Households with multiple PCs or Internet access are more likely to rent VHS tapes and DVDs, buy pay-per-view (PPV) programming and pay $50 or more per month for cable or satellite service, said report from Knowledge Networks/Statistical Research (KN/SRI). It said use of computers, Internet and TV wasn’t mutually exclusive. It said that, compared with homes with no computers, homes with 2 or more PCs were about twice as likely to have rented VHS tape in last month (64% vs. 34%) and to be paying $50 or more per month for cable or satellite service (31% vs. 15%). Report said PPV purchases in last month were more than 3 times higher in multiple-PC homes (14% vs. 4%). Similarly, homes with online access were 50% more likely to have rented VHS tape in last month (57% vs. 37%) than non-Internet homes and were nearly twice as likely to be paying premium prices for cable service (25% vs. 15%). “This is clear evidence that the relationship between a household’s TV use and PC/Internet use is not a zero-sum game,” said David Tice of KN/SRI.
Candescent Technologies, field emission display (FED) developer that raised more than $600 million in venture capital, is abandoning hardware plans but will continue to seek licensees and/or buyer for its technology.
Ubi Soft Entertainment offered optimistic prediction Fri. for its 3rd quarter and full financial year. French game maker said it expected “sales in excess of 150 million euros [$135.63 million] for the 3rd quarter” and “for the 2001-2002 financial year, Ubi Soft remained confident that it can meet its sales target of between 350 [$316.48 million] and 365 million euros [$330.04 million], with [net profitability] between 4% and 5%.” Company attributed positive outlook to sales results for next- generation game consoles. Ubi Soft said introductions of GameCube and Xbox in U.S. and strong PlayStation 2 (PS2) sales in Europe were “driving the videogames sector.” Game maker said: “Combined with the fact that Microsoft and Nintendo have increased their production capacity due to demand that is stronger than initially forecast, this gives backing to the company’s assumptions that the worldwide videogame market could grow by between 5% and 10% in 2001.” Company posted sales of 113.4 million euros ($102.54 million) in first half -- increase of 72% from 65.7 million euros ($59.41 million) year ago. Company posted operating income of 400,000 euros ($361,726) for first 6 months, reversing 5.3 million euro operating loss (-$4.79 million) year ago. But Ubi Soft reported 2.8 million euro loss (-$2.53 million) after goodwill for first half, compared with 1.6 million euro profit ($1.45 million) in same period year earlier. Company also said closeout deals in 2nd quarter caused gross margin to fall 59%.
Zenith cut price $5,000 on 60W plasma display panel (PDP) to $19,999 and said it would begin program offering $50-$150 rebate on purchase on 27-36” direct-view high-definition (HD) capable sets. It also postponed to 2003 its plans for introducing DVD-RW recorder because of copy protection concerns and format war.
Echoing findings of 6th annual Video & Computer Game Report Card by National Institute on Media & the Family (NIMF) (CED Dec 14 p4), Sens. Kohl (D-Wis.) and Lieberman (D-Conn.) criticized members of Interactive Entertainment Merchants Assn. (IEMA) for continuing to sell Mature (M) rated titles to children.
Voice-controlled remote control from Panasonic was introduced in Japan for digital satellite HDTV sets. Company said use of voice control reduced handset buttons to 14 from 71. Instructions spoken into microphone on handset are relayed to TV by infrared light, Panasonic said.
As GameCube-Xbox battle continued in N. America last week, Nintendo of America (NOA) said Fri. GameCube console shipments reached 1.1 million units and “more than 800,000” had sold through in U.S., Canada, Latin America.
After 2 days of hearings on Copyright Office report on Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), chmn. of House panel said he still wasn’t persuaded that changes were needed to update copyright law to Internet Age. However, Rep. Coble (R-N.C.), who heads Judiciary Subcommittee on Internet & Intellectual Property, said he was “easy dog to hunt with,” so he was keeping open mind. First day of hearings last week focused on whether artists and music publishers should be able to collect royalties for RAM or buffer copies of musical works made to facilitate streamed programming. While 2nd session was mostly more of same, it included spirited debate between Webcasters and music publishers over whether buffer or server copies should be subject to mechanical license fees.
Following release of game on PS2, Electronic Arts (EA) and MGM Interactive will bring James Bond 007 in… Agent Under Fire to GameCube and Xbox in N. America in spring.
Technology that protects copyright of digital material still has many hurdles to jump before becoming common in marketplace, digital rights management experts told Streaming Media conference in N.Y.C. this week. One major obstacle is psychology of Internet users accustomed to free online content, they said. “They think when they pay their monthly ISP bill, they get everything for free,” said Jeff Albertson of RealNetworks, typifying opinions of other conference speakers.