Home Media Magazine - February 24, 2008 - (Page 8) NEWS PEOPLE I WARNER PROMOTES JUNGE Jeff Junge has been designated VP of business management for Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group. He will report to Kevin Tsujihara, president of the company, and will work to increase the company’s operations and profitability. Junge, former VP of corporate business development and strategy, has been with the company since 2000. – Ruby Cardenas www.homemediamagazine.com Genius Moving Beyond DVD Supplier eyes digital, licensing, games and music By Erik Gruenwedel “The primary difference will be that we won’t have SUPPLIER While heralding Blu-ray’s win over HD to invest as much in our physical distribution sysDVD as a big step for retail, Genius Products Inc. tem,” Drinkwater said. “We believe we can expand said it is looking to grow digital distribution and ex- into games, licensing and digital music, based on the pand into licensing, video games and music, among current relationships we have with our retailers.” other areas. At the same time, Genius is redoubling efforts to Speaking last week at an investor summit in Dana maximize distribution agreements with Wal-Mart, Point, Calif., CEO Trevor Drinkwater said digital Target, Blockbuster and Best Buy — its biggest retail distribution has caused confusion accounts. regarding how big it would be and Genius had almost $200 million what kind of impact it would have in receivables from Wal-Mart and on retail. Best Buy at the end of the third “That has had an influence on our quarter. business and impacted consumer laHe said Wal-Mart continues to agtency in 2007 as they wondered what gressively price DVD into 2008. At was going on,” Drinkwater said. “We the same time, Genius ships boxes believe that the path is now clear.” daily to Wal-Mart that are not full, a «WE BELIEVE WE CAN The executive said managing a situation Drinkwater would like to EXPAND INTO GAMES, digital distribution deal with Apple, remedy by acting as a conduit for LICENSING AND DIGITAL Microsoft, CinemaNow or Movielink content partners looking to get into MUSIC, BASED ON THE is no different than DVD with WalCURRENT RELATIONSHIPS the retail behemoth. Mart or Best Buy. Both, he said, “The more we can put in that WE HAVE WITH OUR require managing long-term relabox, the more efficient we become,” RETAILERS.» tionships. Drinkwater said. “We really like TREVOR DRINKWATER “You don’t just do a deal with partners who [can] have multiple iTunes and walk away,” Drinkwater said. touch points with consumers through retail. We Specifically, the CEO said Genius is working with think we can provide a very interesting role for brands such as World Wrestling Entertainment and them.” Sesame Street to expand their content beyond pack“[Wal-Mart] performs well in recession and our aged media and into electronic sellthrough, licens- business performs well in recession,” he said. “Renting, games and music. ing or buying a DVD is still a pretty cheap way to get He said the Santa Monica, Calif.-based distributor entertainment. It is also important that our content has digital rights to most of its licensed content, partners have as wide a distribution footprint as including feature films from The Weinstein Co. possible.” Study: DVR Use Extends TV Viewing Times By Erik Gruenwedel ncreased use of digital video recorders (DVRs) has expanded the prime-time network TV period beyond its traditional 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. time slot, according to a new report from the Nielsen Co. The company said total TV usage in November, which included live viewing plus DVR playback, increased 3% at 9 p.m. and 5% from 11 p.m. to midnight, compared to the same period in 2005, when DVR penetration was low. The study found that viewers increasingly watched recorded programming later in the evening, with DVR playback peaking from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m., when 11% of the coveted 18-to-49-year-old demographic tunes in. From 11 p.m. to midnight, 7% of viewers watch recorded programming. Nielsen said DVR use is split among three groups, led by middleincome women (heavy shifters) who record nearly 26 hours — about 50% of their weekly viewing — a week. By comparison, middle-income males rarely time-shift TV programming. Medium shifters record 30% of their TV programming. Interestingly, light shifters include viewers with incomes above $100,000 who comprise 70% of the DVR market and are most likely to own an HDTV, yet record just 10% of their TV programming. The least-recorded programming includes news, sports and movies, while serial dramas “House,” “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Heroes” are the most recorded. I I VPD PROMOTES THREE Folsom, Calif.-based Video Products Distributors (VPD) has announced three promotions of longtime executives. Don Kosler has been named director of sales. Don Rood has been named director of business development. Laurie Tramel was named director of distribution. – Billy Gil I BULZONI RETURNS TO YORK York Entertainment has appointed Steven Bulzoni to president of domestic entertainment. He will oversee domestic operations such as sales, licensing, marketing, acquisitions and operations. – Billy Gil BRIEF I MASS. SEEKS GALLERY TAXES The state of Massachusetts wants $140,000 in past-due sales taxes plus interest from Movie Gallery Inc. The commissioner from Mass. Department of Revenue filed a motion with U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Richmond, Va., objecting to the rental company’s proposed plan of reorganization, contending the plan doesn’t account for interest owed on the taxes from 2002 to 2005. – Erik Gruenwedel DISNEY DVDS TOUTED IN THEATERS By Chris Tribbey STUDIO HIT THEATRICAL NEW-RELEASE TRENDS* FIRST QUARTER: 2004–2008 COMPARISONS 32 31 28 25 24 28 Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment DVDs are getting theatrical play, thanks to a new agreement with National CineMedia (NCM). NCM’s FirstLook program will air behind-the-scenes previews of Disney home entertainment before ‘G’- and ‘PG’-rated films nationwide. Currently, FirstLook plays before films on more than 13,400 screens in Cinemark USA, AMC Entertainment, Goodrich Quality, Regal Entertainment and Kerasotes theaters. “NCM’s FirstLook program gives us an opportunity to showcase Disney home entertainment content to families in the perfect entertainment environment,” said Walt Disney Studios Home MARKETING Entertainment president Bob Chapek. “Joining the line-up of quality content partners NCM has developed, and being able to feature our Disney home entertainment in a relevant way, can only contribute positively to the movie going experience.” A&E Television Networks, NBC, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Turner Broadcasting, Discovery Communications, Warner Bros. and Universal Studios all work with NCM and FirstLook. “The content Disney plans to present in our pre-show program … is consistent with our desire to entertain our patrons with world-class content prior to their movie experience,” said Cliff Marks, president of sales and chief marketing officer for NCM. For the third consecutive year, the studios have cut the first quarter output of new hit theatrical releases on DVD. This year there are 24 films with a box office take of at least $25 million making their way to DVD in Q1. Last year it was 28. The year before, there were 31 films released during Q1 that reached the $25-million mark at the box office. Overall, the 2008 Q1 crop is also the weakest in terms of box office average since 2004 — $64.7 million on average vs. $67.6 million for both the 2006 and 2007 Q1 packages. What impact this will have on DVD sales is an open question. — Ralph Tribbey 30 28 26 24 22 20 *Hit theatrical defined as having a domestic box office gross of at least $25 million. I THIS WEEK’S RELEASE ACTIVITY FOR DVD Titles in Release Through Week Ended Feb. 15, 2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Total Net DVD Titles Announced and/or In Release Through June 30, 2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82,916+235 83,551+311 I THIS WEEK’S RELEASE ACTIVITY FOR BLU-RAY As of Week Ended Feb. 15 . . . . .Released I THIS WEEK’S RELEASE ACTIVITY FOR HD DVD Scheduled As of Week Ended Feb. 15 . . . . .Released 392 Scheduled 40 Home Media Magazine February 24–March 1, 2008 http://www.homemediamagazine.com
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