Sonic Solutions’ decision to stop developing HD DVD authoring systems (CED Jan 30 p1) is “another indication that consumer interest in Blu-ray has been steadily increasing over the course of the last year,” Philips executive Marty Gordon, vice chairman of the Blu-ray Disc Association U.S. promotions committee, said in a statement. With moves like Sonic’s and Warner’s backing Blu-ray exclusively, “we expect the momentum to continue,” Gordon said. “Everyone is following the consumer, and the consumers have weighed-in for Blu-ray.” Replicator Cinram, a big customer of Sonic authoring tools, can’t comment on the impact of Sonic’s decision because it’s in a quiet period preceding March 5 release of its quarterly earnings, a spokeswoman said. The HD DVD Promotion Group hasn’t commented on Sonic’s announcement.
Paul Gluckman
Paul Gluckman, Executive Senior Editor, is a 30-year Warren Communications News veteran having joined the company in May 1989 to launch its Audio Week publication. In his long career, Paul has chronicled the rise and fall of physical entertainment media like the CD, DVD and Blu-ray and the advent of ATSC 3.0 broadcast technology from its rudimentary standardization roots to its anticipated 2020 commercial launch.
Sony had $100 million in losses this fiscal year on its rear-projection TV business, a senior executive told analysts in a Thursday Q3 earnings call. In Q-and-A, Chief Financial Officer Nobuyuki Oneda made the disclosure, which says volumes about why Sony said last month that it would be exiting the rear-projection TV category (CED Dec 19 p1).
Public DTV awareness is rising, said NAB and Consumers Union survey reports released Wednesday. The NAB touted its results as evidence that voluntary consumer education works. But Consumers Union said consumer confusion about the DTV transition is growing with awareness about the analog cutoff.
Broadcasters have pledged over $1 billion to promote the DTV transition, and retailers should step up by stocking converter boxes as of February, when NTIA begins mailing the $40 coupons, NAB President David Rehr told Best Buy CEO Brad Anderson in a letter. NAB, which released the letter, said copies also went to the CEOs of Circuit City, Kmart, Wal-Mart, RadioShack, Sam’s Club, Sears, and Target. “Many in your industry have spoken of the necessity of a retail commitment” to the coupon program, Rehr said. “Now that the operational details of the program have been established, having converter boxes available from day one is vital to its success.” Broadcasters hope “no consumer walks into a Best Buy store, coupon in hand, without being able to purchase a coupon-eligible converter box,” Rehr said, urging action to prevent “confusion and consternation.” Having boxes to sell “when consumers seek them will ensure a smooth and successful transition to digital,” Rehr said. NAB and its TV station members “stand ready to publicly applaud individual retailers that committed to having coupon- eligible converter boxes available and accessible when coupons are distributed, and we want your company to be one of those we laud,” he said. Best Buy couldn’t be reached for comment, but the chain expects to be carrying boxes by mid-February “when the first coupons are mailed,” Senior Vice President Mike Vitelli told FCC Chairman Kevin Martin in a Jan. 19 ex parte. Best Buy’s assortment will include one box sold under its private-label Insignia brand, Vitelli told Martin. Since December Best Buy has run DTV transition messages on every register receipt and since Jan. 1 has offered coupon application forms in stores and online, Vitelli said. On outside packaging, Best Buy will label as a “Coupon-Eligible Converter Box” all NTIA-certified boxes it stocks, Vitelli said.
