Consumer Research: Price Drives Pay-TV Service Switches

Price takes precedence over considerations of necessity when households change their pay television service, according to findings of a Centris consumer survey. Some 3 percent of pay TV households are considering dropping their service in the next 3 months, while 8 percent are considering switching providers in the same period, Centris reports. Among those planning to cancel their service, price (37 percent) is more of a driving factor than “don’t need, don’t use” (21 percent). Only 10 percent say they receive enough video from the Internet to justify cutting the cord. Among those switching services, price also is the top consideration (36 percent), followed by taking advantage of promotional deals (24 percent) and quality-of-service perceptions (21 percent). Although the potential for en-masse cord cutting appears small, “defending market share will become increasingly difficult for pay TV providers with increased levels of competition and new over the top (OTT) viewing options,” Centris notes.

Study: Merchandising and Branding Are Irrelevant to Most Artists (Digital Music News)

There’s more opportunity than ever ― in the history of the world ― for artists to sell merchandise and monetize their brands. The only problem is that very few artists are making any money from these non-traditional sources. Or, even pursuing the possibilities....

U.S. marketing costs per loyal iOS user reached all-time high in December (Gamasutra)

The average cost of marketing per loyal user of iOS apps in the U.S. increased to an all-time high in December 2011, according to marketing firm Fiksu. Fiksu counts a “loyal user” of an app as those people who open the app three times or more. The company’s latest report suggests that the average cost per loyal user for App Store developers was $1.81 in December....

Who is Apple’s new retail boss, and what will he do? (GigaOm)

Tim Cook has made his first major appointment since taking the reins at Apple, bringing in the head of British technology retailer Dixons, John Browett. He comes in to fill the gap left by the departure of Ron Johnson, the man who spent a decade building the Apple Store into a force to be reckoned with....

Clouds in the forecast: Amazon S3 grew 192% year-over-year (VentureBeat)

Keep your eyes to sky because clouds are in the forecast. Amazon Web Services has reported massive growth for its number of objects stored in the Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3), with a 192 percent increase year-over-year. Amazon Web Services is by far the most popular cloud infrastructure provider in the world, so measuring the number of objects stored in S3 can help us quantify just how ubiquitous the service is....

Angry Birds boss: ‘Piracy may not be a bad thing: it can get us more business’ (The Guardian UK)

Rovio Mobile learned from the music industry's mistakes when deciding how to deal with piracy of its Angry Birds games and merchandise, chief executive Mikael Hed told the Midem conference in Cannes this morning. “We have some issues with piracy, not only in apps, but also especially in the consumer products. There is tons and tons of merchandise out there, especially in Asia, which is not officially licensed products,” said Hed....

Coca-Cola Hosting Second Screen Super Bowl Party (Digital Media Wire)

The animated bears will react in real time to all of the plays, the halftime show and even the commercials, thanks to proprietary technology. Coca-Cola said this was a first for any live media event. They collaborated with both Animal Logic in Sydney, Australia and Framestore in New York and London to develop the animations and digital technology, and during the game the animators will be stationed in New York City, in a control room located atMLB Advanced Media, the digital, streaming and interactive business of Major League Baseball....

Coca-Cola Animated Polar Bears to ‘Catch’ the Big Game on Feb. 5 (The Coca-Cola Company)

Coca-Cola is capitalizing on the growing trend of second screen media consumption to extend its connection with fans beyond the television screen to the computer screen and the social media universe. Coca-Cola is launching a unique viewing experience for fans that merges a live digital stream and social media with traditional television advertising. The stars of the campaign are two Coca-Cola polar bears who will be watching the big game live and sharing a Coke from the comforts of their Arctic ice cave. Fans can join in on the fun and watch the game with the polar bears “in the Arctic” by visiting www.CokePolarBowl.com....

Redbox Re-Ups with Walmart, Vows to Work Around Warner

As Redbox’s 28-day windowing agreement with Warner Bros. expires, the Coinstar-owned DVD and Blu-ray kiosk operator announces a renewal agreement with Walmart to continue featuring kiosks at nearly all of the mass merchant’s U.S. locations. Redbox will likely revert to stocking retail copies of Warner Bros. movies in its kiosks, after an unsuccessful renegotiation of the companies’ supply agreement. A Redbox SVP says that his company “will work to provide Warner Bros.’ movies through alternate means,” implying that the company will purchase discs from retailers or other distributors (via the Los Angeles Times). The upshot is that new releases from Warner may be available for rental from Redbox earlier than customers are used to. But for Warner, the 28-day window has proven not long enough; the company recently lengthened its new-release delay with Netflix to 56 days. Meanwhile, Redbox announced that its kiosks would be featured in more than 3,700 Walmart locations in the U.S. through January 2015, thanks to a renewal agreement with the retailer. Walmart helped Redbox rise to the fore of the home entertainment market, with kiosks first appearing at store locations in 2006. Now, Walmart outlets account for approximately 13 percent of Redbox’s 28,000-location footprint.

Oscar Lauded ‘Hugo’ Heads to DVD, Blu-ray

Hugo, the Martin Scorsese-directed film nominated for 11 Academy Awards this year, makes its home video debut Feb. 28 from Paramount Home Media Distribution.

Available as a three-disc 3D Blu-ray/Blu-ray/DVD combo pack ($54.99) and a two-disc Blu-ray/DVD combo pack ($44.99), Hugo includes featurettes about the making of the film, filmmaker Georges Méliès, star Sacha Baron Cohen, the special effects and more.

A single-disc DVD is listed at $29.99. All forms will be enabled with UltraViolet.

Set in 1930s Paris, the film follows an orphaned boy living in a train station who is determined to solve the mystery behind the automaton that his late father left behind. The adventure drama stars Asa Butterfield, Chloë Grace Moretz, Ben Kingsley, Ray Winstone, Emily Mortimer and Jude Law.

Hugo received Oscar nods for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography, among others. Scorsese already has won a Golden Globe for Best Picture for the film.

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