The 2 top-rented videogames in the U.S. continued to be Need for Speed: Underground from Electronic Arts (EA) and True Crime: Streets of L.A. from Activision, both for PS2, Rentrak’s preliminary Home Video Essentials data for the week ended Jan. 18 showed Thurs. Rentrak said the EA game earned an additional $237,551 in its 9th week of availability for $4.19 million to date, while Activision’s game earned an additional $226,341 in its 11th week for $3.88 million total. PS2 continued to dominate the rental chart, with every game in the top 10 for Sony Computer Entertainment’s console. EA again had the most titles in the top 10, this time with 4. Its 3 other games were Madden NFL 2004 at #3 (up 6 in its 23rd week, earning $224,742 and $6.18 million total), Medal of Honor: Rising Sun at #6 (down 3 in its 10th week, $135,388 and $4.68 million), The Sims: Bustin’ Out at #9 (down 1 in its 5th week, $125,257 and $1.11 million). Activision again had one other game in the top 10: Tony Hawk’s Underground at #5 (down one in its 12th week, $154,640 and $4.19 million). Rounding out the top 10 were Atari’s Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2 at #4 (up one in its 7th week), Sony’s SOCOM II: U.S. Navy SEALs at #7 again in its 11th week, THQ’s WWE Smackdown! Here Comes the Pain at #8 (up 7 in its 12th week), Take-Two Interactive’s Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne at #10 (up 8 in its 7th week).

EchoStar subscribers will be able to view the Super Bowl on CBS Feb. 1 due to a court order moving the preliminary injunction hearing to Feb. 27. EchoStar received a temporary restraining order (TRO) a week ago after Viacom threatened to pull its programming from Dish Network this month. The order, handed down Thurs. from the U.S. Dist. Court, Oakland, partially granted a motion from Viacom that asked for a scheduling conference prior to today’s (Fri.’s) hearing and a continuance of the hearing. Judge Claudia Wilken said the TRO would remain in effect until March 3. In its motion to the court, Viacom asked for the continuance to permit a “normal preliminary injunction discovery of the evidence and declarants relied upon by the parties and would have the advantage of pushing resolution of this matter past the Super Bowl, an issue which Viacom has always viewed as a superfluous distraction in this litigation.” EchoStar’s response to Viacom opposed the continuance unless it continued through May to allow EchoStar “a fair opportunity to discover facts known to Viacom and others relating to such defense.” Viacom said it was pleased with the judge’s order although it still felt a court hearing wasn’t the proper venue for the discussion: “We put a very fair offer on the table a week ago and have had no response from EchoStar, which continues to show more concern with legal maneuvers than providing more choice to their subscribers.”

In its 2nd full week of availability, MGM’s Out of Time became the #1-rented DVD in the U.S., Rentrak’s preliminary Home Video Essentials data for the week ended Jan. 18 showed Thurs. Rentrak said the title earned $5.85 million on DVD in the week for a total $11 million to date. In combined DVD and VHS rentals, the title also was #1 -- moving up 2 steps -- as it earned $8.24 million in the week for $15.56 million total. In its first full week of availability, New Line’s Freddy vs. Jason was #2 in DVD rentals and combined DVD/VHS rentals. Rentrak said the horror film earned $5.08 million on DVD in the week for $5.1 million total and $6.91 million in combined DVD/VHS rentals in the week for $6.94 million total. The only other new title in the top 10 for the week was Universal’s comedy Johnny English, which Rentrak said earned $1.91 million on DVD in the week for $1.93 million total and $2.73 million in combined DVD/VHS rentals for $2.76 million total.

Initial response to Nintendo’s plan to ship a dual-screened portable game system later this year (CED Jan 22 p2) appeared to be mixed. Although 3rd-party game publishers we polled appeared to be intrigued by the new device, code-named “Nintendo DS,” it was too early to say how many of them actually would make games designed for the system. It wasn’t even clear Thurs. whether the new system would be cartridge-based like the current Game Boy Advance (GBA) or optical disc-based like Sony Computer Entertainment’s upcoming PSP, that company’s first handheld game system.

The International Trade Administration (ITA) frequently issues notices on antidumping (AD) and countervailing (CV) duty orders which Broker Power considers to be "minor" in importance as they concern actions that occur after an order is issued and neither announce nor cause any changes to an order's duty rates, scope, affected firms, or effective period.

