Publishers throw the e-book business out the window

Book publishers have been crowing this week over having wrested control over e-book prices from Amazon. After a brief showdown with Macmillan Publishing, in which Amazon pulled all Macmillan hardcover and paperback titles from its physical-book store, the Kindle maker blinked and agreed to the publisher’s demand to raise the price of its e-books in Read More …

Alarm bells come too late for Sony Pictures

The memo Sony Pictures co-chiefs Michael Lynton and Amy Pascal sent to employees Monday announcing massive layoffs, most of which will fall in the home entertainment and IT divisions, obviously wasn’t meant to be made public. But it’s fitting that it was leaked when it was, the same day that Bernstein Research analysts Michael Nathanson Read More …

Selectable outputs, or selectable logic?

The long-running battle at the Federal Communications Commission over the MPAA’s petition for a waiver of the rules banning the use of selectable output controls on devices that can receive TV signals is turning into a textbook example of how regulation can distort business decisions. The electronics industry is the economic sector that produces electronic Read More …

Lipstick on a pig

The Digital Entertainment Group takes the Sarah Palin Rouge-Lipped Hockey Mom Prize this week for slathering lipstick on the runtish snout of the home video market. The industry spinmeisters reported that total consumer home entertainment spending for the first half of 2009 was down a mere 3.9% compared to last year. Not bad, you say, Read More …