In its first full week available, Warner’s The Last Samurai was the #1-rented DVD in the U.S., Rentrak’s preliminary Home Video Essentials data for the week ended May 9 showed Thurs. Rentrak said the title earned $7.39 million in the week and $7.49 million to date. Last week’s #1 DVD -- Fox’s Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World -- dropped to #4, earning an additional $3.43 million for a total of $16.45 million to date. The only other new DVDs in the top 10 were Warner’s Chasing Liberty at #9 ($1.85 million in the week and $1.89 million to date) and Universal’s Peter Pan at #10 ($1.60 million and $1.65 million).

Electronic Arts (EA) had one of its weakest U.S. game rental weeks in memory, Rentrak’s preliminary Home Video Essentials data for the week ended May 9 showed Thurs. EA had only one title in the top 10: Need for Speed Underground for PS2 at #5 (down one in its 25th week). Rentrak said the title earned an additional $132,408 in the week for a total of $7.65 million to date. The #1-rented game was once again Hitman: Contracts for PS2 from Eidos ($266,351 in its 3rd week, $870,321 to date). Eidos had one other SKU in the top 10 again: The Xbox version of Contracts at #4 (down one, 3rd week, $156,149 and $490,229). Other publishers with 2 titles in the top 10 were Midway Games, Take- Two Interactive and Ubisoft. Midway’s were the PS2 version of NBA Ballers at #2 again in its 5th week ($218,518 and $1.30 million) and the Xbox version of it at #7 (down one, 5th week, $115,500 and $725,183). Take-Two’s were the PS2 version of Red Dead Revolver on its Rockstar Games label at #3 in its first week ($176,975) and the Xbox version of it at #8 ($111,117). Ubisoft’s were Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow for Xbox at #6 (down one, 7th week, $116,505 and $1.49 million) and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield for PS2 at #9 (down 2, 7th week, $107,832 and $1.22 million). Rounding out the top 10 was Capcom’s Onimusha 3: Demon Siege for PS2 at #10 (up 21 in its 2nd week, $107,169 and $175,069).

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.

Draft versions of 2 World Radiocommunications Conference (WRC-07) agenda items were introduced and tabled at a Wed. meeting of the 2nd informal working group (IWG-2). IWG-2 is looking at agenda items concerning satellite services and high altitude platform stations (HAPS). The group discussed agenda item 1.6, Resolution 415, which considers “additional allocations for the aeronautical mobile service in parts of the bands between 108 MHz and 6 GHz, in accordance with Resolution 414 (WRC-03) and, to study current satellite frequency allocations, that will support the modernization of civil aviation telecom systems, taking into account Resolution 415 (WRC-03).” While the issue was defined as looking at creating broader satellite frequency allocations to include civil aviation telecom systems and other non- aeronautical telecom services while remaining compatible with existing allocations, there was group discussion about whether the inclusion of “non-aeronautical services” was necessary. Draft author David Weinreich of Connexion by Boeing said it was important not to restrict the frequencies to only aeronautical uses, but also fixed satellite service (FSS) applications in remote areas. A 2nd draft for agenda item 1.21 created little discussion. The item proposes “to consider the results of studies regarding the compatibility between the radio astronomy service and the active space services in accordance with Resolution 740 (WRC-03), in order to review and update, if appropriate, the tables of threshold levels used for consultation that appear in the Annex to Resolution 739 (WRC-03).” IWG-2 plans to meet May 27 in order to finalize preliminary views on both agenda items before the June 8 meeting of the WRC-07 Advisory Committee.

ITA sources state that Dongkuk's AD rate of 0.85% already reflects an adjustment for export subsidies found in the companion countervailing (CV) duty investigation.

American Shipper has reported that the European Union was poised to implement the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) solid wood packing material (SWPM) standard in the spring of 2004. However, it has now dropped this initiative due to the admittance of 10 new member countries from Eastern Europe. American Shipper states that a new implementation date has yet to be set. The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has also posted an update to its Web site stating that Australia has proposed draft requirements for imported SWPM that are to become effective July 1, 2004. See APHIS' SWPM Web page for more information http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/swp/industry/index.html. (American Shipper Pub May 2004 www.americanshipper.com)

The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued its final results of the changed circumstances antidumping (AD) duty review of carbon and certain alloy steel wire rod from Canada, concluding that only subject merchandise both produced and exported by Stelco, Inc. and Stelwire Ltd. (Stelco Group) is excluded from the AD duty order.

Fox’s Master & Commander: Far Side of the World was again the #1-rented DVD in the U.S., Rentrak said preliminary Home Video Essentials data for the week ended May 2 showed. Rentrak said the title earned an additional $5.76 million in the week, for a total of $13.02 million. Four new DVDs made the top 10 in their first week available: Columbia TriStar’s Big Fish at #2 ($5.62 million in the week, $5.72 million to date), Fox’s Stuck On You at #3 ($4.65 million, $4.73 million), Universal’s Love Actually at #7 ($3.25 million, $3.31 million) and Warner’s Love Don’t Cost a Thing at #9 ($2.49 million, $2.52 million).

The 9th U.S. Appeals Court, San Francisco, questioned whether the court has jurisdiction over Televisa’s appeal and withdrew its opinion filed April 1. The court had affirmed a decision forcing Televisa into arbitration with DirecTV Latin America (DTVLA) (CD April 2 p13). At issue is a set of 3 contracts between DTVLA and Televisa that allowed Televisa to telecast some 2002 World Cup soccer matches. The agreement directed Televisa to black out games DTVLA was broadcasting. DTVLA accused Televisa of failing to comply with the provision and asked the U.S. Dist. Court, L.A., to compel arbitration. Televisa protested, but was denied a preliminary injunction staying arbitration. Televisa then appealed, but the 9th circuit denied its request. Now the court questioned, among other things, whether it has jurisdiction to review the district court’s order granting DTVLA’s motion. The court directed the parties to submit briefs within 30 days addressing the court’s questions.

According to two U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Electronic Bulletin Board (CEBB) notices, on April 19, 2004, the International Trade Commission (ITC) notified the International Trade Administration (ITA) of its final negative injury determination in the antidumping (AD) duty investigations of wax and wax/resin thermal transfer ribbon (TTR) from France and Japan.