EchoStar subscribers will be able to watch the Super Bowl on CBS Feb. 1 because a preliminary injunction hearing was delayed to Feb. 27. EchoStar received a temporary restraining order (TRO) a week ago after Viacom threatened to pull its programming from Dish Network this month (CD Jan 21 p9). The U.S. Dist. Court, Oakland, partly granted a Viacom motion asking a continuance. Judge Claudia Wilken said the TRO would remain in effect until March 3. Viacom had said the continuance “would have the advantage of pushing resolution of this matter past the Super Bowl, an issue which Viacom has always viewed as a superfluous distraction in this litigation.” EchoStar’s response opposed the continuance unless it extended through May to allow EchoStar more discovery time. Viacom said it was pleased with the judge’s order although it still felt a hearing wasn’t the proper venue for the discussion: “We put a very fair offer on the table a week ago and have had no response from EchoStar, which continues to show more concern with legal maneuvers than providing more choice to their subscribers.”

The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued its preliminary results of the following antidumping (AD) duty administrative and new shipper reviews:

The Editor's page in the weekly Journal of Commerce opines that although the voluntary C-TPAT program has achieved much by responding swiftly to the change in national priorities that followed September 11, it may be time to move on, and work toward formalizing regulations for C-TPAT. The editorial adds that regulations may be needed as it makes little sense to require the use of smart containers through a voluntary C-TPAT program, as there is no guarantee firms will adopt them. (JoC, January 19-25, 2004, www.joc.com )

The temporary restraining order (TRO) EchoStar sought against Viacom earlier this month was granted late Fri. by Judge Claudia Wilken in U.S. Dist. Court, San Francisco. EchoStar took action after Viacom threatened to deny it carriage rights to its CBS stations if the latter didn’t carry certain additional Viacom programming (CD Jan 9 p14). Judge Wilken said the “balance of hardships tips sharply in [EchoStar’s] favor.” A hearing scheduled for Fri. will require Viacom to “show cause why this order should not be converted to a preliminary injunction extending until the conclusion of this litigation,” she said. In its brief, Viacom had said EchoStar had known for nearly 3 years that carriage rights would end in Dec., opting to “[drag] its feet” instead of signing an agreement. It said EchoStar should have asked the FCC for relief, and asked the court to require EchoStar to post a bond to cover damages Viacom would incur while EchoStar broadcast CBS local stations lacking an agreement. The judge did mandate a $10,000 bond for EchoStar due by 5 p.m. PST Tues. EchoStar will continue carriage of Viacom programming under the terms and conditions of its previous agreement at least until the hearing Fri. EchoStar said it was pleased the court had recognized the public interest aspect of the TRO. Viacom called the lawsuit a “delaying tactic… the proper place for this dispute is at the conference table, not the courtroom.”

The latest proposed law aimed at the videogame industry was created as a result of the controversy involving the Haitian- American community’s battle against Take-Two Interactive’s Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, which has been accused of being racist. The N. Miami City Council is trying to pass an ordinance that would restrict sales of violent games to kids. Take-Two declined comment, but Entertainment Software Assn. (ESA) Pres. Douglas Lowenstein said Tues. that “federal courts have consistently ruled that efforts to restrict the sale of all entertainment media, including interactive games, based on their content are unconstitutional restrictions on creative expression.” As an example, he said: “Last year, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking implementation of the very Washington state law cited by the [N. Miami] Council as a basis for its ordinance… The Council apparently ignored findings reported by Washington state’s own Department of Health concluding that ‘current research evidence is not supportive of a major public concern that violent videogames lead to real-life violence.'” Like before, Lowenstein said: “Beyond the legal realities, the Federal Trade Commission has reported that parents are involved in the purchase or rental of games 83% of the time. In other words, when kids do get Mature-rated games it’s usually with their parents’ knowledge and no law known to man can mandate sound parenting. Finally, the statute is unnecessary. Leading retailers recently announced an all-out commitment to implement voluntary systems to prevent the sale of Mature-rated games to persons under 17. In fact, the National Institute on Media & the Family recently found that in cases where stores have policies to enforce the Mature-rating, sales of M-rated games to minors are prevented 70% of the time, a level surpassing that achieved by movie theaters in preventing minors’ entry into R-rated films.”