Home Media Magazine - November 11-17, 2007 - (Page 10) NEWS PEOPLE I ACORN MEDIA NAMES CFO, PRESIDENT IN U.S. Acorn Media Group, a Silver Spring, Md.-based global media company, tapped Bruce Belliveau as its CFO and Mark Stevens as president of Acorn Media U.S., effective this month. Acorn’s former CFO, John Lorenz, has been promoted to vice chairman. In his new position, Belliveau will oversee Acorn Media Group’s financial activities. His past experience includes senior financial executive roles at Dean Witter Reynolds, Prudential Securities, and Georgeson Shareholder Communications. Stevens will oversee Acorn’s North American home video distribution. His experience includes 23 years at Time Warner, serving in such roles as EVP of Time Life U.S. and president of Time Life Music, as well as a stint at HBO in sales and marketing. He most recently was SVP at AARP Services. www.homemediamagazine.com DVD Sparks Time Warner Q3 Film Revenue Jeff Bewkes succeeds Dick Parsons as CEO By Erik Gruenwedel last year, when Parsons approached the board about a CEO lobal DVD sales of 300, coupled with box office succession plan. revenue from Harry Potter and the Order of the Separately, Time Warner Cable said video grew $400 Phoenix, Ocean’s 13, Rush Hour 3 and Hairspray, million (21%), to $2.5 billion, due to acquisitions and helped Time Warner Inc.’s filmed-entertainment division penetration of video services, including video-on-demand, post a 33% increase in third-quarter (ended Sept. 30) rev- pay-per-view and related price increases. enue to $3.2 billion. Operating income increased 24% ($131 million), to $681 Time Warner is parent to Warner Bros. million, partly offset by acquisition-reHome Entertainment Group and units lated depreciation expenses. Warner Home Video and New Line The quarter marked the first time the Home Entertainment. cable division generated more than $100 The $788 million revenue increase in monthly revenue per basic video subhelped filmed entertainment post operscriber. ating income of $268 million, up 123% However, the quarter saw an unexpectfrom $120 million last year. Jeff Bewkes Dick Parsons ed decline in VOD revenue, which Time “With strong home video and theatriWarner Cable executives discounted as cal releases in the fourth quarter, we’re confident [filmed emblematic of the ebb and flow of new movie releases. entertainment operating income] will be up for the full Time Warner and its cable company for some time have year as well,” Dick Parsons, CEO and chairman of Time pushed releasing movies on video-on-demand the same Warner, said in his last call with investors. day as they come out on DVD. Time Warner last week named Jeffrey Bewkes CEO, “Video continues to be a significant part of our dollar replacing Parsons who remains chairman of the board, growth because of the size of the business, but the percenteffective Jan. 1, 2008. age growth is much more modest than the other areas,” Bewkes, who was CEO of HBO for seven years before said John Martin, EVP and CFO of Time Warner Cable. becoming president and COO of Time Warner in 2006, “Video is really a big business. But it is also our most retains his president position. mature business, and we’re going to continue slogging it The change in leadership had been in the works since See TIME WARNER, Page 36 BRIEFS I MACROVISION TO ACQUIRE ALL MEDIA GUIDE Santa Clara-Calif.-based Macrovision Corp. has acquired All Media Guide Holdings Inc. (AMG), which provides a database of music, movie and video game information and reviews. The deal is expected to close by year’s end. The deal will give Macrovision customers, such as video content producers and consumer electronics device manufacturers, access to AMG’s metadata on millions of movies, videos and songs, as well as its media-recognition technology and music-discovery software. The aim is also to help Macrovision’s clients more easily monetize digital media by simplifying content identification, navigation and recommendations. – Billy Gil G I NATIONAL LAMPOON INKS CANADIAN DEAL National Lampoon Inc. inked a deal giving Equinoxe Film Canadian theatrical, home video and broadcast distribution rights to five titles. National Lampoon’s Bag Boy, the first title to be produced by the company, will be the first title distributed through the deal. Additional titles, also produced inhouse, to be distributed by Equinoxe will include National Lampoon’s Ratko and National Lampoon’s 301. All three films announced in the deal will be released theatrically through National Lampoon Releasing. – Billy