UltraViolet CES Coverage Report

January 10, 2012

Prepared for: Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE)

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UltraViolet CES Announcement Coverage Report

Announcement Date: January 10, 2011

Coverage to Date:

January 6, 2012 . Home Media Magazine, “Rovi Adds Streaming, UltraViolet to Storefront” . Communications Technology, “Rovi Stocks Expanded Entertainment Store” . Advanced Television, “Rovi enhances OTT solution” . RapidTVNews, “Rovi opens storefront to OTT entertainment” . The Verge, “Neustar Catalyst lets any retailer sell UltraViolet digital movies”

January 8, 2012 . GigaOM, “Akamai seeks to bring UltraViolet to every device” . Streaming Media, “Akamai Announces UltraViolet Solution at CES”

January 9, 2012 . Associated Press, “Hollywood's UltraViolet to make its way to TVs” . USA Today, “Blu-ray grows, but DVD slide nips home video sales” . Los Angeles Times, “CES 2012: Rovi lets movie fans convert DVDs to digital files for a fee” . Variety, “UltraViolet: The story so far” . Variety, “Warner Bros. Flixter pacts with Viera smart TVs” . Variety, “Rovi service links with cloud” . PC Magazine, “Put Your DVDs in the Cloud with 'Digital Copy'” . CNET, “Netflix bows out of studios' UltraViolet group” . Mashable, “Flixster Lets You View Your Movie Collection On Select Panasonic Devices” . Broadcasting & Cable, “UltraViolet Blooms” . Multichannel News, “CES: NBC To Deliver 2012 Olympics In 3D With Panasonic” . Home Media Magazine, “Rovi Bows ‘Cloud’ Access to DVD and Blu-ray Disc Movies” . Home Media Magazine, “Panasonic and Timberlake Promote Connected TV at CES” . Deadline.com, “Panasonic Will Add Flixster App To Web Connected TVs And Blu-ray Players: . Advanced Television, “UltraViolet digital copy solution from Rovi” . Advanced Television, “Akamai includes UltraViolet solutions” . Video Nuze, “Akamai Rolls Out UltraViolet, Security, Delivery Upgrades for Streaming Video” . Telecompaper, “Akamai advances platform for e-entertainment industry”

January 10, 2012 . Associated Press, “Amazon gets on board with Hollywood-created UltraViolet system for online movie 'lockers'” . Reuters, “Familiar script: Home entertainment spending slips” . Financial Times, “Hollywood pins its hopes on UltraViolet” . Los Angeles Times, “Studios tout UltraViolet as home entertainment revenue falls 2%” . Forbes, “CES 2012: Blu-ray Discs Break $2 Billion Barrier for First Time in 2011” . Variety, “UltraViolet preps for mass appeal” . Variety, “Blu-ray up 20 percent in 2011: Homevid format tops $2 billion for first time since '06 launch”

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. Variety, “Tech gear revs engines at CES” . The Hollywood Reporter, “DECE: UltraViolet Registration Surges In First Three Months” . The Philadelphia Daily News, “BEST IN SHOW; International CES expands beyond electronics” . CNET, “Amazon casts flattering light on UltraViolet . CNET, “Samsung helps UltraViolet boost hardware profile” . GigaOM, “Amazon, Samsung throw UltraViolet a lifeline” . The Wrap, “UltraViolet Backers Get Ready to Make More Noise in 2012” . PC Magazine, “UltraViolet Digital Movie Locker Expands with Amazon, Samsung” . PC Magazine, “Speech Recognition Coming to Panasonic TVs” . Twice, “Panasonic Goes For 3D Olympic Gold” . Broadcasting & Cable, “CES: Amazon to Offer UltraViolet Rights” . Home Media Magazine, “UltraViolet Garners Support from Samsung and Amazon” . Home Media Magazine, “DEG: Blu-ray, Digital Helped Lift 2011” . Engadget, “Samsung outs compact BD-ES6000 Blu-ray player, less compact ES6500, get down with UltraViolet” . Engadget, “Flixster comes to Viera Connect, gives Panasonic fans more movie access” . Gizmodo, “Hollywood’s Digital Movie Locker Finds a Home in Amazon and Samsung’s Hallways” . The Verge, “Amazon is UltraViolet's first retail partner; Samsung offering disc-to-digital on 2012 Blu-Ray players” . The Verge, “Samsung announces Blu-Ray players with Wi-Fiand Ultraviolet disc to digital support” . Deadline.com, “Samsung And Amazon Boost UltraViolet Movie Streaming Initiative” . paidContent, “Ultraviolet Movement Picks Up New Backer: Samsung” . Advanced Television, “Flixster brings UltraViolet to Panasonic” . Device Magazine, “Akamai UltraViolet Integration on Devices Coming Up” . Cynopsis Digital, “~ MULTIPLATFORM CONTENT NEWS ~” . ITGawker, “Amazon, Samsung Throw UltraViolet A lifeline”

January 11, 2012 . Bloomberg, “Amazon Is First Big Retailer to Back Hollywood Film Format” . Bloomberg, “Warner Bros. Plan for DVD Rental-Delay Rejected by Blockbuster” . Variety, “Studios' digital dreams face marketplace realities” . Variety, “Turf war puts bucks in flux” . Los Angeles Times, “Hollywood stumbles on next big step in home video” . Advanced Television, “750,000+ households for UltraViolet” . Streaming Media, “CES 2012: Amazon Joins DECE, Backs UltraViolet” . FierceOnlineVideo, “In a hit for Hollywood, Amazon buys into UltraVioilet” . TechRadar, “Amazon signs on for a bit of the old UltraViolet” . Telecompaper, “UltraViolet signs up 750,000 users, expands to UK” . CSI Magazine, “UltraViolet signs 750,000 homes”

