Audio Video News

An Asian telecommunications company has successfully transmitted uncompressed HDTV and SDTV video between Japan and the US using fiber optic cable. The results prove the superiority of fiber optics over satellite transmission, the company claims.

Anticipating prolonged strikes by both actors and screenwriters, the film industry earlier this year kicked into hurry-up mode, finishing an unprecedented number of movies before the mid-year deadline for contract renewals.

DVD fans may soon be complaining less about the lack of available titles.

Network television may be on the decline, but the film industry is stronger than ever. American movie fans bought almost $3 billion worth of movie tickets over the summer of 1999, exceeding the all-time high of $2.6 billion, set the previous year. This year, 11 movies pulled in more than $100 million each, and ticket sales for the year to date are up 6%.

There won't be any end to the blitz of new movies and television shows, thanks to an agreement reached late July 3 between members of the <A HREF="http://www.sag.org">Screen Actors Guild</A> (SAG), the <A HREF="http://www.aftra.org">American Federation of Television and Radio Artists</A> (AFTRA), and Hollywood film studios. Actors agreed to keep working beyond the expiration date of their old contract on June 30; discussions were said to be "amicable" and "low-key."

One abiding dream for film industry executives is to bypass all the middlemen involved in distribution and sell movies directly to consumers&mdash;repeatedly, by the millions.