Media +Technology Intelligence
Quite an interesting battle is taking shape in the suddenly hot world of e-books. For many, of course, “e-books” are synonymous with Amazon and its Kindle device. But over the past few months, several would-be challengers to Amazon’s Kindle kingdom have emerged to do battle. In July, No. 1 brick-and-mortar bookseller Barnes & Noble unveiled Read More …
In my last post, I discussed the Hollywood studios’ long history of being willing to frustrate consumer demand in order to maximize their own profit, or at least to do what they believed would maximize their profit. For decades, in fact, it defined their basic business model: starve demand in one window or market to Read More …
There’s something about the video rental market, to borrow a phrase from Barack Obama, that causes the studios to get all wee-weed up. Back in 1983, not long after the Hollywood studios began, ever-so tentatively, to release movies on the newly introduced half-inch videocassette for watching at home, they were horrified to discover that some enterprising video Read More …
The Media Wonk is off on assignment this week. Regular posts will resume the week of August 24. Hope everyone is enjoying their summer.
The studios and the DVD Copy Control Assn. (DVD-CCA) are on a legal roll. On successive days last week they won a preliminary injunction against RealDVD and a reversal on appeal in the Kaleidescape case (The Media Wonk has been on another assignment so I’m only just getting aroundto blogging this now). The two courts found, Read More …