Home Media Magazine - January 20-26, 2008 - (Page 6) NEWS BRIEFS I VIVENDI VISUAL, FONTANA TO DISTRIBUTE EAGLE ROCK Vivendi Visual Entertainment, the nonmusic-DVD unit of Universal Music Group Distribution, has inked an exclusive distribution deal for New York-based Eagle Rock Entertainment’s library of documentaries and comedies. In addition, Universal Music Group’s independent distributor, Fontana, will handle Eagle Rock’s extensive library of high-definition music DVDs and related audio products. – Erik Gruenwedel www.homemediamagazine.com vision broadcast. The $24.95 BCS DVDs include undisclosed special features. The discs were created in partnership with Fox Sports Productions Inc., licensing agent Collegiate Images and the BCS. In addition, WaxWorks next month will release a five-disc set, Daytona 500: 50 Years, The History of Daytona International Speedway, in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the NASCAR Daytona 500, at $59.95. – Erik Gruenwedel Adult Industry Coping With DVD Sales Drop Digital delivery making inroads with set-top box debuting at AVN show By Erik Gruenwedel the choice and let them decide how ADULT Forget the no-show of Club they want to view it,” he said. “Some Jenna (Jameson) at last week’s AVN people want the DVD, others have confab in Las Vegas. Scuttlebutt big screens and want it in HD and among adult producothers don’t want the ers and distributors finished good and preconcerned plummetfer streaming.” ing DVD sales, piracy, Then there is FyreTV. the format war, free com, billed as having content and the industhe adult industry’s try’s first set-top box, first set-top box excluamong other issues. FyreTV.com’s set-top box sively offering hardFaced with a seemcore fare. The Miamiingly unlimited supply of adult con- based broadband service, which is tent, electronic distribution and an in beta testing, will charge users only indifferent consumer, sales of adult DVDs in 2007 saw a precipitous drop, following several years of slow By Erik Gruenwedel decline. ADULT PeachDVD, distributor of nonAlthough official industry figures haven’t been released, consensus hardcore adult DVDs, has begun offeramong exhibitors indicated a 20% ing content, including ringtones and to 30% drop in disc sales compared wallpaper, to the U.S. mobile phone to 2006. market following a soft launch in Steven Hirsch, co-founder and December. CEO of Vivid Entertainment Group, PeachDVD.com’s distribution one of the industry’s top brands and of erotic content to U.S.-based largest DVD producers, said DVD telecommunications services sales dropped as much as 40%. through a partnership with “Vivid [in 2008] will continue to WAAT Media Wireless Enterfocus on video-on-demand (VOD), tainment is considered one mobile and in building Web-based of the first in the industry. subscriptions,” Hirsch said. WAAT claims to have disDigital Playground’s co-founder tribution agreements with 100 mobile and CEO, who goes by the name of operators in 40 countries, including T“Joone,” said advances in technology Mobile in the United States. have mandated distribution across U.S. mobile phone services have multiple formats instead of one. historically opted not to distribute hard“We need to give the consumers I GAMESTOP ENJOYED HOLIDAY CHEER GameStop, the Grapevine, Texas-based video game and entertainment retailer, posted its best holiday-season profits ever, largely thanks to the sales of video game software. “Video game software sales grew by 45%,” said chairman and CEO R. Richard Fontaine. Total sales for GameStop’s nine-week holiday period, which ended Jan. 5, were more than $2.3 billion, a 34.7% increase over the same period the previous year ($1.7 billion). Comparable store-sales increased roughly 20%, the company reported. Full-year comp-store sales grew nearly 25% over the previous year.– Chris Tribbey I KOCH TO DISTRIBUTE INTERNATIONAL MEDIA Koch Entertainment will distribute the properties of International Media LLC. Among International Media’s programs are John Paul II: A Saint for Our Times, The Osmond Family Reunion Concert Special, Celtic Thunder and Ayo: Live From Monte Carlo. – Chris Tribbey for content viewed. Cost of the box, which debuted at the show, was not disclosed. Much of the industry has pledged content to the service, including Pink Visual, a Van Nuys, Calif.based DVD distributor. “I think IPTV is the future and where we’re headed,” said Kim Kysar, distribution operations manager for Pink Visual. “I also think it will be at least five years before people stop buying standard-definition DVDs. Not everyone is interested in See ADULT VIDEO, Page 28 I DIGICORP SUB-LICENSES SPANISH DVDS TO WESTLAKE Marina Del Rey, Calif.