There was this flurry of news and gossip about how the studios were questioning the value of these things， Garland said. I think it happened first with Hulu， when Fox got really unhappy and pulled [three seasons worth of episodes of the FX show Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia] out of the Hulu pool. But thankfully for the industry， something else has won out in terms of the strategic thinking...the greater fear won out: If we dont start to change the way we distribute our content and if we dont start to meet the consumers needs， it doesnt mean that distribution doesnt change or that consumers needs arent meant. It means that someone else will drive that revolution. nidopal: Just recorded my first live TV segment with the folks over at KPIX/KCBS. Thanks guys for making this very nervous geek feel welcomed. Crave Beyond Binary The roots of the strategy can be traced to consumers. Too many were choosing to download films illegally. Younger people who didnt go the file-sharing route ignored Blockbuster and cable and gravitated to the Internets top video-rental store， Netflix. There were other legal services of course. Apples iTunes offers movies for download and rent and Hulu， the ad-supported video portal that provides TV shows and a smattering of films， were generating mediocre revenues， multiple studio sources told CNET. It was at this point the studios began to lose faith in the Internet as a means of distribution， according to the sources. If you have a question or comment for Greg Sandoval， you can submit it here. However， because our editors and writers receive hundreds of requests， we cannot tell you when you may receive a response. An inside look at the testing of Windows Phone 7In part three of a behind-the-scenes look at the development of Microsofts new phone software， Ina Fried takes a look at Redmonds massive testing operation. Geek Gestalt Fox joined the other major TV broadcasters to block Google TV， which enables people to watch Web content on their TV sets， from accessing the shows it posts to the Web. ever had. In July， Netflix struck an agreement with Relative Media that enabled the video service to The posting of advertisements， profanity， or personal attacks is prohibited. Click here to review our Terms of Use. Navy: Full steam ahead on Great Green FleetNavys Ray Mabus announces research plan with Department of Energy around grid storage， part of ambitious program to cut fossil fuel use in half this decade at the Navy. The iPad 2 makes its debutApple unveils the latest version of its popular tablet: the iPad 2. Thinner， lighter， and faster than the original， it goes on sale March 11. Quake rescue robot rocks Kinect to find victimsWith a look that seems inspired by Short Circuit star Number 5， RoboCup hopeful uses cost-effective Kinect sensor instead of Lidar to help find quake victims. Managers at the major Hollywood studios: Disney， Warner Bros.， 20th Century Fox， Paramount， NBC Universal， and Sony Pictures are pretty much despised in tech land allegedly for their anti-innovation and protectionist ways， but the record shows that， over the past year， they have helped build the foundation for Netflixs success and are embracing digital distribution like never before. Screen shot of Disney&39;s new digital movie store， which according to the Los Angeles Times， was quietly rolled out recently. Apple unveils the latest version of its popular tablet: the iPad 2. Thinner， lighter， and faster than the original， it goes on sale March 11. Greg Sandoval covers media and digital entertainment for CNET News. Based in New York， Sandoval is a former reporter for The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. roundup The confab gives young companies six minutes to make their spiel. In a landscape brimming with such shows， is Demo still worth the admission fee? Last year， annual box office earnings totaled $9.8 billion while DVD sales generated $8.7 billion. It was the first time since 2002 that ticket sales outpaced disc revenue. A window is a term used in the film business to describe the period of time when a specific distribution mode， such as cable or broadcast TV， has access to a film. The most important window of all is theatrical， when a film first makes the all-important public debut in a movie house. The studios are doing what once was considered unthinkable. They are to beginning to ask whether theaters should have exclusive rights to new releases. Eric Garland， CEO and co-founder of Big Champagne， a company that tracks the consumption of digital film and music downloads， said hes privy to the digital plans of several a number of major studios and some bigger independent film companies and that the public will see some shocking risk taking over the next few months. What this means is that the studios are playing an important role in providing consumers with alternatives to theaters， DVDs， cable， and traditional broadcast. But Garland warns their commitment to digital is fragile. He said a few bad quarters could still spook them away from the Web and back into the arms of their traditional distribution partners. Add your own personal message: (Optional) Good partner If you believe this comment is offensive or violates the CNETs Site Terms of Use， you can report it below (this will not automatically remove the comment). Once reported， our staff will be notified and the comment will be reviewed. In May， The Wall Street Journal reported that the studios were in talks with a major cable company to offer films 30 days after they hit theaters. This is not insignificant. The average length for theatrical exclusivity is four months. Two weeks ago， Time Warner said it was clojackie reedWhy film studios are betting on Web againse to reaching agreements with cable providers for what is known as premium video on demand. Warner Bros. and Disney are also in negotiations with cable providers. pay-TV service Epix. The Los Angeles Times wrote that the deal was worth close to $1 billion over five years. We did a couple of high-profile deals that were symbolic of how the Internet could be a profitable channel， Ted Sarandos， Netflixs chief