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Media
Information > Media DVD Coverage 
Archive
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| Updated December 9, 2004 DVD
NEWS DIGEST Dec. 4 issue - Billboard: Top 10 DVD Sellers in US 1 -
Shrek 2 (Widescreen) DreamWorks Home Entertainment
It's estimated DVD piracy costs the Australian film industry more than $200-million a year. A police officer says the most common beginning for a pirate DVD is for someone to go in a theater and camcord a movie off the screen. Then that film gets picked up, usually by organised crime in Asia, and then manufactured and distributed throughout the world. There are 50,000 Australians working in the film and television industry, and 2,500 video stores, 90 per cent of which are small businesses. Those are the people that are really hurt by pirate trade. More than 90,000 confiscated discs were destroyed in one day recently, but they represent a small amount of a pervasive and growing criminal industry. Nov. 24 - AP: DVD Versions of TV Shows Change Viewing Habits DVDs are starting to change the way Americans look at television shows. Television shows comprise 15 percent of the DVDs rented by one online rental company. One show had been canceled, but strong sales of the DVD version persuaded the network to put it back on the schedule. Film critic James Rocchi says additional features added to the DVD release of TV shows are also feeding a growing public appetite for inside information.
"The amount of extras on a DVD is directly proportional to the number of units studios think they can sell," says Brett Sporich of The Hollywood Reporter. "Studios need a guaranteed revenue stream to cover the costs of producing extras." The demand for older movies on DVD represents a growing portion of the home video market. In 2003, revenue from "catalogue" DVD titles (films whose theatrical releases were before 1997) reached $2.85 billion, or 29% of total DVD sales, according to Adams Media Research. That amount is up from $1.92 billion, or 26% of total DVD sales, in 2002. What exactly makes DVDs such a popular format for old favorites? Navigation menus allow viewers to skip to their favorite scenes (or to watch those scenes over and over). Widescreen and Dolby options can recreate the theater-going experience. And the infinite re-watchability of DVDs means not having to worry about picture or sound degradation--a particularly important point for children's movies, which analysts say make up as much as 20% of the DVD catalogue market. But the extras are the real hook. Among this year's top sellers, the re-release of the Star Wars trilogy includes three commentary tracks, a new 150-minute making-of documentary, deleted scenes, an Xbox demo of the new Star Wars Battlefront game and a preview of the upcoming Star Wars Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith.
Industry newsletter DVD Release Report says that more than 1,900 "TV DVD" titles have been released as of Nov. 12. Merrill Lynch values the TV DVD market at a robust $2.3 billion in 2004 with sales growing to a stunning $3.9 billion by 2008. Merrill said TV DVDs account for an estimated 14% of total DVD revenue in 2004, despite the fact that TV DVDs made up just 6.8% of the new releases this year, per DVD Release Report. Here's why: TV DVDs are generally sold in multi-disc sets and have higher retail prices; the average price of a TV DVD is $27 compared to the overall average price of $16. It's a high-margin business with little overhead as major studios simply dig into their archives, slap on some bonus material and ship it out, season by season. A studio executive says the surge in TV DVD releases mirrors the "phenomenon" of classic movie reissues. "The key audience is those who remembered the show initially as well as those who caught it in later syndication and think of these shows as part of their personal heritage," he says. "There's got to be an ownership factor." Another studio executive said fans of classic TV differ from science-fiction fans since they tend to be older and less interested in extra features. "They want to get straight to the episodes they remembered. The ability to skip to exactly what you want is absolutely key in the retro nostalgia world," he said.
A 15-month jail term handed down to a South Auckland man for selling pirated DVDs is a wake-up call to people seeking to abuse copyright for commercial gain, says Associate Minister of Commerce, Judith Tizard. “Copyright is the basis of legal protection for our creative industries. A robust intellectual property and copyright environment is essential to enable strong and confident creative industries, and is an important part of the government’s Growth and Innovation Framework," Tizard said. Potential fines for an offender under the Copyright Act are up to $10,000 for every infringing copy, up to a maximum of $150,000, and up to five years in jail.
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