News From You

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Week ending February 23, 2008

ABI - Toshiba Pulls the Plug on the HD DVD Format: Who Benefits? - February 19, 2008

from Nicole Fabris/ABI

How will Toshiba's decision to terminate HD-DVD impact the format's supporters? And what does it signify for its bitter rival, Blu-ray?

Blu-ray was introduced by Sony in 2006 and this disc format has been rapidly gaining market share recently. "Blu-ray delivers a storage premium over HD DVD discs with two-thirds more data capacity," says ABI Research analyst Serene Fong. "But Blu-ray technology requires newer manufacturing techniques and factories which raise the initial start-up costs for manufacturers. The HD DVD camp took a more pragmatic approach, as HD DVD allowed manufacturers to make use of existing assembly lines to produce DVDs en mass. This led to the prevailing view that HD DVD discs were cheaper to manufacture because of the similarities to previous video technology. And this is one of the main reasons why multimedia player manufacturers have been procrastinating on Blu-ray integration."

The Blu-ray camp now has the support of major Hollywood studios including Warner Bros, Twentieth Century Fox, and Walt Disney, and that of major consumer electronic manufacturers including Panasonic, Samsung, Pioneer, LG Electronics, Sharp, Dell, HP and Apple Computer. The allegiance of movie studios plays a determining role in driving growth. When Warner Bros., Hollywood's largest distributor of DVDs, and major retailers such as Wal-Mart, Netflix, Target and Blockbuster decided to switch allegiance early this year, it indeed raised the alarm for the HD DVD consortium. Fong explains, "People buy high definition DVD players to watch movies, and without the support of the studios, there was no way HD DVD could survive for long."

"But," adds principal analyst Steve Wilson, "the real winners now are the studios. With standard DVD sales on the decline and a stalemate in the new high definition standard, it was very difficult for studios to drive a new product into the market. Challenges still remain - player cost, disc manufacturing cost, high definition disc pricing, player adoption - but at least the uncertainty about market direction is now eliminated."

Consumers, for the most part, had no particular favorite between the two standards. With the adoption of Blu-ray, neither bettors on HD DVD nor Blu-ray are winners. None of the existing Blu-ray players on the market are upgradable to BD Live/Profile 2, a feature supported in all HD DVD players from the first release. In addition, consumers shouldn't expect to see Blu-ray player pricing dropping to HD DVD price levels anytime soon. None of the Blu-ray vendors, except Sony, have shown any propensity to drive player adoption through lower prices. They are more likely to let the studios wrap the box with Blu-ray discs as an incentive. Taiwanese vendors entering the market will help bring down prices, but it will be another 12-18 months before the Blu-ray format reaches the maturity and value of that offered by HD DVD. Consumers are the losers in the short term.

Journalists and other representatives of the media are invited to contact ABI Research to learn more about this significant development and to discuss its implications with our industry analysts.

OWBT - Special Award for Development Media - nominations open until 29th February - February 19, 2008

from Derek Thorne/OWBT

Please be reminded that the Special Award for Development Media is still open for nominations, until Friday 29th February. The award is part of the One World Media Awards, and is for an outstanding community media project or organisation working on the ground in the developing world. A representative from the winning organisation will be flown to London to receive a trophy at the Awards ceremony on 12th June 2008.
 
If you are involved in a media project, or know of a project which you would like to nominate, you are welcome to do so. Please note that organisations cannot enter themselves directly for the Special Award - all entrants must be nominated by someone outside of the organisation. There is no entry fee to enter.
 
The nominating person should submit the following:

1) Description of the project (1000-1500 words) highlighting how it fits the eligibility criteria above. Please explain what makes it unique and remarkable, and include details of when the project was set up, the number of staff and volunteers, how many and who the audience is, what issues are covered and what the local conditions are in which it has to operate (for example, political, social, cultural etc.)

2) Full contact details (including name of Director and website where available).

3) Name of the representative who would collect the Award in London.
 
Please email these materials to oneworld@owbt.org.
 
There is more information available here:
 
http://www.owbt.org/pages/Awards/awards2008/awards2008_specialaward.html
 
We look forward to hearing from you – and if you have any queries, do not hesitate to email oneworld@owbt.org. All the best,
 
 
Derek Thorne
 
One World Broadcasting Trust
CAN Mezzanine
32-36 Loman Street
London SE1 0EH
Tel: +44 (0)207 922 7943
Fax: +44 (0)207 922 7706
Email: derek@owbt.org
Web: www.owbt.org
 

GIPP and IFRA once again offer a communication platform for the Russian media market - February 19, 2008

from Michael Spinner-Just/IFRA

For the second time, IFRA, the worldwide research and service organisation for the news publishing industry, is organising the IFRA Forum (http://www.ifraexpo.com/russia) together with the Russian newspaper publishers’ association, GIPP (Guild of Press Publishers). This leading networking event for the Russian newspaper and magazine publishing industry will be held in conjunction with Publishing Expo 2008 from 23 to 25 June at the World Trade Center in Moscow.

The Russian newspaper and magazine market is one of the fastest-growing markets worldwide. As such, it offers interesting possibilities to both manufacturers and publishing houses that are willing to invest. With the IFRA Forum, IFRA provides this booming media market with a platform to present know-how, case studies of successful publishing operations, innovative technologies as well as new trends and business models.

The IFRA Forum is an exhibition and conference “within an exhibition”, namely Publishing Expo 2008 (www.press-expo.ru/english). It is intended especially for newspaper and magazine publishing houses, printing companies and media distributors, agencies and organisations in the newspaper industry as well as their suppliers. Conference languages are Russian and English.

Among the main topics covered by the IFRA Forum are the following:
– Basic principles of the newspaper printing business (especially for Russian publishing houses planning to enter the printing business),
– advertising business and
– media convergence.

The first IFRA Forum took place last June during Publishing Expo 2007 also in Moscow and attracted such a high level of interest among both exhibitors and visitors that it was decided to organise another such event this year. Publishing Expo 2007 attracted about 1500 visitors.

Previous News From You

Week ending February 16, 2008

Week ending February 9, 2008

Week ending January 26, 2008