OH!
1: Picturehouse and Warner Independent have been shut down.
2: New Line's staff was cut by 90 percent, and the survivors were sent to hell...I mean...Burbank.
3: Paramount Vantage was folded into the mother ship (this one may not be all bad news, by the way, but it still scares the hell out of independent film people).
4: Sidney Kimmel shrunk his company in half.
5: ThinkFilm is being sued for not paying its advertising bills, even as the unions repeatedly close down their David O. Russell production with the prophetic title "Nailed" for failure to meet weekly payroll.
6: Another five companies are in serious financial peril. And those are only the ones I'm sure of.
7: The $18 billion that Wall Street poured into Hollywood over the past four years has slowed to a trickle, and shows no signs of being replaced at even remotely the same levels from any new source.
8: There's a glut of films: 5000 movies got made last year. Of those, 603 got released theatrically here. And there's not room in the market--as there used to be--for even 400 of those.
WOW!!. What the hell is going on? The distribution game is REALLY changing...Could the majors be setting up the V.O.D. (Video on Demand) channels and figured they could rid themselves of their smaller "indie" companies and place the finances into the use of the internet???
http://www.contentagenda.com/article/CA6561503.html?industryid=45173
Studios take steps toward an early high-def VOD window
ContentAgenda
By Paul Sweeting May 15, 2008
WASHINGTON—The major studios are working with cable and satellite operators on plans to offer high-definition movies by video-on-demand shortly after their theatrical debut and well ahead of their release on DVD and Blu-ray Disc.
News of the studios' plans is contained in a petition filed with the Federal Communications Commission on March 9 by the Motion Picture Assn. of America. The petition seeks a waiver from FCC regulations barring cable and satellite operators from using selectable output controls (SOC) on set-top boxes to turn off unprotected analog connections to a TV set.
The petition says the waiver is necessary so that the “high-value” high-def content can be limited exclusively to digital outputs protected by anti-copying encryption.
The FCC barred the use of output controls in 2003 to prevent cable operators from disadvantaging analog subscribers.
“The [studios] would each like to independently explore partnerships with [cable and satellite operators]—through mutually acceptable business negotiations—to potentially create exciting new services for [cable and satellite] subscribers that will revolutionize home movie viewing,” the petition says.
“[T]he services would offer high-value, high-definition digital movies to consumers for enjoyment in their homes sometime prior to release on prerecorded media such as DVD…In order to make this extremely high-value content available for in-home viewing at such an early window, protections are necessary to deter unauthorized copying or redistribution of the content.”
Details regarding the new services, such as when they might be available, were not immediately available. Calls to several studios seeking comment were not immediately returned.
The MPAA provided a statement calling the petition, “another step toward creating new, additional choice for high-def customers—one that shows the film industry is serious about embracing new technologies and responding to consumer demand.”
The idea of offering high-def movies at a premium price via VOD ahead of the DVD release is not a new one.
Several studios have been kicking around the idea internally for years, but this is the first time they have gone so far as to ask the MPAA to seek the necessary waiver, suggesting the planning is becoming more concrete.
If the petition is approved, the MPAA statement said, “each film studio will make its own decision about how, when and with which partners it might use this option. Such flexibility would enable individual movie companies to consider using those secure lines to offer consumers first-run, high-definition films directly to their homes, through their cable, satellite or IPTV providers.”
Content protection
The studios’ petition reflects their long-standing concern over the so-called analog hole.
When encrypted digital content is converted to analog for display on analog TV sets, the protective encryption is lost, potentially allowing the analog stream to be captured and recorded.
From there, it can be re-encoded digitally—now without protection—and sent over digital networks such as the Internet.
To stop that, the studios have long sought ways to prevent sending high-value content over analog connections.
As part of what became knows as the FCC’s “plug-and-play” proceeding in 2003, which required cable operators to offer subscribers a cable card as opposed to a set-top box, the commission prohibited the use of selective output controls to block analog outputs.
