Home Media Magazine - February 2, 2009 - (Page 11) www.homemediamagazine.com ELECTRONIC DELIVERY BRIEFS I COMIC BOWS FOR iPHONE, iPOD TOUCH “Sparks,” the first touted motion comic for the iPhone and iTouch, has been created by Catastrophic Comics. The comic has debuted as the “Sparks” application, a 99-cent download at the iTunes Store. The comic is described as a “superhero noir-thriller,” and it was first published as a comic book series in 2008. “Sparks Part 1” features the voice talent of Michael Paré, Michael Bell, Charlie Brill, Kevin Sherwood and Courtenay Taylor, as well as actress Ashley Bell from Showtime series “United States of Tara.” “This application is the immediate future of comic books,” said Christopher Folino, writer and producer of the comic. “‘Sparks,’ in addition to being the first motion comic of its kind to debut on the iPhone, features tremendous voice talent and production value.” — Billy Gil By Chris Tribbey omcast and Disney-ABC Domestic Television have launched a new subscription video-on-demand service called Disney Family Movies. Comcast customers can access the service for $5.99 a month, which gets them 10 classic Disney movies for unlimited viewing. New movies will be added weekly, and movies available during the initial launch include George of the Jungle, The Parent Trap, Treasure Planet and Eloise Comcast, Disney-ABC SPIKE.COM GETS ‘PG PORN’ Launch Family Movies S By Chris Tribbey C at the Plaza. “It’s such a compelling family entertainment value, my daughters offered to take it out of their allowance,” said Derek Harrar, SVP and GM of video services for Comcast. “Kids’ and family programming continues to be one of our top on demand categories, and we are thrilled to continue delivering the best quality content with Disney.” Comcast has already signed MGM for its own action movie and TV show VOD channel, Impact, and Lionsgate and Sony Pictures Television have a horror and thriller VOD channel, FEARnet, also with Comcast. Cox Tests Priority-Based Internet Usage By Chris Tribbey ox Communications, the third-largest cable operator in America, will test a new Internet traffic management system in Arkansas and Kansas during February to deal with congestion. “During the occasional times the network is congested, this new technology automatically ensures that all time-sensitive Internet traffic — such as Web pages, voice calls, streaming videos and gaming — moves without delay,” the company said on its Web site. “Less time-sensitive traffic, such as file uploads, peer-to-peer and Usenet newsgroups, may be delayed momentarily — but only when the lo- I VEOH BOWS VIDEO COMPASS Web TV site Veoh Networks has debuted the Veoh Video Compass, a Web browser add-on that recommends videos based on what users are searching and what sites they are viewing. The Veoh Video Compass searches popular Web sites such as Google, Yahoo!, MSNLive, YouTube, eBay and Ask. com for relevant content. Available in beta at www.veoh.com/videocompass, the function resides on the user’s Web browser, supported by Firefox and Internet Explorer 7 (and soon Safari and Chrome as well). “Online video is not just about entertainment, and it’s not tied to a single destination — video should be a core element of everything people do online,” said Dmitry Shapiro, founder and chief innovation officer, Veoh Networks. — Billy Gil C cal network is congested. The news could set up another Internet service provider battle with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which ruled last summer that Comcast couldn’t selectively interfere with customers’ Web connections. Comcast was blocking some peer-topeer traffic to ease congestion, singling out users based on bandwidth usage. Ben Scott, policy director of media reform group Free Press, said his group was “skeptical of any practice that comes between users and the Internet.” “The information provided by Cox gives little indication about how its new practices will impact Internet us- ers, or if they comply with the FCC’s Internet Policy Statement,” he said in a statement. “As a general rule, we’re concerned about any cable or phone company picking winners and losers online. These kinds of practices cut against the fundamental neutrality of the open Internet.” Fred von Lohmann of the Electronic Frontier Foundation said Cox’s “lack of transparency” was a problem. “It’s fair to say that Cox is certainly treading on thin ice,” he said. “Cox really needs to let folks know what they’re up to … if it doesn’t work, do people in these markets where they are testing have a choice [in Internet service]?” ex sells, sure, but will porn without the sex sell too? Apparently so, as Spike.com has picked up another 11 episodes of “James Gunn’s PG Porn,” a short-form comedy series that has everything one might expect from a porno — without the sex. “This has been a very exciting time for Internet content,” said Gunn, the series creator. “Kids today don’t get their content the way we did, with television sitcoms and comic strips. They wake up and get online.” The first