Panasonic Germany and ComLine Multimedia Distribution have signed an agreement covering distribution of AVCHD Professional products. Panasonic Professional will now distribute every German product line using AVCHD compression and SD Card storage through ComLine.
Peter Thiem (45) will become Managing Director of Studio Hamburg Distribution & Marketing (SHDM) on August 1, 2008. He will once again be jointly responsible for the business with Managing Director Gerd Richter-Kiewning, with whom he previously worked in the same role from 2005 to 2007.
Last year, the Gesellschaft zur Verfolgung von Urheberrechtsverletzungen e.V. (GVU) successfully took action against intellectual property theft. By concentrating on labour-intensive proceedings against interconnected groups of offenders at the top of the illegal distribution pyramid that enable the illegal mass distribution of pirated copies, the organisation was able to initiate more than 1,900 qualified proceedings.
Selected retailers in Munich have recently begun selling films on so-called disposable DVDs. The new disc type, known as DVD-Disposal or DVD-D, allows films to be viewed only within a specified period. DVD-D disables itself 48 hours after first insertion, after which the content can no longer be played.
The first take of THE LAST STATION, a film by director Michael Hoffman starring Helen Mirren, Christopher Plummer, James McAvoy and others, will be shot on 7 April 2008.
Constantin Film AG generated consolidated revenue of €225.0 million in 2007 according to preliminary IFRS figures after accounting-policy changes. Revenue was down 14.3 percent from the record €262.7 million in 2006, but the group met its targets despite difficult market conditions.
The German-British production UNSERE ERDE by Alastair Fothergill (DEEP BLUE) is celebrating more records: with the best opening weekend for a nature documentary, it reached one million enthusiastic viewers faster than any predecessor.
No sooner has the format war between Blu-ray and HD-DVD been decided than the next contender, HD-VMD, appears on the scene. London-based New Medium Enterprises (NME), the company behind the Versatile Multilayer Disc, intends to hold its own despite Blu-ray's triumphant advance.
Toshiba has now stated in a press release that HD DVD devices will no longer be developed, manufactured or marketed. Blu-ray is thus also officially the successor to DVD.
Against the background of the ever-expanding ‘grey market’, Primera Technology warns against obtaining the company’s products through unauthorised distributors. In this connection, the manufacturer of professional duplication and printing systems expressly points out that the otherwise customary two-year warranty is not valid for devices purchased through these sales channels.
For almost two weeks, Essen criminal police conducted a coordinated operation against two FTP pay-server rings. Recently, officers searched ten homes throughout Germany on suspicion of commercial copyright infringement. This produced further investigative leads.
ASTRA and sports broadcaster DSF have concluded an agreement on the use of additional satellite transmission capacity. Under this agreement, effective from February 1, 2008, DSF will increase the bandwidth of its digital TV signal by almost 50 percent.
Constantin Film AG, Germany’s leading independent film-production and distribution company, has chosen the Blu-ray format for the home-entertainment exploitation of its high-definition products. The company had previously supported both HD DVD and Blu-ray technology. From March 1, 2008, releases will appear exclusively in Blu-ray format.
Producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli of EON Productions Ltd, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios announced yesterday that filming has begun on the eagerly anticipated 22nd James Bond adventure.
fter the international search operation against suspected release-group members on September 20 of this year, set in motion by the GVU and led by the Hürth criminal police, the associated scene remains in motion
Let's see what is playing at the neighbours': The fascinating voyage of discovery through Europe's diverse film landscape continues. From February to April 2008, European Film Promotion (EFP) is bringing neighbouring countries' national audience hits and film highlights to screens in Munich, Copenhagen and Madrid for the film event PICTURE EUROPE! The Best of European Cinema on the Road.
Deutsche Telekom will in future open its online video platform «Videoload» to customers of other Internet providers. Until now, access to the video-on-demand service was reserved solely for users who had booked a DSL connection with Telekom.
According to a press report, online retailer Amazon is negotiating with mobile communications provider Vodafone over worldwide distribution of its reading device for electronic books.
