Archive for the ‘News’ Category
Jan. 15 – At its annual MacWorld, Apple unveiled a new web movie rental service, along with a superslim laptop computer. Apple CEO Steve Jobs presented the new products at the company’s annual MacWorld convention in San Francisco. Bobbi Rebell reports.
TVWeek’s Daisy Whitney reports from Steve Jobs’ keynote at MacWorld on Tuesday January 15 on iTunes movie rentals and the revamped Apple TV
THE NFL will allow NBC and CBS to simulcast Saturday night’s Patriots/Giants game. This will be the first tri-network simulcast since Super Bowl I. NBC and CBS will carry the NFL Network feed of the game, featuring announcers Bryant Gumbel and Cris Collinsworth. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said “We have taken this extraordinary step because it is in the best interest of our fans.” Yeah, right! This will be a three hour promo for the NFL Network.
APPLE will offer downloadable movie rentals from Twentieth Century Fox through the iTunes store. Fox will also include iPod-ready (and DRM-bound) movie files on future DVDs, allowing them to be transferred to Mac devices and computers. Until now iTunes movie purchases have not gained the wide acceptance achieved with music sales. The addition of video rentals could give Apple a major boost in the online video space.
DELOITTE’s annual media consumption report says that almost 75% of users prefer the ad-supported model for online content. 66% of users claim they would click on more ads if they were more targeted to their interests. Most users find that these more relevant ads appear while doing Internet searches.
SONY will halt production on all rear-projection TV sets and focus on plat panel technology. Sales for the sets had been declining in recent years, as the popularity of LCD TV sets has skyrocketed. This year, Sony expected to sell only a few hundred thousand rear-projection sets, making the business a money-losing proposition.
VERIZON is making an aggressive move in mobile sports TV, offering 24 full-length college football bowl games to its Vcast users. The games will appear on ESPN Mobile TV, CBS Mobile and Fox Mobile. Verizon believes that the lineup will benefit consumers who are traveling during the holiday season, making mobile TV an attractive option. Games run until January 6th.
* Get the story at Media30.com *
Apple and Twentieth Century Fox will announce deal for digital rentals.
12-27-2007
Star Receives Nation’s First Celebrity VIP Membership During BLOCKBUSTER Total Access Launch; New Program Combines the Best of Online and In-Store Rentals
Blockbuster Inc. hosts a kickoff event in Hollywood with celebrity Jessica Simpson to announce BLOCKBUSTER Total Access, a movie rental program that gives online customers the option of returning their DVDs through the mail or exchanging them at more than 5,000 participating BLOCKBUSTER® stores for free in-store movie rentals. For each online rental exchanged in the store, customers can receive a free in-store movie rental, essentially allowing them to double the number of movies they can access each month. Simpson was presented with the first celebrity VIP BLOCKBUSTER Total Access membership and shared her top 5 favorite movie rentals. With BLOCKBUSTER Total Access customers can benefit from faster shipping cycles. The store check-in process automatically initiates shipping the next available movie in the subscriber’s rental queue, so subscribers will generally get their movies a day faster than if they returned them in the mail.