-based Digicorp Inc. announced subsidiary Rebel Crew Films has licensed DVD distribution rights to its Spanish-language films to Westlake Entertainment. Westlake will handle sales, production and physical distribution of the 157-title library, distributing catalog product for a fee and new product on a revenue-sharing basis. Digicorp maintains digital distribution and advertising rights. – Billy Gil PEACHDVD GOES MOBILE core content due to decency and user age-verification concerns with the Federal Communications Commission. Mobile customers also will be able to send text messages to their favorite Peach girl. Faced with slowing packagedmedia sales, increasing numbers of adult DVD suppliers are diversifying distribution through streaming, electronic sellthrough and mobile phones. “Entering 2008, allowing consumers to watch videos, play games and even communicate with Peach girls via mobile phones is a significant opportunity to increase revenues, and we look forward to assisting PeachDVD in realizing this opportunity,” said Ryan Jones, VP of marketing for Sherman Oaks, Calif.-based WAAT Media. I PORCHLIGHT GETS ANIMATED CONTENT Three animated children’s TV series have been snapped up by PorchLight Home Entertainment in an exclusive U.S. distribution agreement with Europe’s Granada International. The series are Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids, Funky Valley and Funky Town – Chris Tribbey I WAXWORKS WILL RELEASE BCS, NASCAR DVDS Distributor WaxWorks Feb. 26 will release separately on DVD all four Bowl Championship Series (BCS) college football games from their original Fox tele- PRICING TRENDS FOR TV DVD MULTIDISC SETS SUGGESTED RETAIL PRICE AVERAGES: 2002-2007 After dropping annually since 2002, the price for new TV DVD multidisc sets abruptly went sideways in 2007. After dropping $15.80 per SKU, or 27.3% between 2002 and 2006, the market price for a TV DVD set appears to have plateaued in 2007 — holding steady in the $42 range. Since TV DVD is likely to be fan-driven, it makes little sense for suppliers to drive the price much lower. An inelastic demand curve doesn’t create significantly greater unit sales as the price is lowered. This suggests that for 2008, pricing for TV DVD releases should remain stable and behave much like special interest product. — Ralph Tribbey $57.97 $60.00 $55.00 $50.00 $45.00 $40.00 $35.00 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 $53.92 $49.80 $45.61 $42.17 $42.76 Image Merger: Another Delay, Another $1 Million By Erik Gruenwedel SUPPLIER BTP Acquisition Company LLC is apparently acquiring home entertainment distributor Image Entertainment Inc. in incremental payments of $1 million. Chatsworth, Calif.based Image said it would extend from Jan. 14 to Feb. 1 the closing date for the protracted transaction with BTP that is spearheaded by film financier David Bergstein. The latest extension continues a series of delays regarding the $132 million deal originally announced last March. The deal includes $95 million in cash, assumption of a $9 * Price averages are for new release SKUs and are based upon the supplier’s SRP. I THIS WEEK’S RELEASE ACTIVITY FOR DVD Titles in Release Through Week Ended Jan. 11, 2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Total Net DVD Titles Announced and/or In Release Through June 30, 2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81,629+417 82,062+320 I THIS WEEK’S RELEASE ACTIVITY FOR BLU-RAY As of Week Ended Jan. 11 . . . . .Released I THIS WEEK’S RELEASE ACTIVITY FOR HD DVD Scheduled As of Week Ended Jan. 11 . . . . .Released 383 Scheduled 36 million replication advance from Sonopress LLC and the repayment of about $24 million of Image debt. In granting the delay, BTP agreed to deposit $1 million with Image, which last year received $2 million from BTP deposited in a trust account. The transaction appeared to be in jeopardy only last month when BTP said it was entertaining acquiring Image shares on the open market rather than paying the pending merger cash share price of $4.68. Image in the second quarter (which ended Sept. 30) reported a loss of $3.6 million on revenue of $21.6 million. Home Media Magazine January 20–26, 2008 http://www.homemediamagazine.com
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