episode, titled “Nailing Your Wife,” debuted Oct. 8 and got more than 1 million hits in five days, Spike.com reported. Riffing on the porn industry, the episodes pair a regular actor with an actual adult entertainment actress. Gunn said he has lined up Michael Rosenbaum (“Smallville”) and Craig Robinson (“The Office”) for future episodes. Adult actresses Jenna Haze and BellaDonna have signed on as well. Each episode features an original score from Tyler Bates (300, Dawn of the Dead). “I never thought porn without sex would be such a creatively invigorating space,” said Jake Zim, COO of Safran Digital, which is producing the show. Thanks to the full season deal, which allows Gunn to retain the rights to the content, he said he’s angling for an eventual DVD release. “We’ll have a few episodes that didn’t air, tons of bonus content … though the DVD may not be PG,” he said. ELECT R ONIC SELLT H R OUG H Week ended January 25, 2009 VIDEO LABEL RANK TITLE E L E C TRO N I C S E L L THRO U GH Week ended January 25, 2009 VIDEO LABEL I EAGLE ONE LAUNCHES DIGITAL COMICS Eagle One Media is offering hundreds of digital comic books in advance of its Feb. 3 DVD release of Street Fighter: Round One — Fight! Comic book fans can visit www. eagleonemedia.com to download PDF versions of popular comic books from such publishers as IDW, Moonstone, Antarctic Press, Alterna, Rorschach and Heroic for 99 cents each issue. Eagle One specializes in digitizing comic books. Street Fighter: Round One — Fight! is the company’s latest animated comic book, timed for the Feb. 27 theatrical release of Fox’s Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li. Animated comics add motion and sound to already published comic books. — John Latchem RANK TITLE 1 2 3 4 5 Underworld Underworld: Evolution My Bloody Valentine Saw V My Best Friend’s Girl Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Lionsgate Lionsgate Lionsgate Source: Movielink 1 2 3 4 5 The Dark Knight Get Smart Star Wars: The Clone Wars Speed Racer Warner Warner Warner Warner Source: CinemaNow Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay Warner ELECT R ONIC D OW NLOAD S Week ended January 25, 2009 VIDEO LABEL E L E C TRO N I C DO WN L O A DS Week ended January 25, 2009 VIDEO LABEL RANK TITLE RANK TITLE 1 2 3 4 5 Wanted Burn After Reading Appaloosa Max Payne Step Brothers Universal Universal Warner Fox Sony Pictures Source: Movielink 1 2 3 4 5 Max Payne Babylon A.D. Wall-E The Dark Knight Wanted Fox Fox Disney Warner Universal Source: CinemaNow February 2–8, 2009 Home Media Magazine 11 http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://www.SPIKE.COM http://www.Spike.com http://www.Spike.com http://www.veoh.com/videocompass http://www.eagleonemedia.com http://www.eagleonemedia.com
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Home Media Magazine - February 2, 2009 Contents News TV DVD Health/Fitness Reviews Pipeline Research Top 20 Sellers Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts Just Announced Home Media Magazine - February 2, 2009 Home Media Magazine - February 2, 2009 - (Page Cover1) Home Media Magazine - February 2, 2009 - (Page Cover2) Home Media Magazine - February 2, 2009 - (Page 1) Home Media Magazine - February 2, 2009 - (Page 2) Home Media Magazine - February 2, 2009 - (Page 3) Home Media Magazine - February 2, 2009 - (Page 4) Home Media Magazine - February 2, 2009 - Contents (Page 5) Home Media Magazine - February 2, 2009 - News (Page 6) Home Media Magazine - February 2, 2009 - News (Page 7) Home Media Magazine - February 2, 2009 - News (Page 8) Home Media Magazine - February 2, 2009 - News (Page 9) Home Media Magazine - February 2, 2009 - News (Page 10) Home Media Magazine - February 2, 2009 - News (Page 11) Home Media Magazine - February 2, 2009 - TV DVD (Page 12) Home Media Magazine - February 2, 2009 - TV DVD (Page 13) Home Media Magazine - February 2, 2009 - Health/Fitness (Page 14) Home Media Magazine - February 2, 2009 - Health/Fitness (Page 15) Home Media Magazine - February 2, 2009 - Reviews (Page 16) Home Media Magazine - February 2, 2009 - Reviews (Page 17) Home Media Magazine - February 2, 2009 - Reviews (Page 18) Home Media Magazine - February 2, 2009 - Reviews (Page 19) Home Media Magazine - February 2, 2009 - Pipeline (Page 20) Home Media Magazine - February 2, 2009 - Pipeline (Page 21) Home Media Magazine - February 2, 2009 - Top 20 Sellers (Page 22) Home Media Magazine - February 2, 2009 - Top 20 Sellers (Page 23) Home Media Magazine - February 2, 2009 - Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts (Page 24) Home Media Magazine - February 2, 2009 - Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts (Page 25) Home Media Magazine - February 2, 2009 - Just Announced (Page 26) Home Media Magazine - February 2, 2009 - Just Announced (Page 27) Home Media Magazine - February 2, 2009 - Just Announced (Page 28) Home Media Magazine - February 2, 2009 - Just Announced (Page Cover3) Home Media Magazine - February 2, 2009 - Just Announced (Page Cover4)
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