Home Media Magazine - September 7-13, 2008 - (Page 8) ELECTRONIC DELIVERY SOCIAL NETWORKING GOING MOBILE By Erik Gruenwedel www.homemediamagazine.com Comcast Caps Broadband Usage By Erik Gruenwedel omcast, the nation’s largest cable operator, Oct. 1 will begin capping monthly broadband data use at 250GB per subscriber in an effort to rein in excessive downloading and peer-to-peer activities. Subscribers who exceed the cap, which is the equivalent of downloading 62,000 songs, 125 standard-definition movies or 50 million e-mails, will be issued a warning. Those who receive more than two warnings over a six-month period are subject to having their Internet service terminated for a year. Comcast said the restriction was necessary after rampant downloads of movies, photos, videos and music files by an undisclosed number of its 14 million Web subscribers affected data delivery speeds across its network. Comcast spokesperson Charlie Douglas said usage monitoring has been in effect for some time but never with a quantifiable amount defined as excessive. “We decided it would be in our best interest to release a number,” Douglas said. He said more than 99% of Comcast’s Internet subscribers don’t approach 250GB in data use per month. The restriction affects a segment of subscribers Douglas characterized as “tiny” and engaging in a “massively Social network Web sites such as MySpace and Facebook attract millions of users and revenue. Now, a new report says the global phenomenon is going mobile, with more than 140 million global subscribers projected to interact via cell phone by 2013. The report, by New York-based ABI Research, predicts subscription numbers for mobile social networks will climb slowly over the next four years but then ramp up significantly as cell phone technology and user interest embrace the concept. Subscription revenue for the mobile services is projected to exceed $410 million. Specifically, the report said awareness in emerging markets such as Brazil, Russia, India and China would be key to the global success or failure of mobile social networking, according to research director Michael Wolf. “So, we are quite conservative in our forecasts,” Wolf said. He said mobile versions of social networks likely will follow the business models of MySpace and Facebook by offering free browser-based access. Wolf said such busiRESEARCH ness strategies, however, could pose challenges to mobile operators by limiting their slice of the revenue to a charge for data traffic. “The ideal scenario for the mobile operator includes a recurring revenue stream, including subscribers paying $1.99 or $2.99 a month to have this application on their handset,” he said. The ABI report established that mobile operators could significantly increase revenue through ad-supported content and electronic sellthrough of pictures, videos, games and music. A recent end-user survey conducted by ABI found that mobile users of social networks are likely to consume two or three times as much digital mobile content than their “asocial” peers. Indeed, Wolf said mobile operators heretofore have not catered products and advertising specifically to the social network user. The result, he said, is that social networking has thus far remained a PC-based activity. “Social networking applications have to be uniquely mobile and not reliant entirely on advertising-based revenue, at least not initially,” he said. C disproportionate” amount of bandwidth that “literally degrades” the Internet experience for all users. The average Comcast subscriber reportedly uses 2GB to 3GB storage capacity per month. Other cable operators, including Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications, have initiated trial usage programs aimed at billing consumers for excessive downloading rather than charging a flat monthly fee. Douglas said the 250GB limit shouldn’t impact users who employ third-party storage systems to track their movies, photos and songs. “You would have to watch three or four movies a day, 30 days in a row, to come close to the limit,” he said. Douglas said the cap is generous and will be revisited periodically, especially as high-definition programming becomes more prevalent. Fred von Lehman, senior intellectual property attorney with Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Franciscobased civil liberties group, applauded Comcast’s public disclosure about usage and agreed the 250GB ceiling left a lot of breathing room for the average user. But imposing residential caps could make it more difficult for competing download services, including Hulu and Vuze, to gain a foothold against cable TV offerings, he said. MOBILE SOCIAL NETWORK USERS BY REGION FORECAST: 2006 – 2013 150 120 Users (Millions) Report: Online Movie Sales Are Projected to Top $1.8B by 2011 By Erik Gruenwedel RESEARCH Sales of movie downloads and rental streams are projected to reach $1.8 billion in the United States by the end of 2011, according to a new report. Total online entertainment revenue is expected to top $4.4 billion, according to the report compiled by Research & Markets, a Dublin-based firm. Still, the study found that despite BRIEFS I THEWB.COM LAUNCHES WITH VIDEO TheWB.com launched Aug. 27, offering ad-supported video-on-demand. Original