgreens stores in the U.S. by the end of next year, allowing the largest U.S. movie-rental kiosk operator to lengthen its lead over competitors Moviecube and DVDPlay. Redbox tripled its kiosk count last year and currently has about 6,800 machines in the U.S., including about 250 Walgreens machines, the company said in a statement.
  • Netflix boosts subscriber estimates
    FEB. 27 | Netflix said today that its subscriber count will be about 3% higher than previously forecast because of price increases from rival Blockbuster and cheaper online advertising rates. The company also said it would quadruple its Blu-ray selection this year and hinted at a possible partnership with Microsoft.
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Content Agenda

  • NBC revamping fledgling NBC Direct with Pando Networks deal
    First time TV network has used peer-to-peer content-delivery-technology to distribute programming.
  • Comcast admits paying attendees at FCC hearing
    Comcast Corp. admitted yesterday that it paid people to attend a government hearing. Company critics say the freelance attendees were there to crowd them out; Comcast says they were merely saving seats for employees. The five-hour hearing Monday at Harvard University was organized by the Federal Communications Commission to address the issue of net neutrality, a hot-button topic for those who think there should be minimal restrictions on Internet traffic. The topic has drawn wide interest from college students, media-reform groups, and Internet companies.
  • Feds OK Liberty's deal for DirecTV
    Federal regulators have approved a swap that will give Douglas County-based Liberty Media Corp. control over DirecTV, the country's largest satellite TV company.The Federal Communications Commission issued its long-awaited approval of the $12 billion deal this week.It has been more than a year since John Malone's Liberty Media agreed to acquire about a 40 percent stake in DirecTV from Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.This transaction is strategically important, financially attractive and will provide new focus to Liberty Media, Liberty CEO Greg Maffei said in a statement.The deal will put two television services in Puerto Rico under Liberty Media's control. The FCC wants those businesses to be severed within a year.

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DVDIALOG

February 28, 2008
Just a Mongolian Love Song
A singular foreign language entry--and arguably the most “foreign” of f...
More
MEDIA WONK

February 28, 2008
From Y2K to DTV
Standing behind a podium equipped with a countdown clock to next February's cut-off o...
More
RED STATE, BLUE STATE

February 28, 2008
That's Just How the Chips Fall
The death of HD DVD is hurting more than just Toshiba. There are a lot...
More
DISC DISH

February 26, 2008
No HD DVD on There Will Be Blood?
So, a few days ago I told you Amazon had There Will Be Blood listed for pre-order as ...
More
BETWEEN THE LINES

February 22, 2008
Blu-ray should be cooking by Q4
When I was a teenager, my family was a Betamax family. Which was Ok for a while, when...
More
THE DOWN LOW

February 1, 2008
Apple's Air Is Here, Film Rentals Not So Much
Apple has pushed back the launch of its film rental service to sometime in ...
More
» VIEW ALL BLOGS
Cops turns 20
Fox celebrated the Cops: 20th Anniversary DVD with creator John Langley at the Auto Club 500 at the California Speedway on Feb. 24. At the event, Langley was named an honorary race official.
Blood + at WonderCon
Sony hosted a Blood + panel with the voice actors and crew at WonderCon, which took place in San Francisco Feb. 22-24.
Last Emperor event
Image held a reception and screening for The Last Emperor at Hollywood’s Egyptian Theatre on Feb. 19. Emperor will be released by Criterion as a 20th anniversary special edition DVD on Feb. 26.

» VIEW ALL GALLERIES
» VIEW FEATURED GALLERY


Market Data


We Own the Night intrigued renters this week. 


Top DVD Sellers

RANKTITLE
1 AMERICAN GANGSTER
2 MICHAEL CLAYTON
3 TYLER PERRY'S WHY DID I GET MA

Top DVD Rentals

RANKTITLE
1 WE OWN THE NIGHT
2 NO RESERVATIONS
3 THE BRAVE ONE


Source: Rentrak Corp.; week ended 2/23/2008

DVD Reviews



Commentary

2/22/2008
OPINION: Blu blues
Paul Sweeting is editor of Content Agenda
FEB. 22 | The format war has been a remarkable story to cover, not least because it’s a story of how individual companies, pursuing narrow, often parochial interests, led to the industry’s adopting what—I’ll now confess—I’ve always believed is the wrong format.
More

1/11/2008
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: HD DVD vs. Blu-ray
Steve Bliss, Microcinema DVD, Albuquerque, N.M. JAN. 11 | I was a little surprised by Warner’s decision to abandon HD DVD in favor of Blu-ray Disc, but there is no question about its motives.
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