Search

The article profiles Jeff Sackman, president and chief executive officer of Canadian home video distributor ThinkFilm. Sackman and fellow executives Mark Urman, Randy Manis and Marc Hirschberg all were former Lionsgate executives. ThinkFilm is expected to grow following its acquisition by financier David Bergstein and will release more than 40 titles in 2008.

The article presents a timeline tracing the launching of the first DVD players and titles in the U.S. In 1997 to the development of two high definition disc formats, HD DVD and Blu-ray. In 1997, Warner released 30 DVD titles. In 1998, about 1.4 million U.S. homes have DVD players. In 1999, the film "Titanic" became the first DVD to reach one million unit sales. In 2003, television compilations on DVD were launched, with "Family Guy: Volume One" selling 1.6 million copies.

The article discusses the market showdown between Blu-ray and High-Definition DVD, two competing high-definition digital video disc standards, in the U.S. in 2007. It includes information on the key features and specifications of the two competing formats, as well as major electronics companies and entertainment studios that are endorsing and using the formats.

The article discusses how independent movie producers and suppliers are revolutionizing their business through online DVD distribution platforms like Netflix, Amazon and CustomFlix. They are using their vast inventories to give idiosyncratic, niche titles a fighting chance against the studio hits. However, most of the key players are trying to make a profit on direct-to-DVD genre titles in rental market with fragmented audiences and crowded channels.

Focuses on the career of African American actor Bernie Mac. Increase of the ratings for television program "The Bernie Mac Show"; Release of the DVD version of the show; Involvement of Mac in several box-office grossing films.

Reports on the effort of Warner Strategic Marketing (WSM) to carve a brand for itself as a DVD supplier. Popularity of music videos and sports programs; Agreement between WSM and ESPN to ply its X Games action sports brand to DVD; Ability of WSM to leverage DVD.

Reports on the plan of Best Buy to expand exclusive releases of DVD titles. Statement issued by Gary Arnold, senior vice-president of entertainment for Best Buy; Participation of Trans World Entertainment in pulling all Rolling Stones music and video titles off its shelves; Problem with music DVD.

Focuses on the problem of the film industry with piracy in the U.S. Proliferation of digital video disc burners; Availability of software that allows users to quickly strip away encryption; Technologies under development to protect movies being illegally copied.

Presents forecasts on the sales of DVD recorders in the U.S. in the fourth quarter of 2003. Price of DVD recorders imported from China and Taiwan; Amount allocated by Panasonic for the advertising of its line of DVD recorders; Factors that will drive the growth in sales of DVD recorders.

Reports on the DVD and video release party for the movie "The Matrix Reloaded" at Morton's restaurant in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California on October 8, 2003. Number of people who attended the event; Failure of Warner Home Video to include Macrovision copy protection in the Reloaded DVD disc; Highlights of the party.

Discusses issues in the DVD technology market as of September 2003. Forecast on the replacement of DVD technology by video on demand for home entertainment according to Forrester Research; Expectation on the growth of consumer spending; Comment from Josh Bernoff, author of the report "From Discs to Downloads," regarding the growth of the DVD market.

Provides information on the 2003 second-quarter profits posted by replication company Cinram International. Factors that caused the increase in second-quarter revenue of the company in the U.S.; Amount invested by the company in DVD manufacturing capital; Cinram clients that are interested in using the services of the Ivy Hill packaging.

Reports on the release of the Lilo & Stitch's Island of Adventure product, a DVD-based board game themed from the animated motion picture "Lilo & Stitch" franchise. Play mechanics for the board game; Decision of Mattel Inc. to acquire the DVD-based board game Scene It?

Offers tips from retail and supplier executives on how to recognize underserved niches in product and pricing and effectively merchandise to exploit them. Details on the plan of Blockbuster Video; Challenge for retailers going forward; Possible increase in sales of previously viewed DVD; Issues addressed at the Indie Label Luncheon on July 29, 2003.

Features the high-definition DVD player from Samsung Electronics. Price; Picture resolution of the device; Features.

Focuses on the testing plans of Buena Vista Home Entertainment on the disposable digital video disc (DVD) technology of Flexplay Technologies. Comments from Mark Higgins of Trans World Entertainment; Issues facing limited-play DVD technology; Concerns of studios over its potential effect on the sales of full-priced DVD; Key to the success of the testing plan.

