Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - (Page 6) NEWS BRIEFS I LIGHTYEAR JOINS VIVENDI Lightyear Entertainment has signed a long-term distribution agreement with Vivendi Entertainment. Vivendi will handle physical distribution of Lightyear product in the United States and Canada, plus mobile viewing, electronic sellthrough and digital rental. The agreement paves the way for Lightyear releases to be available through the iTunes store. Lightyear plans on releasing two to three films a month through Vivendi, starting in November. The fourth-quarter releases include House Arrest (Nov. 4), Take a Leap of Faith (Nov. 4) and Johnson Family Christmas Dinner (Dec. 9). Lightyear had previously been distributed through Warner Home Video. – John Latchem www.homemediamagazine.com Blockbuster Upbeat On Financials the industry offers an antidote By Erik Gruenwedel RETAIL On Oct. 22, a day to the economic downturn by the Dow Jones industrials fell offering a cost-effective home more than 500 points on fears entertainment option. of poor earnings forecasts, “Blockbuster’s core rental ofBlockbuster issued a beacon fering provides customers with of hope. an excellent value, which is The Dallas-based No. 1 DVD especially important in these rental chain said third-quarchallenging times,” said chairter domestic same-store sales man and CEO Jim Keyes in «BLOCKBUSTER’S CORE RENTAL increased 5.1%, with sameOFFERING PROVIDES CUSTOMERS a statement. “We believe this store rental revenue up 0.8%. WITH AN EXCELLENT VALUE, WHICH consumer value, along with the It also reiterated previously IS ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT IN THESE steps we are taking to control announced full-year 2008 adcosts and transform BlockbustCHALLENGING TIMES» justed EBITDA guidance from er into a multichannel provider JIM KEYES, $300 million to $315 million, of entertainment, positions us BLOCKBUSTER CHAIRMAN & CEO which corresponds to net inwell for both the near- and come in the range of $21 million to $36 million. long-term.” Rental services such as Netflix, Blockbuster and Blockbuster reports full third-quarter results Redbox have remained buoyant. Analysts contend Nov. 6. Icahn Takes Bigger Stake In Lionsgate By Erik Gruenwedel SUPPLIER Lionsgate is about to get corporate scrutiny from renegade investor Carl Icahn, who upped his threeyear-old stake in the Santa Monica, Calif.-based studio to more than 9%. Declaring Lionsgate’s shares “undervalued,” Icahn spent more than $86 million acquiring 6.51 million shares, making him the fourth largest investor, with 10.8 million shares, according to a regulatory filing. Lionsgate’s home entertainment revenue, which includes a combined 12,000 DVD, Blu-ray, videoon-demand (VOD) and electronic sellthrough titles, increased 47% in the most recent quarter to $152.2 million from $103.8 million during the same period last year. The studio is expected to top the box office Oct. 24 with the fifth installment of the lucrative “Saw” franchise. Lionsgate recently closed a $350 million credit facility with J.P. Morgan. New York-based Icahn’s most recent entertainment investments portended management shakeups (both realized and thwarted) at Blockbuster Inc., Time Warner and Yahoo — the latter after it rejected a $44.6 billion acquisition bid by Microsoft. Icahn said in the filing that his increased ownership came after discussions with Lionsgate co-chairman and CEO Jon Feltheimer. Details of those discussions were not disclosed. A studio spokesperson said the company maintained a good relationship and “open dialogue” with Icahn and other major shareholders. Feltheimer, who was recently given a contract extension through 2014 with an annual base salary of $1.2 million, said he welcomed Icahn’s input. So,too,doanalysts,manywhobelieve Lionsgate’s stock has languished. Brian Shipman, analyst with Jefferies & Co. in New York, said in a research note that with Icahn “stirring the pot,” some sort of corporate action “is more likely.” He said Icahn’s presence would entice management to concentrate on cost efficiencies, which he said included producing lower-risk/medium-reward movies — a previous hallmark of Lionsgate. “Recently, Lionsgate expanded its slate and entered more competitive film genres with only a limited degree of success,” Shipman said. “We believe the presence of an activist shareholder such as [Icahn] will re-focus Lionsgate on projects with more favorable risk/reward potential.” I SAG SEEKS MEDIATOR FOR CONTRACT TALKS The union representing television and film actors said it would formally request federal mediation to help restart contract negotiations with producers and studios. SAG and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which met for 44 days of formal negotiations, have not reached an agreement to renew the labor contract that expired June 30. The AMPTP offered a deal that included $250 million in pay hikes and jurisdiction of new media. Actors are seeking greater compensation from Internet distribution in addition to revamping the 20-year-old home video residual agreement, which the studios have steadfastly refused to address. “We hope mediation will help move this process forward,” said SAG president Alan Rosenberg. A representative from AMPTP was not immediately available for comment. – Erik Gruenwedel Image Gets Extension From Nasdaq By Erik Gruenwedel SUPPLIER The Nasdaq granted Image Entertainment a 90-day extension (to Feb. 9, 2009) to upgrade its market value. The previous deadline was Nov. 3. Nasdaq rules require that all publicly traded companies maintain a minimum market value of $15 million. Market capitalization (“market cap”) is typically the number of shares outstanding times the price per share. The trading board Oct. 21 said it would relax financial requirements to prevent companies whose share price had fallen be- low $1 from being reclassified as penny stocks. Nasdaq reported that 227 securities were penny stocks, up from 64 during the prior-year period. The tally increased to 344 by Oct. 9. “There is so much uncertainty in the equity markets right now for so many companies that focusing short-term on that rule is just the wrong focus,” Magnus Bocker, Nasdaq’s president, told Reuters. Image received its initial warning Aug. 6 and stated at the time it would consider moving its securities to The Nasdaq Capital Market (formerly known as the Nasdaq SmallCap Market), which requires smaller market valuations. Chatsworth, Calif.