Home Media Magazine - June 22-28, 2008 - (Page 32)

NEWS Tranformation Theme of ‘HM’ Conference Continued from page 1 www.homemediamagazine.com offset any declines in DVD sales. “We have all the tools we need,” she said. “In terms of experience, we have the opportunity to deliver something new in the way of BD Live and 3-D.” But it takes consumer education. “It’s up to us [to let consumers] see and interact with the Blu-ray format,” said panelist Mark Hollar, senior director of product management for Macrovision. Chris Saito, VP of marketing for Paramount Home Entertainment, added: “I think the biggest competition to Blu-ray is consumer awareness.” Eisuke Tsuyuzaki, VP of corporate development for Panasonic and GM of Panasonic’s Blu-ray Disc organization, put it simply: “Digital delivery is good, DVD is better, and Bluray is the best quality available.” Paramount’s Saito said that the last three months of 2008 will be critical for Blu-ray’s success. “It’s all about education, and seeing is believing,” he said. Tsuyuzaki added: “Once they see it, you get the ‘ah-ha’ moment.” He said that it wouldn’t be shocking to see a more affordable Blu-ray player by year’s end. “Whether it’s $299, $199, $99, I don’t know,” he said. “It’s about finding the right value proposition. You have to give them a solid, robust reason to buy it.” Russ Crupnick, VP and senior industry analyst for The NPD Group, said the message of Blu-ray risks getting lost among all the other entertainment options available to consumers. “These aren’t the days you can just put content out there, and people will buy it,” he said. player, Crupnick said. Tom Adams, president of Adams Media Research, said that by 2015 Bluray will have passed DVD in revenue. By 2011 Blu-rays will account for one in three disc sales, Adams added, and by 2012 more than 50 million homes will have Blu-ray standalone players. “In our view, the transition will not be quite as complete or as fast as [VHS to DVD],” Adams said, pointing to backward-compatibility of Blu-ray players with DVD. “Today’s Blu-ray console homes are buying fewer discs per home than they did with DVD.” DVD buyers and gamers … pretty significant marketing opportunities exist there,” he said. “It’s a challenge and an opportunity to migrate more gamers to DVD.” He added that gamers are interested in Blu-ray players, “and that’s not including the gaming consoles.” Dowling predicted that by the end of 2008, the PS3 will have overtaken the Xbox 360 in terms of total hardware units sold. MPAA Exec Touts FCC Rule Change By Chris Tribbey t’s all about choice, said tranFORMATions keynote speaker Dean C. Garfield, EVP and chief strategy officer of the Motion Picture Association of America’s (MPAA) strategic policy and planning division. The industry must give consumers content where they want it, when they want it, he said. “They want multiple choices across multiple platforms,” Garfield said at the conference June 16. “Movies on the silver screen, their TV screen, their PDA.” Part of that move is changing windows to offer consumers movies in the home on-demand shortly after they’re in theaters, but before they make it to DVD. The MPAA has petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to change its rules. Those rules currently prevent studios from blocking films from being recorded on DVRs. The petition, if approved, also would prevent some films from being viewed on HDTVs that use analog outputs — the so-called analog hole. The effort would allow the studios to offer on-demand, high-definition theatrical releases shortly after they appeared in theaters, while preventing people from recording them, Garfield said. “There is no downside for con- I Blu-ray features Every bell and whistle Blu-ray offers got its due at the conference. Digital copy, the extra PC or mobile device movie that some studios are offering on Blu-ray, helps combat piracy, said Gordon Ho, EVP of worldwide marketing, creative content and business development for Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. “We were cognizant of all these other platforms that exist,” he said. “We can improve upon some of these other digital options that exist with Blu-ray. I think digital copy is part of that solution.” Executives rejected the notion that the multitude of different profile players is going to hold back the format. Profile 1.1 players don’t offer connectivity while the newer 2.0 players do. “There’s only one question now: Do you want connectivity or not?” Ho added. Paramount’s Saito compared it to cell phones. “It’s certainly not ideal, but it’s not unlike cell phones: New ones are coming out every day,” he said. The MPAA’s Dean Garfield said the new proposed FCC rule would benefit consumers. «I THINK THE BIGGEST COMPETITION TO BLU-RAY IS CONSUMER AWARENESS.» CHRIS SAITO, VP OF MARKETING FOR PARAMOUNT HOME ENTERTAINMENT Jim Bottoms, with Futuresource Consulting (formerly Understanding & Solutions), said Blu-ray will be a natural add-on for a majority of American households by 2012, with 92% owning a high-def TV, and 