“It’s not accurate” to base “long-term assumptions” about the demise of HD DVD on a week’s NPD sales data, Toshiba said Thursday. It was Toshiba’s first official statement on NPD data -- leaked to Consumer Electronics Daily by Blu-ray partisans -- showing that HD DVD’s hardware sellthrough share fell drastically the week ended Jan. 12 (CED Jan 23 p1), the first full week of sales after Warner’s announcement that it would drop HD DVD May 31. “The facts are” that in the week reported, Blu-ray players and movies “were being given away for free with the purchase of 1080p TVs,” Toshiba said. It’s “also important to note” that instant rebate promotions that had dropped Toshiba’s HD DVD list pricing to $199 and $249 ended Jan. 5, Toshiba said. That caused HD DVD hardware prices to revert to $299 and $399 for the week NPD reported Blu-ray had a 90 percent share in units and dollars, compared with HD DVD’s 7 percent unit share and 4 percent dollar share, Toshiba said. Toshiba since has cut hardware prices to $149 and $199, and “is seeing very positive sales trends at retail,” Toshiba said. “This reinforces the fact that price is a significant driver of sales. Toshiba’s HD DVD players represent a significant value to the consumer and the marketing campaign that just began is proving effective.”
The GE model 22729 DTV converter box has a smart antenna interface and the model 22730 doesn’t, said a spokeswoman at Jasco Products, a GE licensee for CE accessories, computer accessories, home electric products and personal security and surveillance products. Except for the smart antenna interface, the 22729 and 22730, both newly NTIA-certified for coupon eligibility, have identical features, the spokeswoman said. Jasco is calling the 22729 the GE Smart Digital Converter Box, its Web site says. It’s designed to work with Jasco’s GE Smart Digital Antenna, to be sold separately. Jasco hasn’t yet priced any of the components. “The GE Smart Digital Antenna cannot be used without the GE Smart Digital Converter Box,” the Jasco site says. “However, the GE Smart Digital Converter Box can be used with any outdoor or rabbit ear antenna,” except smart antennas from other manufacturers, the site says. Of the 30 or so boxes that NTIA has certified for the coupon, most don’t have smart antenna interfaces. The interface is believed to add about $3 to $5 to the cost of the box, and most suppliers decided to do without it. Under NTIA rules, the $40 coupon is redeemable toward the purchase of an eligible box but not a smart antenna or a box- antenna bundle.
Data on “charter” subscribers in Los Angeles show ESPN’s audience 22 percent higher in HD households than in standard- definition homes, Bryan Burns, vice president of strategic business planning and development, said Tuesday at the Future TV conference in New York.
An unidentified complaint in July alleging that two models of Funai 37W LCD TVs lacked required program blocking capability led the FCC four months later to propose over $7.7 million in fines against Funai for “willful and repeated violations” of the commission’s DTV V-chip rules (CED Nov 5 p1). That’s according to a letter of inquiry Spectrum Enforcement Division Chief Kathryn Berthot sent Funai Aug. 7. Copies of the letter and Funai’s Sept. 7 response were released to Consumer Electronics Daily under the Freedom of Information Act.
The House Telecom Subcommittee will hold its next DTV oversight hearing Feb. 13, House Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell, D-Mich., announced Thursday. A “particular focus” at the hearing will be on NTIA’s converter box coupon program, the announcement said. The hearing would take place four days before NTIA has said it will start mailing out coupons (CED Dec 12 p1). Witnesses will be announced later, the announcement said.
Digeo, which belatedly canceled its CES news conference for lack of retail product to deliver, will halve its 160- employee work force and bid farewell to CEO Mike Fidler after an unspecified “transition,” the company said Tuesday. Chief Operating Officer Greg Gudorf will replace Fidler as CEO, said Digeo. A “streamlined” Digeo will focus product development on “fewer platforms,” scrapping much of its retail strategy, including the already delayed Moxi multiroom HD digital media receiver and its Home Cinema Edition DMR. Digeo’s new retail project will be a “next- generation consumer DMR,” already in development, Digeo said. But it won’t announce details on the new retail product until later this year, the company said. “The new strategy is absolutely the right thing to do for Digeo’s business,” Fidler said in a written statement. He and Gudorf “profoundly regret the personal consequences of this action for our employees who will be affected,” he said. Building the software and hardware for Moxi retail products was “a complex endeavor,” marked by “dynamic technical standards, regulatory issues and content considerations,” Gudorf said. The new strategy will “bring a set of advanced and compelling DMR features to consumers at the right cost and at the right time,” he said.