Audio Video News

N<I>arrated by Kenneth Branagh. Series producer: Tim Haines. Producer: Jasper James. Aspect ratio: 1.85:1 (anamorphic). Dolby Surround. Two discs. 230 minutes. 1999. BBC Video (distributed by CBS). CBS Fox Video 2000040. NR. $34.98.</I>

Last week, EchoStar Communications Corporation announced that, starting this week, its <A HREF="http://www.dishnetwork.com">Dish Network</A> will begin showing HDTV versions of popular motion pictures, beginning with the James Bond film <I>The World Is Not Enough</I>. EchoStar claims that the Dish Network currently serves more than 4.3 million customers.

P<I>aul Newman, Robert Redford, Katherine Ross. Directed by George Roy Hill. Aspect ratio: 2.35:1 (anamorphic). Dolby Digital mono. 110 minutes. 1969. Fox Home Entertainment 2000043. PG. $29.98.</I>

Sales and rentals of digital video discs (DVDs) are exploding this year and will lead to a resurgence of growth for the overall retail movie market in the decade to come, according to a series of reports prepared by <A HREF="http://www.adamsmediaresearch.com">Adams Media Research</A> (AMR), and published in the bi-weekly <I>Hollywood Aftermarket</I> newsletter. The report adds that, after just three years on the market, DVD players are on track to penetrate 12% of US homes by the end of this year, making this the fastest rollout of a consumer entertainment technology since black-and-white television in the 1940s.

If the first week of Olympic Games coverage is any indication of <A HREF="http://www.nbc.com/">NBC</A>'s performance in Sydney, the best the network can hope for in the race for viewers is a bronze medal. The network's carefully orchestrated tape-delayed broadcasts aren't pulling in sports fans the way live action from Atlanta did in 1996. Even the Barcelona games in 1992 attracted more viewers, according to polls conducted during the first week of the Sydney Games.

Direct-broadcast-satellite service <A HREF="http://www.echostar.com/">EchoStar Communications Corporation</A> will be first in line to buy Hughes Electronics Corporation, if parent company General Motors decides to spin it off. Hughes operates EchoStar's competitor, <A HREF="http://www.directv.com/">DirecTV</A>. The acquisition would create a virtual monopoly in the skies, according to analysts who attended the <A HREF="http://www.sbca.org/">Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association</A>'s SkyForum conference in New York on Thursday, September 21.