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Media
Information > Media DVD Coverage 
Archive
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| Updated November 28, 2007 DVD
NEWS DIGEST
1 -
Surf's Up Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
DVD sales are expected to hit a record high in the run-up to Christmas following a bumper summer when wet weather boosted demand. Thanks to a particularly rainy summer when people chose to stay in and watch films, sales were already up 6% in the first half of this year, said Digital Entertainment Group Europe. DEG Europe predicts that sales volumes in the last three months of this year will be as much as 8% higher than in 2006. However, the value of those sales will be just 0.6% higher, showing that while the number of DVD sales is rising, prices are being driven down. The group also flagged up research by trade magazine Screen Digest indicating a rise in DVD player and recorder sales this year. They are 3.4% ahead of 2006.
Walgreens plans to add kiosks that make DVDs of popular movies next year, using a new system designed to increase selection while avoiding piracy. Recent changes in copy-protection rules governing DVDs have freed retailers to tap this new movie market by letting consumers burn digital copies onto blank discs at stores, industry watchers said. Consumers will be able to make DVDs in about 15 minutes. For movie studios, the kiosks add to revenue, particularly from older and more niche content selections, without having to manufacture, ship and store the DVDs.
Customs officials from Hong Kong and China seized over 64,000 pirated discs and smashed the largest DVD burning laboratory of the year in Hong Kong, a film industry group said. The territory-wide raids on seven DVD shops, seven street hawkers and a laboratory with 97 DVD-R burners last week turned up pirated versions of Chinese, American and Japanese movies and TV shows, Motion Picture Association said in a press release. The total retail value of the seized DVDs was about $258,030, it said.
Two British Transport Police [BTP] staff members are under investigation for allegedly copying pirate DVDs. It is alleged that the two were using the BTP office to run off counterfeit DVDs. They are thought to have been using a laptop computer to make high-quality copies of the latest cinema releases. Counterfeit DVDs are often sold for around £5 with many pirating rings having links to organised crime.
Police uncovered a record $A5 million haul of pirated DVDs, including hundreds of pornographic titles, during a raid on a video store. Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft investigators and Victoria Police discovered more than 100,000 illegal DVDs and 51 DVD burners. Director of operations for AFACT Neil Gane said it was the biggest haul of the year and one of the biggest in Australian history. "What was of particular concern to us was the 51 DVD burners," Mr Gane said. "If you run them 10 hours a day, seven days a week they're capable of creating just under 25,000 DVDs a week. They were selling the pirate copies for between $3 to $5, which is over $5 million a year." end
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