Home Media Magazine - January 13-19, 2007 - (Page 6)

NEWS PEOPLE I B&T CEO RESIGNS Richard Willis has resigned as CEO and chairman of distributor Baker & Taylor. Board member Jack Eugster has been appointed as chairman. Arnie Wight will continue to serve as the company’s senior operating ofﬁcer. Eugster was chairman, CEO and president of Musicland Stores from 1980 to 2001, and from 2001 to 2005 he was chairman of discount chain Shopko Stores. – Chris Tribbey www.homemediamagazine.com Gallery Losses Continue By Erik Gruenwedel RETAIL Bankruptcy protection apparently can’t shield Movie Gallery Inc. from market reality as it posted a loss of $80.7 million for the period from Oct. 16 (when it filed Chapter 11) to Dec. 2, 2007. The Dothan, Ala.-based No. 2 rental chain, whose stock has been de-listed from Nasdaq, said its Hollywood Video stores lost $53.5 million compared to Gallery locations, which lost $27.2 million, according to a regulatory filing. Gallery posted revenue of more than $295 million for the period, which included $207.5 million from Holly- BRIEFS I ECHO BRIDGE GETS FINANCING FROM JPMORGAN Independent ﬁlm and DVD distribution company Echo Bridge Entertainment has secured a new ﬁnancing arrangement with JPMorgan Securities to fund its aggressive acquisitions strategy for 2008 and beyond. – Thomas K. Arnold wood stores and nearly $88 million from Gallery. Indeed, Gallery, which last month said it plans to exit from bankruptcy as early as the second quarter with a new fiscal plan, posted net income from Nov. 4 to Dec. 2 of more than $36 million. In addition, Gallery paid $2.2 million in fees to several companies, including New York-based turnaround specialist Alvarez & Marsal. Finally, Mark Loyd, EVP and chief marketing officer, Todd Page, EVP, secretary and general counsel, and board members John Jump and James Lockwood, sold a combined 100,000 shares of common stock for $1,000, or a penny per share. I DVD-ON-DEMAND DISPLAYED AT CES Primera Technology Inc., Sonic Solutions and TitleMatch Entertainment demonstrated the ﬁrst fully functional Qﬂix DVD-on-demand system at CES and showed off the TitleMatch DVD-onDemand kiosk, which lets retail customers use a touchscreen to select movies and home entertainment that are burned to a disc for the consumer. Primera, a developer of disc replication systems, says the kiosk DVDs offer the same level of playback as mass-produced titles. The Bravo XRP Disc Publisher features two of Pioneer’s BDC-202MR optical drives for fast recording, as well as the encryption of Sonics’ Qﬂix recordable CSS technology. – John Latchem I NEW LINE UPS ABELE New Line Home Entertainment has promoted Laura Abele to SVP of marketing. “Laura’s leadership and dedication to the company are invaluable as we continue to take home entertainment into the next generation,” said New Line’s EVP of marketing Matt Lasorsa. Abele will oversee marketing of New Line’s standard deﬁnition, high-deﬁnition and catalog releases. She joined New Line in 1998, helping over the years to market such titles as Hairspray, The Notebook and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. – Billy Gil Circuit City December Sales No Gift By Erik Gruenwedel RETAIL Circuit City Stores Inc. December 2007 net sales dropped 8.9% to $1.92 billion, compared to $2.1 billion in December 2006. The Richmond, Va.-based No. 2 CE retailer said same-store U.S. sales (open at least 12 months) declined 12.2% to $1.81 billion. International comp sales increased 6.5% to $110 million, from $90 million, due primarily to the weakening dollar. “Our sales performance, while disappointing, was in line with our expectations,” said Philip Schoonover, chairman, president and CEO. Primary culprits included doubledigit sales declines in hardware (TVs, DVD players, satellite radio, digital imaging and camcorders) offset by sales increases in flat-panel TVs. Packaged-media sales, led by CDs and DVD, declined by a “high single-digit” percentage. Video game sales increased by double digits. Service-based revenue, which included Firedog, jumped 15% to $28.7 million, from $25 million in 2006. Circuit City, which posted a loss of $207.3 million for Q3 (ended Nov. 30), projects a “moderate” loss for Q4. The CEO said the company will continue attempts to build margins by ongoing training of its sales force, marketing and pricing discipline, and achieving targeted cost reductions, among other measures. “Our efforts to turn around the business have led to greater disruption than we anticipated,” Schoonover said. “We continue to believe that we are on the right path to return to sustainable, profitable growth.” I ONLINE HOLIDAY SPENDING UP FOR 2007 A report from online market tracking ﬁrm comScore.com shows 2007 holiday season e-commerce spending for video game products jumped 129% over the comparable period in 2006. CE spending jumped 23%, while music and home video rose 13%. For the period between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31, online spending in all retail categories totaled $29.2 billion, up 19% from 2006. The 19% still fell short of comScore’s 2007 forecast, which anticipated a 20% growth, according to comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni. The largest single day for online shopping, with $881 million in sales, was Dec. 10, dubbed Green Monday. The total is up 33% over 2006. Online spending on Thanksgiving also rose signiﬁcantly, up 29% over 2006. – John Latchem CEA’S SHAPIRO: CE INDUSTRY IS STILL GROWING By Erik Gruenwedel GATES BIDS CES ADIEU By Erik Gruenwedel L AS VEGAS — The domestic market for consumer electronics appears strong, according to Gary Shapiro, CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). Speaking prior to the opening International CES keynote, Shapiro said broadband connections in U.S. homes grew 22% in 2007, and sales of portable GPS navigation devices led all CE products with a 145% increase in 2007. Shapiro said the CEA projects sales of consumer electronics in the United States will top $171 billion in 2008, up 6% from nearly $162 billion in 2007. He said the average American home now contains 25 CE devices. “Even with an uncertain economy, consumers continue to demand our products,” Shapiro said. Indeed, Shapiro warned the upcoming presidential election, concerns about immigration and the credit crunch have resulted in emerging political winds favoring protectionism over free trade. He said free trade is critical to the CE industry and U.S. technological leadership. In 2006, exports of U.S.-made technology products surpassed $220 billion. L AS VEGAS — As a 10-time keynote speaker at CES, Microsoft co-founder and chairman Bill Gates has seen and been part of his share of CE hype. So it was perhaps fitting as pre-show keynote speaker Jan. 6, Gates pulled out the stops in announcing the show will be his last, as he is retiring. A humorous video depicted Microsoft personnel describing their visions of Gates’ last day in the office. Actors, musicians, directors and politicians from George Clooney, Jay-Z and Bono to Steven Spielberg, Hillary Clinton, Barrack Obama and Jon Stewart poked fun at Gates’ fictitious attempts at getting into shape, acting, music and politics. While there was no mention of Warner Bros.’ decision to support Blu-ray Disc exclusively (Microsoft backs HD DVD), executives touted 17.7 million Xbox 360 units shipped to date. See GATES, Page 22 NEW THEATRICAL RELEASES ON DVD ANNUAL OUTPUT: 1997-2007* New Released on DVD Total Not On Percent Year Theatrical 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008* DVD DVD Released There was some doom and gloom as the DVD sales results for 2007 were posted by DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group — down $600 million in sales revenue, or a 3.6% dip compared to 2006. Chicken Little was having a field day … the sky is falling! It has been easy to ride the wave of household penetration to new DVD sales records each year, but that ride is over. Theaters rode that same wave in the 1930s and ‘40s and saw competition spell its doom (more than once). TV meant the end of theaters. If not that, then certainly VHS did. Or DVD. Or downloads. But guess what? The domestic box office set records in 2007, while DVD dipped. Theaters saw 543 new releases and a bump in overall box office of roughly 5%. So take heart. — Ralph Tribbey 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Totals 361 341 420 436 391 414 405 459 524 582 593 4,926 18 – – – – – – – – – – 18 95 74 – – – – – – – – – 44 138 30 26 21 14 14 21 7 9 31 28 15 16 8 27 12 10 7 7 12 17 15 14 7 6 6 13 17 8 4 4 3 2 2 8 18 3 3 2 3 1 – 5 1 17 1 – – – – – – – – 4 84 89 296 305 343 372 357 385 377 427 473 527 371 4,233 65 36 77 64 34 29 28 32 51 55 222 693 82.0% 89.4% 81.7% 85.3% 91.3% 93.0% 93.1% 93.0% 90.3% 90.5% 62.6% 85.9% 111 173 – – – – – – – – 132 182 – – – – – – – 136 173 – – – – – – I EMA SCHOLARSHIP TURNS 28 The Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA) is now accepting applications for scholarships under the EMA Scholarship Foundation. This is the 28th anniversary of the program, and the scholarships are available to incoming and current college students from families who are a part of EMA. – Chris Tribbey 153 200 – – – – – 168 179 – – – – 205 203 – – – 239 217 – – 302 221 – 287 169 293 361 367 394 462 449 520 568 543 * Titles for 2008 include those scheduled but not yet released on DVD I THIS WEEK’S RELEASE ACTIVITY FOR DVD Titles in Release Through Week Ended Jan. 4, 2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81,212+413 Total Net DVD Titles Announced and/or In Release Through June 30, 2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81,742+531 I THIS WEEK’S RELEASE ACTIVITY FOR HD DVD Scheduled I HIT’S LUCKWELL EXITS HIT Entertainment’s director of operations, Mike Luckwell, is leaving the company to join media investment ﬁrm Ingenious Media Active Capital as its chairman. The change is effective Jan. 26. – Chris Tribbey I THIS WEEK’S RELEASE ACTIVITY FOR BLU-RAY As of Week Ended Jan. 4 . . . . . .Released As of Week Ended Jan. 4 . . . . . .Released 377 Scheduled 40 Home M http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://comScore.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Home Media Magazine - January 13-19, 2007

Home Media Magazine - January 13-19, 2007 Contents News TV DVD Cine Mercado Reviews Research Top 20 DVD Sellers Just Announced Christian Entertainment Review

Home Media Magazine - January 13-19, 2007

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.