Audio Video News

The upswell in the popularity of DVD, and its low cost per disc, would seem to be a good thing for all concerned—movie fans, video stores, and film studios. But the very aspects of the new format that are making it grow so huge so fast may cause permanent changes in the business of video rentals and sales, especially for the studios.

Australians will have the maximum number of choices when digital television broadcasting and datacasting begin on the first day of 2001, according to guidelines announced December 21 by Senator Richard Alston, Minister for Communications, Information Technology, and the Arts. Alston told the press that considering the interests of consumers has been his government's "guiding principle" in the implementation of new forms of technology. "Australians will be able to choose the viewing option which best suits their individual circumstances" on the day DTV debuts, Alston said.

Last week, JVC Americas announced that it has consolidated its projector operations&mdash;both JVC-branded projection systems and Hughes-JVC-branded systems&mdash;into <A HREF="http://www.jvc.com/pro">JVC Professional Products Company</A>, and will develop and market all future projection systems under the JVC brand. The company says that this consolidation will result in the creation of a new Visual Systems Division, effective next month. JVC says it hopes that the reorganized company will grow its projection-display business by more than 15% in the year 2000.

How much responsibility should broadcasters be required to take in serving the public interest? On December 16, the <A HREF="http://www.fcc.gov/">Federal Communications Commission</A> launched an inquiry into the subject with a call for comments from the very people who will be served best, or worst, by the dawning age of digital television&mdash;the viewing public.

It's the ultimate chicken-or-egg television question: Which will come first, Internet over TV or TV over the Internet? Last week, <A HREF="http://www.broadwing.com">Broadwing</A> gave a nod to the latter when it announced that its subsidiary ZoomTown.com has unveiled <A HREF="http://www.intertainer.com">Intertainer</A>, which the company describes as "a new video-on-demand service" for customers with high-speed, high-bandwidth ADSL online connections. Broadwing says that ZoomTown customers will be among the first in the nation able to receive the service in early 2000. Subscribers will pay the normal monthly fee for DSL service, and will then be charged for their video selections on a pay-per-view basis.

A plan by <A HREF="http://www.blockbuster.com/">Blockbuster Inc.</A>, the world's #1 video chain, to turn its major rival's stores into Blockbuster franchises, has been blocked by the <A HREF="http://www.ftc.gov/">Federal Trade Commission</A>, the <A HREF="http://www.wsj.com/"><I>Wall Street Journal</I></A> reported December 10. Blockbuster had planned to put its name on Hollywood Video's approximately 1500 stores.

Last week, <A HREF="http://www.thomson-multimedia.com">Thomson multimedia</A> announced a major investment and development partnership with <A HREF="http://www.geocast.com">Geocast Network Systems</A>, in an alliance that the company claims is intended to deploy a comprehensive terrestrial broadcast-based digital television datacasting system and service to millions of homes from coast to coast. Thomson says it is making a $15 million investment in Geocast Network Systems, and that "the result will be seamless, high-quality playback of rich-media content at a moment's notice from home entertainment and information devices."