Home Media Magazine - December 21, 2008 - (Page 6) NEWS BRIEFS I REDBOX ENTERS 7-ELEVEN, AIRPORTS, GAS STATIONS DVD rental kiosk operator Redbox has quietly begun installing units in 2,600 7Eleven convenience stores nationwide, in addition to select airports and gas stations. Redbox also began offering 99-cent movie rentals at General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee, Nashville International Airport, and Gerald R. Ford Airport in Grand Rapids, Mich. It also began service at convenience chain Maverick in Tennessee, Thorntons in Wisconsin and Maryland-based Royal Farms. – Erik Gruenwedel www.homemediamagazine.com Analyst: Blu-ray Infringes on DVD Sales By Erik Gruenwedel “Interestingly, two years into the standard DVD cycle, RESEARCH The move by studios and consumer electron- the DVD installed base was only 1.2 million and players ics manufacturers to push Blu-ray players and movies were not nearly as inexpensive as $129 on Black Friday,” onto consumers in the fourth quarter is undermining the note said. year-end standard DVD sales, according to a research Greenfield said end-of-the-year standalone BD player note from Richard Greenfield with Pali Capital. sales would reach 2.5 million units and could double Greenfield said Wal-Mart’s aggresor triple in 2009. Sales of the Sony sive stance toward Blu-ray, which PlayStation 3 console with BD drive «TWO YEARS INTO THE included blowing out 150,000 MagSTANDARD DVD CYCLE, THE should reach 8 million units at the navox players in select stores for $128 INSTALLED BASE WAS ONLY 1.2 end of the month. on Black Friday, in addition to in- MILLION AND PLAYERS WERE The analyst said current economic creased shelf space, would contribute NOT NEARLY AS INEXPENSIVE conditions continued to produce priceto standard DVD revenue falling 6% AS $129 ON BLACK FRIDAY.» sensitive consumers, negatively imin 2008 from previous estimates of pacting new-release sales more than RICHARD GREENFIELD, flat sales. that of catalog fare. He said older-title PALI CAPITAL “While positive long-term, the inrevenue would decline a modest 2%, stalled base of Blu-ray is simply not large enough to compared to a double-digit decline for new releases. make up for lost floor space of standard DVD,” GreenGreenfield cited poor word-of-mouth for the relative field wrote. lackluster home entertainment results for Get Smart, Indeed, the analyst said BD trends continued to look despite generating $130 million at the box office. promising following 1 million unit sales of The Dark “New release titles with strong word of mouth continKnight, among other titles, and prices hovering around ue to perform well, with the family/animated category $25, compared to $18 for standard DVD. remaining healthy,” he wrote. Actors and Studios Spar In Trades By Erik Gruenwedel fter dissing the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) regarding failed labor negotiations in a full-page ad in the Los Angeles Times, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) Dec. 15 again lashed out at SAG national president Alan Rosenberg with an ad in the Hollywood trades. In the ad entitled “Seriously?” the AMPTP presented a tale-ofthe-tape comparison citing alleged “facts” vs. Rosenberg’s alleged “rhetoric.” Specifically the studios said their contract offer featured an increase of $250 million in benefits, including first-ever residuals and jurisdiction for new media work. The ad claims Rosenberg believed the new deal would be the “beginning of the end” for any type of new media residuals. The studios countered Rosenberg’s belief that its contract amounted to a “massive rollback” of health, pension, overtime and trailer compensation. The AMPTP disputed union characterization that the proposal represented “life or death for SAG.” In response, SAG issued a statement decrying the studios’ ad as “great fiction,” with “convoluted bullet points” and “confused messages.” SAG said the studios’ streaming offer amounted to $46 per actor for newly streamed TV product for the first year, and not per episode. It said the contract allowed for no union jurisdiction on new media with budgets under $15,000 per minute. “That’s the vast majority of all new media,” SAG said. The union claimed there would be no residual compensation for repurposed programming on networkrelated Web sites. SAG earlier this month said it would seek authorization Jan. 2 from union members for a strike. If 75% of the 120,000 members approve a strike against the AMPTP, the union’s national board could authorize Hollywood actors’ first major work stoppage since 1980. Both sides have failed to find agreement, despite involvement of a federal mediator, and continue to operate under the previous labor contract, which expired June 30. I IMAGE TO DISTRIBUTE BKN Image Entertainment signed a North American distribution deal with BKN Home Entertainment, an American unit of German-based children’s animation company BKN International AG. Under terms of the deal, Image has exclusive packaged media (including Blu-ray Disc) and digital distribution of more than 300 episodes from 26 properties, including “Legend of the Dragon,” “Kong” and “Zorro — Generation Z.” Chatsworth, Calif.