Home Media Magazine - December 9, 2007 - (Page 7) www.homemediamagazine.com MENU FROM THE EDITOR BY THOMAS K. ARNOLD, PUBLISHER www.homemediamagazine.com High-def Media Needs Industry Help he studios are doing a valiant job promoting high-definiAnd we wonder why consumers are confused? tion discs. Both those supporting Blu-ray Disc and those I Our reporters made the rounds of Wal-Mart stores last month behind HD DVD — as well as the lone big studio, Warner and were amazed at how little the store clerks know about nextHome Video, that’s got a foot in both camps — are pumping out generation media. Wal-Mart is one of the leaders in HD DVD quality releases and aggressively promoting them to consumers. player sales, and yet store clerks were steering customers toward Even so, the Hollywood community is facing an uphill battle in those upconverting DVD players rather than the hot new highits quest to get next-generation discs into the mainstream, and definition machines we in the industry were buzzing about. sadly, the biggest hurdle seems to be coming Shouldn’t we be aggressively educating refrom their supposed allies: the consumer elecHOW CAN WE EXPECT tailers at the store level instead of focusing our tronics industry and big retail. CONSUMERS TO JUMP ON attention toward the top? A caveat: This is not a blanket blame, and I’m THE HIGH-DEFINITION MEDIA I Probably the most disturbing thing I saw was hoping the following are isolated incidents rath- BANDWAGON WHEN OUR a new Truetone HDTV set with a built-in DVD er than trends or harbingers of things to come. OWN INDUSTRY CAN’T SEEM player. Here we are, trying to get new buyers But they stand out as so stupid, so hurtful to the TO GET ITS ACT TOGETHER? of HDTVs all hyped up about HD media, and whole high-def disc message, that I feel obligated a consumer electronics manufacturer sends a to expose them here in this most public of spaces in the hopes of blatant message to them that the old technology is just fine. nipping them in their ugly and misguided buds. Has anyone called executives at Truetone Electronics to find out I Over the Black Friday shopping weekend, many big retailers exactly what the heck is going on? were blowing out Toshiba HD DVD players for less than $100. Yet The bottom line: How can we expect consumers to jump on the many of these same retailers’ newspaper circulars were promoting high-definition media bandwagon when our own industry can’t “1080p HD upconverting DVD players,” including Circuit City, seem to get its act together? which on the front page of its circular advertised such a machine — made by Toshiba, no less, at the sale price of $99.99. Thomas K. Arnold’s e-mail address is tarnold@questex.com PUBLISHER & EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Thomas K. Arnold EDITOR IN CHIEF Stephanie Prange EDITORIAL Managing Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Angelique Flores Senior Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Erik Gruenwedel Senior Reporter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chris Tribbey Assistant Managing Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Latchem Associate Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Billy Gil, Kyra Kudick Contributors. . . . . . . . . John Gaudiosi, Anne Sherber, Fred Topel, Ralph Tribbey, Holly J. Wagner T ART Art Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Melbert Sebayan Graphic Designer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Charles Park RESEARCH Market Research Assistant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kelly Burner ADVERTISING 800/338-6700, FAX 714/338-6712 Advertising Sales Representative . . . . . . . . . . . . John Boezinger 714/338-6704 Advertising Sales Representative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Julie Savant 714/368-1020 Advertising Sales Representative . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kurt Wohlman 714/338-6749 Group Administrative Coordinator. . . . . . . . . . Jennifer Guerena Business Analyst . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joni Wu For reprints, call 800-290-5460, ext. 100 or HomeMediaMagazine@reprintbuyer. com For direct-mail lists, call Ilene Schwartz, Kroll Direct, 216/371-1667 FAX 216/371-1669 ilene@krolldirect.com MARKETING Marketing Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kristina Kronenberg 714/338-6743 Marketing Assistant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kaitlyn DeWaard Online Manager. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Renee Rosado IN THIS ISSUE DEC. 9-15, 2007 / VOL. 29 / NO. 49 News …………………………… CALENDAR I 2008 INTERNATIONAL CES Produced by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), CES is the largest annual trade show servicing the consumer technology industry. The show has brought together the global consumer electronics industry for more than four decades. Jan. 7-10 Las Vegas info: www.cesweb.org PRODUCTION Production Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bonnie Ling Production Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Justin-Nicholas Toyama 714/338-6765 Assistant Production Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brady Gallardo >> HIGH- DEF OFFICES 714/338-6700, 800/371-6897, FAX 714/338-6710 homemediamagazine@questex.com 201 East Sandpointe Ave., Suite 500 Santa Ana, CA 92707-8716 Lionsgate will be the sole distributor for “Bratz” DVDs; Disney CEO Bob Iger backs DVD. In Focus ………………………… 10 Warner Home Video’s 300 Blu-ray Disc takes top honors at the High-Def 2.0 conference. Chris Tribbey, Senior Reporter 818-788-8616, FAX 818-530-2486 16130 Ventura Blvd. #570 Encino, CA 91436 CREDIT Credit/Collections Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ron Wright Sr. TV DVD ………………………… 14 See a listing of upcoming TV shows on DVD. CIRCULATION For subscriptions, please go online to www.homemediamagazine.com For current single copy, back issues or CD-ROM, call 866/344-1315 or 615/377-3322 for outside the U.S. Audience Development Manager. . . . . . . . . . . Sarah Joy Obaña Cine Mercado ………………… 16 Director Franc. Reyes talks Illegal Tender; Xenon brings Guadalupe to DVD. I 2008 AVN ADULT ENTERTAINMENT EXPO BUSINESS QUESTEX MEDIA GROUP INC. President & CEO: Kerry C. Gumas; Executive Vice President & CFO: Tom Caridi; Executive Vice President: Robert S. Ingraham; Executive Vice President: Tony D’Avino; Executive Vice President, Corporate Development: Claudia Flowers; Vice President & General Manager: Don Rosenberg; Vice President, Digital Media: Seth Nichols; Vice President, Human Resources: Diane Evans © 2007 Questex Media Group Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including by photocopy, recording or information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use, or the internal or personal use of specific clients, is granted by Questex Media Group, Inc. for libraries and other users registered with the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Dr., Danvers, MA 01923 phone: 978-750-8400 fax 978-750-4470; call for copying beyond that permitted by Sections 107 or 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law. For those not registered with the CCC, send permission request in writing to questexpermissions@reprintbuyer.com or call 800-494-9051 ext. 100. Black History Month ………… 18 Africa Unite features the music of Bob Marley. News ………………………… More studios are lining up networked Blu-ray Discs; The Bourne Ultimatum has innovative HD DVD features; HD DVD users hit the Web. >> EL ECTRONIC D EL IV ERY News ………………………… Sponsored by AVN Magazine, the 10th annual Adult Entertainment Expo is the largest adult entertainment industry event. This year the AVN Awards celebrates its 25th anniversary at the Mandalay Bay Events Center Jan. 12. Jan. 9-12 Sands Expo Center, Las Vegas info: show.adultentertainmentexpo.com Brookstone offers a free trial of Starz’s Vongo service; MySpace gets music exclusives; episodes of “South Park” are making their way online. I 2008 NATPE The 45th annual NATPE Conference & Exhibition is dedicated to global multiplatform video content. Jan. 28-31 Mandalay Bay Resort, Las Vegas info: www.natpe.org/conference Printed in the U.S.A. Bob Marley Reviews ………………………… 24 Pipeline ………………………… 32 Research ……………………… 34 Fox’s Live Free or Die Hard once again blasts to the Does Hatchet make the cut among horror classics? top of the national DVD sales and rental charts. Does Everything’s Cool show that everything’s not? I WONDERCON 2008 The comic book conference is returning to San Francisco for its 22nd anniversary. Feb. 22-24 Moscone Center South, San Francisco info: www.comic-con.org/wc Top 20 DVD Sellers ……………………… 34 Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts ……… 35 Writer-actor Ben Gourley discusses his film Moving McAllister; Disney reveals The Game Plan; Just Announced ……………… Harryhausen classics are due from Sony Pictures; Sony Pictures journeys Across the Universe; sports titles score in December. Universal goes Greek with Sydney White. December 9–15, 2007 Home Media Magazine http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://www.cesweb.org http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://show.adultentertainmentexpo.com http://www.natpe.org/conference http://www.comic-con.org/wc
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