Valentine's Day is known as the day of lovers. There are Valentine's cards, Valentine's confectionery, Valentine's flowers - in Japan men are given gifts by women, and the Chinese counterpart to this day is called Qixi. But however and wherever this day is celebrated, it always revolves around finding a partner, being in love and love. In keeping with this theme, 20th Century Fox of Germany is bringing the romantic comedy 27 DRESSES to cinemas on February 14.
A megaseller as a book, an audience of millions in the cinema, now the Hogwarts Express is racing through the media control DVD charts. Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley have a very special magic ready for the 46th calendar week: The wizarding students appear in the ranking no fewer than six times! The latest film adaptation, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix", which more than seven million Germans saw in the cinema, goes straight to number one.
According to calculations by the KEF fees commission, the public-service broadcasters spent more money on internet- activities than they had granted themselves. ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio are said to have violated their self-commitment not to spend more than 0.75 percent of licence fee revenues on online
Patrick Belser has been working since 01 October at the international IT distributor Tech Data as Business Development Manager for the CAD/ISD (Infrastructure Solutions Division) area in Switzerland.
*instinctools GmbH from Stuttgart develops a consolidated content pool for Burda Digital Systems according to the single-source principle. The reuse of multimedia content opens up new sources of revenue for Hubert Burda Media.
SHIP – Studio Hamburg International Production films the second cinema adventure; Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Germany will again handle distribution.
The Chinese government is banning all US Hollywood films from its cinemas at least until May 2008. Although a previously applicable "Hollywood moratorium" was supposed to expire in October of this year, applications for approval of films in 2008 have so far been rejected without exception, Timesonline reports.
The action film decisively wins the duel between “Die Hard 4.0” and “Neues vom Wixxer.” The “single DVD” with Bruce Willis as New York cop John McClane is ahead. It starts from the top spot in the media control DVD charts
TV-Loonland announced that the success of the popular children’s brand LITTLE PRINCESS (65x11 min) continues with the conclusion of numerous contracts in the TV and home entertainment sector.
Typhoon and distributor Novapool Pictures present Andreas Kleinert’s latest cinema film at the 41st Hof International Film Festival 2007 (October 23 to 28, 2007): “Freischwimmer”. The surrealisti c evil fairy tale already attracted great attention at the Venice Film Festival in the Giornate Degli Autori series.
The video products of the American manufacturer CSI Communications Specialities,
Inc. have been added to the distribution portfolio of VIDI Video Digital GmbH.
A raid covering an entire market took place last Sunday at a Czech border market. In Asch, not far from Hof in Bavaria, around 200 Czech officers from customs, the trade police and the immigration police sealed off the entire market.
The boom in legal music downloads continues. In the third quarter of 2007 alone, 9.3 million digital products were downloaded from the Internet, media control reports. "The past quarter was the strongest single quarter in history," says Ulrike Altig, managing director of media control. The increase corresponds to 37.1 percent compared with the same period of the previous year.
For the 29th edition of the Max Ophüls Prize Film Festival in Saarbrücken, taking place from January 14 to 20, 2008, submissions will be accepted until November 01, 2007 for the short- and feature-film competitions and the medium-length film competition set up for the first time.
The Federal Association for Audiovisual Media e.V. recently predicted a new DVD sales record this year. TV series are enjoying increasing popularity among consumers within this market segment. Business-minded people outside the legal marketing chain also earn from this, such as a member of a small established party in Münster.
Alongside Oscar winners Billy Bob Thornton and Kim Basinger as well as Brandon Routh, Ashley Olsen, Jon Foster, Lou Taylor Pucci and Austin Nichols, they will be seen in further leading roles in the dramatic thriller based on the bestseller of the same name by Bret Easton Ellis (“American Psycho”). Gregor Jordan directs. Filming for the Marco Weber production takes place from October 15 in Los Angeles, Buenos Aires and Uruguay.
With the acquisition, Roxio has acquired a legal infrastructure for the distribution of digital music as well as catalog rights to the five largest music labels. Pressplay will serve as the basis for relaunching Napster as a legal online music service.