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Media
Information > Media DVD Coverage 
Archive
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DVD NEWS DIGEST
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The Last Samurai (2 Disc Widescreen Edition) Warner Home Video McDonald's already offers automated digital video disk rentals at kiosks in 34 Denver stores. The remaining kiosks will be installed by the end of June, the company said. New DVD releases will be added every Tuesday. The charge for a DVD is $1 a day plus tax, with a credit card used for payment. The kiosks hold as many as 350 copies of the top 25 or 30 movie titles. Consumers spent $4.38 billion renting DVDs in 2003, according to Rentrak Corp., a company that tracks consumer spending. May 21 - AP: Court Order Halts DVD Copying Technology Sale A California company that specializes in encryption technology has obtained the latest court order barring a Missouri company's sale of popular DVD-copying software. Macrovision Corp. received the preliminary injunction in its patent-infringement lawsuit against 321 Studios Inc., already forbidden by federal judges in recent months from selling its DVD-cloning software. Macrovision, maker of various copyright-protection software products, alleges that 321's software violates its patents on anti-copying software. Federal judges in New York and California earlier this year ordered 321 to stop marketing the DVD-copying software -- a victory for Hollywood studios, which contended that such products violate the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act. That law bars circumvention of anti-piracy measures used to protect DVDs and other technology. May 21 - AFP: DVD rentals blast off as old and new forms of delivery unite The combination of the Internet, low-cost monthly subscriptions and mail order allowing people to keep DVDs as long as they want, is a winning formula across the United States, Europe and Australia. "DVDs rentals in the USA overtook video and have stayed in the lead since last June when they hit the 28.2 million mark against 27.3 million video units," according to figures published by the Video Software Dealers' Association. With its strong movie culture, Europe has become a strong market, and Australia with its rental-friendly market is seen as the next new market for rentals. May 20 - New York Times: In the Era of Cheap DVD's, Anyone Can Be a Producer During football season after each University of Texas football game, the university's athletic department produces a bulk mailing for the post office: DVD's containing a complete video of the game, interviews with the coaches and other features. The university offers fans DVD's of its 12 games as a $300 package; so far about 300 fans around the country are subscribers. Sports events may seem an unlikely subject for distribution by DVD, but football games are far from the only discs in the mail carrier's bag these days. Independent filmmakers, specialty magazine publishers, artists, educators - all those with a video to sell, no matter how narrow the niche - are turning out DVD's and distributing them through the mail. It's a trend that began in the era of videotape but has accelerated with DVD's because they are inexpensive to duplicate and ship. "The costs have come down, and it's an open market to put whatever you can on a disc," said Maureen Healy, publisher of DVD News. May 20 - AP: DVD for Parrots A British company introduced Pollyvision, an 80-minute DVD of wild parrots preening, feeding and flying through the rainforest. The World Parrot Trust hopes it will entertain caged parrots and budgies while their owners are out at work. The Trust said it believes the work is the first to be aimed at an avian audience. Film producer Jamie Gilardi, a Californian parrot biologist, believes the DVD could improve the lives of Britain’s 5 million pet parrots and budgies. “Parrots are highly intelligent, sensitive and social creatures, so they need a great deal of enrichment and stimulation or they get bored and depressed,” he said.
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