Interviews conducted include: . Broadcasting & Cable: George Winslow (coverage secured) . Variety: Robyn Weisman (coverage secured) . Variety: Deborah Kaufman (coverage secured) . Los Angeles Times: Ben Fritz and Dawn Chmielewski (coverage secured) . Fortune: Robert Levine . The Wrap: Brent Lang (coverage secured) . PC World: Melissa Perenson . Matthew Garrahan: Financial Times (coverage secured) . The Hollywood Reporter: Carolyn Giardina (coverage secured) . Reuters: Lisa Richwiene (coverage secured)

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Rovi Adds Streaming, UltraViolet to Storefront By Erik Gruenwedel Home Media Magazine January 6, 2012

Rovi Corp. has made updates to features to the Rovi Entertainment Store aimed at supporting over-the-top services delivering video content through the Internet.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Rovi said the upgrades include adding DivX Plus Streaming technology and streamlining access to UltraViolet-compatible devices and user interfaces. The upgrades are designed to provide support for platforms such as connected TVs, Web stores, Blu-ray Disc Players, iOS devices, Android mobile devices and game consoles (PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360).

Through its entertainment store, Rovi is enabling UltraViolet Digital Library support within existing and future customers’ storefronts, therefore allowing consumers to buy UltraViolet-enabled content and/or access their entertainment purchases from a broad range of devices. The company will showcase the entertainment store at next week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Rovi also expanded its European content licensing efforts for a planned launch of its entertainment store in the United Kingdom later this year.

“We believe the latest capabilities will help our customers rapidly deploy compelling and differentiated over-the- top services across tens of millions of connected devices from leading manufacturers, drive new revenue streams, and deliver a rich slate of features that allow consumers to fully immerse themselves in a highly personalized premium entertainment experience,” said Corey Ferengul, EVP of products, in a statement. ______

Rovi Stocks Expanded Entertainment Store Communications Technology January 6, 2012

Rovi Corporation continues to add to its white-label Rovi Entertainment Store by offering software development kits (SDKs) to streamline customer storefront launches, and DivX Plus Streaming to help enhance the consumer viewing experience and to support companies that want to introduce UltraViolet-compatible services.

Later this year, Rovi will expand its content-licensing program and Rovi Entertainment Store customer support services in the U.K.

Rovi says its Entertainment Store SDKs provide “support for the latest popular device platforms such as connected TVs, Web stores, Blu-ray Disc Players, iOS devices, Android mobile devices and game consoles - including the recently added support for Sony PlayStation and Xbox. Each SDK will also include reference implementations that can be quickly branded and deployed by storefront customers.”

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It continues, “SDKs will also include extensive development documentation and libraries that enable customers to use the same underlying core that has been certified by content owners and CE manufacturers while still delivering a customized storefront experience.”

Unveiled earlier this year, Rovi says DivX Plus Streaming dynamically adjusts streams to deliver maximum visual quality based on available bandwidth; and offers an advanced feature set with support for 1080p, subtitles, multiple language tracks and such “trick-play” functions as smooth fast forward and rewind. Finally, Rovi is enabling UltraViolet Digital Library support within existing and future customers' storefronts, allowing consumers to buy UltraViolet-enabled content and/or access their entertainment purchases from a broad range of devices.

"For companies including retailers, content owners, CE manufacturers and service providers, Rovi Entertainment Store provides a turnkey way to quickly establish a role in the fundamental shift taking place in entertainment distribution and consumption," comments Corey Ferengul, executive vice president/Products at Rovi. "We believe the latest capabilities will help our customers rapidly deploy compelling and differentiated over-the-top services across tens of millions of connected devices from leading manufacturers, drive new revenue streams, and deliver a rich slate of features that allow consumers to fully immerse themselves in a highly personalized premium entertainment experience." ______

Rovi enhances OTT solution Advanced Television January 6, 2012

Digital entertainment solutions specialist Rovi has updated Rovi Entertainment Store, the company’s end-to-end, white-label solution for over-the-top storefront creation and management that is currently supporting almost a dozen third-party services on an expansive multi-manufacturer ecosystem of connected devices.

This new version will offer software development kits (SDKs) to streamline customer storefront launches, ground- breaking features, including DivX Plus Streaming, to help enhance the consumer viewing experience, and support for companies that wish to introduce UltraViolet compatible services. In anticipation of new customer launches later this year in the UK, Rovi is also expanding its European content licensing programme and Rovi Entertainment Store customer support services.

“For companies including retailers, content owners, CE manufacturers and service providers, Rovi Entertainment Store provides a turnkey way to quickly establish a role in the fundamental shift taking place in entertainment distribution and consumption,” said Corey Ferengul, executive vice president of products, Rovi. “We believe the latest capabilities will help our customers rapidly deploy compelling and differentiated over-the-top services across tens of millions of connected devices from leading manufacturers, drive new revenue streams, and deliver a rich slate of features that allow consumers to fully immerse themselves in a highly personalised premium entertainment experience.”

Rovi continues to evolve the Rovi Entertainment Store feature set with the availability of DivX Plus Streaming. Unveiled earlier this year at IFA, DivX Plus Streaming advances over-the-top entertainment by enabling the digital delivery of a Blu-ray Disc-like experience. The secure adaptive streaming solution, now approved by five of the leading studios, not only dynamically adjusts streams to deliver maximum visual quality based on available bandwidth, but also offers an advanced feature set with support for 1080p, subtitles, multiple language tracks, and trick-play functions such as smooth fast forward and rewind.

