KIDS STILL INFLUENCE VIDEO SALES

The power of children to affect home video sales was amply demonstrated last week as the PG-13-rated Snow White and the Huntsman debuted at No. 1 on the Nielsen Video-Scan First Alert sales chart. Not far down the list — in fourth place — was the direct-to-video Barbie: The Princess & the Popstar, an animated […]

GAME BOXES, BLU-RAY PLAYERS BRINGING ONLINE MOVIES TO TV SETS

Settop boxes dedicated to bringing online content to TV sets are being shunned as most consumers have indicated that they prefer to link to Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Amazon Prime and other video sites via Blu-ray Disc players and game consoles, according to a survey conducted by Portland, OR-based Research Into Action (RIA) and reported today […]

MOVIE RENTERS SHY AWAY FROM BLOCKBUSTER

Only 13 percent of consumers will rent a movie from a brick-and-mortar video store such as Blockbuster this year as rentals at kiosks and online streaming soar, according to a study by Toronto-based Convergence Consulting Group and reported by Home Media magazine on its website. Streaming video-on-demand from companies such as Netflix, Hulu Plus and […]

REPORT: AMAZON AND VIACOM TO JOIN IN NEW STREAMING SERVICE

Amazon is expected to announce as early as Thursday a deal with Viacom to launch a new streaming video service that will compete with Netflix, Reuters reported today (Wednesday), citing two people familiar with the discussions. The deal would appear to give Amazon, which already operates a popular DVD-by-mail and streaming service in the U.K. […]

AMAZON ADDS RIVAL NETFLIX TO KINDLE FIRE

Although it has acknowledged that the main reason why it priced the Kindle Fire so aggressively — at $199, it reportedly will sell for less than it cost to produce — was to attract users to its own movie sales and rental service, it said on Wednesday that a built-in app will allow Netflix subscribers […]