-based Image also has first-look rights to all new BKN content, which was previously distributed by Genius Products. – Erik Gruenwedel I WARNER GETS VIZ ANIME Warner Home Video inked a distribution deal for new and catalog anime DVD from Viz Media beginning April 1, 2009. Viz, whose largely nontheatrical anime DVD properties include “Naruto,” “Bleach,” “Death Note” and “Inuyasha” franchises, in addition to the “Pokémon” animated television series and catalog features, was previously distributed by Simon & Schuster. — Erik Gruenwedel Report: Poor Economy Will Hit Hard at 2009 Euro DVD, BD Sales By Chris Tribbey RESEARCH The United Kingdom will be hard hit in 2009 when it comes to a drop in DVD sales, and Europe will be slow to upgrade to Blu-ray Disc, according to Screen Digest. The research firm reported that the closures of Woolworths, which accounted for 9% of British DVD sales in 2007, and its sister company EUK, Britain’s largest DVD wholesaler, will dramatically alter DVD at retail. “Heightened attention to stockmanagement issues will alter surviving retailers’ DVD sales strategies,” the report reads. “As a result, indus- I ACORN ADDS SHED FARE Acorn Media has inked a deal with U.K.-based Shed Media, giving Acorn worldwide DVD rights to Shed properties. Shed titles include mostly BBC productions, including Waterloo Road, Hope Springs, Life of Riley and Who Do You Think You Are? — Chris Tribbey try supply rather than consumer demand is likely to dictate market conditions in the coming year.” The report stresses that DVD will remain a popular choice for consumers during a worldwide recession: Europeans will have spent $10.2 billion on DVD by the end of 2008, roughly a fifth of the worldwide DVD market. However, the recession couldn’t come at a worse time when it comes to Blu-ray, said Helen Davis Jayalath, head of video for Screen Digest. “Many European consumers who might have upgraded their home entertainment system will now defer their decision, so the shift to Blu-ray will take longer than previously anticipated,” she said. “They will, however, continue to buy DVDs, safe in the knowledge that BD’s backward compatibility means that they won’t become obsolete. “But the delay in BD adoption and the availability in the short term of high numbers of surplus EUK and Woolworths DVD stock mean it will take longer for consumer spending to return to growth.” Screen Digest is still predicting that by 2012, Blu-ray will make up half of the home media sales in Europe. SUIT ALLEGES XBOX 360 DAMAGES DISCS WHEN MOVED By Chris Tribbey I FOOTBALL IN 3-D College football fans can catch the Jan. 8 BCS National Championship game in 3-D at theaters nationwide. Sony, Fox Sports, 3ality Digital and Cinedigm are working together to bring the game in 3-D to theaters in 35 states. Distributed via satellite, the presentation will be available in multiplexes that have digital capabilities. Tickets can be purchased for between $18 and $22, and theaters can be found by visiting www. cinedigmentertainment.com. — Chris Tribbey irst it was the “red ring of death.” Now it’s damaged discs. Microsoft’s Xbox 360 is coming under legal fire again, this time because of accusations that the gaming system scratches discs when the system is moved while the power is on. The suit seeks class action status. While it may seem like common sense — don’t move the system while it’s operating — a suit filed in Seattle claims Microsoft knew about the problem before the Xbox 360’s launch in 2005, and its advertising of the system as being able to stand horizontally or vertically causes users to handle the system without knowing the consequences. “Microsoft discovered this scratch-inducing design defect prior to launching the Xbox 360, but refused and continues to refuse to remedy the problem,” the lawsuit reads. The suit includes testimony from a Microsoft program manager, Hiroo Umeno, which shows that Microsoft considered — and rejected — three possible fixes to the problem before the system was made available to consumers. Microsoft includes a warning sticker on the Xbox’s disc tray that warns users to not move the console while a disc is inside and that has to be removed before initial use. However, the suit claims that does not “adequately warn of the product defect.” A Microsoft spokesman told the Seattle Tech Report Dec. 15 that “too much movement of any game console, not just the Xbox 360, can cause scratches on a disc.” Home Media Magazine December 21–27, 2008 http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://www.cinedigmentertainment.com http://www.cinedigmentertainment.com
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