Reveals the investment plans of Technicolor Home Entertainment Services in 2003 to expand its digital video disc (DVD) replication capacity. Number of DVD manufacturing lines that will be added to plants in North America and Europe; Comments from Paul Scott, senior vice president of worldwide packaged media group sales for Technicolor; Range of companies with DVD replication agreements with Technicolor; Expansion of the company's partnership with Microsoft Corporation.

Reports on the Pixonics High Definition (pHD) technology for DVD formats unveiled by home video veteran Paul Culberg and Pixonics Inc. in April 2003. Uses of pHD according to Culberg; Decision of Pixonics to develop the technology for High Definition DVD market; Features of pHD.

Reports on NBC Enterprises' 2003 digital video disc release schedule. Titles included in the collection; Reason behind the move; Companies NBC signed deals with.

Reports that U.S.-based television network National Broadcasting Co. Inc. (NBC) plans to release DVD editions of several television programs in 2003. Titles of programs included in the DVD package being planned by NBC; Distribution deals signed by NBC with several companies.

Focuses on the plan of chip maker Cirrus Logic to incorporate MPEG-4-compressed DivX video technology into its new line of processors for DVD players as of March 2003. Purpose of the move; Benefit of the move to consumers; Features of enhanced DVD players.

Features the RTV5040 digital video recorder from SonicBlue Inc. Unit price; Features of the unit; Number of units sold.

Reports on the decision of suppliers to move beyond the industry-standard DVD-9 sub-format and onto higher-capacity DVD-14 and DVD-18 discs. Reason suppliers shied away from higher-capacity DVD; Usefulness of DVD-14s and DVD-18S on standard releases; Advantage of using the 14 or 18 format.

Focuses on the decision of the Blu-ray Disc Founders group to begin licensing high-definition DVD to hardware makers in the U.S. as of February 24, 2003. Types of devices covered by the licenses; Plan of the group to license a copy-protection system for Blu-ray developed by Sony, Matsushita and Philips; Purpose of the copy-protection system.

Reports on the sales performance of digital video disc (DVD) players and software in the U.S. as of November 2002. Outlook on DVD sales; Efforts of Circuit City store to increase DVD sales; Changes in the prices of films released on DVD.

Analyzes trends in digital video disc (DVD) technology. Information on the concept of the tipping point; Significance of the emergence of cheap DVD players to the DVD industry; Forecasts on the percentage of homes in the U.S. with DVD players.

Focuses on an expanded digital versatile disc (DVD) Web destination that will be launched by the Yahoo! Internet portal. Features of the Yahoo! DVD site; Background on Yahoo! Movies; Reason for expanding the DVD site.

Reveals the plans of Warner Home Video on their own high-definition version of digital video discs (HD/DVD). Design objectives for HD/DVD; Comments from Alan Bell, senior vice president of technology operations; Proposal made by Warner on its HD/DVD-9 technology to the DVD Forum.

Presents an update on the Digital Video Disc (DVD) Entertainment Conference and Showcase in Universal City, California in August 2002, which addresses the motion picture and DVD industry in the U.S. Factors that may affect the sales and rentals of DVD movies in the U.S.; Highlights of the event; Changes in the role of movie directors in creating special edition DVD as addressed during the conference.

Reports on the strategy used by several motion picture distributors in the U.S. to promote their digital video disc (DVD) releases as of August 26, 2002. Other companies that use television broadcasting as promotional media for their DVD releases; Information on the synergy department of the Walt Disney Co.

Focuses on a meeting of executives at movie studios in the U.S. in August 2002 to discuss the opportunities and challenges for a high-definition version of digital video disc. Implications of the outcome of the meeting; Highlights of the convention of the Hollywood Advisory Council.

Reports on the action taken by music specialty distributor Alliance Entertainment to be a primary source of deep catalog VHS and DVD as of June 2002. Reason for the move of Alliance; Clients of the company; Services offered by the company.

The article reports on Blu-ray technology and High-Definition (HD) DVD supporters' claim that these features will be worth the public's wait. The author reports on the studios and companies that are offering interactive content for DVDs. The author also discusses the advantages of Blu-ray and HD DVD over traditional video discs.