As a member of the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) consortium, and a licensee of UltraViolet – the ecosystem delivering a new way to collect and enjoy home video entertainment – Rovi is helping customers rapidly deploy compatible products and services. Specifically, through its Rovi Entertainment Store technologies

5 and services, Rovi is enabling UltraViolet Digital Library support within existing and future customers’ storefronts; therefore, allowing consumers to buy UltraViolet-enabled content and/or access their entertainment purchases from a broad range of devices. ______

Rovi opens storefront to OTT entertainment RapidTVNews January 6, 2012

In the first of a series of moves intended to coincide with CES 2012, Rovi Corporation has updated its Entertainment Store end-to-end, white-label solution for over-the-top (OTT) storefront creation and management.

The enhancement will offer software development kits (SDKs) to streamline customer storefront launches and also offer new features such as DivX Plus Streaming and support for companies that wish to introduce UltraViolet compatible services.

The SDKs are designed to allow customers to define, deploy and update differentiated digital entertainment services with support for platforms such as connected TVs, Web stores, Blu-ray Disc Players, iOS devices, Android mobile devices, and game consoles including the Sony PlayStation and Xbox. The SDKs will also include development documentation and libraries so that users can employ the same underlying core certified by content owners while still delivering a customised storefront experience.

With the availability of DivX Plus Streaming, Rovi says that it can advance OTT entertainment by enabling the digital delivery of a Blu-ray Disc-like experience dynamically adjusting streams to deliver maximum visual quality based on available bandwidth, with also support for 1080p, subtitles, multiple language tracks, and trick-play functions.

In anticipation of new customer launches later this year in the UK, Rovi has also expanded its European content licensing program and Rovi Entertainment Store customer support services. an expanded features and device support, and reach of its white-label solution for over-the-top entertainment distribution

Explaining Rovi’s rationale behind the move Corey Ferengul, executive vice president of products said: “We believe the latest capabilities will help our customers rapidly deploy compelling and differentiated over-the-top services across tens of millions of connected devices from leading manufacturers, drive new revenue streams, and deliver a rich slate of features that allow consumers to fully immerse themselves in a highly personalised premium entertainment experience.” ______

Neustar Catalyst lets any retailer sell UltraViolet digital movies By Nilay Patel The Verge January 6, 2012

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We're going to hear a lot about Hollywood's UltraViolet centralized-DRM locker system at CES this year — after a rough launch with just a few movies on the Warner-owned Flixster service, the studios are planning a big push that'll try and live up to the system's promise of buy-anywhere-play-anywhere movies. A big part of that is expanding distribution, and a company called Neustar Media is making it easy for retailers to get on board with UltraViolet: its new Catalyst storefront is basically a ready-to-go UltraViolet retail site, complete with content licensing deals to get the stores off the ground. Retailers can skin Catalyst any way they want and add their own content to the mix, or they can just leave it stock. There's also a player app for consumers that works across devices; it's smart enough to look for previously-downloaded movies on your local network rather than pulling from the cloud every time.

Neustar actually developed the underlying UltraViolet coordinator software, so it's a natural step for the company to work on distribution as well; retailers would otherwise need the technical expertise to support the entire UltraViolet framework, complete with the five different DRM systems within it. Catalyst lets retailers skip all of that work and go straight to selling movies and competing against other retailers — Neustar VP George Myers told us he thinks 2012 will be "the year of the retailer," with lots of competition around digital media pricing and margins as the industry grows beyond just Apple and Amazon. According to Myers, UltraViolet will allow "someone to come in and disrupt everyone" with a storefront that isn't tied to a single ecosystem but rather an industry-wide platform.

Of course, one major advantage both Apple and Amazon offer right now is the ability to rent movies, which UltraViolet doesn't support — Myers says that UltraViolet is currently "missing the market" on rentals and that Catalyst is ready to support them as soon as support is built into the system. We'll see if there's any news around rentals at CES and take some time to play with Catalyst while we're at it. ______

Akamai seeks to bring UltraViolet to every device By Ryan Lawler GigaOM January 8, 2012

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With the number of devices supporting IP video continues to expand, content creators are seeking ways to reach consumers on as many screens and as many devices as possible. That’s the impetus behind cable’s TV Everywhere initiative, as well as Hollywood’s new UltraViolet video format. In order to cater to these customers, Akamai is rolling out new capabilities to its HD Network for video distribution that will make it even easier for content owners to securely distribute content to nearly any device.

While Warner Bros. has spearheaded the launch of UltraViolet-enabled movie titles through the launch of its Flixster applications, the promise of allowing viewers to buy a movie once and stream or download it from multiple retailer websites or applications has yet to fully catch on. That’s why Akamai, which provides content distribution services to a number of different studios and media companies, believes it is well positioned to offer up a solution that provides an easier way to make UltraViolet movies available. Ahead of CES, Akamai is announcing that it has integrated with the UltraViolet Coordinator, which controls access to the digital rights locker and manages entitlements and other information around which movies consumers have bought.

The Akamai for UltraViolet product is designed to connect with the digital rights locker and offer up storage, security and delivery of UltraViolet-enabled digital assets. The idea is to create a common reference point that studios and retailers can point to whenever a consumer tries to access an UltraViolet title. Akamai is pitching the studios first, since they are moving quickly to make these services available.

But as time goes on, and digital storefronts from the likes of Walmart’s Vudu, Best Buy’s CinemaNow or Amazon Prime Video begin supporting the digital rights initiative, having a unified storage and delivery point will simplify access to, and distribution of, UltraViolet movies. That’s because those retailers won’t necessarily have to duplicate the process by storing and managing their own copies of the files — they’ll be able to point to those already under Akamai’s control. That could make things a lot more efficient for everyone involved.

Akamai is also announcing that it’s adding new security features to its HD network to ensure that content owners and retailers can distribute video assets to multiple devices. Akamai’s SecureHD offering provides four layers of protection, including token authorization, player verification, media encryption and content targeting. With those features in place, media customers will be able to optimize their security protection based on the capabilities of the device, while providing the best playback experience regardless of whatever tablet, mobile handset or connected TV that viewers are watching a piece of content on.

