Retailers attending PlayDate product showcase in N.Y. expressed confidence Tues. that upcoming holiday shopping season would be strong one, helped in large part by videogame category.
Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. Hollings (D-S.C.) would like more feedback from CE industry and other affected sectors before introducing his bill to require CE devices to include copyright protection, with technology standards mandated by govt. “The chairman wants to enter into a public dialog” with all parties, his spokesman said Tues., process that could include tentatively scheduled Oct. 25 hearing.
Problems continued mounting Tues. for Sirius Satellite Radio, which announced resignation of CEO David Margolese. Meanwhile, another senior executive confirmed company would miss its Dec. commercial launch target.
World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWF) and DirecTV have parted ways after failing to reach agreement on extension of pay-per-view contract. WWF said it ceased offering PPV programming on DirecTV after companies couldn’t reach agreement on how revenue would be divided. They had been negotiating since previous agreement expired in Jan., and WWF had granted several extensions in hopes of reaching settlement on new pact, it said.
Policy on parallel imports of Region 1 DVDs from N. American was published by U.K. piracy watchdog Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT). Group concedes there’s “no difficulty” in hacking Region 2 Europe players to run Region 1 discs and that practice isn’t illegal. FACT also said personal imports purchased abroad or by mail order don’t violate U.K. law, and conceded that “individual film enthusiasts are eager to obtain the latest titles”. But association said consumers should pay customs duty and value- added tax on imports, which would add 21% to cost of original purchase. It said collecting those tariffs would be at discretion of Customs officials. Meanwhile, importing Region 1 DVDs for resale or rental in U.K. is illegal on 3 counts, FACT said. Practice breaks copyright law because (1) movie studio hasn’t given permission for release in U.K., (2) movie parallel imports infringe on rights of authorized distributor and (3) movie imports violate British censorship laws. Unless imported title contains exactly same content as title legitimately available in U.K., it can’t be rated as “classified” by British Board of Classification. Selling unclassified videos is criminal offence under Video Recording Act 1984, which was passed to curb pornography. Penalty for selling unclassified videos can entail heavy fine and up to 2 years’ imprisonment.
David Margolese resigns as Sirius Satellite Radio CEO, will remain nonexecutive chmn., his duties to be assumed by CFO John Scelfo and Gen. Counsel Patrick Donnelly until permanent successor is found… Takeshi (Tim) Harada, onetime CEO of Capcom USA, appointed Warner Home Video managing dir. for Japanese operations… Hsing Tuan resigns as AU Optronics pres., plans unknown. Webster Howard, eMagin technology vp, promoted to chief technology officer… Andrew Smith ex- LiquidWit, named Dolby Labs global brand mktg. dir… Transmeta CEO Mark Allen resigns after 7 months on job, replaced by Chmn. Murray Goldman… Charles Brown promoted to Office Depot CFO from senior vp-finance.
DVD rentals in U.K. have grown to 15% of market, British press reported. Rental share for DVD was 9% at beginning of year and is expected to reach 20% by year-end. U.K. DVD Committee and others attributed increase to greater number of titles available, rental price that’s same as VHS and influx of entry-level DVD players at $149.
Ubi Soft Entertainment will publish Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs for Game Boy Color to coincide with movie’s DVD release this fall under agreement announced Tues. with Disney Interactive. In separate announcement, Ubi Soft said it would develop gaming titles for PlayStation, Game Boy Advance and GameCube based on Bear in the Big Blue House TV series under license agreement with Jim Henson Co. Ubi Soft has 4 years to develop games based on show’s characters and environments, and exclusive publishing rights for 3 years thereafter.
Exhibitors at Las Vegas CES are being asked to donate products for online auction on eBay to be held during show’s Jan. 8-11 run. CEA said 100% of proceeds from winning bids would benefit Big Brothers, Big Sisters.