The freemium game model is gaining traction in today’s digital world. Michael Mascioni takes a look at how Endemol’s XARM F.U. mobile game, how it creates new synergies between live sports events and games, and how it is monetized.
Red Bee Media has announced a deal with FX UK to create and produce the network’s first ever companion app, developed to support the return of the critically acclaimed series, The Walking Dead, using Civolution’s digital audio watermarking technology. Cecilia Parker, General Manager, FX UK commented: “The Walking Dead is such a fertile property online already that developing that discussion further on to the next level of engagement without compromising the viewing experience was a natural next step for us. Red Bee Media were the ideal partners given their wealth of experience in second screen activity.”
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Futuresource Consulting, specialist research firm and Intellect, the trade association for the UK's technology industry, have announced a new event designed to help shape the future of digital entertainment. The Future of Entertainment Summit, chaired by Rory Cellan-Jones (pictured), the BBC's highly influential technology correspondent, will take place at the Grange City Hotel in London on 20 June.
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The MEDIA-TECH Association (MTA) has launched two initiatives geared at easing the increasingly pressured arena of disc manufacture. First, in an open letter to the physical media industry, Bryan Ekus of the MTA has pointed out the need to examine closely the various bodies who claim to be one-stop shops for Blu-ray licensing. “The BD manufacturing arena requires immediate and urgent clarity on the cost of royalty and fees to be added to the material manufactured cost of the BD disc,” Ekus said.
Continue reading »Cinram has announced that they have signed a new multi-year manufacturing agreement with Beckmann Group, extending their long term partnership with the UK based content distributor. Speaking about the renewal, Jo White, Group Managing Director of Beckmann said she was “delighted to be able to depend on Cinram’s great service levels for another term. They are always available and have been very helpful to us and deliver a great service”.
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Technicolor has announced that it has renewed its multi-year agreement with WWE (formerly World Wrestling Entertainment), a leader in global sports-entertainment, for DVD and Blu-ray replication and packaging services. “As a customer for approximately 10 years, we are proud to renew our agreement with WWE to provide DVD and Blu-ray Disc services,” said Quentin Lilly, President of Technicolor’s Home Entertainment Services division.
Continue reading »Licensing body One-Blue has announced that Sharp Corporation has joined the One-Blue product licensing program as a licensor. “We are pleased to announce that Sharp has joined our licensing program as a licensor and is now making available their essential patents via the One-Blue program,” said Roel Kramer, CEO of One-Blue.
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According to IFPI’s Digital Music Report 2012, the digital music business saw unprecedented global expansion in 2011, now overtaking formats to become the primary source of revenues for record companies in the US. “As we enter 2012, there are good reasons for optimism in the world of digital music,” commented Frances Moore, CEO of IFPI. The report states that globally digital music revenue surpasses the film, newspaper and book sectors, and music subscriptions have risen dramatically.
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Polar Mobile, a platform provider for digital media distribution, has announced a $6 million funding round led by Georgian Partners, and being used to expand globally and launch MediaEverywhere, a new product line which, says CEO Kunal Gupta (pictured), will “transform the media industry”. The new funding joins more than $3 million invested to date from private investors. MediaEverywhere will launch later in 2012 and be first rolled out to existing Polar customers.
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Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp will cease production of Blu-ray Discs and DVDs, according to a report in Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun. This comes against “a backdrop of declining profitability globally due to competition with low-priced BDs and DVDs manufactured overseas”. “The time has passed when Japanese companies produce optical discs,” a Mitsubishi Chemical official is reported as saying. Blu-ray sales are not compensating for the declining DVD market.
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The beleaguered UK entertainment retailer HMV Group has announced a “material improvement in its financial position”, following the news that its banking syndicate has agreed to amend the covenant package on HMV’s existing borrowings. This move on the part of the banks comes in response to a change in the nature of HMV’s relationships with its key music and film suppliers, which includes the intended grant of warrants representing 2.5% of its equity to these suppliers.
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If there was only one message to take away from the recent DCM (Digital Content Monetization) East event in New York, that would have to be that content is no longer just the traditional movie-music- games model, as Digital2Disc learned, along with the assurance from presenters that people want their content – whatever it is – on the go.
There are more mobile devices in the world now than toothbrushes, was the attention-grabbing opening remark from Matthew Schwartz of SAP in his introduction to the mobiles and tablets panel discussion at DCM East in New York. A series of workshops and discussions the day before the main conference focused on how to engage consumers and – ideally – monetize content through mobile delivery. At these discussions, as throughout the event, the iPad, for many DCM East speakers and attendees alike, was the 500- pound gorilla in the room.
The Smart TV Summit, held recently in the Regent’s Park area of London and sponsored by Intel, was designed to show the changing face of entertainment. Digital2Disc was on hand to learn what the latest buzz is on the connected TV experience. The Smart TV Summit may have been designed to show the changing face of entertainment, but it also showed the changing face of industry conferences, with one panel session set on its head by having the audience be the panellists. Moderator Andy Eardley of TV App Agency walked among the delegates, throwing out questions and getting everyone involved in the discussion, which gravitated towards the topic of second screening. The phenomenon was, many agreed, a real opportunity for advertising, bringing connected TV viewing into two categories - one where viewers are just transferred online and the other, which can use apps and two-way interactivity to open up a whole new world.
IHS Screen Digest’s Future of Digital Media Distribution 2011 conference covered a broad range of topics from broadcast through to UltraViolet. Digital2Disc was there to bring its readers some of the highlights.
Gerry O’Sullivan, who recently moved from BSkyB to become VP of Global TV and Entertainment at Deutsche Telecom (DT), was the invited keynote speaker. Whilst respectful of his previous employer’s business, O’Sullivan was definitely keen to emphasize the superiority of IPTV over satellite delivery.
The latest opinions on how to get consumers to pay for digital music were aired at the Digital Content Summit/Music in New York, Larry Jaffee reports.
There’s no denying that the prognosis a decade ago that digital downloads would be the way music would be largely distributed in the future has finally come to fruition. But what has not been clear to the various stakeholders is how the literally pennies per song download, as well as the royalties from internet streaming services, will be fairly divided.
Panels and exhibits at this year’s AES show underscored music distribution’s ongoing shift from the file to the stream, and the attendant challenges it brings, and Dan Daley was on hand to listen to the buzz.
There was a good reason for putting streaming and broadcast audio under the same rubric at the Audio Engineering Society’s 2011 AES Show in New York City in October.
