Netflicks sucking DVD sales dry

DVD Plunge May Force Studios to Write Down Movies
By Andy Fixmer and Sarah Rabil
Jan. 30 (Bloomberg) -
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Plunging DVD sales threaten to reduce profit for studio owners Time Warner Inc.,Walt Disney Co.,Viacom Inc. and News Corp., and may force them to write down the value of movies, analysts said.

Fourth-quarter shipments fell 32 percent in the U.S. and Canada to 453.6 million DVDs, according to Los Angeles-based Digital Entertainment Group. The drop is the biggest since the industry-funded researcher started keeping track in 1997.

The decline is being fueled by viewer shifts toward rental services such as Netflix Inc., the U.S. recession and technology that makes it easier to stream Web videos to televisions.

“Making a movie just won’t be as profitable as it once was,” Barclays Capital analyst Anthony DiClemente in New York said in an interview. “There will be a complete bottoms-up reconstruction of the economics of the film business.”

DVD sales may fall 11 percent this year and cause studios to write down new and recent titles that miss internal forecasts, Michael Nathanson, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. in New York, wrote in a report this month.

Home-video sales and rentals, mostly reflecting DVDs, accounted for 68 percent of the $88.9 billion global filmed- entertainment market in 2008, according to estimates by New York-based PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. The figures include $3.89 billion in online rental fees and digital streaming revenue.
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DVD Plunge May Force Studios to Write Down Movies
By Andy Fixmer and Sarah Rabil
Jan. 30 (Bloomberg) -
-
Plunging DVD sales threaten to reduce profit for studio owners Time Warner Inc.,Walt Disney Co.,Viacom Inc. and News Corp., and may force them to write down the value of movies, analysts said.

Fourth-quarter shipments fell 32 percent in the U.S. and Canada to 453.6 million DVDs, according to Los Angeles-based Digital Entertainment Group. The drop is the biggest since the industry-funded researcher started keeping track in 1997.

The decline is being fueled by viewer shifts toward rental services such as Netflix Inc., the U.S. recession and technology that makes it easier to stream Web videos to televisions.

“Making a movie just won’t be as profitable as it once was,” Barclays Capital analyst Anthony DiClemente in New York said in an interview. “There will be a complete bottoms-up reconstruction of the economics of the film business.”

DVD sales may fall 11 percent this year and cause studios to write down new and recent titles that miss internal forecasts, Michael Nathanson, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. in New York, wrote in a report this month.

Home-video sales and rentals, mostly reflecting DVDs, accounted for 68 percent of the $88.9 billion global filmed- entertainment market in 2008, according to estimates by New York-based PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. The figures include $3.89 billion in online rental fees and digital streaming revenue.
LINK

i was in safeway next to blockbuster the other night and they have a DVD rental machine by the front door and movies are a buck. blockbuster is now stocking tons of snacks and selling framed movie posters. you know one of the first signs that starbucks was in trouble was when they started started selling CDs.

ed rader

I know it will be the end of hair styling when my barber starts selling Annuities.

I know it will be the end of hair styling when my barber starts selling Annuities.

you know what they say about gray hair?

it's hair .

ed rader

Pull up a chart of LGF. It's a great indicator for the movie business. They have a large library and throw out a dozen plus films a year.