Finally, the content delivery network is simplifying the process of streaming on its HD Network by selecting HTTP as its default delivery method and integrating Adobe’s HTTP Dynamic Streaming (HDS) functionality into its product offering. As a result, customers can take advantage of HTTP streaming without having to make changes to their existing Adobe Flash workflow. The Akamai HD Network also supports Apple’s HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) and Microsoft’s Smooth Streaming protocols. ______

Akamai Announces UltraViolet Solution at CES CDN also announces availability of Adobe HTTP Dynamic Streaming on the Akamai HD Network and SecureHD content protection By Adrian Pennington Streaming Media January 8, 2012

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LAS VEGAS—Akamai announced three new solutions announced at the the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show (CES): Availability of Adobe HTTP Dynamic Streaming on the Akamai HD Network, availability of Akamai SecureHD, and availability and use of Akamai’s solutions for UltraViolet. All of these have relevancy to anyone streaming content according to Kris Alexander, Akamai's chief strategist for connected devices and gaming.

In what it is calling the "hyperconnected world," Akamai says it has pinpointed the standardized delivery, security, and removal of risk around new business models as critical to success, especially with regard to Hollywood content.

The company identifies the increasing importance and value of cloud access and storage of digital assets, and says it is addressing the challenges with multi-device connectivity within the entertainment industry—specifically entitlement for assets on any device, monetizing content, common HTTP streaming formats, and protection of premium content assets. As of today, the Akamai HD Network will offer HTTP Dyanamic Streaming (HDS) by default; Apple HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) and Microsoft Smooth Streaming are also available to Akamai customers.

"Today’s hyperconnected world is radically changing the business of media and entertainment,” Alexander says. “Technology advancements and rapid consumer adoption have created an environment where delivering a secure, high-performing consumer experience on any device is critical.

"Cloud computing, ubiquitous connectivity, and the increasing consumption of IP video are driving content providers to move more applications to the cloud and users to expect access to content on multiple devices.”

He added: “As the entertainment industry expands its digital footprint, there’s an increasing amount of opportunities, new business models and innovation that bring with it potential business threats. Akamai’s SecureHD addresses these issues and provides security for live and on-demand streaming content across multiple devices, formats and run-times.” SecureHD protection is fourfold: content tarteting, media encryption, player verification, and token authorization.

Akamai's solutions for UltraViolet delivery, security, and entitlement across formats and connected devices is now available and being used by studios, the company said. The solution is claimed to reduce the complexity for studios for getting UltraViolet-enabled content to market.

“Our ultimate goal is alleviating the technology hurdles so the consumer experience is more seamless and inviting, and studios and retailers can take advantage of UltraViolet quickly,” said Alexander. ______

Hollywood's UltraViolet to make its way to TVs Associated Press January 9, 2012

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hollywood's online movie system, UltraViolet, is finally coming to the TV.

Flixster, a unit of Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros., said Monday that its app will be available later this year on Panasonic Corp. televisions and Blu-ray players that use its Viera Connect system of connecting to the Internet.

Flixster allows registered users to access movies they have bought using the new UltraViolet standard.

Starting last October, studios such as Warner Bros., Sony Corp. and Comcast Corp.'s Universal have been selling DVDs and Blu-ray discs on the standard that enable users to record their purchases online and play the movies back over multiple devices.

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Monday's announcement represents the first time UltraViolet movie files will be playable on regular televisions without needing to put a disc in a physical player. ______

Blu-ray grows, but DVD slide nips home video sales By Mike Snider, USA Today January 9, 2012

LAS VEGAS – Sales of movies on Blu-ray discs and films delivered digitally and on demand rose in 2011, but not enough to make up the gap in falling DVD sales.

Consumers spent $18 billion buying and renting discs and on digital movies in 2011, a 2% decrease from 2010, the Digital Entertainment Group (DEG) will report Tuesday.

Sales of Blu-ray discs topped $2 billion for the first time, up 19% from 2010. But DVD sales dropped 20% to $6.8 billion.

Still, home video executives were satisfied with the results considering the economic challenges of the past year and an underwhelming box office slate of films hitting retail.

New releases coming to home video in 2011 had total box-office revenue about 9% below those in 2010, said Warner Home Video President Ron Sanders, who is also president of the DEG.

Total movie sales dropped 12% to $9.5 billion, from 2010. Total movie rentals remained steady at $7.5 billion, down less than 1%. Digital sales, including streaming movies, rose 50% to $3.4 billion.

The number of U.S. homes with Blu-ray players grew to 40 million, 38% higher than in 2010. Also on the rise: the number of homes with HDTVs, which now tops 74.5 million. "Consumers and movie lovers are really investing in HDTVs and Blu-ray players to get their home theaters the best they can possibly be," DEG Executive Director Amy Jo Smith says.

Hollywood hopes to keep Blu-ray disc momentum rolling in 2012 with increased portability of purchased films. The first discs supporting the industry's UltraViolet format were launched in 2011. That format allows for downloading a digital version of a film into a cloud-based online locker that can be accessed via smartphones and tablets at no extra cost.

"Consumers want to consume different movies in different places" says Craig Kornblau, president of Universal Studios Home Entertainment and DEG vice president. "There are consumers who are more interested in (only) having movies in the cloud. They can actually start that collection today. That doesn't mean physical discs will go away completely." Among the first studios in 2011 with UltraViolet discs:

Universal (Cowboys & Aliens), Sony (Friends With Benefits) and Warner (Green Lantern). Studios plan to announce Tuesday more than 100 UltraViolet discs due this year, including releases from Paramount and Fox.

