The water the home-entertainment industry is treading is getting Blu-er. That’s the news that came out of an Entertainment Merchants Association report this week about U.S. consumer spending on DVDs. Studios celebrating Sony’s Blu-ray victory in the high-definition DVD format…
The player: Charles Piper, president and chief operating officer of DVDPlay. The play: Mr. Piper, a veteran of the supermarket industry, joined the No. 3 U.S. movie-rental kiosk operator earlier this month, just in time for the closely held company…
Call it a story of green glass and high tides. The continuing swell of demand for high-definition television sets has been a pleasant surprise for companies that make components of liquid-crystal display TVs. None other than Corning, the largest maker…
More Than 1 Mil 3-D HDTVs Will Be Sold in U.S. by Year End More than 1 million 3-D high-definition television sets will have been sold in the U.S. by the end of the year, with most coming from Mitsubishi…
Writers Guild of America-West president Patric Verrone has asked the FCC to establish guidelines for product integration disclosure, Daily Variety reports. Verrone states in a letter to FCC chairman Kevin Martin that product integration interferes with the writers’ creative process,…
HD programming picks for June 26-July 2: “Midnight Cowboy,” “Brokeback Mountain,” “Willie Nelson Live at Billy Bob’s” “Midnight Cowboy” (MGM HD). Fri., June 27, 9 p.m. ET. Oscar’s best picture of 1969 features Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman in the…
Aidan Quinn and Rutger Hauer have been added to the growing ensemble cast of ABC’s pilot “Prince of Motor City,” the Hollywood Reporter says. The series focuses on Billy Hamilton, played by Warren Christie, a Harvard philosophy professor who returns…
USA Network’s “The Starter Wife” has added Hart Bochner to the cast, playing Debra Messing’s love interest in the series’ second season, Daily Variety reports. The show, which debuted as a miniseries, will return in the fall with a full…
“Dukes of Hazard” and “Smallville” alum John Schneider is filming an independent drama, “twentysixmiles,” the Hollywood Reporter says. The series is being shot with hopes of landing studio and network deals, according to the Reporter. —Sergio Ibarra
Fox denied earlier reports that the upcoming two-hour “24” prequel airing in the fall will take up two episodes from the regular season, launching in January, TV Guide says. Speculation began after actor Robert Carlyle said in a Premiere.com interview…