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Although prices for some Blu-ray players dropped below US$100 this holiday season, customers are hesitating to jump into the next-generation video format. Even people who already own Blu-ray players are still buying movies on DVDs. One big reason: Blu-ray discs won’t play on standard DVD players found in cars, computers and bedrooms.
The Hollywood trade newspaper Variety is putting its Web site behind a “pay wall” starting Thursday — reserving its online content for paid subscribers and hoping its advertisers will stick around despite the smaller Internet audience. Variety plans to shut off free access gradually.
Fans scrambled to see 3-D movies such as “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” in theaters this year, and new 3-D televisions could soon have home viewers feeling as if they’re surrounded by a spaghetti hurricane on their couches. Next year, major electronics manufacturers Sony and Panasonic plan to introduce 3-D-capable high-definition televisions for the mass market.
Internet power players Google, MySpace and Facebook are adopting strategies to better compete in a music industry that is rapidly shifting online. Google plans to launch a music search service, MySpace said its music videos will be spread on competing social networks, and Facebook said it will now allow friends to send each other song-streaming gifts.
A federal judge in Los Angeles has ruled against Universal Music Group in a copyright lawsuit against online video site operator Veoh Networks, although Universal says it will appeal. U.S. District Judge Howard Matz on Friday dismissed the 2007 suit in which Universal accused Veoh of supporting and inducing copyright infringement.
YouTube, Google’s online video streaming service, is in talks with Hollywood studios to rent new release movies online, according to people familiar with the talks. The move follows similar deals by Apple’s iTunes and others. A final deal would be contingent on pricing and an agreed-upon release date.
American companies counting on a favorable trade ruling against China to boost sales of CDs, DVDs, books and video games will need a crackdown on rampant piracy before they can reap big benefits. Chinese incomes are lower than in the United States, and the quality of pirated entertainment there is quite good, making legal goods a tougher sell.
Warner Music Group Chief Executive Officer Edgar Bronfman criticized digital music efforts Thursday, as the recording label reported online sales growth slowed and losses widened, and it wrote down investments in two Internet startups. Warner said digital music sales in the second quarter through March grew 7 percent to $166 million, far slower than the 48 percent growth posted a year ago.
MySpace cofounder Chris DeWolfe will step down soon as the social networking site’s chief executive, amid the site’s stalled user growth and the rapid rise of rival Facebook. MySpace owner News Corp. said Wednesday the decision was made by mutual agreement with former AOL Chief Executive Jonathan Miller, who was appointed News Corp.’s chief digital officer April 1.
The Screen Actors Guild and the Hollywood studios said Friday they have reached a tentative deal on movie and prime-time TV show productions, capping a yearlong battle that ended with the Guild giving up its fight for better Internet compensation. The Guild said its leaders would recommend approval by the board and ratification by its members.
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