Home Media Magazine - January 13-19, 2007 - (Page 1)

JANUARY 13–19, 2008 >> ELECTRO N IC DELIVERY Blockbuster to Up Digital Distribution By Erik Gruenwedel lockbuster Inc. is considering offering movie rentals to a Flash memory stick for playback in portable devices. The Dallas-based No. 1 DVD rental company is working on distributing rentals via the MicroSD chip in which content is downloaded (“sideloaded”) and played on a cell phone, PC or television. Content would likely be downloaded from recent acquisition elec- B BRINGING DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT TO YOU tronic service Movielink. “It is a possibility,” said CEO Jim Keyes. Speaking Jan. 9 at an investor conference in Scottsdale, Ariz., Keyes said CES underscored to him the belief that entertainment and portability are no longer fiction. He said the evolution of delivering content to portable devices represented a challenge to all facets of entertainment. See BLOCKBUSTER, Page 23 INSIDE >> HD Comcast Cabler announces four-minute HD download. >> TAVI Player TAVI’s media player will play CinemaNow content. PAGE 10 Spending For 2007 Dips 2% By Thomas K. Arnold AS VEGAS — It wasn’t as bad as many feared. That’s the official verdict on 2007, as final figures show consumers spent $23.7 billion renting and buying home entertainment software, 2% less than the previous year. Figures compiled I TV DVD unit by DEG: The Digisales up 3%, tal Entertainment see page 12 Group on behalf of the studios show consumers spent $16 billion on buying DVDs in 2007, down from $16.6 billion in 2006. Next-generation media sales, both of Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD, added another $300 million to the pie, while the rental business was flat at $7.5 billion. “Consumer appetite for DVD is still very strong,” said DEG executive director Amy Jo Smith, noting that DVD generated more cash in 2007 See DEG, Page 22 >> HIGH-DEF CES a Blu-ray Blowout By Thomas K. Arnold in Hollywood, was dumping HD and Erik Gruenwedel DVD, backers of the ToshibaAS VEGAS — What championed next-generation forwas supposed to mat abruptly canceled be a showdown I For more CES a Sunday-night gala between the two rival coverage please at which they were to high-definition disc for- see pages 6, 8, 10 trumpet upcoming mats at the Consumer HD DVD releases and Electronics Show turned into a preview the latest innovations in victory celebration by the Blu-ray special features. As a result, supporters of the SonyThe Blu Team (L-R): Warner’s Ron Sand- Disc camp. Stung by the announcement developed Blu-ray Disc seized the ers, Sony’s David Bishop, Lionsgate’s Steve Beeks, Fox’s Danny Kaye, the BDA’s Andy that Warner Home Video, the big- moment to proclaim victory and all gest home entertainment player See HIGH-DEF, Page 24 Parsons and Disney’s Bob Chapek. L L (L-R): Don Eklund, SPHE; critic Leonard Maltin; Lexine Wong, SPHE; Amy Pascal, SPE; producer Dean Devlin; David Bishop, SPHE; Michael Lynton, SPE. BLU-RAY DISCS SPIN TO THE WEB By Thomas K. Arnold and Stephanie Prange Warner, New Line, HBO Turn Blu By Thomas K. Arnold wo more dominos have fallen. A New Line Home Entertainment spokesman confirms reports that the mini-major is fol- Transformers AS VEGAS — For Blu-ray Disc supporters, it’s all about interactivity. Flush with a feeling of victory after Warner Home Video ditched HD DVD, leaving the underdog next-generation format with just two of the six major studios in its camp, the Blu-ray studios are now bent on playing catch-up. HD DVD, after all, came to market nearly two years ago with all its interactive features operational. Not so for Blu-ray, which was rushed to market in essentially a half-baked form two months after HD DVD’s April 2006 launch. Early Blu-ray Disc releases didn’t feature much in the way of extras. Only last November did Panasonic release the first Blu-ray player capable of picture-in-picture, and it See BD-LIVE, Page 24 L T lowing distributor Warner Home Video’s lead in abandoning HD DVD and releasing all future nextgeneration titles only in the Bluray Disc format. And HBO Video president Hen- ry McGee says HBO, too, is “following the same policy as Warner Home Video.” Warner Jan. 4 stunned the industry on the eve of the Consumer See WARNER, Page 23 H IG H-DE F MAR KET S HAR E Blu-ray and HD DVD Sales Comparison as of 1/6/08 Week Ended 1/6 Year-to-Date I Blu-ray I HD DVD INSIDE >> Panasonic’s Big Screen The company announces a 150-inch plasma HDTV at CES. >> HD DVD Lives On Samsung keeps producing its dualformat player. PAGE 8 Since Inception 35% 65% 65% 35% 62% 38% Source: Nielsen VideoScan: First Alert data NEWS Movie Gallery’s woes continue — the bankrupt company posted a quarterly loss of $80.7 million. PRODUCT Director Pablo Veliz discusses his latest immigrant drama, Clemente, in our Cine Mercado section. RESEARCH Sony Pictures’ Resident Evil: Extinction and Lionsgate’s War battled it out atop the charts, with Evil taking sales and War rentals. Page 6 Page 14 Page 20

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Home Media Magazine - January 13-19, 2007

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