Seth Gilbert, 10-3-2008
It was the “showdown,” the looming crisis, digital music’s “Ok Corral.” If you believed the headlines and bought into the sensationalism, the fate of iTunes, the future of the world’s leading digital music store, hinged on the decision of the obscure three judge Copyright Royalty Board (CRB). The reality was hardly so dramatic.
Thursday, the CRB was set to announce its decision on the mechanical royalty rate: the default per song license fees paid to music publishers for the sale of their music. It was the first time since 1980 a government hearing addressed the rate, the review the result of last year’s expiration of a 1997 agreement.
Lobbying on one side of the aisle sat the National Publishers Association. They were seeking a rate hike from the current 9.1 cents a song to 15 cents. On the other side, the Digital Music Association, representing music sellers like Apple and Amazon, lobbied for a price cut down to 4 cents per download.
The court, whose three judges are appointed by the Librarian of Congress had heard testimony and was set to break the stalemate.
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Seth Gilbert, 10-2-2008
Nintendo’s sold more than 14 million Wii consoles in the U.S and dominated the monthly U.S. sales charts for months, but leading into Thursday’s Nintendo media day in San Francisco, the palpable buzz was centered not so much on what Nintendo has in the market now (nor what Nintendo had to announce today) but instead on what the company might reveal in the next few years.
The trigger for the rumor mill’s rapid heart rate was a report published September 30th on parent-centric game site “What They Play.” Click to Read More
Seth Gilbert,
Crossing T’s and dotting I’s, this week there were a couple news briefs from the M&A front:
Sony BMG: After months of rumors, Sony announced August 5th that they’d reached an agreement to buy partner, Bertelsmann’s, fifty percent stake in their joint Sony BMG music label. Regulators in Europe approved the deal a few weeks ago and it’s now officially complete. The world’s second largest record label, which includes famed imprints Columbia, Arista, Epic and RCA records, will now be called Sony Music Entertainment, Inc. and be a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. Bertelsmann received $1.2b, including $300m in cash that was carried on Sony BMG’s books.
Take Two: EA walked from its hostile takeover attempt in August, and two weeks ago, walked from the prospect of a friendly deal too. Now Take Two Interactive, will walk away from sales discussions Click to Read More
Seth Gilbert, 10-1-2008
If content is king, Los Gatos based Netflix seems to be moving to try and grab some sort of throne for their subscription based on-demand video distribution service – and they’re not hesitating, even in spite of the prospect that widespread consumer adoption might be years away. Last week, the company announced catalog boosting deals with CBS and Disney. Today, they added more film and TV content for their streaming video service through a partnership with Liberty Entertainment’s Starz.
Per disclosed terms of the deal, approximately 2,500 programs from Starz library will be added to the “Watch Now” catalog of streaming titles. As with other “Watch Now” content, the programs will be available at no added charge for all Netflix subscribers who pay for an unlimited monthly rental program.
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Seth Gilbert,
Gamestop is billed as the world’s largest video game retailer but until today, they had no footprint in France, Europe’s second largest market. For $700 million, including debt, that will now change.
Gamestop announced Wednesday they will buy France’s Micromania retail chain from L Capital, a private equity firm affiliated with LVMH.
The all cash deal will be funded through a combination of cash on hand (the company had $539.9m in Cash and Equivalents as of August 2nd), a $150m term loan from Bank of America and existing lines of credit.
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Seth Gilbert, 09-30-2008
Tuesday, the Motion Picture Association of America and Real Networks went at it head on, taking each other to court in separate lawsuits. There may have been an effort at behind the scenes diplomacy but there was no shot across the bow, no public warning. The fight came quick and fast with preemptive and counter strikes.
The battleground is Real Networks newly released realDVD software, a software program designed to copy DVDs. The question is whether it’s legal and how copyright law should be applied to its use.
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Seth Gilbert,
When Warner Brothers released the 300 in 2007, the views of critics and fans varied widely. Some, like Richard Roeper, loved it. He went so far as to call it "the "’Citizen Kane’ of graphic novels.’ Others like the Wall Street Journal’s Joe Morgenstern, or the New York Time’s A.O Scott, found the film almost utterly unredeeming; too violent and undeveloped. The common ground, amongst a majority of views, was the visual effects. That point wasn’t lost on the gaming industry.
In July, Ubisoft acquired Hybride Technologies, the special effects shop behind the film (and also Sin City). Now, EA is tapping the 300’s director Zack Snyder with a three game development deal.
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It was the “showdown,” the looming crisis, digital music’s “Ok Corral.” If you believed the headlines and bought into the sensationalism, the fate of iTunes, the future of the world’s leading digital music store, hinged on the decision of the obscure three judge Copyright Royalty Board (CRB). The reality was hardly so dramatic.
