Warner Home Video (WHV) is all but ruling out a fourth- quarter launch of titles on the “TotalHD” (THD) dual-format flipper disc introduced at CES (CED Jan 10 p1). But WHV’s replicator Cinram “does have the capability to manufacture THD and we will make the discs based on the orders we receive from our customers,” a spokeswoman told Consumer Electronics Daily. She would not reply to our query as to whether studios other than WHV plan THD releases this year. “It’s not our place to provide information or insight into our customers’ release schedule plans,” she said. WHV-affiliated studios HBO and New Line also participated at the CES news conference announcing THD, but neither could be reached by our deadline for comment on their THD plans. WHV does not expect to release titles on THD this year because it has many other projects on its plate for fourth quarter, Senior Vice President Steve Nickerson has told us.
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.
The FCC wants bidirectional plug-and-play products on retail shelves in time for the 2008 holiday selling season, it said in a rulemaking notice released late Friday. That goal’s likelihood of being reached is a key question on which the Commission seeks input.
UniversalLCD.com lacked required consumer alerts on 31 analog-only TVs offered for sale when FCC Enforcement Bureau agents visited between June 12 and June 21, according to a June 28 citation sent the Long Island City, N.Y., e-tailer. The allegations mark a high for the number arrayed against a single store or Internet site since May 29, when the FCC began enforcing the analog-only labeling order, four days after it took effect. TVs cited were gone from UniversalLCD.com when we checked the site early Monday. They included a 13-inch Haier CRT TV (HTN13R12S). Oddly, in that set’s place was another Haier 13-inch CRT model (HTN13G11F), a “Ribbit TV” for kids offered for sale at $79, $50 below list. It, too, had an analog-only tuner, but no consumer alert. Another oddity: the product description with a 27- inch Toshiba CRT TV (model 27DF46) with built-in ATSC tuner. “Standard TV as you know it is under an imminent threat,” the description read. “That threat is a good thing because it will enable more availability for widescreen HDTV broadcasting. It is expected, by FCC mandate, that all TV broadcasting will convert from Analog (NTSC) to Digital (ATSC) by the beginning of 2009. At that point every TV without a Digital TV Tuner will be rendered obsolete.”
CEA Thursday hailed a 5-4 Supreme Court ruling reversing the “per se” rule against resale price maintenance. The court’s decision that the “rule of reason” should apply to the legality of manufacturer pricing decisions “means simply that all the facts will be examined before a finding of illegality - replacing a black and white rule of illegality in every case,” CEA said.
Syntax-Brillian is negotiating with the FCC to settle charges that the company shipped 22,069 analog-only TVs in “willful and repeated” violation of a DTV tuner mandate (CED Jun 6 p1), Chief Executive Officer Vincent Sollitto told us. Sollitto is “very confident” the charges will be settled to the company’s satisfaction, he said. Syntax-Brillian proposed to pay the FCC far less than the $2.9 million in forfeitures the Commission demanded, Sollitto said.
The five largest cable operators deployed over 241,000 CableCARDs as of May 31, the National Cable and Telecom Association (NCTA) said Monday in its latest progress report at the FCC. Counting the five next largest companies, the number of CableCARDs deployed reached over 271,000 serving about 90 percent of cable subscribers in the country, NCTA said. As of June 15, 26 CE makers have had 568 CableCARD-ready product models certified, NCTA said. In its last report, in March, NCTA said over 259,000 CableCARDs had been deployed by the 10 largest companies. The number of CE makers certified for CableCARD-ready products didn’t change since the last report, but the number of models was up from 548. With the July 1 FCC CableCARD deadline looming, the five largest cable companies had 122,730 CableCARDs in inventory, said the report. Comcast had the most CableCARDs in stock, 59,375, but also by far the most CableCARD subscribers, 143,195, said the report. Comcast reported the most CableCARD “self-installs” in the quarter ended May 31 -- 1,979, or 13.9 percent of total installations.
A Super Bowl promotional period cited as one of Best Buy’s strongest ever for TV sales may have been among the main reasons for its lackluster first quarter earnings, senior executives told analysts in a conference call Tuesday.
As of June 15, the FCC had inspected nearly 600 stores and e-commerce sites, issuing over 250 citations to retailers alleged to have failed to put consumer alerts next to analog- only TV products as a new FCC new labeling order requires (CED April 26 p1), Chairman Kevin Martin said Monday in a letter to House Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell, D- Mich., and Telecom Subcommittee Chairman Ed Markey, D-Mass.
LOS ANGELES -- The bad news about next-generation Blu- ray and HD DVD is that consumers’ “purchase intent” is low and is not growing quarter to quarter, NPD analyst Russ Crupnick told the “DVD & Beyond” conference here Tuesday. The good news, according to Crupnick: There is the potential for penetration of the next-generation formats to reach nine million households by 2008 -- more than 10-15 times larger than today.
A joint “educational and training advisory” issued Tues. by the FCC and the CE Retailers Coalition (CERC) warns the “national retail community” that as of May 25, retailers were to be labeling clearly “any broadcast television equipment they are selling that has only an analog tuner.” The advisory seems to be part of a CERC-FCC collaboration that began in 2004 with publication of the “DTV Tip Sheet,” not a result of a lengthening list of citations sent brick & mortar and online retailers for allegedly violating the May 25 order. The Commission sent a similarly worded advisory jointly with the National Assn. of Consumer Agency Administrators, warning that the order is now in effect. As of our Tues. deadline, the FCC site listed 69 citations to CE stores nationwide through June 6, declaring they failed to post alerts on or near analog-only products requiring them. Among national chains, Wal-Mart had the most stores cited (13), followed by Circuit City (11), RadioShack (9), Target (8) and Best Buy (5). Major e-commerce sites also have been cited, a list that Buy.com and Newegg.com joined Tues. Newegg didn’t post an alert on one Lite-On DVD recorder model it was selling, the citation said. Commission allegations against Buy.com were more extensive -- 14 products bore no alerts when investigators checked the site June 5 and again on June 11, the citation said. Alerts were missing from 11 TVs, 1 TV/DVD combo and 2 DVD recorders sold at Buy.com, the citation said. On the list was a 63W Samsung plasma TV with a standout $7,200 price -- not what one would expect to pay for a 20” legacy TV with rabbit ears, but no digital tuner.