http://www.screendigest.com/rss/ en-gb Copyright: (C) Screen Digest 240 Having fended off Carl Icahn's takeover effort (see "Lionsgate's successful Icahn defense a sign of the times" 31 October 2011) in 2011, Lionsgate Entertainment quickly turned around and became a buyer in...(free content) http://www.screendigest.com/news/2012_02_lionsgate_bolsters_film_side_with_summit_acquisition/view.html http://www.screendigest.com/news/2012_02_lionsgate_bolsters_film_side_with_summit_acquisition/view.html 2012-02-04 In this issue: New functionality and more partnerships were announced at CES for UltraViolet, the newest digital movie proposition from Hollywood. Samsung will be releasing later this year a BD player...(free content) http://www.screendigest.com/news/2012_02_hollywood_aftermarket_january_2012_issue_now_available/view.html http://www.screendigest.com/news/2012_02_hollywood_aftermarket_january_2012_issue_now_available/view.html 2012-02-03 Although the retail sales shift from DVDs to BDs has been slower than studios and CE merchants would have liked, BD continues to enjoy strong growth in household penetration. In the first few years of its rollout, BD households were weighted toward PS3 game machines, as was the case with DVD and the original PlayStations. But in 2010 dedicated BD set-top households pulled into the lead, and most of the growth in overall BD household penetration in 2011 was due to the addition of BD set-tops. The steady growth in BD sales and BD set-top penetration has prompted studios to release more of their most sought-after library titles, setting up what we hope will become a virtuous cycle.(subscription content) http://www.screendigest.com/reports/201212c/2012_02_slow_but_steady_bd_sales_growth_lags_big_increases_in_bd_households/view.html http://www.screendigest.com/reports/201212c/2012_02_slow_but_steady_bd_sales_growth_lags_big_increases_in_bd_households/view.html 2012-02-02 UltraViolet, the consortium of media, technology and retail companies established to make available a standard for video-playback inter-operability between devices and apps from diverse enablers, announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas January 10 that it had registered 750,000 user accounts by year-end 2011. More importantly, it announced progress on most of the critical challenges it faces (see our "First UltraViolet discs hit US market", 12/16/11): obtaining retailer support, providing consumers living room access to their UV collections, putting existing disc collections into the UV cloud, and having third parties develop white-label front-ends easing entry for lots of service providers.(subscription content) http://www.screendigest.com/reports/2012031a/2012_01_ultraviolet_brings_amazon_partly_on_board_adds_disc-to-digital_functionality/view.html http://www.screendigest.com/reports/2012031a/2012_01_ultraviolet_brings_amazon_partly_on_board_adds_disc-to-digital_functionality/view.html 2012-01-31 In 2011, 3D technology was at the forefront of the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, but this year, overall, 3D was much less visible. Those 3D announcements that were made tended to focus on new models of existing 3D products rather than new developments in the evolution of the technology. (free content) http://www.screendigest.com/news/2012_01_3d_technology_becomes_mainstream_at_ces_2012/view.html http://www.screendigest.com/news/2012_01_3d_technology_becomes_mainstream_at_ces_2012/view.html 2012-01-31 US album sales rose for the first time since 2004 to reach 330.6m units in 2011 according to Nielsen Soundscan. Of these 31 per cent, or 103.1m units, were downloads and the remaining 69 per cent were...(free content) http://www.screendigest.com/news/us_recorded_music_sales_up_year-on-year_bucking_the_long-term_decline_trend/view.html http://www.screendigest.com/news/us_recorded_music_sales_up_year-on-year_bucking_the_long-term_decline_trend/view.html 2012-01-09 The challenges in the physical video market that began in earnest in 2008 continued through 2011, but the picture did at least brighten somewhat as the year progressed. Following a dismal first...(free content) http://www.screendigest.com/news/2012_01_when_box_office_drops_studios_take_a_double_hit/view.html http://www.screendigest.com/news/2012_01_when_box_office_drops_studios_take_a_double_hit/view.html 2012-01-06 The media and technology stocks tracked by IHS Screen Digest posted a 3.4% gain in 2011, a year that saw the broader market battle to recover the ground lost over the summer to fears of a sovereign-debt crisis...(subscription content) http://www.screendigest.com/news/2011_12_taking_stock_small_annual_gain_for_media_and_technology_stocks_masks_variable_performance_by_sector/view.html http://www.screendigest.com/news/2011_12_taking_stock_small_annual_gain_for_media_and_technology_stocks_masks_variable_performance_by_sector/view.html 2011-12-31