Home Media Magazine - January 6-12, 2008 - (Page 8) YEAR IN REVIEW » Compiled by Erik Gruenwedel JANUARY Citing consumer appeal for its Total Access online rental, in-store return service, Blockbuster Inc. says online rental subscribers topped the 2006 year-end goal of 2 million members. The company projects 4 million subs by end of 2007. Netflix launches “Watch Now,” a movie-streaming model for PCs. It ends 2006 having reached a goal of 6.3 million subscribers. Sony Computer Entertainment America says it shipped more than 1 million units of the PlayStation 3 video game console to North American retailers by the end of 2006. A Massachusetts federal court temporarily halts The Weinstein Co.’s plan to include an 800 number in the company’s rental titles (distributed by Genius Products LLC) that are provided exclusively to Blockbuster Inc. Electronic sellthrough pioneer CinemaNow announces an updated alliance with Intel Corp. that allows consumers using PCs equipped with Intel Viiv technology the ability to legally burn movies to DVD discs for playback on standard DVD players. Hoping to better exploit its TV series, from classics such as “Star Trek” to current hits such as “Jericho” and “Criminal Minds,” CBS Corp. forms a DVD unit and licensing and merchandising division. Movie Gallery reports a net loss of $36.1 million for the period ended Oct. 1, 2006, compared to a $12.5 million loss in thirdquarter 2005. The company acknowledges difficulties overcoming $1.1 billion in debt from its Hollywood Video acquisition. » Sales of adult-themed DVDs dropped 12% in 2006, to $3.86 billion, from $4.28 billion in 2005, according to data compiled by Adult Video News. Sony Corp. unveils a cheaper ($599) Bluray Disc player with 1080p resolution — $400 less than the original BDP-S1 at $999. Former peer-to-peer copyright pirate BitTorrent bows a legitimate download movie rental and TV episode purchase site. Movie Gallery purchases digital rental service MovieBeam for about $10 million. Viacom Inc. files a copyright infringement lawsuit seeking more than $1 billion in damages against Google Inc. and unit YouTube. No. 2 rental chain Movie Gallery completes restructuring of more than $900 million in debt. Revenue from pay-per-view, video-on-demand (VOD), downloads, mobile video and DVD is expected to surpass $277 billion by 2010, according to a study by iSuppli Corp. In what is billed as the first direct-to-video title on Blu-ray Disc, Lionsgate says it will release two “Ultimate Avengers” animated films on one disc. Pressed by internal research that finds an increasing number of its customers using online movie-rental services, Movie Gallery Inc. says it will launch an online rental service by the summer. Blockbuster Inc. chairman and CEO John Antioco says he is leaving the company by the end of the year. Seeking to usurp YouTube’s social video networking dominance and better control dissemination of its own content online, NBC Universal and News Corp. say they will bow a Web-based video network. Bandai Visual USA, a subsidiary of Japanese-based anime creator Bandai Visual Co. Ltd., says will release its first HD DVD title, Freedom Vol. 1, in June. » » » 2 » » » YouTube.com removes about 100,000 clips » of copyrighted Viacom programming, which includes MTV Networks shows and Paramount Pictures films. Viacom later sues YouTube parent, Google Inc., for copyright violations. Nine-store Video Depot of Palm Desert, Calif., opens a kiosk-only location, dubbed Video Depot 24/7. Lionsgate executives are upbeat regarding tests with Comcast in which movies are released simultaneously on video-on-demand and DVD. The Santa Monica, Calif.-based mini-major becomes the third studio to offer movie downloads on Apple’s iTunes. Image Entertainment posts a third-quarter loss of $3.4 million, compared to income of $2.3 million during the same period the previous year. The Blu-ray Disc Association investigates claims a hacked Blu-ray version of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment’s Ice Age: The Meltdown appeared on file-sharing network BitTorrent. Blockbuster Inc. says it will sell 29 company-owned Australian stores and master franchise rights to 341 licensed locations. 1 » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » FEBRUARY MARCH » » » 1: Sony’s PS3 2: Viacom, which includes programming from Paramount (“SpongeBob SquarePants”) and MTV, sues Google 3: Sony Pictures’ Casino Royale Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger says the studio sold 1.3 million feature film downloads on iTunes since October 2006. Sluggish sales of PlayStation 3 result in a $442 million operating loss for video game division Sony Computer Entertainment and drag down Sony Corp. profits 5% in the third quarter. Ad-supported online television and video is projected to generate $6.3 billion in revenue by 2012 — about 10 times the revenue in 2006, according to research firm Informa Telecoms & Media. The DVD Release Report says there were 129 Blu-ray titles released to HD DVD’s 140 in 2006. Through January, however, Blu-ray suppliers release almost double the number of HD DVD titles. Circuit City Stores says it will shutter seven superstores and one distribution center in the United States, in addition to 62 stores in Canada. Wal-Mart unveils a beta download movie service and Amazon announces a deal to put its Unbox service on TiVo’s set-top box. MGM jumps into the direct-to-video business, hiring Jason Weiss to oversee a new division charged with the development and production of 12 or more films annually. Movie Gallery refinances more than $1 billion in debt following a commitment with Goldman Sachs Credit Partners. » Blockbuster CEO John Antioco reiterates to analysts that there will be more than 4 million Total Access subscribers by the end of the year. Paramount Pictures creates a direct-tovideo film unit run by Louis Feola, former president of what is now Universal Studios Home Entertainment. The National Association of Video Distributors sends a letter to Genius Products complaining about its exclusive DVD rental release deal with Blockbuster Inc. on Weinstein Co. titles. » » APRIL » » Sony Pictures Home Entertainment says it has shipped more than 100,000 units of Casino Royale on Blu-ray Disc in North America, just nine months after the optical-disc format was introduced. » » » » » 3 8 Home Media Magazine January 6–12, 2008 http://YouTube.com
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