"We see UltraViolet as kind of icing on the cake," says Fox Home Entertainment President Mike Dunn. "Once that ecosystem is in place, you have the opportunity … to go from a niche market to mass market."

Adds Mike Vorhaus of Frank N. Magid Associates, "One of the top features digital consumers value is transportability across devices."

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Technology blog CES 2012: Rovi lets movie fans convert DVDs to digital files for a fee By Jon Healey Los Angeles Times January 9, 2012

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Monday, Rovi Corp. announced what appears to be the first legal tool to convert consumers' DVD collections into digital files that can be played from on online library. It's not exactly iTunes Match for movies, but it's a step in the right direction, with caveats -- lots of them.

One of the main benefits of the digital revolution has been to release music, photos, books and video from their physical bindings, enabling consumers to access their media collections any time, anywhere, on a variety of devices. Those benefits haven't extended to DVDs, however; the discs' anti-piracy software deters people from making functional digital copies of the movies on the discs.

That's "deters," not "stops." It's technically possible to circumvent a DVD's safeguards and copy it, and the software exists to do so. But under federal law, it's illegal to make, sell or distribute such circumvention tools, even if the copy is being made for a legal use. And the Hollywood studios have mounted legal assaults against a series of companies (e.g., 321 Studios and RealNetworks) that have put DVD copying software on the market.

Unlike their ill-fated predecessors, Rovi isn't actually creating copies of DVD movies. Instead, it has created an app for Internet-connected Blu-ray disc players that can read the unique identifier on each DVD or Blu-ray disc, then offer the disc owner the chance to store a copy of that movie online. It won't be free, however; Richard Bullwinkle, Rovi’s chief evangelist, said the studios participating in the service plan to charge a small fee for the stored copy. The fee will be higher for high-definition copies than for standard-definition ones.

The fee is just the first of the caveats. The second is that Rovi's disc identification will work only on Blu-ray players capable of downloading and running a new Rovi application. Bullwinkle wouldn't name the manufacturers that will support Rovi's app, but the possibilities include disc players from Samsung and LG and Microsoft's XBox 360.

The third is that the stored movies will be protected by some form of digital rights management software that limits which devices can stream or download the files. Users won't be able to use the online locker of their choice; instead, they'll have to rely on a service blessed by the studios. Again, Rovi isn't identifying any specific partners yet, but a good bet would be Best Buy's CinemaNow and others that use Rovi's e-commerce technology.

In sum, here's what Rovi Digital Copy offers: the chance to buy a discounted digital copy of a movie you've already paid for that can be played on many computers, tablets, game consoles, smartphones and set-top boxes, but won't necessarily be accessible from or compatible with all of your devices.

As limited as it is, this offer may still appeal to the same people who think it's worth paying Apple $25 a year for an online copy of their digital music collection, or who bought CD copies of the vinyl albums on their bookshelves. And as demonstrated by the popularity of online photo sites, there is something powerfully appealing about being able to shift a media collection from one's living room or home computer to the cloud, where it can be enjoyed from just about anywhere.

Even the relatively small step forward represented by Rovi Digital Copy is still a leap for the piracy-phobic Hollywood studios. Their main argument against other approaches to DVD copying has been that they enabled people to copy movies rented from Netflix or borrowed from friends, creating permanent collections on the cheap.

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Rovi's software can't stop that sort of behavior, either; instead, it minimizes the effect by allowing only one digital copy to be bought per disc. Nevertheless, that curb was enough to satisfy Rovi's studio partners.

Rovi's service helps plug a gaping hole in Hollywood's UltraViolet initiative, which encourages people to buy Blu- ray discs by including access to a digital copy of that movie in the cloud. So far, however, UltraViolet only works for selected new Blu-ray releases. As a result, it's trying to sell people on the benefits of movie ownership -- in particular, the ability to enjoy a film anywhere, any time, and on a variety of devices -- that applies only to a fraction of the titles in their collection. Rovi's solution can extend those benefits potentially to a movie lover's entire DVD and Blu-ray collection -- for a fee, unfortunately, and with non-trivial caveats. ______

UltraViolet: The story so far Consumer Electronic Show 2012 By Robyn Weisman Variety January 9, 2012

Today, the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem is to make a major announcement about UltraViolet, its digital distribution platform.

UltraViolet, though a big project, has been mostly theoretical until recently. Ads promoting it started to emerge over the holidays as studios began releasing UltraViolet-enabled DVD titles such as Sony's "Friends With Benefits" and Warner Bros' "Horrible Bosses."

UltraViolet acts as a cloud-based digital locker for purchased movies and TV shows. Once users set up an online account, they may watch UltraViolet-enabled content on up to 12 different devices, no matter which studio produced it or which retailer sold it. And these devices include TVs (via DVDs or streaming), cable- and satellite-providers, digital video boxes and iOS and Android mobile phones and tablets using third-party apps.

"Rollouts are usually governed by how fast consumers go to buy new devices, but with UltraViolet, consumers can use devices they already have," says Mark Teitell, general manager and executive director at DECE.

But while the DECE consortium comprises more than 75 companies, it's missing two industry powers. Disney has eschewed UltraViolet for its own Studio All Access online initiative, and Apple is standing pat with iTunes, the dominant digital content service provider in the industry.

Sony Pictures Entertainment chief technology officer Mitch Singer isn't concerned about this lack of participation. "When DVD launched, only Sony and Warner Bros. were onboard. With Blu-ray, we had a format war. UltraViolet has had none of the issues," Singer told Variety.

Moreover, Mac and iOS users can access UltraViolet on their devices using such third-party apps as Warner Bros.-owned Flixster.

Apple and Disney "can license these specs at any time. Not being a (DECE) member doesn't preclude them from using UltraViolet," Singer says.

