NBC Universal, the provider of about 40% of the videos downloaded on the iTunes Store, is calling it splits with the Apple retail site. The media beehive apparently pulled out over pricing and piracy concerns. Universal Music Group, which belongs to France's Vivendi, walked last month. The New York Times says this could be big trouble for … [Read more...]
Archives for August 2007
Joost’s Volpi: We’re liberating P2P
The CEO of CBS-backed Joost just got some hard-won video face time from CBS-backed web site WallStrip. Joost has "excited the imagination of programming partners like CBS ... and investors like CBS," host Lindsay Campbell says, applying a bit of deft irony before beginning the short but interesting Volpi video interview. "Everything on Joost … [Read more...]
Blu-ray bitch-slapped by Paramount
Paramount and DreamWorks Animation's stated reasons for going all HD DVD -- as in no Blu-ray -- don't make much sense. Most of the mainstream press ate up their press release and left it at that. A couple of trade journalists nailed down the likely cause: that the HD DVD manufacturers paid the studios something like $150 million to make this … [Read more...]
10% of consumers prefer downloads
DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group, the DVD industry's cheerleading squad, just released a study showing that consumers prefer watching a movie on DVD or TV instead of downloading it. The video industry trades both positioned this bit of non-news as "just 10% preferred to watch a movie via streaming or downloading." Download Movies 101 … [Read more...]
The return of ‘True Grit,’ ‘Rio Bravo’
John Wayne's belated Oscar came for 1969's "True Grit," a rousing entertainment that didn't stand quite as tall as, say, "Red River" or "The Searchers." Paramount Home Entertainment rereleased the the old favorite in a double-disc DVD set as part of the studio's 100th-year Wayne promotion with Warner Home Video. The Duke plays one-eyed bounty … [Read more...]