Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - (Page 44) NEWS Media Companies ‘Resilient’ in Tough Times By Erik Gruenwedel arent companies to movie studios, TV networks and cable operations at a New York investor conference last week projected confidence despite a shaky week for the U.S. economy. Comcast CFO Michael Angelakis said the nation’s largest cable operator was not immune to the week’s events but was well positioned. He said the Philadelphia-based company continues to examine multiple-channel dis- www.homemediamagazine.com P tribution, including online, linear and video-on-demand. The CFO said with subscribers watching about 300 million videos a month, Comcast would continue examining acquiring content distributors, including sports. Jeff Bewkes, president and CEO of Time Warner, which owns Warner Home Video, said the companygenerated 40% and 30% of revenue from content sales and subscription sales, respectively. Les Moonves, president and CEO of CBS Corp., lavished praise on TV DVD, consumer demand for highdefinition and online digital video recording pioneer TiVo. The executive said sales of TV DVD continued to be strong and surpass movies. However, he remained cautious on whether shrinking cable VOD windows would impact DVD sales. “We’re not there yet,” Moonves said. “In the meantime we’re still seeing double digit growth for our DVD sales.” ‘Secret’ Coming to DVD DisplaySearch Speakers Extoll BD Virtues Continued from page 1 Actor Shane West and director Rodger Grossman of What We Do Is Secret dropped in on the Baker & Taylor National Sales Meeting Sept. 13, 2008, to tout the upcoming film, which hits DVD from Peace Arch Entertainment Nov. 4. Pictured (L-R): Frank Wolbert of Baker & Taylor Entertainment Group; John Raisola of Peace Arch Entertainment; Grossman; West; Tom Foltz, Scott Henderson and Len Cosimano of Baker & Taylor. Blu-ray Disc and DVD. “Even now they’re starting to coexist, more than we thought they would,” MacPherson said. “Consumers want to download it and own a physical copy.” She said Disney’s first digital copy, included on the Nightmare Before Christmas Blu-ray Disc, had more digital copy downloads than all the pay-for-download options available combined. “When you talk to consumers, there are different movies in different formats that they want to use in different ways,” she said. Russ Crupnick, VP and senior industry analyst for The NPD Group, shared his firm’s industry Blu-ray grades, with consumer satisfaction, hardware payoff for consumers and content availability all earning high marks. Consumer awareness got a grade of ‘incomplete,’ while hardware pricing earned a grade of ‘D.’ “Frankly, Blu-ray continues to be a premium product,” Crupnick said. With fourth-quarter prices for namebrand Blu-ray players forecasted in the $300 range — and possibly down another $100 a year from now — Andy Parsons, SVP of advanced product development for Pioneer Electronics, and chair of the Blu-ray Disc Association’s promotions committee, leapt to the defense of hardware prices. “There’s continuously a pressure to bring prices down,” he said. “What people overlook is that you have to have a market for it first.” As for what many consider to be Bluray’s biggest competitor, the upconverting DVD player, Crupnick shared statistics from the firm’s study that showed only 11% believed the quality of upconverters was just as good as Blu-ray. “They realize they’re getting an inferior product,” he said. Katzenberg High on Discs Continued from page 1 New York last week, Katzenberg said ongoing economic woes should positively impact the movie industry as families scale back on larger expenditures such as vacations and travel. “Our product is, at worst, recession resistant, and more optimistically and historically, our business has been recession proof,” Katzenberg said. He said DVD sales industrywide through August lagged just 3% from the same period last year. DreamWorks Animation DVDs continued to be primarily purchased by moms and repeatedly watched by children, underscoring the resilience of packaged media, according to Katzenberg. “That’s a very high value,” he said. “Our first-run releases and library continue to do well. We have not seen either price or margin erosion. The home video market is challenged, but it has held up surprisingly strong.” The CEO said the studio will aggressively support Blu-ray Disc, including releasing Kung Fu Panda and Shrek the Third in the high-definition packaged-media format. “As the price of the hardware comes down, it should become a broadly adapted platform by the consumer,” Katzenberg said. “How quickly that happens, I don’t know yet.” Retailers: High-Def Push Is Front and Center Continued from page 1 ical rental of DVDs is by any means dead, as some Wall Street types would have you believe,” said Jeff Smith, Blockbuster Inc.’s consumer electronics category manager. “But, right now, it’s kind of a crapshoot on what the rest of the year will look like.” Jonathan Zupnick, with Sears Holdings Corp.’s TV, video and audio division, said customer education on high-def and Bluray is retailers’ top concern. “If they don’t understand, they can’t equate a value,” he said. “What we’ve been doing is playing with the price, searching for [the right price for HDTVs and Blu-ray players].” Smith added that Blockbuster is very hopeful for high-def and the growth of HDTVs. “Clearly we have a vested, somewhat selfish interest in the success of high-def,” he said. “Every time [someone] sells an HDTV, we look at that as a potential [Bluray] customer.” Blockbuster this year installed an HDTV and Blu-ray player in most of its stores, to show customers the difference in quality. “The one thing that keeps consumers from pulling out their wallet is uncertainty,” Smith said. Bob Gartland, president of AVAD, which sells high-def equipment to home entertainment installers, said his company believes Americans will be hot on high-def this fourth quarter. “In general we’re still optimistic about consumer electronics this fourth quarter,” he said. “The lower price points on Blu-ray will drive a lot of interest … and we know the studios are especially interested in the fourth quarter.” Panasonic Demos BD Players Continued from page 1 Shipping to retailers in October — but with prices still under wraps — the DMP-BD35 and the DMP-BD55 are BD Live (profile 2.0) and Bonus View (profile 1.1) capable and feature SD Memory Card slots, three HDMI inputs and video processing technology that beats any other Blu-ray player on the market, Panasonic officials said. The PHL Chroma Processor Plus technology aims to present colors as close to the original video master as possible. The processor offers a 4:4:4 function, creating a video signal that color-compensates for every pixel, presenting as sharp a picture as