Home Media Magazine - January 13-19, 2007 - (Page 24)

NEWS Trans World Eyes Blu-ray as DVD Savior By Erik Gruenwedel RETAIL Jim Litwak, president and COO of Trans World Entertainment Corp., showed little hesitation applauding Warner Bros.’ decision to exclusively support Blu-ray Disc “Finally, the customer has an understanding of where this business is going to go and will not be confused,” Litwak told investors last week. “Blu-ray becomes the new www.homemediamagazine.com Revenue for the nine-week period fell 19% to $378 million, from $469 million, while revenue for the fiveweek period plummeted 24% to $269 million, from $368 million the previous year. Revenue was generated by 14% fewer stores (138) than the previous year. As a result, officials said they expect the company to post a loss from $15 million to $20 million for fiscal 2007. BD-Live Bows Continued from page 1 wasn’t until this week that Panasonic and Sony said plans for a “final spec” Blu-ray player are in the works for this year, offering both picture-in-picture and BD-Live, which lets viewers connect to the Internet for a variety of interactive options, from downloading new trailers and additional content to playing multiplayer video games (see stories, page 8.) At last October’s Blu-ray Disc Festival in Hollywood, several studios mentioned plans to include the picture-in-picture, or Bonus View, option on upcoming Blu-ray Disc releases, such as 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment’s Sunshine. But it wasn’t until CES that Blu-ray’s interactive potential was really thrust into the spotlight. Now that HD DVD is all but vanquished, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment worldwide president David Bishop said at one of several Blu-ray press conferences and events at CES, “we’re ready for the next phase — to really start to develop interactivity.” At a Sony press event, Bishop and his team focused on BD-Live, considered the Cadillac of Blu-ray’s interactive potential. Sony plans to use BD Live to allow consumers to play games, hear live commentary and even create their own avatars to insert into a film, among other networking activities. Sony’s EVP of advanced technologies, Don Eklund, demonstrated downloading a lowres movie on a Blu-ray Disc to the PlayStation Portable through the PlayStation 3. He also demonstrated sending a ring tone to a phone through a connected Blu-ray Disc. “The evidence is growing at a rather rapid rate that Blu-ray is dominating the field,” said critic Leonard Maltin, who hosted the event. He interviewed producer Dean Devlin about the benefits of digital filmmaking and Blu-ray. Devlin also praised the interactivity options on the new high-def format. “It’s just going to expand that universe so much more,” he said. “[A film] is no longer frozen in time,” Maltin added. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, too, plans on including both picture-in-picture and BD-Live on upcoming Blu-ray Disc releases. Interactive content now in the pipeline includes virtual games, full motion picture-in-picture and online shopping capabilities. Sleeping Beauty, the first animated classic to appear on Blu-ray (a release is planned for the fall of 2008), will use BD-Live technology to offer a Virtual Castle as well as the interactive game “Maleficent’s Challenge.” Worldwide president Bob Chapek anticipates the disc will “allow consumers to create an entirely new home entertainment experience.” DVD format, which is particularly exciting. We like that a lot.” He said Blu-ray would help Trans World grow the DVD category in 2008. “Frankly, we saw confusion [among HD packaged media] this whole year,” Litwak said. Albany, N.Y.-based Trans World, which operates the f.y.e., Suncoast, Wherehouse and Second Spin retail brands, could use the help. Sales of music CDs and DVD movies continued to struggle at retail as Trans World reported a 12% decline in comparable-store sales (open at least 12 months) for the nine-week holiday shopping period ended Jan. 5, compared to the same period the previous year. Comp sales in December through Christmas fared worse, falling 13% from the previous year. High-Def Format War Blindsided by Warner at 2008 CES Continued from page 1 but pronounce the format war over. At Sony Electronics’ Jan. 6 pre-show CES presentation, Sony Corp. chairman and CEO Howard Stringer could barely contain his glee. “As you can probably guess, all of us at Sony are feeling Blu today,” Stringer said to laughter. “And that’s a good feeling.” Stringer thanked Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes and chairman Barry Meyer for making what he called the best decision in the long term for the consumer. He also gave kudos to longtime Blu-ray supporters Bob Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Co.; Rupert Murdoch and Peter Chernin, chairman/CEO and president/COO, respectively, at News Corp., parent of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment; and Lionsgate and MGM. “I don’t know if that’s the reason for the full house, and I’m sure you want me to say more,” Stringer said. “But I won’t.” David Bishop, worldwide president of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, said