You are viewing the archive: “UltraViolet”

Global Showbiz Briefs: UK Netflix, Bérénice Bejo, UltraViolet In Oz

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday March 1, 2013 @ 10:24pm PSTTags: Berenice Bejo, Global Showbiz Briefs, Netflix, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Hunger Games, UltraViolet

Netflix Nabs ‘Hunger Games’ For The UK & Ireland
Netflix has secured exclusive rights to The Hunger Games for the UK and Ireland before it hits the streaming service in the U.S. Netflix entered the market in January 2012 where Amazon’s Lovefilm is a strong player and where Sky continues to build its business. It hit 1M subscribers last August and has UK deals with studios including Disney, Fox, NBCU, Paramount and Miramax.

Bérénice Bejo To Star In ‘Le Dernier Diamant’
The Artist star Bérénice Bejo has booked her latest French film and will start shooting next week. The Eric Barbier-directed Le Dernier Diamant co-stars Yvan Attal, Jean-François Stévenin and Annie Cordy. France’s Vertigo Productions is producing with international sales handled by Other Angle Pictures. The heist movie follows an ex-con who is coerced into participating in the theft of a celebrated diamond during an auction in Antwerp and who becomes entangled with the diamond’s owner (Bejo). READ MORE »

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Global Showbiz Briefs: Oz UltraViolet, ‘Argo’ In Iran, ‘Cavegirl’, Fremantle

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Friday February 1, 2013 @ 10:51pm PSTTags: Arclight Films, Argo, FremantleMedia, UltraViolet

Australia Distribs Confident Of Fast Take-off For UltraViolet
The UltraViolet format launches in Australia on May 1, a joint effort from the majors and independent distributors which they are confident will avoid the pitfalls which plagued the technology’s introduction in the U.S. Key elements of the Australian launch include a unified marketing campaign, the participation of all distributors except Disney, which has yet to join the UV bandwagon, and the support of dominant retail chains, home entertainment retailers and digital download services. The Oz-based working group that includes members of the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem Universal, Sony, Fox, Warner, Paramount, Roadshow and Hopscotch eOne, predicts 300,000 Australian homes will sign up for UV accounts by October 31. Australia still has a very healthy DVD rental business, partly because pay-TV penetration is a relatively low 30%, Netflix and Hulu haven’t entered the market and the SVOD business is tiny. U.S. and Australian companies that supply UV back-end services have been pitching the mass merchandisers. Distributors haven’t announced titles for the May launch. The primary target of the marketing campaigns will be families and people aged 25-45, rather than early adopters regarded as less receptive to UV. Distributors hope the ease and convenience of downloading films to multiple devices via UV will reduce piracy. – Don Groves
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Redbox Instant Targets Movie And DVD Fans As It Seeks To Differentiate Itself From Netflix: CES

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Wednesday January 9, 2013 @ 12:32pm PSTTags: Big Deals Film, Netflix, Redbox Instant By Verizon, UltraViolet

That’s an important distinction, and a potentially risky strategy, for the new online service created by the joint venture between Verizon and DVD kiosk rental company Redbox. “We’re not the Netflix killer,” Redbox Instant By Verizon CEO Shawn Strickland said this morning at a briefing at the International CES confab in Las Vegas. While Netflix focuses on streaming TV series, his service’s ability to offer DVD rentals “is a core differentiator” while streaming “is positioning us for the future.” The problem with streaming movies is that the service can’t land most titles for about eight years — until they’re finished with the premium TV runs on channels led by HBO, Showtime and Starz. That’s baked into Redbox Instant deals with Warner Bros, Sony and MGM, although Strickland says that “there will be some exceptions.” One is from his pact with EPIX: It enables Redbox Instant to run movies from Paramount, Lionsgate and MGM about 60 days after they first appear on pay TV. Redbox Instant is still working on deals with other studios including Disney, Universal, and Fox. Read More »

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Studios To Include Free UltraViolet Movies With Electronics Purchases: CES

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Tuesday January 8, 2013 @ 11:43am PSTTags: UltraViolet

They’re calling it the “Get Connected UltraViolet Movie Starter Pack,” and it will be included when consumers buy certain gadgets — mostly Blu-ray players and smart TV sets. Beginning sometime this year, buyers will receive a redemption code for five … Read More »

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Consumer Spending On Home Video Fell 1.5% In Q4: DEG

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Tuesday January 8, 2013 @ 10:47am PSTTags: Blu-ray, DEG, Netflix, UltraViolet

