Disney Re-Ups Movie Distribution On Starz
Premium TV network Starz Entertainment has signed a new distribution deal with Disney, which gives it access to all of the studio’s movies through 2015. As the All Things Digital blog reports, since the deal includes digital distribution platforms, it would seem to secure Disney movies for Netflix, which has its own deal with Starz for streaming films. By All Things Digital
Vevo Claims Top Position In Entertainment Site Rankings
The ad-supported music video network ranked among the web’s top 10 video content networks in January and, for the third consecutive month, was the most-visited U.S. web network in the Entertainment-Music category, with 35.4 million unique visitors in February (according to comScore Media Metrix). Major-label-backed Vevo also announced nearly 20 advertising and marketing partners for 2010 — from entertainment companies such as Sony Pictures Home Entertainment wand Warner Bros. Pictures to six Procter & Gamble consumer goods brands. Via PR Newswire
Billboard Analysis: Streaming’s Impact On Music Downloads
Streaming’s impact on consumer behavior has been discussed — and doubted by some — since NPD Group’s Russ Crupnick gave a presentation at last weeks’ Digital Music Forum in New York. As has been reported, Crupnick said free, on-demand music services result in 13% fewer digital download purchases, while non-interactive webcasts and other services result in 41% more digital download purchases. By Billboard
Netflix CFO: DVD Rental Shipments to Increase 18% in 2010
Despite the hyped migration toward digital distribution, Netflix expects DVD rental shipments this year to increase 18%. Speaking at separate investor events Feb. 25 and March 1 in San Francisco, CFO Barry McCarthy said packaged-media rentals grew double digits in 2009, while there was 127% year-over-year growth in streaming of at least 15 minutes per month. By Home Media Magazine
CinemaNow On Windows Mobile Devices
The Roxio CinemaNow entertainment platform now supports digital movie delivery to the Windows Mobile handsets and other devices, CinemaNow onwer Sonic Solutions announced March 2. The movie download and rental service also is available on Android-based smartphones as well as Net-connected TVs, Blu-ray Disc players, set-top boxes, and other consumer electronic from various manufacturers. Via PR Newswire
Sony Music’s Digital Exec Bullish On Spotify, Other Models
Spotify is crawling through licensing negotiations in the U.S., though one influential executive likes its chances of actually launching stateside. When asked whether he would bet $10 for or against the arrival of Spotify in the U.S., Sony Music Entertainment president of Global Digital Business and US Sales & Corporate Strategy Thomas Hesse put his money down. “I would bet $10 for Spotify launching in the U.S.,” Hesse said during a keynote interview at the Digital Music Forum in New York Feb. 23. “They have a lot going for them.” By Digital Music News
Cablevision Trying Out PC-To-TV Relay Service
Cablevision Systems during the second quarter will begin a trial of a new service that will allow digital cable customers to instantly relay any content on their computer screen to a dedicated channel on their TV set without any additional equipment or advanced configurations. The service, dubbed PC to TV Media Relay, will use the cable company’s advanced fiber-rich network to allow users to access online video, photos, downloaded or streaming music, e-mail and other content on their PCs and make them visible on their TV screen. A Mac version is also in development. By The Hollywood Reporter
Wal-Mart And Vudu: Movie Streaming Service Ranks High In Studios’ New Distribution Heirarchy
Wal-Mart is getting back into the digital entertainment distribution business with its planned acquisition of the Vudu movie download and streaming service.
The deal, which is expected to close within the next few weeks, shores up the digital position of the country’s top DVD retailer, as studios mull reconfiguration of release windows to favor physical disc sales as well as a la carte video-on-demand transactions.
Vudu has trailed Netflix and Apple in Internet-based video on demand since its 2007 debut. But the company has licensing agreements with most major studios as well as independents, offering some 16,000 titles. Like Netflix’s service, owners of certain new TVs and Blu-ray players can access Vudu’s catalog directly from their TV screens. Like Apple, Vudu offers a-la-carte pricing for movie downloads and streams.
Vudu’s pricing structure helps to put the service higher up on studios’ newly emerging distribution hierarchy than Netflix and Redbox, both of which have agreed to rent new-release films from Warner Bros. four weeks after their DVD street dates. For example, Warner Home Video’s new release “The Informant!” is now available for rent or purchase on Vudu, but unavailable to Netflix subscribers until March 23.
Wal-Mart was unsuccessful in establishing its own movie download service three years ago. However, with consumers increasingly aware of direct-to-TV streaming, the market seems ripe for reentry.
It remains to be seen whether Vudu will continue as a separate business and brand – and to what extent Wal-Mart integrates the service with its DVD and Blu-ray merchandising operations.
Billboard On ‘The Problem With High Adoption’ In Digital Music
U.S. consumers have adopted digital music stores at a better rate than consumers in other countries, but greater digital adoption may lead to slower adoption of new business models. The logic: the more accustomed a group of consumers becomes to the experience of buying downloads, the greater the difficulty of breaking new streaming models. By Billboard
Is Google Preparing To Challenge iTunes In The Cloud?
As the four biggest record companies wait to hear more about a proposed iTunes cloud music service, word comes now that Google has kicked the tires on a start-up specializing in cloud media. Google has showed interest in possibly acquiring Los Angeles-based Catch Media, a company that intends to help make it simple for consumers to enjoy their digital movies, music, and books across numerous different hardware and service platforms, according to sources with knowledge of the negotiations. By CNET
CESCA Advisory Board
GameSupply Academy
Featured Bloggers
Mesa Events
Building the Bridge from Physical to Digital (in association with DEG)
(in association with DEG and co-produced by Futuresource)
September 23-24, 2009
Millennium Gloucester Hotel, London
Blu-Con 2.0 2009
The 2nd Congress of Blu-ray Innovation
(Presented by DEG)
Beverly Hilton, Los Angeles
Maximizing Efficiencies and Minimizing Risk in the Global CE Supply Chain
(in association with CES)
Co-located with the EMA Video Game Supply Chain Council Meetings
(in association with Entertainment Merchants Association)
February 10, 2010 at the Hilton San Jose, Silicon Valley
Esty Speaks at ESCA 2009
Stay Connected