and catalog series will be made available in the coming weeks, Warner Bros. Television Group stated. Full episodes from classic series such as “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Babylon 5” and “Firefly” are available, as are episodes from new series such as “Blue Water High” and “A Boy Wearing Makeup.” – Chris Tribbey 90 60 30 0 I Latin America I Asia-Pacific I Middle East/Africa I Western Europe I North America 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Source: ABI Research the proliferation of user-generated video, full-length feature movie downloads continue to languish. The report said success of online movie downloads would hinge particularly on the success of Apple’s marketing of iTunes, iPod and iPhone and that, while Apple would dominate electronic movie sellthrough, its continued high visibility would ultimately open the door for competing services. TOP 5 RANK TITLE E LE C T R O NI C SELLT H R OUG H Week ended August 30, 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 August 31, 2008 RELEASE DATE VIDEO LABEL GENRE 1 2 3 4 5 What Happens in Vegas: Extended Version Redbelt What Happens in Vegas The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior Street Kings 8/26/08 8/26/08 8/26/08 8/19/08 8/19/08 Fox Sony Pictures Fox Universal Fox Comedy Drama Comedy Adventure Thriller Source: Movielink 1 2 3 4 5 Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay 7/29/08 The Legend of the Shadowless Sword Lost Boys: The Tribe Nim’s Island What Happens in Vegas 8/12/08 7/29/08 8/5/08 8/26/08 Warner Warner Warner Fox Fox Comedy Action Horror Family Comedy Source: CinemaNow TOP 5 RANK TITLE E LE CT R O NIC D OW NLOAD S Week ended August 30, 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 August 31, 2008 RELEASE DATE VIDEO LABEL GENRE 1 2 3 4 5 21 Doomsday The Bank Job Stargate: Continuum Definitely, Maybe 7/21/08 8/27/08 8/13/08 8/28/08 7/23/08 Sony Pictures Universal Lionsgate Fox/MGM Universal Drama Action Thriller Sci-Fi Comedy Source: Movielink 1 2 3 4 5 21 The Bank Job Vantage Point Smart People Cleaner 8/21/08 8/13/08 7/31/08 8/12/08 7/11/08 Sony Pictures Lionsgate Sony Pictures Disney/Miramax Sony Pictures Drama Thriller Thriller Comedy Thriller Source: CinemaNow 8 Home Media Magazine September 7–13, 2008 http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://THEWB.COM http://TheWB.com
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Home Media Magazine - September 7-13, 2008 Home Media Magazine - September 7, 2008 News Tweens Reviews Pipeline Research Top 20 DVD Sellers Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts Just Announced Home Media Magazine - September 7-13, 2008 Home Media Magazine - September 7-13, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - September 7, 2008 (Page Cover1) Home Media Magazine - September 7-13, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - September 7, 2008 (Page Cover2) Home Media Magazine - September 7-13, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - September 7, 2008 (Page 1) Home Media Magazine - September 7-13, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - September 7, 2008 (Page 2) Home Media Magazine - September 7-13, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - September 7, 2008 (Page 3) Home Media Magazine - September 7-13, 2008 - News (Page 4) Home Media Magazine - September 7-13, 2008 - News (Page 5) Home Media Magazine - September 7-13, 2008 - News (Page 6) Home Media Magazine - September 7-13, 2008 - News (Page 7) Home Media Magazine - September 7-13, 2008 - News (Page 8) Home Media Magazine - September 7-13, 2008 - News (Page 9) Home Media Magazine - September 7-13, 2008 - Tweens (Page 10) Home Media Magazine - September 7-13, 2008 - Tweens (Page 11) Home Media Magazine - September 7-13, 2008 - Reviews (Page 12) Home Media Magazine - September 7-13, 2008 - Reviews (Page 13) Home Media Magazine - September 7-13, 2008 - Reviews (Page 14) Home Media Magazine - September 7-13, 2008 - Reviews (Page 15) Home Media Magazine - September 7-13, 2008 - Reviews (Page 16) Home Media Magazine - September 7-13, 2008 - Reviews (Page 17) Home Media Magazine - September 7-13, 2008 - Pipeline (Page 18) Home Media Magazine - September 7-13, 2008 - Pipeline (Page 19) Home Media Magazine - September 7-13, 2008 - Top 20 DVD Sellers (Page 20) Home Media Magazine - September 7-13, 2008 - Top 20 DVD Sellers (Page 21) Home Media Magazine - September 7-13, 2008 - Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts (Page 22) Home Media Magazine - September 7-13, 2008 - Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts (Page 23) Home Media Magazine - September 7-13, 2008 - Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts (Page 24) Home Media Magazine - September 7-13, 2008 - Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts (Page 25) Home Media Magazine - September 7-13, 2008 - Just Announced (Page 26) Home Media Magazine - September 7-13, 2008 - Just Announced (Page 27) Home Media Magazine - September 7-13, 2008 - Just Announced (Page 28) Home Media Magazine - September 7-13, 2008 - Just Announced (Page Cover3) Home Media Magazine - September 7-13, 2008 - Just Announced (Page Cover4)
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