The continuing decline in DVD sales, and disc rentals at bricks-and-mortar stores and subscription services led by Netflix, continued to weigh the business down according to data out today from DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group. It reports that consumers spent $5.66B in Q4, a 1.5% drop vs the period last year. That resulted in a full-year total of $18B, up 0.23%. The total sell-through figure for packaged goods — largely discs — fell 8.4% to $3.1B in Q4. That’s due to DVDs: While the trade group doesn’t break out data for Blu-ray discs (it once did), it says that spending on the high-definition format was up 10% for the year. DEG doesn’t break out sales of UltraViolet-enabled discs but says that the initiative has “achieved significant milestones in industry and consumer adoption and is rapidly becoming an integral part of the home entertainment landscape.” Spending on digital downloads is up — 50% to $295M — but not enough to compensate for the decline in DVDs. Read More »

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Redbox Will Promote UltraViolet In New Disc And Online Deal With Warner Bros

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday October 25, 2012 @ 1:10pm PDTTags: Big Deals Film, Redbox, UltraViolet, Warner Bros

OAKBROOK TERRACE, Ill. (October 25, 2012) – Redbox, a wholly owned subsidiary of Coinstar, Inc. (Nasdaq: CSTR), and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment have signed a multi-year agreement to bring Warner Bros.’ Blu-ray Disc™ and DVD titles to Redbox® kiosks 28 days after their retail release dates.

In addition, Redbox announced plans to join the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) and has agreed to promote UltraViolet through a program of mutually agreed-upon promotions and marketing tactics designed to help retail customers discover UltraViolet.

“For the past 10 years, Redbox has been committed to giving consumers affordable access to new-release entertainment,” said Galen Smith, senior vice president, Redbox. “This new agreement continues this commitment and represents an exciting new chapter in our relationship with Warner Bros., and an opportunity to explore our consumers’ interest in UltraViolet.”

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‘Hunger Games’ DVDs Will Offer Streamed Access Via UltraViolet

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Friday August 10, 2012 @ 6:42am PDTTags: Lionsgate, The Hunger Games, UltraViolet

This could be a big boost for the entertainment industry’s streaming initiative, which has been struggling to ignite consumer interest. Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer told analysts in a conference call this morning that the discs, which go on … Read More »

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Netflix Could Undermine UltraViolet As Low Cost Rentals Trash Studio Profits: Report

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Tuesday April 3, 2012 @ 12:58pm PDTTags: Big Deals Film, Big Deals TV, Blu-ray, DVDs, home video, Netflix, Studios Finance, UltraViolet

Moguls will need a stiff drink nearby when they read Morgan Stanley analyst Benjamin Swinburne’s bracing report today about the state of the home video business — and Hollywood studios. He says that film operations at Universal, Disney, Paramount, Fox, and Warner Bros are worth about $19.3B, down from $40.2B in 2007. And a big reason for the 52% drop is that studios’ annual home video profits from each TV household fell to $100 last year from $127 in 2007 — and will continue to slide to $93 in 2015. Sales and high-priced rentals of DVDs and Blu-ray discs from retailers such as Blockbuster are simply falling too fast as consumers discover that they can do just fine paying $1.20 a night to rent a disc at a kiosk — or less to watch a movie from Netflix. The analyst says it’s possible that studios will boost sales of discs with the UltraViolet initiative, which gives buyers opportunities to stream the movies to mobile and other digital devices. But probably not: Read More »

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Sony Pictures Will Introduce UltraViolet-Enabled Discs To UK In June

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday March 27, 2012 @ 4:21am PDTTags: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, UltraViolet

London, UK (March 27, 2012) – Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) UK today announced three of the studio’s hottest summer releases, Jack & Jill, The Vow and 21 Jump Street, will arrive in stores through June and July 2012 with UltraViolet digital versions of the movies included with their respective Blu-ray Discs™ and DVDs.

After a customer purchases a Blu-ray Disc or DVD with UltraViolet and creates their free cloud-based UltraViolet account, they will be able to access their movie through any UltraViolet-compatible service or device – from PCs and tablets to TVs and smart phones. UltraViolet gives users unprecedented freedom and flexibility to download and stream their movies most anywhere they can access the Internet. Users can even share their library with up to six family members in their household account.