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But Interpret senior veep Dan Casey is skeptical that Mac and iOS users will flock to third-party apps to use UltraViolet. "Customers want things as simple and straightforward as possible, and Apple has done that with iTunes," Casey says. "Never underestimate consumer laziness."

Moreover, Casey says educating consumers about it will be tough because it lacks a singular voice evangelizing the service.

But Singer counters UltraViolet will most likely take a grassroots, word-of-mouth approach. Such DECE member studios as Warner Bros and Sony are starting to insert UltraViolet proofs-of-purchase in Blu-ray discs and DVDs. Online retailers, meanwhile, can automatically enable UltraViolet for online movie and TV purchases.

Also, UltraViolet's common file format offers a low barrier to entry for retailers, which could lead to smaller vendors using UltraViolet in groundbreaking ways.

"The studios publish the titles. (Retailers) don't have to worry about delivery, storing or transcoding. Combine that with word-of-mouth, and you get all kinds of interesting possibilities," Singer says.

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Warner Bros. Flixter pacts with Viera smart TVs App will let users access digital locker on Panasonic devices By Marc Graser Variety January 9, 2012

Warner Bros.' Flixster has inked a deal to be integrated into Panasonic's line of Viera-branded smart TVs, as well as Blu-ray players.

Deal, announced at CES, in Las Vegas, means entertainment stored on UltraViolet's digital locker will be accessible to stream on Panasonic's hardware through the Flixster app.

Flixster claims more than 50 million downloads to date, and operates on Apple, Android and Blackberry devices. Users can also share their UltraViolet libraries with other members on their account.

"Bringing UltraViolet to the living room will make it easy for consumers to enjoy their UltraViolet-enabled movies and TV shows," said Steve Polsky, president of Flixster. "One of the great benefits of UltraViolet is the ability to watch your content whenever and wherever you want. If you're at a friend's house with a Viera device, you can easily access your collection by simply logging into Flixster."

Viera Connect is Panasonic's Smart TV platform and enables on-screen apps to be accessed through an Internet connection.

"Panasonic's Viera Connect Smart TV platform's singular focus is to deliver to our consumers an extremely robust and interactive connected TV experience that can be customized and enjoyed on their large-screen HDTVs," said Merwan Mereby, Panasonic's VP of Interactive Content and Services. "Partnering with a Hollywood powerhouse like Warner Bros. Entertainment to integrate their highly popular Flixster movie application into our Viera Connect platform is another great step in our efforts to continuously drive the connected TV experience to a whole new level for consumers." ______

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Rovi service links with cloud By Marc Graser Variety January 9, 2012

UltraViolet could soon get a nice promotional push from Rovi as it looks to increase usage of the digital locker.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Rovi used CES to roll out its Digital Copy Solution, a service that will enable users to convert DVDs and Blu-ray discs into digital collections that they can access from the cloud with devices registered through UltraViolet.

Rovi's copy technology will be integrated into consumer electronics devices and PC applications during the first quarter of this year, allowing them to recognize a movie on physical disc, authenticate its origin and grant access to a copy from the UltraViolet Digital Library.

Digital copies can then be played through Internet-connected devices including HDTVs, Blu-ray Disc players, set- top boxes, video game consoles, smartphones, tablets and PCs. About 196 million consumers are expected to use the cloud-based service by 2016.

"Consumers want to watch movies anywhere, while still getting value from the investment they have made in physical media," said Corey Ferengul, executive VP of products at Rovi.

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Put Your DVDs in the Cloud with 'Digital Copy' By Mark Hachman PC Magazine January 9, 2012

Do you own a ton of DVDs that currently sit on a shelf? Would you like to have streaming access to them anywhere you can get a wired or wireless connection? Meet Digital Copy, a new Hollywood-approved solution from Rovi.

Rovi launched its Digital Copy capability Monday morning, offering users the ability to register a copy of their DVD with an approved service, like Hollywood, for a small fee. Users would then have the ability to stream that DVD an unlimited number of times or digitally download it.

Digital Copy is a component of the UltraViolet digital copy solution rolled at the Consumer Electronics Show a year ago. UV is essentially the right to download a digital copy of the film multiple times, or stream it an unlimited number of times within a given license period. Since the announcement, UV copies of Horrible Bosses, Green Lantern, and other recent releases have become available in retail.

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Rovi hides behind its OEM and partner customers, which include Panasonic, RCA, Pioneer, and Philips, among others. The Entertainment Store, previously known as Roxio Now, allows those makers to deploy so-called over- the-top services, providing video streaming and other services to connected devices.

At CES, Rovi is demonstrating the ability to place a user's DVD into the tray of a connected DVD or Blu-ray player, said Corey Ferengul, executive vice president of product for Rovi, in an interview. For a dollar or two, the DVD is then registered with Rovi and other UltraViolet providers. Ferengul said that the software has the ability to detect a legitimate retail DVD/Blu-ray, a pirated version, or a copy rented from a store.

Why would a user want to pay extra for the rights to upload a movie into the cloud that he or she already owns? Convenience, studios say, such as when a user goes on a trip, as well as additional features that studios could offer.

John Calkins, executive vice president of global digital and commercial innovation for Sony Pictures, said last week that the studios have a number of options available to them to encourage users to register their existing DVDs into the cloud, such as discounted or even free registrations. The studios could also "upsell" a standard DVD registration into a high-definition copy stored online, he said. The ability to share the names of the movies a consumer has stored with friends on Facebook and other social-networking sites also provides incremental transaction opportunities, he added. ______

Netflix bows out of studios' UltraViolet group By Greg Sandoval CNET January 9, 2012

Netflix is out of the consortium that created UltraViolet (UV), the technology platform designed to make digital movies accessible to any device or service.

