Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 - (Page 36) NEWS Apple to Boost Digital Delivery, Not Blu-ray Continued from page 1 www.homemediamagazine.com distributor of any format in the United States, with more than 8.5 million songs, 125,000 podcasts, 30,000 TV episodes and 3,000 applications. Apple also unveiled a 120GB iPod Classic (holds 30,000 songs) for $249. Previously the 80GB model sold for $248. A fourth-generation iPod Nano is longer, oval-shaped and thinner than its predecessor. The unit can be shaken to shuffle the song playlist. A single battery charge accommodates both 24 hours of music and four hours of video. The 8GB and 16GB units cost $149 and $199, respectively. Citing data from The NPD Group, Jobs said the iPod has a 73.4% market share, followed by other MP3 players at 15.4%, SanDisk at 8% and the Microsoft Zune at 2.6%. “We think we’ve got the best lineup [of iPods] we’ve ever had for this holiday season,” he said. The new iPod Touch is also thinner and features software called “Genius” that allows users to create automatic song and video playlists based on their catalog and those of 65 million other iTunes music store members. The updated unit can play 36 hours of music and six hours of video. The 8GB Touch is $229 (down from $299); the 16GB is $299 (down from $399); and the 32GB is $399. “This is the funnest iPod ever,” Jobs said. Despite speculation Apple might announce incorporating Blu-ray technology into Apple TV or related products, independent technology analyst Rob Enderle said the new optical-disc format is not in Apple’s business strategy. “Apple’s strategy for movies revolves around iTunes and AppleTV,” Enderle said. “Like Microsoft, they have moved on from high-def packaged media. It’s not their thing.” The company also announced a free 2.1 software upgrade (from Apple.com) for original Touch devices, in addition to 2.1 software for the iPhone that claims to reduce dropped calls, system crashes, improve battery life and connect to iTunes faster. Panasonic’s Oasis Panasonic treated racing fans at the at the Auto Club Speedway Pepsi 500 in Fontana, Calif., over Labor Day Weekend to an oasis of an air-conditioned tent featuring Panasonic’s high-defintion products, such as a 103-inch flat-screen plasma TV. Photo by: Tai Kerbs L A T E FL A SH ES I COMCAST APPEALS FCC RULING Comcast has appealed an Aug. 1 ruling by the Federal Communications Commission that found Comcast had selectively interfered with customers’ Web connections, including file-sharing services BitTorrent and Gnutella. Comcast admitted it took action against select file-sharing services in order to control what it characterized as increased network traffic and congestion. The Philadelphia-based cable operator said starting Oct. 1 it would cap monthly data downloading at 250GB per month. — Erik Gruenwedel Game Consoles Will Reap Online Rewards Continued from page 1 Parks Associates’ consumer data shows that a large percentage of Xbox Live users watch premium content such as movies and TV shows in addition to free videos. Microsoft boasts that it has the largest on-demand high-definition video library in the United States with more than 1,000 hours of content. At E3 the company announced a partnership with Netflix to add 10,000 movies and TV shows to Xbox Live offerings. “Based on our consumer data, approximately 16% of Xbox 360 households in the U.S. subscribe to Netflix, translating to a little more than 1 million households,” Cai said. “Microsoft wants to appeal to the 7 million Netflix subscribers without an Xbox 360, but the sales effect on Xbox 360s is probably limited. Consumers not interested in buying an Xbox 360 won’t purchase it because of the Netflix support. “As a result of these challenges, this partnership may benefit Netflix more than Microsoft; the 8 to 9 million Xbox 360 households not yet subscribing to Netflix now have another reason to do so.” Cai expects Sony to respond to this Netflix partnership with its own subscription-based partnership. He points to Blockbuster Online, which has 3.2 million subscribers, as one remote possibility. Another possibility is Starz, which recently announced its intention to close its own Vongo service and focus on its subscription-based Starz Play service. “Sony had some early fling with Starz when it was launching the Sony Connect service, which is now folded, and it is possible the two companies will work together again,” he said. Sony lags behind Xbox 360 in video offerings, especially HD videos, Cai said. He said one reason is that it just launched the service and is still growing its content library. Another reason is its focus on Blu-ray. “After Blu-ray won the format war against HD DVD earlier this year, PS3 did not experience a significant sales increase, causing Sony finally to launch its own online video service in July 2008,” Cai said. “However, Sony is proceeding in a controlled manner so that the potential cannibalization effect of its digital video service on Blu-ray movie sales is minimized.” The majority of PS3 households bought a PS3 for gaming, with Bluray support as only a side benefit, he said. Park Associates’ consumer data show that 83% of PS3 households play games on a weekly basis, compared to 38% who watch Blu-ray movies on a weekly basis. The report shows that 43% have never watched or rarely watch Blu-ray movies using the PS3. In addition, among all PlayStation 3 households, only 2% watch Blu-ray movies at least weekly, but don’t also play games weekly. “Consumers who are already interested in buying a PS3 may con- sider Blu-ray support as an advantage when considering purchase, but those who are not planning to purchase a PS3 won’t buy it because of the feature,” Cai said. “In fact the overall consumer interest in purchasing a Blu-ray player remains low because of the high cost, limited content availability, more-expensive discs and no perceived improvement to video quality beyond that delivered by [upconverting] DVD players.” Despite Sony’s backing of Blu-ray, Cai said, “Its digital efforts are nonetheless serious; Sony hired a former iTunes executive to head up its PSN video efforts.” Cai noted ways that Sony is differentiating its PlayStation Network Video Store from Xbox Live Video Marketplace. In addition to