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WalMart Launches Exclusive Disc-To-Digital Service To Support Vudu

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Tuesday March 13, 2012 @ 10:55am PDTTags: UltraViolet, VUDU, Walmart

UltraViolet’s had a rocky start. Consumers have struggled to figure out what it is and how it works — and the studios backing the industry initiative have hungered to have a big retailer help walk people through the process. That’s what makes the new alliance with WalMart interesting. Starting on April 16 consumers will be able to take their home videos to some 3,500 WalMart stores and have them converted to digital files stored in the retailer’s Vudu digital storage facilities for Internet streaming. It will cost $2 to transfer a DVD or a Blu-ray disc, and $5 to have a DVD upgraded to a high-definition file. Users must open a free account with WalMart’s Vudu, and go to its site to access digital files. “It will encourage customers to continue buying physical DVDs,” says John Aden, WalMart’s EVP General Merchandise. WalMart has the exclusive right to convert discs to digital in stores. (Samsung has announced a Blu-ray player that will transfer discs to digital for UltraViolet.) The company also plans a “multimonth educational campaign” both in and out of its stores to help people figure out what to do with their discs and how to access movies on mobile and other digital devices. New releases that are UltraViolet enabled already provide buyers with the opportunity to stream a digital file. Read More »

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Fox, Warner Bros Join Forces On Hardware Storage To Complement UltraViolet

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday February 28, 2012 @ 12:52pm PSTTags: 20th Century Fox, UltraViolet, Warner Bros

The devices would allow users to store their digital TV shows and movies on physical hard drives, and is seen as a complement to the UltraViolet platform, where content is stored online in the cloud. The storage initiative with SanDisk and Western Digital is dubbed Project Phenix and the first products are expected this year. The companies formed the joint venture, called the Secure Content Storage Association, in August.. “The simple message is you’re collecting all your content and putting it in one place to be able to access a full high- definition experience,” Danny Kaye, Fox’s EVP Global Research and Strategy, told Bloomberg. Here’s today’s release:

BURBANK and LOS ANGELES, Calif., Feb. 28, 2012  – Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group, SanDisk (Nasdaq: SNDK), and Western Digital (NYSE: WDC) today revealed “Project Phenix” (working title), an initiative that will give consumers an easier and faster way to organize, store and move their high definition digital movies and TV shows – including new releases in up to full 1080p quality – across multiple devices. In addition to local storage, the content will also be backed up via the UltraViolet industry standard as well as other cloud-based services.

The project is being developed by the newly formed Secure Content Storage Association (SCSA). Established as an LLC, this coalition will create and license solutions that secure high definition and other premium copyright-protected content on local and portable hard drives, and flash memory products such as USB flash drives, SD™ cards and solid state disk drives (SSDs). Once content is downloaded to a hard drive or flash memory product, it could then be accessed, online or offline, on any SCSA-enabled device such as a connected TV, laptop, Blu-ray™ player, tablet, mobile phone or game console. The optimized content will be made easily available for purchase via digital download, digital files bundled with physical media, kiosks in retail stores, or other means of secure digital delivery.

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Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes: TV And Movie Industries “Need To Fix” On Demand

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Tuesday February 28, 2012 @ 10:24am PSTTags: Jeff Bewkes, Time Warner, TV Everywhere, UltraViolet

The Time Warner chief delivered an unusually impassioned address today imploring investors to pressure everyone from pay TV distributors to Hollywood studios to deploy on-demand streaming initiatives including TV Everywhere and UltraViolet home video. “Not enough consumers are aware of these powerful enhancements and not enough consumers have them at their fingertips,” Bewkes told the Deutsche Bank Media & Telecom Conference. “We have to move much faster…You should absolutely demand that the companies in which you invest get serious and invest in this opportunity.”  He’s most interested in television, the business that accounts for about 80% of Time Warner’s profits — and especially TV Everywhere, which gives pay TV subscribers the ability to watch shows on mobile devices on demand. ”The user experience today is really spotty. Some distributors make it easy and others don’t. You know who they are and so do they.” Specifically, Bewkes wants programmers to make more content available to TV Everywhere. He wants programs to be available on TV sets as well as tablets. He wants Nielsen to figure out how to measure the number of viewers on all digital platforms. And he wants distributors to make it easy to find and access programming. “You shouldn’t need to be knocked upside the head by an iPad to realize that consumers are demanding rich, flexible, intuitive user interfaces,” he says. Consumers “think they deserve it, and they do. And they’re voting with their finger tips everyday.” Read More »

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Time Warner Chief Urges Investors To Focus On Digital Growth Instead Of Rising Costs

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Wednesday February 8, 2012 @ 9:25am PSTTags: Jeff Bewkes, Time Warner, TV Everywhere, UltraViolet

Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes channeled his inner Les Moonves in a conference call with analysts this morning to deliver one of the most relentlessly cheery infomercials he has ever presented for his company. But he wasn’t able to duplicate the CBS chief’s ability to mesmerize investors: Time Warner shares dipped sharply during the presentation after opening up on the company’s strong 4Q results and announcement of a new stock buy-back plan. The drop was due to the company’s warning that corporate expenses will rise in 2012. Execs also acknowledged that the film studio — which won’t have a new Harry Potter film — faces difficult comparisons with the 2011 results.