Sources said that recently the highest ranking exec representing Netflix within Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE), did not renew his membership. DECE is a group of more than 70 companies connected to the film industry. They include Hollywood studios, software and hardware makers, film distributors and retailers.

While Netflix may maintain some low-level DECE presence in the future, the company in large part cut ties awhile ago, the sources said. Netflix execs have rarely if ever participated in the group's planning meetings or conference calls since joining not long after DECE was formed three years ago, according to the sources.

A Netflix spokesman declined to comment

I've written this before but I'll say it again, what UV and its backers have to do at CES is show that major Web retailers are interested in taking part and that goes double now since the No. 1 movie-rental service in the land has opted out. Apple, the maker of the most successful mobile devices, has never been a DECE member.

You can hear more about UV tomorrow during a panel that includes members of DECE leaders. The panel is at the Venetian Hotel and Casino, and starts at at 3 p.m. PT

UV is a set of specs and standards designed to help consumers play their films on any gadget and buy and store them at any outlet or cloud-storage service. DECE members say this will help consumers avoid having their movies become locked into any single online store or device manufacturer.

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Depending on who you ask at the studios, UV is either a successor to the DVD, which has seen declining sales for years now, or is a value-add to film discs. To this latter group, UV is new functionality that will boost the value of say Blu-ray movies.

The proposition goes something like this: buy a DVD or Blu-ray disc and store a copy in your own online storage locker. No one argues about what UV's main purpose is: entice consumers to start buying movies again.

As we all know, Netflix isn't about sales.

Maybe the company's reluctance to participate was because UltraViolet doesn't appear to be interested in renting movies? Or maybe it's because the platform seeks to level the competitive playing field among movie distributors?

Why would a front-runner like Netflix want to do that?

Netflix's wild ride over the past decade to becoming the dominant film-rental service is in large part due to its consumer-friendly business model. The company enables users to watch as many movies online as they want for $8 a month. If they want to rent discs, they must pay an additional $8.

If they want to own a title, they must go elsewhere.

Though execs at some of the big studios have tried to convince Netflix CEO Reed Hastings to sell movies, he has largely declined.

But according to All Things Digital, Netflix will agree to wait 56 days before renting the studio's newly released DVDs. That expands the so-called sales-only window from 28 days. The move is designed to help prop up movie sales. ______

Flixster Lets You View Your Movie Collection On Select Panasonic Devices By Sarah Kessler Mashable January 9, 2012

Panasonic announced an app for its connected devices on Monday that could make your movie collection accessible on your friends’ televisions.

The app, Warner Bros.-owned Flixster, will be available on the device maker’s 2012 VIERA Connect line, including Blu-ray players and HDTVs.

Flixster helps organize movie and TV collections. The app also provides access to a cloud-based delivery system called UltraViolet that gives consumers access to UltraViolet-enabled content they have purchased — either through digital download or physical DVD — on any device.

The integration with Panasonic connected devices will allow users to play UltraViolet-enabled content, which has been developed by Warner Bros. and other major studios, through their TVs.

“One of the great benefits of UltraViolet is the ability to watch your content whenever and wherever you want,” said Steve Polsky, president of Flixster, in a statement. “If you’re at a friend’s house with a VIERA device, you can easily access your collection by simply logging into Flixster.”

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In other words, the integration brings the idea of a true device-agnostic, cloud-based video library one step closer to fruition. Would you buy a TV or Blu-Ray player if it gave you access to every movie you ever bought or streamed? Let us know in the comments.

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Tech You Need To See UltraViolet Blooms By George Winslow Broadcasting & Cable January 9, 2012

As broadcasters and operators push to provide more content to more devices, the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) is hoping to see significant advances in its UltraViolet initiative during 2012.

UltraViolet is an effort by DECE and its 75-plus members— which include Hollywood studios, consumer electronics manufacturers, multichannel operators, TV programmers and technology companies—to make it much easier for consumers to access content they have purchased on multiple devices.

Ultimately, the effort will allow consumers who have purchased a Blu-ray disc of a movie or TV program to access a digital copy via a cloud-based service on as many as 12 other devices.

DECE only began licensing the UltraViolet technology last July, and the number of titles available with UltraViolet rights to a digital copy is currently relatively limited.

However, that could change quickly in the coming months. “[2012] will really be the year when the number of titles would gather some significant depth and breadth,” says Mark Teitell, general manager and executive director of DECE.

For example, by the end of 2012 Warner Bros. is expected to offer UltraViolet rights on as much as 50% of its digital sell-through catalog.

The studios hope that making it easier for consumers to access digital copies of content on additional devices will boost their Blu-ray, DVD and electronic sell-through businesses.

The technology also opens up significant opportunities for multichannel operators and broadcast networks, Teitell notes.

“Having easy access to TV programming that people are passionate about on multiple devices will encourage the idea of building up collections,” he says. ______

CES: NBC To Deliver 2012 Olympics In 3D With Panasonic First Time Summer Games Will Be Available in Stereoscopic Format By Todd Spangler

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Multichannel News January 9, 2012

Las Vegas — Looking to light the 3DTV flame, NBC Sports Group and Panasonic are teaming up to make the London 2012 Olympic Games available in 3D to all U.S. distributors who carry Olympic coverage, which will be the first time 3DTV owners will be able to watch the games in the format.

The companies did not announce which pay-TV providers intend to carry the Olympic coverage in 3D, but presumably Comcast -- which owns NBCUniversal -- will be in the mix, along with DirecTV, which has aimed to be the leading provider of 3DTV in the U.S.

Cable, satellite and telco providers who receive the Olympics package may distribute the 3D broadcast via the Comcast Media Center.

"NBC has a history of utilizing technological innovations to distribute the Olympics in new ways for viewers," NBC Olympics president Gary Zenkel said in a statement. "We are proud to continue that tradition by partnering with Panasonic and Olympic Broadcasting Services to distribute the first 3D broadcast of the Games in the U.S. in partnership with our multichannel video programming distributors."

