Home Media Magazine - March 16-22, 2008 - (Page 1) MARCH 16–22, 2008 >> HIGH-D EF H IG H-DE F MAR KET S HAR E Blu-ray and HD DVD Sales Comparison as of 3/9/08 Week Ended 3/9 Year-to-Date I Blu-ray I HD DVD Since Inception 35% 65% 75% 25% 66% 34% Source: Nielsen VideoScan: First Alert data BRINGING DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT TO YOU Confab: Iger and Moonves Embrace New, Old Media By Anne Sherber SUPPLIER NEW YORK — This past year has seen a sea change in the way media companies think about digital delivery, according to speakers at the McGraw Hill Media Summit, March 12-13. Last year’s conference was heavy with panels bemoaning the lack of reliable modes of digital rights management (DRM). This year, DRM was just this side of a nonissue. Last year, companies were gingerly dipping toes into digital distribution. This year the biggest topic of conversation was the launch of Hulu, the ad-supported Web site that provides content, including full-length movies and television shows from Fox, NBC Universal, MGM, Sony, Warner, Lionsgate and others, free to consumers. Disney president and CEO Bob Iger delivered the first of two keynote addresses. Iger, who declared himself bullish about new media, said he expects Disney’s digital revenue to See IGER, Page 28 Microsoft CEO: ‘We’ll Support Blu-ray’ By Erik Gruenwedel icrosoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer wasted no time last week at MIX 08 in Las Vegas confirming scuttlebutt the company is analyzing ways to incorporate rival Sony Corp.’s Blu-ray Disc. Microsoft heretofore supported HD DVD and offered an add-on HD DVD drive to its Xbox 360 video game system. Ballmer said Toshiba Corp.’s withdrawal of its HD DVD format from the market necessitated the technology behemoth to move forward with Blu-ray. “Toshiba has moved on,” Ballmer said. “We’ve moved on, and we’ll support Blu-ray in ways that make sense.” Ballmer said Microsoft went with HD DVD initially because it came to market sooner than Bluray, had certain cost advantages and because Microsoft is not in the drive business. He questioned the toll the format war had taken on the evolu- M A Cars site is part of Disney’s brand extension. tion of high-def packaged media and wondered in the future if more HD content would be delivered via a disc or over the Internet. “Today it is important that a player has a disc drive, but in five years it might not make much of a difference,” Ballmer said. The CEO didn’t elaborate if Blu-ray would be included in future 360 devices or offered as an add-on. INSIDE >> Blu Period CDSA forum attendees talk Blu. >> ‘Grand’ in HD The Grand director discusses shooting in HD. PAGE 12 TIME WARNER CEO: FOREIGN MARGINS SANK NEW LINE By Erik Gruenwedel HD DVD’S LOSS IN FORMAT WAR COULD COST TOSHIBA $1 BILLION By Chris Tribbey S tudio economics that predicate fewer annual releases coupled with an inability to capitalize on burgeoning foreign revenue contributed to the demise of 41-year-old New Line Cinema, according to Time Warner Inc. president and CEO Jeff Bewkes. In one of his first acts since assuming former CEO See BEWKES, Page 28 L >> ELEC TRONIC DELIVERY osing the format war could cost Toshiba Corp. nearly $1 billion, Japan’s Nikkei newspaper reported March 13. Toshiba’s decision to give up on the HD DVD format after the format lost to Blu-ray Disc in the battle to replace DVD will double the losses Toshiba had expected to incur this year on next-generation discs, the business daily reported. Production line changes was one major contributor to the estimated $986 million figure, Nikkei reported. TiVo Links YouTube to TV INSIDE >> Fighting Together CDSA attendees talk battling piracy. >> Hulu’s Here NBC Universal and News Corp.’s site debuts. PAGE 13 NEWS ANALYSIS By Erik Gruenwedel ouTube is coming to the tube through TiVo. Digital video recording (DVR) pioneer TiVo Inc. has forged an agreement with Google Inc. subsidiary YouTube that will let select TiVo subscribers view videos from the video-sharing site via a set-top box on their television. Financial terms, including possi- Y ble ad sharing, were not disclosed. The deal is significant in that it marks a legitimate bridge across the great divide separating and delivering content from the Internet to the TV. “Being able to make available YouTube videos … using one device, one remote and one interface is [a] major step,” said Tara Maitra, VP and GM of content services at TiVo. See TIVO, Page 26 DVD Rental: Resilient Cash Cow By Erik Gruenwedel RETAIL Conventional wisdom might suggest DVD rental is becoming anachronistic, soon to be replaced by digital downloads, video-ondemand (VOD) and pay-per-view (PPV). Tell that to Blockbuster Inc., Netflix and yes, even bankrupt Movie Gallery, all of which posted impressive profits and revenue in their latest financial reports. Blockbuster exceeded analyst projections by quadrupling earnings, driven in large part by strident cost reductions and four words not heard at the Dallas-based chain in five years: same-store sales growth. Online DVD rental pioneer Netflix continues to go to the well adding subscribers at a lower cost while projecting first-quarter (ended March 31) results so rosy CFO Barry McCarthy said they would “shock some people.” See DVD RENTAL, Page 28 NEWS Studio VPs discuss the future of high-definition and Blu-ray at the 38th annual Content Delivery and Storage Association Forum. PRODUCT The cast and crew of Otis discuss the comedic horror film at the South by Southwest Festival. Otis hits DVD June 10, from Warner. RESEARCH Disney scores again with its Platinum Edition series as 101 Dalmatians trots to the top of the national DVD sales chart. Page 6 Page 8 Page 24
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