April 30, 2011 · Posted in
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Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R-Calif., is pushing for legislation to better protect consumer information, following a massive breach that compromised the personal data of more than 77 million PlayStation Network subscribers.
“I am deeply troubled by this latest data breach,” she said in a statement. “It reinforces my long-held belief that much more needs to be done to protect sensitive consumer information. Most importantly, Americans should be quickly informed when their personal information has been hacked, especially in instances like this where there is an obvious potential for large-scale identity theft.
“Clearly, consumers need additional safeguards, and I will soon introduce legislation designed to provide it. In addition, I have directed subcommittee staff to begin a thorough investigation into this latest incident to determine if hearings are needed.”
Bono Mack is chair of the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade, which has the lead on online privacy issues in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Sony Computer Entertainment hopes to have some services restored by Tuesday for the PlayStation Network, which has been offline since April 21. Sony determined that between April 17 and 19 “user account information was compromised in connection with an illegal and unauthorized intrusion into our network,” the company said in a statement. Personal data of PlayStation 3 users, potentially including credit card information, was taken.
“While I remain hopeful that Sony and law enforcement officials will quickly determine the extent of this data breach, it serves as a reminder — as well as a wake-up call — that all companies have an overriding responsibility to protect personal information and to promptly notify consumers when that information has been jeopardized,” Bono Mack said.
Her statement comes two days after a class action lawsuit was filed against Sony on behalf of PlayStation Network members. The suit seeks compensation for the data loss and loss of use of the Sony PlayStation Network, credit monitoring and other relief based on the extent of damage PlayStation Network users incur due to the data theft.
April 29, 2011 · Posted in
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Ever aggressive in its bid for a greater share of the digital music market, Amazon is lowering its sale prices of select hit tracks to 69 cents each — nearly half off of what many of the songs fetch on iTunes.
Amazon’s 69-cent MP3 store lists some 200 best-selling songs, all of which are transferable to the company’s new Cloud Drive and Cloud Player services upon purchase. Apple markets many of the tracks for $1.29 each.
Whether the tactic gives digital music consumers enough of an incentive to change their habits remains to be seen: more on this angle at the Los Angeles Times.
April 29, 2011 · Posted in
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Redbox kiosks are diversifying.
Beginning June 17, the company will market $2-a-day video game rentals at more than 21,000 kiosk locations nationwide, offering popular releases for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii systems.
Redbox has been testing rentals of video games alongside movies in select U.S. markets since August 2009. Since then, says company president Mitch Lowe, Redbox has rented one million video games from the 5,000 kiosks that were part of the test.
Lowe says in a statement that the market test "underscor[es] the popularity of video game play in America." But we would have to believe that Redbox holds higher expectations for its national video game rental rollout than it realized with its pilot program. After all, one million rentals divided by 5,000 locations over the span of 21 months translates into minimal business: on average, that works out to fewer than 10 game rentals per month, or $20 in revenue, for each machine. (We have contacted Redbox for comment.)
DVDs and Blu-ray discs still will comprise the majority of each kiosk's offering. Redbox tells Variety that its kiosks will generally have an initial library of 20 unique video game titles, with the company planning to offer between 80 and 100 unique game titles per year. Each Redbox kiosk offers up to 200 total titles, including movies.
April 29, 2011 · Posted in
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A new study from Arbor Networks suggests that peer-to-peer movie downloading is fading as legitimate video streaming services, namely Netflix, rise in popularity.
The software firm shares data with Wired that estimates Netflix to have a 20% share of North American network traffic, while BitTorrent claims an 8% share. At its height in 2007, BitTorrent claimed a 30% share of traffic, Arbor Networks says.
There are several qualifications, however:
• Arbor Networks notes that “direct download” traffic from cyberlocker sites such as Megaupload is on the rise. It’s unclear, then, whether a reduction in P2P volume necessarily translates to a reduction in overall file-sharing.
• Wired cites older research from Sandvine (2009-2010) that suggests P2P traffic continued to grow along with the increase in legal streaming services.
• The overall U.S. market for Internet content has hardly been static over recent years. According to Akamai’s most recent State of the Internet report (registration required), 36% of U.S. Internet connections run at “high broadband” rates greater than 5 Mbps as of the fourth quarter of 2010. That figure represents a 12% year-over-year increase. Arbor Networks’ most recent traffic share numbers would seem to represent slices of a larger pie than say 2007.