content officer， said Friday. Up to then...things [for the Internet services] werent looking very promising. mollywood: Whatever， iPad. Look at this. Charlie Sheen quotes as New Yorker cartoons. So genius I almost cant process it. http://bzfd.it/grVeur Send me a copy of this message Note: Your e-mail address is used only to let the recipient know who sent the e-mail and in case of transmission error. Neither your address nor the recipientss address will be used for any other purpose. Fully Equipped iPad 2: Big trouble for Android tablets?With the arrival of the iPad 2， manufacturers of Android tablets now have a clear picture of what theyre up against. It isnt pretty. So what should they do? Theater owners say the studios reaction to the collapse of DVD sales is all wrong. Patrick Corcoran， spokesman for the National Association of Theaters Owners (NATO)， said that as film companies look for ways to make up lost DVD revenues， they shouldnt risk box office sales by making them compete with the Web or cable. loricnet: RT @CarlosMiller: Cop Block creates interactive map listing War on Photography incidents http://bit.ly/fRqCOr Last summer， the studios signed unprecedented licensing deals for Netflixs streaming service. This week， Disney quietly launched Disney Movies Online， which enables fans to rent or buy Disney and Pixar films over the Web. Perhaps most telling is the studios willingness to throw rocks at some of their most precious windows. stshank: Some mockups of new Firefox mobile UI: http://www.flickr.com/photos/madhava_work/sets/72157625999541262/ The problem we see with radically altering the windows model is that it imports the problems from the home market into the theatrical market， Corcoran said. Were all for them solving their home-market problem...Theater owners dont care how it gets to the home. Its about when. Your controlling mandate is to build the thing that replaces the business that you now have to acknowledge is in full-blown decline， Garland said， referring to DVDs. Thats a very difficult mandate， right? You have to be the instrument of your own demise...Thats tough， but [the film industry execs] are doing pretty well with that at this moment. But if they get stung or if they feel that they experimented and lost the concern is that they retrench. Crave Then， Netflix CEO Reed Hastings showed up and， unlike some tech companies Hollywood has worked with， Netflix never regarded the film guys with a you-just-dont-get-it attitude， said film industry insiders. Netflix impressed studio suits by its willingness to DavidCarnoy: No one has thanked me for advising them not to buy an iPad back in December. Wheres the love? http://t.co/gBDuA6L As for now， Garland gives the studios credit for We did a couple of high-profile deals that were symbolic of how the Internet could be a profitable channel take heat from customers and pundits for delaying nearly a month the rentals of newly released DVDs so studios might boost disc sales. adapting faster to the Web than other media industries. He notes that if the studios followed the same path as their counterparts in music or newspapers， they would be trying to kill off Web TV right about now. He acknowledged， however， that a year ago， the studios appeared ready to do just that. It will be easy to determine whether Hollywood pulls the plug on digital distribution: content will dry up at Web TV services. Another sign will be whether the studios continue to challenge traditional distribution partners. In covering digital media for CNET News， Greg Sandoval has broken stories on Apple， Microsoft， YouTube， The Pirate Bay， and the digital efforts of the major music labels and Hollywood studios. Before that， in his first tour with CNET News， he covered e-commerce during the dot-com boom and bust. A dogged investigative reporter， he began his journalism career at the Los Angeles Times and followed that with a short TV stint at The E! True Hollywood Story. Later， he spent three years as a staff writer for The Washington Post. Greg is an alumnus of USC and was raised in Chatsworth， California， which is distinguishable only for being the porn capital of the world. At Demo Spring， a social tsunamiAt tech showcase， products， services， apps built around connecting numerous people to different kinds of functionality dominated at perhaps an unprecedented level. Write letters in only 35 hours with brain spellerPeople who use Guger Technologies Intendix wave speller will need oceans of patience if a CeBIT demo is any indication. Apple iPad 2 hands-on: Predictable， awesomeCNETs Donald Bell offer his hands-on First Take of Apples iPad 2， commenting on its size， price， and capabilities. stshank: Notable for Web devs: Hugely popular JavaScript libarary Jquery supports IE9 as a top-level browser w/ new v.1.5.1: http://bit.ly/h8uhFF jackie reedWhy film studios are betting on Web again，As Netflix revenues soar and as Hulu ponders a $300 million public offering， a group of people who played an enormous part in the brightening prospects of Web TV is very much overlooked. dkatzmaier: For the second year in a row， Sony will be the first to get CNET a new TV review sample. KDL-46EX720， complete w/new 3D glasses， en route. Green Tech stream that companys films a few months after their DVD release. The next month， Netflix announced a similar deal with Signal Strength Hollywood still isnt ready to share content with everybody yet. Last week， Retrench iPad Atlas loricnet: RT @SonyAlphaRumors: (SR5) Super 35mm， twin-lens 3D config， and the 3rd water/dust-resist compact camcord annc on 3/23 http://fun.ly/bfj0 jdolcourt: Mysterious red balloons streaming past CNETs window and downtown SF. A welcome but bizarre respite from constantly rumbling jackhammers. Not even Netflix may be safe if the studios reverse course on digital， according to Garland. It all comes down to how much pain filmmakers are willing to accept in building their digital businesses. Garland points out that for digital to sucjackie reed bet newsceed， the studios must make moves that will likely choke off revenue from DVD sales， cable broadcasts， and even ticket sales. (Editor：admin) |