by Evan Ramstad, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
Samsung Electronics Co.’s profits are on the rise again as its chip and display businesses recover from operating losses earlier this year. The turnaround recently helped push its market capitalization past Intel Corp.’s for the first time.
A recent shift in merchandising strategy by the world’s largest retailer spells more trouble for DVD sales and the entertainment industry that depends on them for profits.
As part of a larger effort to clean up its aisles and appeal to higher-end shoppers, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is doing away with display cases to promote the latest hot movie titles.
Whether the public has a right to make a “fair use” copy of DVDs is on trial in a San Francisco federal court. Yet the public may never know whether the verdict was reached fairly because the presiding judge removed the press just as the nuts and bolts of the case was to be aired out.
by Marisa Taylor, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
Apple’s iTunes makes saving music from CDs onto one’s personal computer a simple process, but doing the same with a DVD is much more complicated endeavor. Most DVDs are encoded with digital rights management technology to prevent copying.
by Andrew LaVallee, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
Movie buffs are used to visiting RottenTomatoes.com for guidance on whether it will be a “Watchmen” or “Madea Goes to Jail” weekend. Will they tune in as the Web site tries its hand at television?
Tonight, Current, the Al Gore-founded cable station, will begin airing “The Rotten Tomatoes Show.” The half-hour episodes feature co-hosts Brett Ehrlich and Ellen Fox, who review film news and, in Web 2.0 style, draw from users for short (really short–DVD releases are reviewed in haiku form) reviews.
by Chris Anderson, Editor in Chief, Wired Magazine
Over the past few weeks there has been a flurry of reappraisals of the Long Tail, most of which center around the question of whether it creates bigger blockbusters or smaller ones (more concentrated markets or less concentrated ones).
by Tiernan Ray, Blogger, Barron's, Tech Trader Daily
On the heels of Netflix’s (NFLX) problems last week getting DVDs out the door to subscribers, Needham & Co. analyst Charlie Wolf initiated coverage this morning of Blockbuster (BBI) with a “Hold” rating.
For years, we’ve been pointing out that disc-based media was on the way out, but for the industries (mainly music and movies) that make money from selling those discs, the allure of the cash cow was too strong. They’ve done little to plan for a future without disc-based media–which is why you see the recording industry in such a freak-out these days.
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