April 29, 2011 · Posted in
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Amazon Details Last Week’s Cloud Failure, and Apologizes (All Things Digital)
Hackers Claim to Have PlayStation Users’ Card Data (The New York Times)
Blockbuster Express Ups Q1 Loss (Home Media Magazine)
Lionsgate Says Dish’s Blockbuster Owes It Money Under Rental Revenue Share Deal (The Hollywood Reporter)
Logitech Makes a Measly $5M From Google TV (GigaOm)
April 29, 2011 · Posted in
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Image Entertainment April 28 inked a deal with Rentrak Corp. to track its video-on-demand content distribution via the latter’s OnDemand Essentials platform.
Portland, Ore.-based Rentrak’s VOD tracking service processes daily on-demand data representing over 80 million set-top-boxes from 38 cable, telco and satellite providers, in addition to the top-25 operators offering VOD.
Rentrak also facilitates revenue-sharing agreements between the major studios and independent video stores.
“Given how competitive the video-on-demand platform is, it is crucial for Image to have timely and insightful performance data as to how our films perform in order to optimize our portfolio for both usage and revenue growth,” said John Hyde, vice chairman of Chatsworth, Calif.-based for Image.
Image has more than 3,000 exclusive DVD titles and approximately 340 exclusive CD titles in domestic release and more than 450 programs internationally via sublicense agreements.
April 28, 2011 · Posted in
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The upcoming ESCA EDGE conference — set to take place May 19 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles — adds three conference sessions covering critical entertainment supply chain issues:
The Cloud: Jake Winett, Worldwide Director of Industry Solutions, Media & Entertainment, Microsoft, will discuss how media companies are already beginning to leverage cloud technology to manage and deliver applications and content, and how the future of cloud platforms in media and entertainment will evolve.
Digital supply chain opportunities: This panel, moderated by John Crosier, Senior Vice President, Digital Architecture and Delivery, Cinram International will provide an update on activities of DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group in establishing a Universal Media ID along with metadata, reporting and file standards. Panelists include: Jeff Stevens, Vice President, Digital Archives, Warner Bros. Digital Distribution; Thomas Stilling, Executive Director, Operations, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment; Aditya Tahilramani, Director, Information Technology, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment; David Tischker, Vice President, Client Operations, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment; and Scott Ziola, Director, CRM Digital Distribution, Warner Bros. Digital Distribution.
Perfecting the 3D home entertainment supply chain: Buzz Hays, Senior Vice President of the 3D Technology Center at Sony Corp., will explain how Hollywood is working to perfect the 3D home entertainment experience, while creating new supply chain efficiencies. Hays, one of the leading experts in the field of modern stereoscopic production, is responsible for overseeing the production and post-production of all 3D content and 3D technology consulting for Sony.
ESCA EDGE is produced by DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group and MESA. Visit entertainmentsupplychain.com to register.
April 28, 2011 · Posted in
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Video metadata firm Digitalsmiths says that a capital infusion of $12.5 million will accelerate the Durham, N.C.-based company’s domestic and international sales of video search and discovery products. Technicolor led the financing round, Digitalsmiths’ third, as the M&E giant looks to broaden its digital distribution purview. All of Digitalsmiths’ existing investors — including Cisco and Capitol Broadcasting, as well as .406 Ventures, Aurora Funds, and Chrysalis Ventures — also participated in the financing.
Digitalsmiths’ customers include Hollywood studios, broadcasters, distributors and publishers: most recently, in a program with Turner Sports, NCAA March Madness fans were able to search video highlights in real-time during the basketball tournament.
Reporting on the deal, StreamingMedia.com notes that Cisco’s investment follows its March acquisition of another North Carolina video tech firm, Inlet Technologies; paidContent, meanwhile, locates the Digitalsmiths financing round within the general trend of investment in data storage and content delivery companies.
April 28, 2011 · Posted in
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As Sony Computer continues to rebuild the security infrastructure of its PlayStation Network and Qriocity services, the company tells customers that “there is no evidence at this time” that hackers took credit card information in last week’s incident. Still, Sony says that it cannot rule out the possibility” of credit card data theft.
The company is sending emails to the services’ 77 million registered accounts, urging customers to review their credit card account statements and monitor their credit reports.
Sony also says that it already has begun to move its physical network infrastructure and data center “to a new, more secure location” as part of its response to the breach. Both the PlayStation online gaming network and the Qriocity music and video streaming service remain shut down.
April 28, 2011 · Posted in
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Home Entertainment Helps Drive Paramount Profit (Home Media Magazine)
Time Warner Cable Earnings, Revenue Up (Reuters)
Sony’s Sendai Plant To Restart Blu-ray Disc Production in Late May (PC World)
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