The article focuses on the use of recycled material in new DVD boxes in the U.S. Retail chain Wal-Mart made a commitment to reduced the amount of packaging in its stores by about 5 percent by 2013. Warner Home Video plans to use recycled paper and cut down materials to house their discs. AGI Media will introduce a disc tray made from recycled plastics.

The article looks at the continued battle for the DVD market between supporters of the high definition (HD) DVD format and supporters of the Blu-ray technology. Blockbuster's announcement that it will support Blu-ray in 1,700 of its stores has not ended the DVD battle because Universal has not changed its exclusive allegiance to HD.

The article profiles Cheryl Freeman, chief executive of U.S. home video distributor Allumination Filmworks. Allumination was formed in 2005 by Jeff Sagansky and Kerry McCluggage following their acquisition of Ardustry which was founded by Freeman in 2002. Freeman, whose first hit seller was the Adrien Brody DVD "Oxygen," was made chief executive following Allumination's acquisition by ContentFilm.

The article profiles Robert Baruc, president of U.S. home video distributor Screen Media Films. Baruc has partnerships with Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Wal-Mart and has released two films on video in 2006, "Loverboy," directed by Kevin Bacon, and "Sherrybaby," starring Maggie Gyllenhaal.

The article introduces a series of profiles on 15 company executives who are leading the growth of their independent home video distribution companies in the U.S. The executives include Joe Amodei of Arts Alliance America, Steve Beeks and Ron Schwartz of Lionsgate and Tim Clott of Echo Bridge Home Entertainment.

The article reports on efforts by U.S. producers of HD-DVD to increase sales and compete against the Blu-ray format by giving discounts and increasing releases. Toshiba, the leading producer of set-top HD DVD players, has announced price reductions for its HD-A2 model. HD DVDs to be released include "Letters From Iwo Jima," "The Matrix" and "The 40-Year-Old Virgin." "Casino Royale" has been the biggest release in both HD-DVD and Blu-ray formats.

The article reports that demand for standard-definition digital video discs (DVDs) is expected to continue despite the arrival of high-definition DVDs in the United States in 2007. This trend is attributed to the practice of "up-converting" DVD players so they can play both standard- and high-definition DVDs.

The article focuses on the challenges facing homevideo companies. Business executives are concerned about the impending proliferation of digital distribution of motion pictures. Motion picture studios have committed only a handful of titles and promotional dollars to high definition DVD. There is a need for homevideo toppers to make decisions when it comes to the format they want to make.

The discusses how independent film producers and distributors in the U.S. are dealing with the DVD format wars. The smaller independents are allowing the studios spend the big money to develop the market while generally standing pat as Blu-ray and high-definition DVD compete for supremacy at retail. The issue of hi-definition is being raised by the fact that many small independent producers have business relationship with larger distributors.

The article reports that since its introduction in 1997. it's largely been the ideas and innovations of small independent shops that have evolved DVD into the unique story-telling medium that its become. But as the format reaches maturity, the "front-end" services that have defined it--authoring menu design, subtitling, extras are increasingly being handled by Hollywood's age old media-services stalwarts. Both Deluxe and Technicolor each owned by European congloms now--rank among the top houses for stamping DVDs, packaging them, then shipping them to stores.

Deals with the shipment of DVD units during the third quarter of 2003 according to the Digital Entertainment Group. Rate of growth in shipments; DVD shipments through September 30, 2003; Percentage of U.S. homes with DVD players.

Reports on the approval of digital output format standards by the DVD Copy Control Association to allow DVD players to feed digital content into other devices in 2003.

Deals with the VHS and DVD release of the animated motion picture "Rescue Heroes: The Movie." Partnership between Artisan Family Home Entertainment and movie theater chain Loews Cineplex Entertainment; Plans for the video release of the film; Details of the advertising campaign for the video release.

Presents an update on the U.S. video recordings industry as of August 11, 2003. Video release of the motion picture "The Italian Job," starring Mark Wahlberg and Edward Norton; DVD version of the original film "The Italian Job," starring Michael Caine; DVD release of "The Order," starring Mattthew Barney.

Reports on the impact of DVD sales on the revenue of Lions Gate Entertainment for its fiscal year ended March 31, 2003. Amount of video sales; Rate of increase in revenue; Amount of loss for the year.

Presents information on the Gateway Connected DVD Player from personal computer maker Gateway. Features and capabilities of the player; Price of the player.