Warner’s decision will help change Sony’s focus. “Now our message to the consumer will be [about] converting from DVD to Blu-ray and not this message … that has basically been that our format is better than their format,” Bishop said. Later that night, a Blu-ray Disc party that had been hastily assembled and slotted for the same time as the HD DVD gala drew a standingroom-only crowd. Ardent Blu-ray supporter Bob Chapek, president of Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, said the home entertainment industry now has a real chance of resuming the growth trajectory that had stalled with the maturing of the DVD business. “Blu-ray adoption will be key to category growth and revitalizing our business,” he said. The Blu-ray booth (left) featured crowds while the HD DVD booth (right) was relatively deserted during the Consumer Electronics Show. “The same thing happened with VHS: People stopped buying the old format and waited for the next. As there was uncertainty, consumers held off. … But now consumer indecisiveness is severely mitigated, and they can buy Blu-ray with confidence.” Left with just two out of six major studios, the battered HD DVD side remained defiant, with Toshiba VP of marketing Jodi Sally saying at the Japanese consumer electronics maker’s Sunday pre-CES press conference, “This is a tough day for me. [But] we firmly believe HD DVD is the best format for the consumer.” She noted that while press reports have all but declared the format war over, “We have been declared dead before.” Citing third-party data from The NPD Group, Sally said HD DVD players represented more than 49% of all high-definition players sold through Dec. 22. The NPD Group numbers apparently don’t include sales of the Sony PlayStation 3 console, which features a Blu-ray drive. HD DVD-supporting studio Universal also stood behind the format. “Contrary to unsubstantiated rumors from unnamed sources, Universal’s current plan is to continue to support the HD DVD format,” said Ken Graffeo, EVP of HD strategic marketing, Universal Studios Home Entertainment and co-president of the HD DVD Promotional Group. Akio Ozaka, head of Toshiba America Consumer Products, said the company was surprised by Warner’s announcement. “We were particularly disappointed that the decision was made in spite of the significant momentum HD DVD has gained,” Ozaka said. He said HD DVD player sales had their best sales ever in the fourth quarter. An analysis by Home Media Magazine’s market research department, working with The Redhill Group, found that Blu-ray Disc software enjoyed a 64% sales majority in calendar 2007, selling through to consumers 5.7 million discs, to 3.2 million for HD DVD. Since inception, consumers have bought 6 million Blu-ray Discs and 3.7 million HD DVDs, while in the four-week period ended Dec. 30, 2007 consumers bought 1.7 million Blu-ray Discs and 979,000 HD DVDs. At a Blu-ray Disc press conference Monday evening, on the show’s official opening day, the Blu-ray Disc studio presidents were joined for the first time by Ron Sanders, president of Warner Home Video. Presidents predicted a swift end to the format war and said it is essential for them to refocus their energy on educating consumers about high-def media. Danny Kaye of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment predicted that in 2008, consumer spending on Bluray disc software will hit $1 billion, and an estimated 10 million Blu-ray playback devices, including PlayStation 3 consoles, will be in U.S. homes. Speakers at the Blu-ray event also said that while Blu-ray awareness among consumers was 26% at the end of 2006, it’s now at 80%. In response to a question from a member of the audience about whether Warner had been paid by Blu-ray to drop its support for HD DVD, Sanders chuckled and said, “I wish.” “Any payment would just be a drop compared to getting it wrong in the consumer marketplace,” he said. Also at CES, Panasonic announced the upcoming release of the industry’s first BD-Live (or Profile 2.0) player, which allows users to connect to the Internet to further enhance their viewing experience. In the future, once BD-Live discs become commonplace, users will be able to connect to the Web to download images and subtitles, and to join in multiplayer interactive games that are linked to bonus movie content on the disc. No release date has been set for Panasonic’s new DMP-BD50. Just two months ago, Panasonic released the first Profile 1.1 player, with picture-in-picture capability “Panasonic was the first to bring a Blu-ray player with Bonus View (Final Standard Profile 1.1) to market, and now with the DMP-BD50 we are again leading the industry with the inclusion of BD-Live,” said Gene Kelsey, VP of Panasonic’s entertainment group. Sony also plans on releasing two new players in 2008 with BD-Live and picture-in-picture capability. Disney, Sony and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment also each announced major Blu-ray Disc product initiatives for 2008 (see ch http://www.homemediamagazine.com

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Home Media Magazine - January 13-19, 2007

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