possible. The major difference between the two players is that while both decode high-def audio codecs (Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, etc.), and can offer 7.1 channel surround sound on systems that do not support HD audio, the BD55 decodes 7.1 channel analog as well. “We’re still improving on our Blu-ray players,” said Takeshi Kuraku, manager of Panasonic’s audio and video marketing team, overseas sales and marketing group. He and other Panasonic officials put their new players up against the latest from Samsung and Sony, showing a sharper image, especially with moving objects. “We have improved on the BD30 and BD50,” said Tetsuya Itani, Panasonic’s chief engineer, product engineering group, advanced development team. He said the studio preferred to wait and see results from ongoing trials between studios and cable operators regarding releasing movies on video-on-demand and DVD the same day. While acknowledging the “tremendous” opportunities, promise and growth in digital delivery, Katzenberg questioned the financial returns in the near term. “In 2009, total sales of all digital content — movies, rental and sales — will be 2.1% of the [DVD] volume, and even less for our product,” he said. “Moms want a hard good to take on the road and vacation. Our hard good business is core and strong.” He reiterated DreamWorks Animation’s strong support for 3-D theatrical releases, underscored by the installation of about 2,500 compatible screens by the end of the year. He said the format could increase incremental theatrical revenue from 7% to 9%. Katzenberg said Warner’s decision to bump Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince from Nov. 21 to July 17 was the “greatest Christmas gift” in his 35 years in the movie business. He said DreamWorks’ Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, due Nov. 21, should significantly increase previous box office projections. L A T E FL A SH ES I ANALYST PROJECTS NEWS CORP. MOVIE REVENUE DROP Citing “difficult comparisons” of the fiscal-year 2009 theatrical film slate with 2008, Pail Research revised downward filmed-entertainment revenue projections for News Corp., parent of 20th Century Fox. The report said revenue would decline 3.1% from a previous 1.3% decline estimate to nearly $6.5 billion. Fox’s fiscal 2008 (ended June 30) hits included The Simpsons Movie, AVPR: Aliens vs. Predator — Requiem, Juno, Alvin and the Chipmunks and Hitman. — Erik Gruenwedel Correction: The Coca Cola Telenovela Rewards Club program (HM, Sept. 14-20) is a partnership between Xenon Pictures and Televisa Home Entertainment and Coca Cola. 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. 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Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 Contents News High-Def News Electronic Delivery News Women in Home Entertainment Reviews Research Top 20 DVD Sellers Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts Just Announced Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 (Page Cover1) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 (Page Cover2) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 (Page 1) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 (Page 2) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 (Page 3) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 (Page 4) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Contents (Page 5) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - News (Page 6) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - News (Page 7) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - High-Def News (Page 8) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - High-Def News (Page 9) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - High-Def News (Page 10) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - High-Def News (Page 11) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Electronic Delivery News (Page 12) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Electronic Delivery News (Page 13) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Women in Home Entertainment (Page 14) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Women in Home Entertainment (Page 15) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Women in Home Entertainment (Page 16) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Women in Home Entertainment (Page 17) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Women in Home Entertainment (Page 18) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Women in Home Entertainment (Page 19) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Women in Home Entertainment (Page 20) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Women in Home Entertainment (Page 21) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Women in Home Entertainment (Page 22) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Women in Home Entertainment (Page 23) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Women in Home Entertainment (Page 24) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Women in Home Entertainment (Page 25) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Women in Home Entertainment (Page 26) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Women in Home Entertainment (Page 27) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Women in Home Entertainment (Page 28) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Women in Home Entertainment (Page 29) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Women in Home Entertainment (Page 30) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Women in Home Entertainment (Page 31) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Women in Home Entertainment (Page 32) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Women in Home Entertainment (Page 33) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Reviews (Page 34) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Reviews (Page 35) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Reviews (Page 36) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Reviews (Page 37) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Top 20 DVD Sellers (Page 38) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts (Page 39) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts (Page 40) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts (Page 41) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Just Announced (Page 42) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Just Announced (Page 43) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Just Announced (Page 44) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Just Announced (Page Cover3) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Just Announced (Page Cover4)
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