(a) preliminary AD rate of zero
Warren Lieberfarb, former Warner Home Video pres., used the IRMA recording media summit in La Quinta, Cal., to challenge the Blu-Ray and HD-DVD camps to release complete ROM specifications within 30 days. That would allow replicators to begin comparative analyses of claims and counterclaims about manufacturing costs, where HD-DVD believes it has a decided advantage, Lieberfarb said at the Sat. event.
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.
AD duty new shipper review. A bond or other security may continue to be posted in lieu of an AD cash deposit, until the final results are in effect.
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.
RTNDA Board Chmn. Bob Salsberg urged broadcasters to use “sound” journalistic judgement and attribute all material before airing any content from video news releases. At issue is a package of material including a video news release produced by the Dept. of Health & Human Services on the new Medicare law. The General Accounting Office has reopened an investigation to determine whether the video news release constituted illegal covert propaganda, a GAO spokeswoman said. It’s the first time the GAO has investigated a video news release, which is commonly used by broadcasters in local newscasts, the spokeswoman said. RTNDA’s code of ethics instructs broadcasters to clearly identify material. “It comes down to attribution and context,” Salsberg said. Since early Jan. all or parts of the mock news story had aired 53 times on 40 stations in 33 markets, said HHS spokesman Bill Pierce. Several published reports claim the “Wag the Dog” material was aired without sourcing where the video came from, and that it used someone pretending to be a Washington, D.C., reporter. Those claims prompted Sen. Kennedy (D-Mass.) to write a letter to the major networks encouraging them not to air the material. “It is critical to the credibility of an independent news media that covert government propaganda be rejected for use by news organizations,” the letter said. However, Pierce told us that the reporter used in the video is a freelance journalist in Washington and that the HHS went to “great lengths” to inform broadcasters where the material came from, including preliminary phone calls made by HHS staff to gauge broadcasters’ interest in running the video. Pierce said critics, mainly those that oppose the Medicare law, are acting as if “news directors have no free will,” he said. “This all comes down to the ethics of journalism, and the department can’t be held responsible for that,” Pierce said.
Electronic Arts (EA) and PS2 again dominated the U.S. top 10 videogame rental chart but Tecmo’s Ninja Gaiden for Xbox knocked EA’s Bond 00: Everything or Nothing for Sony’s console out of the #1 spot, Rentrak’s preliminary Home Video Essentials data for the week ended March 14 showed Thurs. Rentrak said Ninja Gaiden, in its 2nd week available, moved up 4 notches, earning $347,344 for $539,500 to date. The PS2 version of the Bond game, meanwhile, fell 2 notches to #3 and earned an additional $337,410 for $1.2 million to date. It had been the #1 title its first 3 weeks. The Xbox version was again #7 and earned $162,933 in the week for $603,603 to date. It was the only other SKU in the top 10 not for PS2. EA’s other games in the top 10 were Need for Speed: Underground at #4 (down one its 17th week, $241,067, $6.1 million to date), NFL Street at #5 (down one its 9th week, $228,402, $1.8 million to date), Medal of Honor: Rising Sun at #9 again in its 18th week ($137,930 and $5.8 million to date). Activision and Take-Two Interactive each had 2 games in the top 10. Activision’s were True Crime: Streets of L.A. at #6 again in its 19th week ($187,472 and $5.4 million to date) and Tony Hawk’s Underground at #8 again in its 20th week ($140,945 and $5.3 million to date). Take-Two’s were Mafia at #2 again (7th week, $338,759 and $2 million to date) and Manhunt at #10 again (17th week, $128,891 and $3 million to date).
In its first full week available, Columbia TriStar’s Mona Lisa Smile was the U.S.’s #1-rented DVD, Rentrak’s preliminary Home Video Essentials data for the week ended March 14 showed Thurs. Rentrak said the title earned $5.86 million on DVD in the week for $5.94 million to date. In combined DVD and VHS earnings, the title earned $7.99 million in the week and $8.06 million to date. It was the only new release in the top 10 chart for combined DVD and VHS sales. Rentrak said the movie knocked Paramount’s comedy School of Rock out of the top spot, to #2. The latter earned an additional $6.42 million in the week on DVD and VHS for $13.51 million to date. On DVD alone, School of Rock earned $4.81 million for $10 million to date.
The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued a notice stating that at the request of the respondent, Qingdao Wenkem (F.T.Z.) Trading Company Limited (QWTC), it has postponed the final antidumping (AD) duty determination on tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol from China until no later than June 10, 2004.
For the 3rd consecutive week, James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing from Electronic Arts was the #1-selling software title in the U.K., the Entertainment & Leisure Software Publishers Assn. (ELSPA) said CharTrack data for the week ended March 13 showed. EA again had the most titles in the top 10, including Cricket 2004 at #8 in its first week of availability and Need for Speed: Underground at #10, down 4 in its 17th week. Square Enix had 2 titles in the top 10: Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles at #5 in its first week and Final Fantasy X-2 at #9, down 5 in its 4th week. Also new to the top 10 was LMA Manager 2004 from Codemasters at #2. Others were Sonic Heroes from Sega at #3 (down one, 6th week), Deus Ex: Invisible War from Eidos at #4 (down one, 2nd week), Norton Internet Security 2004 at #6 (down one, 23rd week), SOCOM 2: U.S. Navy SEALs from Sony Computer Entertainment at #7 again in its 2nd week. EA’s Bond game was also the #1-rented game in the U.S. for the week ended March 7, Rentrak said preliminary Home Video Essentials data showed. Rentrak said the game earned an additional $334,942, for a total of $859,685 to date. EA continued to dominate U.S. game rentals among publishers while PS2 games continued to dominate rentals among the platforms. Separately, Media Create (MC) said PS2 and Game Boy Advance (GBA) continued to dominate videogame hardware sales in Japan during the week ended March 7. MC said PS2 had a 40.64% market share while GBA led with 49.93% -- 45.98% for the front-lit GBA SP and the remaining 3.95% for the standard version. GameCube had a 7.88% share, while Xbox again trailed far behind with only 0.79%. Hanging on again -- just barely -- were PS one and Bandai’s handheld SwanCrystal with 0.42% and 0.34%, respectively. On the software front, MC said sales for the top 100 games in the week totaled about 767,000 units -- 44.87% less than last week and 40.41% less than the weekly average. MC said “only 10 new titles made it into the rankings this week” and their market share was “quite low at 18.79%” as there “were no major releases this week.” It said Onimusha 3 from Capcom for PS2 was the #1-selling game for the 2nd consecutive week. Trailing it at #2 was Nintendo’s Custom Robo for GameCube. It was the only GameCube title in the top 10, which was dominated by PS2 and GBA games, www.m-create.com.