85% getting high-def broadcasts. “For packaged media, it’s a fairly flat outlook [through 2011],” Bottoms said. But Blu-ray and DVD won’t be threatened by digital downloading any time soon. While 84% of respondents in a consumer survey said they were aware of online media, only 6% of those respondents bought or rented a video online in the past six months, Bottoms said. Ralph Tribbey, publisher of The DVD Release Report, shared statistics showing that nearly 60% of Blu-ray releases are new theatrical movies, with another 20% made up by theatrical catalog. Few special interest or direct-to-video Blu-rays are making their way to market right now. “We’ve got to get the overall output of this product up if we don’t want it to be niche,” he said, pointing to a total of about 600 Blu-ray releases since the product’s launch. Bill Ambrose, with Ambrose Video Publishing, said it’s hard for companies such as his to get into the Blu-ray game, due to the replication and authoring costs. He added that some things suitable for DVD just don’t make sense for Blu-ray. Michael Dowling, CEO of research firm Interpret, offered comparisons between the buying habits of gamers and movie lovers. “Sixty-four million people are both sumers,” Garfield said. The Consumer Electronics Association has come out against the proposal, saying it gives the MPAA too much control over who gets to watch what. The National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) said it was still examining the petition, and did not wish to comment about it yet. However, NATO did file a request with the FCC June 16 to extend the public comment period, which is already underway and ends June 25. The FCC rules that the MPAA wishes to change were introduced in 2003 and prohibit the use of “selectable output controls,” which embed video with copy protection data that prevents it from being recorded by DVRs, or degrades the picture if it’s viewed via an analog output. Copy protection used in digital media doesn’t carry over when the video is converted for analog consumption. EAA Raises $70K for CARE P E O P LE I KACZMAREK TO HEAD ECHO BRIDGE DIGITAL ARM Echo Bridge Entertainment has appointed Kyle A. Kaczmarek to the new position of head of digital distribution. With its recent acquisition of Alliance Atlantis International Distribution, Echo Bridge added more Kaczmarek than 5,500 hours of programming, creating a combined portfolio of more than 11,000 titles. In his new role, Kaczmarek will build the company’s North American digital distribution operation. He worked in digital media for nearly nine years at Warner Bros. — John Latchem Blu-ray and DVD by the numbers Crupnick said Blu-ray is competing with a lot of other entertainment options, especially gaming, in difficult economic times. His company’s research shows that 35% of consumers interviewed said they will spend less on entertainment this year compared to last year. “They’re hurting from an economic standpoint, even if it is just a perception,” he said. His news wasn’t all gloomy though: 70% of gamers are also regular DVD buyers. As for Blu-ray Disc buyers, 79% are males age 25 to 34, and of consumers with a PlayStation 3, 40% are using it as their Blu-ray The Entertainment AIDS Alliance (EAA) hosted its sixth annual Wine & Wisdom fundraiser June 12 at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. The event raised more than $70,000 for the UCLA AIDS Institute’s CARE Center. (L-R): EAA’s Jeff Jenest of Playboy, Vallery Kountze of Entertainment Marketing Services and Tom Rooney of Sony DADC. HOME MEDIA MAGAZINE (ISSN 1934-9882) is published weekly 51 times per year (weekly except for one week at the end of December) by Questex Media Group, Inc., 306 West Michigan Street, Suite 200, Duluth, MN 55802. Subscription rates: $49.99 for one year in the United States and Possessions; $79.99 for one year in Canada and Mexico; all other countries $99.99 for one year (by surface mail). Add $75 annually for air-expedited service. Single copies (prepaid only): $6.99 in the United States, $8.99 in Canada and Mexico, $13.99 all other countries. Back issues, if available: $9.99 in the U.S.; $15.99 in Canada and Mexico; $26.99 for all other countries. Include $6.50 per order plus $2 per additional copy for U.S. postage and handling. Periodicals postage paid at Duluth MN 55806 and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to HOME MEDIA MAGAZINE, P.O. Box 1270, Skokie, IL 60076-8270. Canadian G.S.T. number: 840033278RT0001, Publications Mail Agreement Number 40017597. Printed in the U.S.A. Copyright, 2008 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. 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Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Home Media Magazine - June 22-28, 2008

Home Media Magazine - June 22-28, 2008 Contents News In Focus TV DVD Cine Mercado Reviews Pipeline Research Top 20 DVD Sellers Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts Just Announced

Home Media Magazine - June 22-28, 2008

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