Mobile Phones Exploiting VOD Movies

One analyst is questioning why Sprint’s new HTC EVO mobile phone lacks the ability to download a Hollywood movie or TV show — a function considered a key factor in the ultra-competitive market.

National Grid outsources more to Tata

National Grid has outsourced its finance and human resource support to Tata Consultancy Services with about 300 workers affected.

Bankruptcy Court OKs Sale of Movie Gallery’s Game Inventory

A federal bankruptcy court has approved the $3 million sale of Movie Gallery’s new and used videogame inventory to COKeM International, a home entertainment software reseller whose customers include Best Buy and Walmart. Home Media Magazine reports that the sale survived attempts by rival resellers to block it this week. Movie Gallery, owner of the Hollywood Video chain, ceased operations in May.

‘Hulu Plus’ Pilot Could Come Next Week: WSJ

Sources close to Hulu tell the Wall Street Journal that the online video site could begin inviting select users to test a $10-per-month “Hulu Plus” service as early as next week. The long-anticipated subscription service would offer access to more content than Hulu’s free site, and would be compatible with Apple’s iPad, the Journal reports. Timing of the launch depends on the finalization of content licensing agreements among Hulu’s three owners: NBC Universal, News Corp., and Walt Disney Co. Some 43.5 million unique viewers came to Hulu’s free site in May 2010, up from 40 million in May 2009, according to comScore. The comparison comes courtesy of Business Insider, which labels Hulu's apparent 9% year-over-year gain as growth by “just barely.”

Deluxe: As BD-Live Tops 100 Million ‘Disc Inserts,’ Tech Is Ripe For Further Development

BD-Live, the technology that offers digitally-distributed extras to consumers of Blu-ray discs, is entering its prime. Deluxe Digital Studios, which distributes content to Net-connected Blu-ray players around the world, says it has registered more than 100 million BD-Live “disc inserts” to date, and forecasts that the number could nearly double by the end of 2010. The company notes in a statement that a “majority” of Blu-ray players now shipping to market support BD-Live by featuring Internet connectivity. Three out of every five of the consumer disc inserts to date have come from Blu-ray players in North America, Delxue says — a consequence of studios having released many BD-Live titles in the U.S. ahead of other territories. European users accounted for 35% of the BD-Live figure, with the rest of the world accounting for the remaining 5%. The growth in usage coincides with an evolved approach to BD-Live’s capabilities as both a content delivery platform and a marketing tool. Peter Staddon, Deluxe’s SVP Worldwide Sales and Marketing, told M&E Daily last month that studios have potential to develop BD-Live features well beyond the bonuses of yesterday’s DVDs – taking advantage of applications such as Deluxe’s “Pocket Blu,” which enables users to watch new video clips on mobile devices as well as set-top players. “When BD-Live first launched, I think some made the mistake of treating it as DVD content,” Staddon said. “I’ve always made the analogy that BD-Live is like a network” — one that could span more than 20 million households by year’s end. As an example of what BD-Live can do beyond DVD, Staddon — who prior to joining Deluxe headed marketing at Fox Home Entertainment — offered the hypothetical of a studio streaming its new movie announcements from the upcoming Comic-Con convention. “Imagine,” Staddon said, if more than the “300 people in a convention room in San Diego” could see a studio’s Comic-Con trailer premiere. With the amount of money marketing departments already spend in sending talent to speak at the conference, Staddon said, it makes sense for a studio to follow through with its investment in the event: “send an EPK crew, put it on Pocket Blu and get it out there.” Staddon added that with BD-Live, studio marketers have a built-in “link to the home entertainment experience,” with which they can realize “carryover from theatrical marketing” campaigns.