The prohibition was sought by the Consumer Electronics Assn., representing TV set manufacturers, and consumer advocacy groups, who feared operators would use output controls to disenfranchise analog subscribers to force them into more expensive digital service tiers.
“The Federal Communications Commission currently has in place a general rule that forbids the exclusive use of the most secure connections on an HDTV set to deliver direct-to-the-home, on-demand content,” the MPAA statement said. “But the FCC has made it clear that certain exceptions might be in the public interest. The MPAA is currently seeking such a waiver in order to permit any MPAA studio that has an interest in offering such services to do so.”
There is no formal timeframe within which the commission is required to rule on a petition.
If it chooses to consider the petition it could also seek comments from the public before ruling, a process that could take many months.
SOUNDS LIKE AN AGENDA TO ME...I read that owners of a Bravia television will have access to the most recent release of "Hancock"
http://blogs.consumerreports.org/electronics/2008/07/will-smith-summ.html
July 04, 2008
"Hancock" coming to Sony Bravia TVs before Blu-ray, DVD, or cable
In what could be a glimpse of the future, Sony announced last week that it would offer its hoped-for summer blockbuster, Hancock, as an Internet download to Web-enabled Sony Bravia TVs before distributing it on cable, satellite, DVD, or Blu-ray discs.
The company hasn't revealed some important details, such as whether the download will be high-definition or even DVD-quality. Nor has it disclosed whether Hancock will be a rental with a limited viewing time, like a pay-per-view movie, or a purchase that viewers can record and keep.
One factor that greatly limits the impact of this announcement, and the potential audience, is the fact that Sony TVs don't offer built-in Web access, but require consumers to shell out an additional $300 for the Sony Bravia Internet Video Link add-on. Most of the other major TV brands with Web-enabled TVs—including Panasonic, Samsung, Sharp, and LG Electronics—don’t require any additional gear to download Web content. However, while TVs from these rivals can access news, sports, and entertainment content from a variety of providers, none yet have access to full-length feature-film downloads.
Sony Electronics has the unusual luxury of having a major Hollywood studio, Sony Pictures, as a sister company, giving it access to blockbuster movies. But it's still too early to see whether any other movie studios will support such a service, or even if Sony Pictures is willing to upset its traditional video-distribution partners—and the hefty revenue streams they provide—on an ongoing basis, especially since delivering more HD video-on-demand content is a key cable and satellite strategy.
Another potential stumbling block: Sony has a substantial investment in the Blu-ray high-def DVD format, which has only recently emerged from a format war to become the sole successor to DVD. It's unlikely Sony will do anything in the near-term to jeopardize Blu-ray's success.
Still, the release of Hancock to Bravia TV owners should be an interesting experiment that could foreshadow a more comprehensive strategy of offering "software"—including hit films and TV shows—directly to Sony's customers. And the Bravia TV effort dovetails nicely with a previously announced plan to debut a movie download service sometime this summer for owners of its PlayStation 3 video game console.
We expect to see more of these types of electronic distribution trials in the future, from not only TV manufacturers, but from other makers of Web-connected devices (such as Blu-ray players) in partnership with movie studios, TV networks, and other content providers.
This isn't Sony's first foray into downloads. It already has content deals that allow Web-enabled Bravia TVs to access online content from CBS, Yahoo, Sports Illustrated, YouTube, and Wired.com. Similarly, owners of Panasonic's Internet-connected Viera PZ850 plasma with VieraCast can view YouTube videos or photos stored at Google's Picasa online photo-sharing Web site. Samsung has partnered with USA Today to allow some Web-enabled models to access news, weather, sports, and more from that publication's Web site. Sharp's AquosNet-enabled TVs allow something similar, with content displayed in move-able onscreen widgets.
In perhaps the most movie-centric move, LG Electronics has teamed up with Netflix for a set-top box that can stream movies directly to your TV. What none of these approaches offer, however, is unlimited access to Web-based content, or the ability to surf the Web indiscriminately.
—James K. Willcox
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