Home Media Magazine - May 4-10, 2008 - (Page 10)

ELECTRONIC DELIVERY WB NETWORK RELAUNCHES SITE By Chris Tribbey www.homemediamagazine.com CinemaNow Goes Mobile Will offer movies, trailers to mobile phones in partnership with Georgia company By Erik Gruenwedel inemaNow has partnered with a Georgia mobile technology company to enable users to watch movie trailers and remotely download movies to compatible electronic devices from a cell phone. Working with Duluth-based uVuMobile, CinemaNow will make available its catalog of 10,000 movies, TV shows and music videos as trailers to Internet-enabled mobile phones via a proprietary wireless application protocol (WAP) connection. Users can go to mobile.cinemanow.com on their phones and download a full-length BRIEFS I CANNELL SHOWS ON ITUNES Stephen J. Cannell Productions and New Video have made available on iTunes some of the production company’s TV series. Episodes are available for $1.99 each. Full-season passes of each show are – Billy Gil available at a discount. arner Bros. Television Group (WBTVG) is relaunching the WB Network as an online video site, and adding KidsWB.com. TheWB. com launched as a beta test in May, while KidsWB.com debuted last week. The video-on-demand, ad-supported site will include new content and the network’s most popular catalog series, such as “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” The site’s videos also will be available on Facebook.com. “Fans of TheWB.com can instantly engage with our content and interact with one another through the site, through the Facebook application, or on their own Web sites and blogs,” said Craig Erwich, EVP of Warner Horizon Television, which oversees TheWB.com. Original programming includes the 3-D animated “Chadam,” reality series “Rich Girl/Poor Girl,” and the unscripted “High Drama: Against All Oz.” As for WB mainstays, such as “Smallville” and “The Wayans Bros.,” the site is promising fans unparalleled access to the shows. “Users will be able to take an unprecedented level of control over their own entertainment experience by easily editing, remixing and literally ‘playing’ with their favorite shows,” said TheWB.com GM Brent Poer. The inaugural distribution partner for TheWB.com is Comcast, which will offer more than 1,000 TV episodes from Warner Bros.’ library for free streaming on Fancast.com and VOD, said Matt Bond, EVP of content acquisition for Comcast. W C feature film that is playable on any of CinemaNow’s media-enabled devices, including the PC, digital TV, portable media player, set-top box and network-attached storage device. Earlier this month, CinemaNow and Technicolor partnered to offer content and technical support for third-party Web sites wishing to sell movie, episodic television and music downloads. “As Internet-enabled phones rise in popularity, companies need to keep pace with innovation,” said David Cook, president and COO of CinemaNow. I HP CONNECTS TV TO WEB Hewlett-Packard will begin incorporating Microsoft technology into its line of MediaSmart LCD HDTVs that will let viewers access content, including movies from CinemaNow, wirelessly from the – Erik Gruenwedel Internet. I VEOH CLAIMS VIDEO LEAD Report: Mobile Content Falls Short By Erik Gruenwedel espite 20% revenue growth for entertainment content delivered via mobile phones in 2007, mobile operators and digital commerce (financial) services continue to disappoint, says a new report. Entertainment, which includes ringtones and video, generated $3.4 billion in revenue out of the $18.5 billion global premium content mobile market. Multi-Media Intelligence said mobile operators remain frustrated by their spot on the entertainment food chain. The report said with the demand for ringtones softening, movie studios steadfastly maintain differing release windows that result in a trickle down of content to the mobile industry. That, they say, has resulted in an indifferent D consumer. “Many industries would be thrilled with 20% growth,” said Frank Dickson, chief research officer with MultiMedia. “[But] the mobile content platform finds it disappointing.” Dickson said the mobile industry is stuck in a content ecosystem between more-powerful operators (telecommunications, cable and TV) and content owners (studios). He said system operators continue to control subscribers while studios control the content, which results in disparate revenue streams. “Revenue distribution among the different industry segments reflects this power imbalance,” Dickson said. The report said there will be an increase in ad-supported video and other premium content. Additionally, the North American market will be dominated by so-called off-deck digital content, such as video or audio, purchased from a third-party provider but delivered over a service provider’s network. The report said ease-of-use issues with consumers and unscrupulous content offerings by some off-deck providers led to a crackdown by carriers such as Sprint Nextel seeking to enact stricter guidelines and penalties. Verizon, for example, has upped directto-bill charges for content in an effort to compete against off-deck providers. Regardless, Informa Telecoms & Media reportedly projected 70% of content revenue would come from off-deck platforms within the next five years. Veoh said viewers watched more than 46 million hours of video in March, or 1 hour and 37 minutes per viewer — twice the time it said viewers spent on YouTube. The site claimed more than 28 million unique monthly visitors in Q1 (ended March 31), up 25% from Q4. The company said visitors during prime-time TV hours increased to 44% of total views. – Erik Gruenwedel I VERIZON GROWS FIOS Verizon added 263,000 new FiOS Internet TV subscribers during Q1 2008, bringing its subscriber total to more than 1.2 million. Verizon now has 8.5 million broadband customers. The news came out of Verizon’s Q1 (which ended March 31) 2008 ﬁnancial report. Also, Verizon launched an HD VOD service in Oregon. Verizon plans to offer more than 1,000 HD VOD titles by the – Chris Tribbey end of 2008. TOP 5 RANK TITLE E LE C T R O NI C SELLT H R OUG H Week ended April 26, 2008 RELEASE DATE VIDEO LABEL GENRE TOP 5 RANK TITLE E L E C TRO N I C S E L L THRO U GH Week ended April 27, 2008 RELEASE DATE VIDEO LABEL GENRE 1 2 3 4 5 Cloverfield Charlie Wilson’s War Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem In the Name of the King One Missed Call 4/22/08 4/22/08 4/15/08 4/15/08 4/22/08 Paramount Universal Fox Fox Warner Sci-Fi Drama Sci-Fi Fantasy Horror Source: Movielink 1 2 3 4 5 Cloverfield Juno Appleseed: Ex Machina Justice League: The New Frontier Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem 4/22/08 4/15/08 3/11/08 2/26/08 4/15/08 Paramount Fox Warner Warner Fox Sci-Fi Comedy Anime Animated Sci-Fi Source: CinemaNow TOP 5 RANK TITLE E LE CT R O NIC D OW NLOAD S Week ended April 26, 2008 RELEASE DATE VIDEO LABEL GENRE TOP 5 RANK TITLE E L E C TRO N I C DO WN L O A DS Week ended April 27, 2008 RELEASE DATE VIDEO LABEL GENRE 1 2 3 4 5 I Am Legend One Missed Call Hitman Sleuth Atonement 4/17/08 4/22/08 4/9/08 4/25/08 4/16/08 Warner Warner Fox Sony Pictures Universal Sci-Fi Horror Action Thriller Drama Source: Movielink 1 2 3 4 5 I Am Legend No Country for Old Men Dan in Real Life One Missed Call Hitman 4/17/08 4/10/08 4/25/08 4/22/08 4/9/08 Warner Disney/Miramax Disney/Touchstone Warner Fox Sci-Fi Drama Comedy Horror Action Source: CinemaNow 10 Home Media Magazine May 4–10, 2008 http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://KidsWB.com http://KidsWB.com http://Facebook.com http://mobile.cinemanow.com http://TheWB.com http://TheWB.com http://TheWB.com http://TheWB.com http://Fancast.com

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Home Media Magazine - May 4-10, 2008

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