Van Dyke Excited for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Blu-ray

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang stars Dick Van Dyke and Sally Ann Howes came to a screening of the film Oct. 30, days before MGM Home Entertainment releases the classic family musical on Blu-ray Disc.

Experts: TV Windows Must Change

Now that Internet-connected devices in the living room are the norm, both the TV and film industries need to consider how they window their products, experts said Oct. 28 during a panel on the future of TV, hosted by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

AT&T Subscribers Get ‘Mobile Payment’ Option for Virtual Goods

AT&T wireless subscribers can now use their cell phone number instead of their credit card to purchase social game add-ons and other virtual goods under three trial programs on the carrier’s network. Under agreements with mobile payment firms BilltoMobile, Boku, and Zong, charges for online purchases appear on subscribers’ monthly billing statements. To make a purchase on a site supporting the Boku service, for example, subscribers enter their phone number, then reply to a confirmation text message. More at Fierce Mobile Content, which reports that the deals will enable mobile payments for digital music and movies as well.

Redbox Sets Digital Service Debut For 2011

Redbox made no announcement of a third-party partner for streaming video subscriptions yesterday, contrary to analyst predictions from earlier this week. But the Coinstar-owned company did say that it would add a Web-based rental service to its network of DVD kiosks next year. Redbox is in talks with several potential partners for the digital service, the Los Angeles Times reports. Amazon.com and Walmart are among the top partner prospects for Redbox’s digital offering, according to Merriman Curhan Ford’s Eric Wold. The analyst had looked for Redbox to make a more detailed announcement during Coinstar’s earnings call yesterday for its third quarter ending Sept. 30. Nevertheless, Coinstar shares were up 21% this morning, after the company reported a 149% operating income increase to $29.7 million. DVD revenue itself grew 54% from the previous year, to $305.5 million, while revenue at existing kiosks increased 17% year-over-year. Redbox kiosks now number 28,900 nationwide. More on the timing calculations behind Redbox’s digital strategy at paidContent, which speculates the kiosk network may be taking a longer view than expected on streaming to gain better deal terms — or simply to see whether/how the market for streaming video services shakes out over the next few months.

Blu-ray Stakeholders Chart Format’s Future at Blu-Con Next Week

Home entertainment industry leaders will trade insights on how to further build the Blu-ray business at the third annual Blu-Con conference Nov. 2 in Beverly Hills. Program highlights for the conference, produced by DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group, include a keynote presentation by Bill Carr, VP of music and video at Amazon.com; a conversation on the format between “Avatar” filmmakers James Cameron and Jon Landau, and a studio presidents’ discussion moderated by analysts from Nomura Securities and Credit Suisse. To register, visit www.Blu-con.com. Program Highlights Amazon.com’s Carr — who leads the retailer’s worldwide digital music and video business, as well as the U.S. DVD/Blu-ray and CD categories — will present his perspective on the expanding the Blu-ray Disc market. Five studio presidents will discuss the present state of the Blu-ray business as well as its future. Panelists include Steve Beeks of Lionsgate; David Bishop of Sony Pictures Worldwide Home Entertainment; Mike Dunn of Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment; Craig Kornblau of Universal Studios Home Entertainment; and Ron Sanders of Warner Home Video. Moderating the presidents' panel are leading business analysts Michael Nathanson, Managing Director and Head of US Media and Telecom Equity Research, Nomura Securities; and Spencer Wang, Managing Director and Senior Media and Internet Analyst, Equity Research, Credit Suisse. Cameron and Landau will share their experiences filming “Avatar” in 3D, and their thoughts on what makes Blu-ray an essential component of the home entertainment mix. Following the filmmakers’ discussion, a panel of studio executives and consumer electronics makers will examine the retail marketing challenges posed by Blu-ray 3D, and discuss the various efforts underway to promote the new concept. Afternoon sessions include: • An update from the Blu-ray Disc Association, which manages the format’s technical standards development; • A special announcement by the DEG regarding its support of film restoration, followed by a panel examining new opportunities for mining studio catalog on Blu-ray; • A look at the potential for Internet connectivity that Blu-ray affords, including BD Live and Digital Copy; and • A discussion on the format’s suitability for concert videos and other music titles. Visit Blu-con.com for registration and more program details.

More of Today’s News Headlines from CDSA

Sony and Samsung Post Strong Profits but Outlook Mixed (Reuters) Take-Two CEO to Quit (Wall Street Journal) Apple ‘Clarifies’ Device-To-Device iTunes Rental Limits: Don’t Do It (paidContent) Blockbuster Hiring 4,000 Holiday Staff (Blockbuster via PR Newswire) Technics Turntables To Stop Spinning? (Billboard)

Movie Ticket Prices Drop Slightly in Q3

Theater chains have climbed down slightly from the record admissions price highs of earlier this year, with the average domestic movie ticket costing $7.71 in the third quarter, according to the National Association of Theater Owners (NATO). The price is a 3% decline from theater chains’ record average ticket price of $7.95 in the first quarter of this year, The Wrap reports. But the year-to-date 2010 average price of $7.85 is still up about 5% from the 2009 average of $7.50. As The Wrap points out, the third quarter did not see a glut of premium-priced 3D films as theaters featured earlier this year (including “Avatar” and “Alice in Wonderland”). But some chains have actually lowered prices across the board in certain markets.

Charing Cross offers Wi-Fi pilot with OpenZone

Commuters who travel through Charing Cross will now be able to access Wi-Fi via BT OpenZone.

Google Assigns YouTube Team to Bring Broadcasters Around: Report

While ABC, CBS, and NBC continue to block Google TV devices from accessing Internet streams of their shows, Google is hoping a newly formed executive team at its YouTube unit can convince the broadcasters of the business model’s potential (via the San Francisco Chronicle). Two YouTube executives — Robert Kyncl, former VP of content acquisition for Netflix, and Dean Gilbert, the former VP of product management for Google TV — are charged with brokering new content deals with broadcasters and others. As NewTeeVee notes, the executives may have a difficult time overcoming broadcaster resistance without opening up Google’s checkbook.

Advocacy Group Claims Videogame Retailer Shortcomings in Sales to Minors

Roughly one in five videogame retailers (19%) is willing to overlook the Entertainment Software Rating Board’s guidelines and sell a Mature-rated game to shoppers under the age of 17, advocacy group the Parents Television Council (PTC) claims in a new study. The group found retailers to ignore the industry’s self-regulating scheme in 21 out of 109 secret-shopper visits — an improvement from the council’s 2008 study, but still an “abysmal” performance. Gamasutra has the study’s full results. The release of the study coincides with the U.S. Supreme Court’s review of Schwarzenegger vs. EMA, a case in which videogame merchants challenge the constitutionality of a 2005 California law that bans the sale of certain violent titles to minors. The Court hears oral arguments in the case next week. In response to the PTC, the ESRB criticizes the advocacy’s methodology as incompatible with similar testing done by the Federal Trade Commission. In fact, the organization’s Eliot Mizrachi tells Gamasutra, retailers’ “rate of restriction” for mature-audience games outpaces any other product tested by the Federal Trade Commission, including DVDs, CDs, and theatrical films.

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