-based Image closed Oct. 21 with a market cap of $15.3 million. Image earlier this month said it projected second-quarter fiscal-year 2009 (ended Sept. 30) revenue to exceed $31 million, compared to $21.6 million during the prior-year period. The distributor said it expected net revenue for fiscal 2009 to range from $115 million to $125 million. It also expected to post an undisclosed profit. I REPORT: XBOX NOT READY FOR ‘PRIMETIME’ Microsoft Corp. said it would delay the launch of a slate of interactive real-time video games known as “Xbox Live Primetime” until next spring. The company cited the Nov. 19 bow of an updated Xbox 360 dashboard (“Experience”) and unspecified technical problems for the holdup, according to Forbes. Xbox Live Experience will offer movie streams from Netflix, in addition to an upgraded user interface and selection of 12,000 arcade games. Primetime is aimed at gamers bored with network TV who would compete against other gamers in interactive challenges on their TV for prizes. The first Primetime game slated was “1 vs. 100,” which NBC has aired periodically, most recently on Jan. 4 as “1 vs. 100: Battle of the Sexes.” – Erik Gruenwedel BLU-RAY RELEASE TRENDS YEAR-TO-DATE: 2006-2008 More Blu-ray titles — 439 in all — have been released this year (through Oct. 21) than during the same periods in 2006 (71) and 2007 (224) combined. That’s a 96% surge in product releases during the period. Since the inception of the format in June of 2006 (through Oct. 21, 2008), the title mix of Blu-ray product offerings has relied heavily on new theatrical (films released theatrically after Jan. 1, 1997), with 52% of all releases from this group. Theatrical catalog (pre-1997 theatrical films) accounts for 19%. DVD, as a comparison, has new theatrical as 5.2% of its overall title mix, with theatrical catalog at 13.8%. — Ralph Tribbey 500 400 300 200 224 71 100 0 * 2008 results through Oct. 21, 2008. 2006 and 2007 results are for the same year-to-date periods. I RELEASE ACTIVITY FOR DVD Titles in Release Through Week Ended Oct. 17, 2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Total Net DVD Titles Announced and/or In Release Through March 31, 2009 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91,504+301 92,197+299 I RELEASE ACTIVITY FOR BLU-RAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . As of Week Ended Oct. 17 Released 811 Scheduled 145 Home Media Magazine October 26–November 1, 2008 http://www.homemediamagazine.com
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 Contents News TV DVD KidVid Reviews Research Top 20 DVD Sellers Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts Just Announced Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 (Page Cover1) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 (Page Cover2) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 (Page 1) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 (Page 2) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 (Page 3) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 (Page 4) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Contents (Page 5) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - News (Page 6) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - News (Page 7) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - News (Page 8) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - News (Page 9) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - News (Page 10) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - News (Page 11) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - TV DVD (Page 12) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - TV DVD (Page 13) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - TV DVD (Page 14) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - KidVid (Page 15) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - KidVid (Page 16) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Reviews (Page 17) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Reviews (Page 18) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Reviews (Page 19) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Top 20 DVD Sellers (Page 20) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts (Page 21) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Just Announced (Page 22) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Just Announced (Page 23) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Just Announced (Page 24) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Just Announced (Page Cover3) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Just Announced (Page Cover4) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Just Announced (Page P1) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Just Announced (Page P2) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Just Announced (Page P3) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Just Announced (Page P4) Home Media Magazine - October 26-November 1, 2008 - Just Announced (Page P5)
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