Gil I MORE RESTRUCTURING AT NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC National Geographic Global Media (NGGM) named Edward M. (Ted) Prince EVP of operations. He will report to Tim Kelly, who was recently named president of the unit. The recently created unit combines National Geographic’s consumer media outlets into one. Prince’s main focus will be global operations and the digital growth of individual unit entities. He will continue as CFO for National Geographic Ventures, handling such divisions as television, film, home entertainment, digital media, music and maps. He also will retain his seat on the boards of National Geographic Ventures, National Geographic Channel and National Geographic Channels International. Prince has been with National Geographic Ventures since 2003, and previously held a SVP position at AOL. – Billy Gil Gallery Clears Store Closure Sale Hurdle By Erik Gruenwedel ankrupt Movie Gallery Inc. will be allowed to proceed with store closure sales in more than 500 locations after agreeing to terms spelled out by landlords. The resolution — ironed out with landlords prior to a Nov. 6 court hearing — mandates Gallery hold its sales in accordance with lease guidelines, including a 60-day limit on the sales. Late last month many of the landlords, including Wal-Mart and Safeway, filed motions with the U.S. Bank- ruptcy Court in Virginia complaining that an Oct. 17 court ruling would have allowed Gallery to circumvent lease rules — including hours of operation, signage and other requirements — during the sales. The landlords had also sought payment of limited liquidation and closure performance bonuses and severance payments. The No. 2 movie rental chain had earmarked many of the mall-based store locations for closure prior to the bankruptcy filing. Separately, Gallery was allowed to continue business operations with the Hollywood studios. Dothan, Ala.-based Gallery, which operates 4,200 stores, last month filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy citing debts of more than $1.4 billion and assets of $890 million. I NASDAQ PUTS HARVEY ELECTRONICS ON NOTICE Harvey Electronics Inc., a Lyndhurst, N.J.-based operator of home entertainment and CE retail stores, reported it has received multiple delisting notices from the Nasdaq stock market. Declines in audio and video sales, coupled with continued downward pricing pressure on flatpanel TVs, resulted in Harvey posting a Q3 (ended July 28) loss of $2.2 million. – Erik Gruenwedel A ‘Mighty’ Appearance I WEAK RELEASE SLATE HURTS RENTRAK Citing a weak release slate of rev-share DVD rentals, Rentrak Corp. Nov. 7 posted second-quarter (ended Sept. 30) income of $1.1 million, compared to income of $1.9 million during the same period last year. Revenue declined 8%, to $22.8 million, compared to $24 million last year. The Portland, Ore.-based rev-share and media metrics company in September launched a data-tracking service for TVs with set-top boxes. The company tracks on-demand usage for a number of cable operators as part of its advanced media information segment. Revenue for the quarter increased 28%, to $2.5 million, from $2 million last year. – Erik Gruenwedel BLOCKBUSTER TEAMS WITH FACEBOOK By Erik Gruenwedel lockbuster Inc. last week launched a movie rental search application on popular social Web site Face- book. Called Movie Clique, the platform allows users and Blockbuster subscribers to search for, and rent, movie titles as well as create rental wish lists, alreadyseen lists and all-time favorites, without leaving Facebook. The link is part of Dallas-based Blockbuster’s attempt to cultivate movie rentals from Facebook’s burgeoning membership by providing them with community- driven input and reviews, according to Keith Morrow, CIO with Blockbuster. “Facebook is one of the most trafficked Web sites in the U.S., and its users align with our customers,” Morrow said. “It just makes sense for us to look for ways to become part of the social discussion and network of connections that exists on the site.” Peter Chernin, president of News Corp., owner of rival MySpace.com, recently lauded Facebook for its meteoric growth and believed the site, which claims 50 million active users, is valued at more than $15 billion. Angelina Jolie participated in a Q&A following a screening of A Mighty Heart on Nov. 4 on the Paramount lot to celebrate the DVD release. Photo by: Ryan Miller/Capture Imaging Home Media Magazine November 11–17, 2007 http://www.homemediamagazine.com
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