offering exclusive movies and TV shows from Sony Pictures, any content downloaded through PS3 can also be transferred to PSP for portable viewing. “In the long run, both services will be successful,” Cai said. “By 2013 we forecast that Sony and Microsoft will generate more than $4 billion in digital video revenue. Despite Microsoft’s head start, PS3 video revenue will surpass that of Xbox 360 in late 2011 due to its larger installed base.” Even Nintendo has begun branching out into video playback on its popular Wii console. The Japanese company is leveraging its Internet channels to enable new-media service features. homes, or 18% of consumer households, according to Multimedia Intelligence. Media networks in households with incomes below $100,000 are projected to top 10 million homes by 2012. “Home media networks are a rising tide, but not a wave,” said Mark Kirstein, president and co-founder of Multimedia Intelligence. — Erik Gruenwedel I SONY HAS NEW BLU-RAY LAPTOP Sony last week unveiled a Vaio AW model high-def notebook that includes an internal Blu-ray drive and 18.4-inch LCD display with 1080p resolution. The laptop can be connected via HDMI cable to compatible HDTV to watch DVD and Blu-ray movies on a larger screen. Sony said the notebook’s wider LCD screen would minimize the black bars that typically appear when viewing a high-def movie shot in a 16:9 aspect ratio. — Erik Gruenwedel I MYSPACETV LAUNCHES DIRECT VIDEO RECORDING Social networking giant MySpace has launched a Direct Video Record feature for MySpaceTV, allowing users with a Webcam to directly record and upload videos to MySpaceTV without having to save them as files beforehand. At www.myspacetv.com users can record and share videos through bulletins, comments, blogs and profiles. Videos will be subject to MySpace’s terms and conditions. — Billy Gil I CBS’S MOONVES SAYS VOD IS INCREMENTAL REVENUE CBS Corp. president and CEO Leslie Moonves told investors VOD is still only a drop in the revenue bucket for his company and that the networks will always have a place among the wide selection of cable channels. However, he admitted that he and other network executives realize the importance of the Internet and other new media, even if the revenue generated by online and on demand is minimal. Most people who use VOD already are watching the shows on the network — they’re simply catching up on what they missed, he said. — Chris Tribbey I ANALYSTS: MEDIA NETWORKS GROWING — SLOWLY Households with one or more children, multiple PCs and income above $100,000 are 39% more likely than the average home to have an established home network, according to a new report. While the market for Internet-connected HDTV remains small, home networks with Web-based broadband video distribution now include about 20 million 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. 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Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 Contents News TV DVD Cine Mercado Reviews Research Top 20 DVD Sellers Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts Just Announced Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 (Page Cover1) Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 (Page Cover2) Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 (Page 1) Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 (Page 2) Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 (Page 3) Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 (Page 4) Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 (Page 5) Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 (Page 6) Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 (Page 7) Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 (Page 8) Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 - Contents (Page 9) Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 - News (Page 10) Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 - News (Page 11) Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 - News (Page 12) Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 - News (Page 13) Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 - News (Page 14) Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 - News (Page 15) Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 - TV DVD (Page 16) Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 - TV DVD (Page 17) Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 - Cine Mercado (Page 18) Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 - Cine Mercado (Page 19) Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 - Reviews (Page 20) Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 - Reviews (Page 21) Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 - Reviews (Page 22) Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 - Reviews (Page 23) Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 - Reviews (Page 24) Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 - Reviews (Page 25) Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 - Top 20 DVD Sellers (Page 26) Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 - Top 20 DVD Sellers (Page 27) Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 - Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts (Page 28) Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 - Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts (Page 29) Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 - Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts (Page 30) Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 - Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts (Page 31) Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 - Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts (Page 32) Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 - Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts (Page 33) Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 - Just Announced (Page 34) Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 - Just Announced (Page 35) Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 - Just Announced (Page 36) Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 - Just Announced (Page Cover3) Home Media Magazine - September 14-20, 2008 - Just Announced (Page Cover4)
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