Audio Video News

Netflix ups rates: DVD rental firm Netflix Inc. will boost its monthly fees by 10.2%, effective mid-June. The news caused a 16.9% drop in the value of Netflix stock, which closed Friday April 16 at $30.75/share. The Los Gatos, CA–based operation reported a loss for the first fiscal quarter ended March 31 due to expensive TV advertising.

Low-cost TVs: Free trade may be good for American consumers, but it isn't always good for American workers. So concluded a US trade panel investigating charges that Chinese manufacturers have been "dumping" low-cost television sets on the US market over the past three years. On May 14, the US International Trade Commission voted unanimously to impose duties averaging 23% on imports of Chinese-made color televisions (CTVs), an action that could force up retail prices. Acting on a petition brought by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), the Industrial Division of the Communication Workers of America (IUE-CWA), and Five Rivers Electronic Innovations, LLC, a TV manufacturer in Greeneville, Tennessee, the Commission found that between 2001 and 2003, total CTV imports from China rose 3000%, from 56,000 units to 1.8 million units. Imports of consumer goods reached an all-time high of $31.3 billion in March 2004, according to Five Rivers president Tom Hopson.

Harmon gets tough: In legislative hearings over the stalled rollout of digital television last week in Washington, Rep. Jane Harmon, (D-CA.), took broadcasters to task for what <I>TV Technology</I> called their "sense of entitlement." Having received 6MHz of free bandwidth for digital transmissions, broadcasters have been reluctant to return their analog licenses, a provision that was part of the deal from day one. "They somehow seem to feel they deserve compensation," Harmon told reporters. She has asked her congressional colleagues to adopt the Homeland Emergency Response ("HERO" Act) to enforce a 2006 analog shut-off deadline, with no loopholes. That date is now only 18 months away.

Blu-ray progress: The Blu-ray Disc Founders group announced August 3 that it has agreed to standards for read-only high-density discs. The 13-member group, including core members Sony Corporation and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd, parent company of Panasonic, claims that Blu-ray DVD players could be available by midyear 2005.

USDTV makes headway: Fledgling over-the-air pay TV service US Digital Television (USDTV) has signed more than 8000 subscribers in its six months in business, according to a <I>Broadcast Engineering</I> report August 16. The startup is the first terrestrial digital subscription TV service in the US to piggyback new digital broadcast channels of local television stations by leasing unused spectrum from participating broadcasters. Based in Salt Lake City, USDTV is also available in Albuquerque, NM and Las Vegas.

Motorola parts with Proview: Motorola' plan to return to the television market after more than 30 years has been derailed by a rift with Proview International Holdings Ltd's Moxell Technology, the Chinese manufacturing company hired by Motorola to make its flat-panel sets. Proview is the world's largest assembler of computer monitors, according to the electronics industry press.

Video-on-demand: The Holy Grail of the cable industry, VOD is getting a boost from underutilized ("dark") fiber optic networks. Early attempts at VOD were glitchy at best, but computer technology is increasingly making the service a reality via large-capacity servers that can offer thousands of hours of programming to thousands of digital cable subscribers. Many of the fiber networks are owned by telecommunications companies that lease use to cable providers. Cox Communications Inc., Time Warner Inc., and Comcast Corporation have all bet heavily on the potential of fiber optics to deliver more to their subscribers. "80% to 90% of the fiber installed during the telecom boom is still sitting unused," reports Peter Grant in a recent analysis in <I>The Wall Street Journal</I>.