Home Media Magazine - June 1-7, 2008 - (Page 1)

JUNE 1–7, 2008 >> HIGH-DEF $298 BD Player At Wal-Mart By Stephanie Prange alt Disney Co. chairman and CEO Bob Iger said a $300 Blu-ray Disc player would boost the format, and Wal-Mart has granted his wish. The long-rumored $298 Magnovox player (NB500MG9) has hit shelves at the discounter, along with a $348 Samsung player (BD-P1500/ XAA) and a $388 Sony player (BDPS300). The older profile players don’t offer all the bells and whistles but may mollify Blu-ray price critics. W INSIDE PAGE 10 BRINGING DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT TO YOU DVDPlay Opens Kiosks to BD The kiosk operator will begin offering two Sony Pictures Blu-ray titles in June. SIZZLES BOX OFFICE TITLES MORE PLENTIFUL AND VARIED, INDUSTRY OBSERVERS SAY By Billy Gil PRODUCT The summer DVD release slate is looking stronger than that of the past two years, according to industry insiders. Sure, there’s no 300, no Ghost Rider — in fact, there aren’t any titles slated for summer release with a domestic box office that broke $100 million. But the box office for more than 30 titles slated for release on DVD from June 3 through July 29 adds up to nearly $1.2 billion, a 23.5% jump over the same period last summer, when the titles released that had box office pedigrees of more than $1 million added up to about $0.97 billion. “The last two years, studios have left some gaping See SUMMER, Page 6 Fox’s Jumper is one of the biggest box office films to hit DVD this summer. SUMMER SLATE Rental in Transition Netflix, Blockbuster Look to Digital Delivery Netflix: At Least 5 More Years for Disc, Streams the Future By Chris Tribbey RETAIL DVD will continue to be Netflix’s bread and butter for another five to 10 years, but the company is preparing for a future in which discs play second fiddle to online video streaming, CEO Reed Hastings said during an Hastings investors meeting last week. “We’ve been looking forward to these years for a long time,” Hastings said of video streaming. “Our view is that the studios are going to publish DVD and Blu-ray [Disc] See NETFLIX, Page 28 Blockbuster Unveils Digital Kiosk Prototype, Tests Web Delivery, Box By Chris Tribbey RETAIL Blockbuster Inc. unveiled its in-store kiosk prototype during an investor meeting last week, but chairman and CEO James Keyes said the company is still negotiating with studios over the content. The company Keyes also is beta-testing digital delivery on Blockbuster.com, Keyes said, and also is working on its own set-top box initiative to compete with Netflix’s new at-home streaming service. The kiosks, which will be tested See BLOCKBUSTER, Page 28 >> ELEC TRONIC DELIVERY GOOGLE ANSWERS VIACOM’S YOUTUBE COPYRIGHT SUIT By Chris Tribbey INSIDE >> VOD Up Rentrak releases positive numbers. STUDIO EXECS LAUD VOD By Chris Tribbey Viacom’s $1 billion lawsuit against YouTube parent Google threatens the way people use the Internet to exchange information, Google stated in a court filing. The filing in U.S. District Court in Manhattan was an answer to Viacom’s lawsuit, first filed last March, which contends that more than 160,000 copyrighted clips See GOOGLE, Page 28 LEGAL alt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger and Viacom Inc. CEO Philippe Daumann both promoted video-on-demand efforts at the Sanford Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference in New York last week. Daumann extolled the virtues of his company’s new VOD See DISNEY, Page 28 W Home A R C H Media RESE MAR KET S HAR E as of 5/25/08 I Blu-ray I DVD AMAZON PLANS PAY STREAMING >> Two-way TV Coming Sony signs with cablers for nobox digital cable. PAGE 12 By Chris Tribbey Consumers spent $148.88 million on DVDs for the week Blu-ray vs. DVD Sales* 7% Consumers spent $12.38 million on Bluray Discs for the week mazon.com will begin offering a video streaming option in the next several weeks to pair with its Unbox video downloading service, CEO and president Jeff Bezos said last week. Speaking at the Wall Street Journal’s All Things Digital See AMAZON, Page 28 A Up 17.73% from the previous week. * Top 20 unit volume 93% Up 54.94% from the previous week. Source: Home Media Research NEWS Warner Bros. promoted catalog at the Cannes Film Festival and screened You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story. PRODUCT Warner Home Video debuts the Cartoon Network children’s anime series “Bakugan” on DVD Aug. 26, along with licensed merchandise. RESEARCH Consumers were on the hunt for adventure titles, as National Treasure: Book of Secrets topped sales and rentals. Page 8 Page 21 Page 22 http://www.amazon.com

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Home Media Magazine - June 1-7, 2008 Contents News Gay/Lesbian Reviews TV DVD Research Top 20 DVD Sellers Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts Just Announced

Home Media Magazine - June 1-7, 2008

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