Boo, Hiss....
THIS WEEK'S NEWS
DIVX STUDYING EARLY SOFTWARE RELEASE
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10/27/97
Consumer Electronics
Warren Publishing, Inc.
(Copyright 1997 by Warren Publishing, Inc.)
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Circuit City's Digital Video Express (Divx) wants to release movie discs before titles' actual street date, Chmn.-CEO Richard Sharp told VSDA board at Oct. 17-18 fall meeting in Chicago. VSDA Pres. Jeffrey Eves quoted Sharp as telling board about Divx plan to ship nonworking Divx discs to consumers by direct mail. Discs would be activated on actual street dates using Divx decryption system. Divx has said its supporting studios Disney, Paramount, Universal and DreamWorks are bound contractually to release Divx titles simultaneously with other video versions. Concept of shipping nonworking Divx movies to consumers weeks before street dates caused alarm among those in video retailing who listened in on Sharp's remarks in Chicago, Eves told us. Among those who were put off reportedly were those who believe that availability of discs before street date goes against grain of video marketing. Some also were fearful that plan would give consumers 2 weeks to try to crack Divx encryption system. We're told Divx contracts with studios aren't clear on issue of shipping nonworking discs before video street dates Nevertheless, Eves said that Sharp's willingness to go before board to discuss members' concerns "frankly showed a lot of class," but he said he doubts Sharp won many converts. VSDA board refrained from taking formal position on Divx, Eves said. Sharp couldn't be reached for comment by our deadline. Meanwhile, uphill bid to establish "one-stop-shopping" patent pool on DVD was dealt another blow last week when 6 DVD Forum companies announced agreement on joint licensing program. Licensing will be administered by Toshiba, with help from Hitachi and Matsushita "on a regional basis," announcement said. However, "interested 3rd parties" still can approach 6 companies individually for DVD licenses, statement said. Companies -- Hitachi, JVC, Matsushita, Mitsubishi, Time Warner, Toshiba -- said they still are in negotiations on single patent pool with Philips and Sony, which last spring joined with Pioneer in announcing separate collective licensing agreement (TVD April 21 p12). As with Philips-Pioneer-Sony pact, agreement among 6 companies applies to DVD-Video and DVD-ROM hardware and software. But licensing terms are different from those of Philips-Pioneer-Sony, which imposed royalty of 3.5% per player, 5 cents per disc. Six-company pact assesses rate of 4% for hardware (with minimum $4 levy) and 7.5 cents per disc. Philips said last spring that disagreements with other DVD Forum members have been about licensing terms, not contested technologies. Unmentioned in either announcement has been Thomson, which has been licensing its own DVD patents since 1996. |