Teradata And Capgemini Launch IP Rights Tracking System, Hosting London Event July 5

Teradata is teaming with SAP and Capgemini to launch Intellectual Property Rights Insight, a licensing rights tracking system designed to help studios maximize post-theatrical profitability of films and other entertainment content. The system offers centralized management of all dimensions of a given piece of content, such as licensing availabilities, contract expiration, and current title performance. Built on Teradata’s data warehouse platform, IP Rights Insight delivers a set of dashboards and queries via SAP’s BusinessObjects Xcelsius and SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence software. Capgemini provides the integration services between a studio’s existing disparate rights management systems and the Teradata data warehouse. Nearly 80 percent of film and content revenues come from post-theatrical channels, Teradata notes in a statement. “It’s not that studios lack the information they need,” says David Grant, Teradata’s VP of Industry Marketing and Solutions. “It’s that the information is currently spread out across the enterprise. To most profitably manage their IP, [studios] need to bring the disparate pieces together in a centralized environment.” In tandem with the IP Rights Insight launch, Capgemini and Teradata are sponsoring an executive event in London on the evening of July 5 that will examine the concept of digital content services. Interested companies can RSVP to the event by emailing media.entertainment.uk@capgemini.com. The deadline for responses is June 30.

White Paper Surveys Global IP Legislation And Enforcement Efforts

There remains no single, universal solution to the global problem of digital IP enforcement, according to a new report from the Content Delivery & Storage Association and Futuresource Consulting. The trade group and research firm profile digital content protection legislation and enforcement initiatives in six global territories, in attempts to provide content owners and other stakeholders with a snapshot of both successes and setbacks. For example, in Sweden — a territory which may well be called “the global digital guinea pig” — content owners saw digital revenues surge after the country’s legislature was first in the EU to ratify an Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive in April 2009. But the effects of the legislation may already have worn off: file sharing has risen to even higher levels than before the law, and markets are once again “suffering.” Other profiled territories include the U.S., Canada, the UK, France, and China. The report is available to participants in CDSA’s Worldwide Anti-Piracy Program and CDSA member companies. For additional information on how to receive a copy, please contact Margaret Sekelsky via e-mail: margaret@MESAlliance.org.

White House On IP Enforcement: ‘We Must Secure Our Supply Chain’

The White House today released a six-point strategy for enforcing American intellectual property rights, with supply chain security making the short list of strategic initiatives. Victoria Espinel, U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, says the administration “will take a close look at the unique problems posed by foreign-based websites and other entities that provide access to counterfeit or pirated products, and develop a coordinated and comprehensive plan to address them. We will make sure our law enforcement has the authority it needs to secure the supply chain and also encourage industry to work collaboratively to address unlawful activity on the internet, such as illegal downloading.” Another initiative aims to foster greater respect for American IP rights among the country’s global trading partners. To this end, Espinel notes the administration will conduct “a comprehensive review of current efforts in support of U.S. businesses that have difficulty enforcing their intellectual property rights in overseas markets, with a particular focus on China.”

Digital Distribution On Xbox Spells $625M A Year For Microsoft: Estimate

How much is digital distribution worth to videogame console makers? Forbes “conservatively” estimates Microsoft, for one, to be earning at least $625 million in annual revenues from sales of virtual goods and entertainment content on its Xbox Live network. The magazine’s math is as follows: Microsoft told a Forbes reporter at E3 that sales of virtual goods such as avatar accessories on the Zune Marketplace — along with sales of music and movie downloads — had recently surpassed the company’s Xbox Live subscriptions business. From previous company statements — as well as a February, 2009 report from Seattle’s Post-Intelligencer newspaper, citing an internal Microsoft document on the percentage of paid Xbox Live members — Forbes reckons that 12.5 million Xbox Live members each pay $50 a year for subscriptions. Therefore, Forbes says, $625 million would be the number to beat.

Nielsen: Cord-Cutting Is A ‘Myth’

“For now,” states research firm Nielsen, “the idea of a cord-cutting revolution appears to be purely fiction.” The research firm reports that while the number of broadband-only homes remained stable at 3.9% of U.S. homes between January 2009 and January 2010, the proportion of homes subscribing to both broadband and cable service rose from 61.6% to 66.3% during the same time period. Tech booster NewTeeVee maintains that cord-cutting could nevertheless gain favor in the coming years much in the same way that landline ditching took hold in the telephone market. By Nielsen

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