Still, Bewkes hammered on his theme that “our best years are ahead of us” — especially due to TV Everywhere and business models that promote digital distribution. “We’re at the vanguard of the industry” in promoting them, Bewkes says. For example, the HBO Go app soon will be available for Microsoft’s XBox. The company also is developing apps so pay TV subscribers can Read More »

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Samsung And Amazon Boost UltraViolet Movie Streaming Initiative

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Tuesday January 10, 2012 @ 3:42pm PSTTags: Amazon, Samsung, UltraViolet

Samsung’s announcement is really interesting, The company says that it will introduce this year a Blu-ray player that can take users’ existing DVDs and Blu-ray discs and upload them to an UltraViolet digital locker. That means people don’t have to wait … Read More »

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Warner Bros Doubles Netflix Wait Period For Discs To 56 Days

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Tuesday January 10, 2012 @ 3:10pm PSTTags: Blockbuster, Netflix, Redbox, UltraViolet, Warner Bros

The big question following this expected announcement is whether Redbox and Blockbuster will tell Warner Bros to take a hike and buy the studio’s new discs from retailers. That’s one reason why other studios have been reluctant to push … Read More »

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Panasonic Will Add Flixster App To Web Connected TVs And Blu-ray Players

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Monday January 9, 2012 @ 4:59pm PSTTags: Flixster, Panasonic, UltraViolet, Warner Bros

We’ll see whether the entertainment industry can gin up some big  news at this week’s 2012 International CES for its UltraViolet streaming initiative — such as an alliance with a major retailer. But for now, this is what we’ve got: Panasonic will load its Viera Connect TV sets and Blu-ray players with connections to Warner Bros’ Flixster.  The entertainment company wants its Web destination to become the chief gateway for consumers to stream movies after they buy discs that include UltraViolet access rights. Warner says that there’ve been 50M downloads of the Flixster app for Android, Blackberry and iPad devices. Read More »

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AllThingsD: Warner Bros Pacts With Netflix And Others To Extend DVD Release Window

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday January 6, 2012 @ 12:03pm PSTTags: Blockbuster, Netflix, Redbox, UltraViolet, Warner Bros

UPDATE, 1:45 PM: Redbox just issued this statement about the alleged deal. “The current agreement Coinstar has with Warner Bros. is to receive movie titles 28-days after their release. No revised agreements are in place.”

PREVIOUS, 12:03 PM: Warner … Read More »

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Time Warner Exec Calls Growth Of VOD “A Potential Game Changer”: Citigroup Confab

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Thursday January 5, 2012 @ 3:14pm PSTTags: Flixster, Time Warner, TV Everywhere, UltraViolet

Everyone thinks of TV Everywhere as a mobile service, enabling pay TV subscribers to stream shows to Internet devices. But Time Warner CFO John Martin told the Citigroup Global Entertainment, Media and Telecommunications Conference that the initiative may have its biggest impact in the living room. TV Everywhere will create “an enormous amount of on-demand programming, and that could radically change the way people with Web-connected TV sets access their favorite shows. Time Warner has been promoting just such a shift based on the theory that it will help TV’s most popular channels and programs. It has signed TV Everywhere deals for its Turner channels — including TBS, TNT, and CNN — and for its HBO GO application. “HBO GO is now available to virtually everyone and Turner isn’t far behind,” Martin says. He adds that “a lot of progress is going to be made over the next 12 months” as viewers figure out what they can do with TV Everywhere. “This is all happening quickly. … We’re on the cusp of seeing the television viewing experience get dramatically better.”

There are still bumps along the way. Time Warner saw a slowdown in scatter market ad sales in 4Q; expectations of mid-single-digit growth ”may be aspirational.” But Martin is “cautiously optimistic” about the current quarter based on low cancellations, and ads for NBA games selling at “very attractive rates.” Home video sales also were weak at year end with 4Q results that “look more challenged” than 3Q. Time Warner expects help from the UltraViolet initiative, which makes it possible for DVD buyers to also access movies remotely. The company bought a website, Flixster, to serve as a gateway for consumers. ”The product is not where we want it to be, but someone has to take a leadership position,” Martin says. Read More »

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Hollywood Studios In Talks With Amazon On UltraViolet Online Movie Storage: Report

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday December 14, 2011 @ 12:32am PSTTags: Amazon, UltraViolet

Major studios are in discussions with Amazon about bringing the online retail giant into Hollywood’s preferred online UltraViolet digital media locker, Bloomberg reports. The continuing talks center on plans to expand UltraViolet for storing and watching movies on tablets … Read More »

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