Panasonic is the exclusive Flat-Panel HDTV and Blu-ray Disc Player advertiser for NBC's coverage of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. Last year, Panasonic announced it would partner with the International Olympic Committee and Olympic Broadcasting Services to make the London 2012 Olympic Games the first ever 3D Olympic Games.

The more than 200 hours of 3D telecasts, to be produced by OBS and shown on next-day delay in the U.S., will span multiple competitions throughout the games, including the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, gymnastics, diving and swimming. OBS will produce the 3D coverage using Panasonic's 3D production technologies.

Comcast created the NBC Sports Group when the NBCUniversal transaction was completed in January 2011. The company consists of an array of broadcast television, cable television and digital sports assets, including NBC Sports & Olympics, Golf Channel, NBC Sports Network (formerly Versus), 11 regional sports networks and their respective websites.

Also Monday, Panasonic announced its 2012 line of Smart Viera Full HD 3D HDTVs and Full HD 3D Blu-ray Disc players. Of the 17 models in the CE maker's 2012 plasma lineup 16 feature the 3D technology, while five of the 14 LED/LCD HDTVs provide 3D capability. In addition, Panasonic unveiled two new larger screen sizes in the LED family, 47 and 55 inches.

Meanwhile, Time Warner Inc.'s Flixster announced its movie application will be available this year on Panasonic's line of Viera Connect devices including HDTVs and Blu-ray players, to let consumers watch UltraViolet movies and TV shows directly on the devices.

In addition, Panasonic said it will use Ooyala's online video-syndication platform to bring new content to Viera Connect devices, with The Country Network the first publisher to take advantage of the partnership.

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Rovi Bows ‘Cloud’ Access to DVD and Blu-ray Disc Movies By Erik Gruenwedel

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Home Media Magazine January 9, 2012

Rovi Corp. Jan. 9 at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas launched software that enables consumers to access their DVD and Blu-ray Disc movie collections in a cloud-based digital locker.

Dubbed Rovi Digital Copy Solution, the software enables compatible electronic devices — including Blu-ray Disc players — and PCs to recognize movies on packaged media, authenticate their origin and then trigger access via UltraViolet, the industry-wide effort to promote physical and digital sellthrough of content.

When placed in a compatible CE device, DVD and Blu-ray Disc movies are automatically identified by Rovi’s recognition software, which also performs a variety of heuristics to determine the disc’s authenticity. If authorized, consumers can then purchase access to a digital copy that can be placed in a digital storefront made available via UltraViolet. Once purchased, the title would then be available from the cloud for downloading or streaming via a range of connected devices.

According to Forrester Research, by 2016 the personal cloud services market will hit $12 billion and be used by 196 million consumers, yielding a new computing experience that is focused on seamless access to virtual libraries from across personal devices. This trend to access digital movie, music, book, photo, and other collections, coupled with the growing demand for Internet-connected living room devices, is expected to reach 540 million people worldwide by 2014, according to TDG.

“Rovi Digital Copy Solution can provide CE manufacturers, digital storefronts, and movie studios with an opportunity to acquire new customers, generate new revenue, and introduce more consumers to the flexibility and convenience of digitally delivered entertainment,” said Corey Ferengul, EVP of products with Rovi.

Rovi is a member of the industry group that founded UltraViolet. ______

Panasonic and Timberlake Promote Connected TV at CES By Stephanie Prange Home Media Magazine January 9, 2012

LAS VEGAS — Justin Timberlake showed up at Panasonic’s press conference here at the International Consumer Electronics Show to introduce Myspace TV, which promises to allow TV viewers to integrate social networking into TV broadcasts and movies.

“We’re giving you the opportunity to connect your friends to your moments as they are actually happening,” Timberlake said.

In concert with Panasonic’s connected TVs, Myspace TV offers the “addition of a social layer” to traditional TV viewing, added Myspace CEO Tim Vanderhook.

Panasonic also touted IPTV partnerships with Flixster (the service Warner has integrated with the cloud-based digital copy platform Ultraviolet), with Disney for interactive books on TV and with Miramax through its app.

Executives also introduced remotes designed to be more consumer friendly and demonstrated greater interaction between tablets and big-screen TVs.

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In addition to connected TVs, Panasonic executives continued to push 3DTV, saying 2012 would be a breakout year for 3D content.

Panasonic announced a partnership with NBC Sports Group on the U.S. 3D broadcast of the upcoming Olympics in London, trotting out two Olympic soccer stars, Alex Morgan and Heather O'Reilly. It will mark the first time that the Olympic Games will be distributed in the United States in 3D.

Panasonic will continue its DirecTV 3D partnership, and executives pointed out Martin Scorsese's enthusiasm for the format in directing the lauded film Hugo.

Hailing the growth of the format so far, executives said in 2012 93% of Panasonic's plasma TV models, 40% of its LCD TV models and four out of six of its Blu-ray players would be 3D capable. ______

Panasonic Will Add Flixster App To Web Connected TVs And Blu-ray Players By David Lieberman Deadline.com January 9, 2012

We’ll see whether the entertainment industry can gin up some big news at this week’s 2012 International CES for its UltraViolet streaming initiative — such as an alliance with a major retailer. But for now, this is what we’ve got: Panasonic will load its Viera Connect TV sets and Blu-ray players with connections to Warner Bros’ Flixster. The entertainment company wants its Web destination to become the chief gateway for consumers to stream movies after they buy discs that include UltraViolet access rights. Warner says that there’ve been 50M downloads of the Flixster app for Android, Blackberry and iPad devices. “Partnering with a Hollywood powerhouse like Warner Bros. Entertainment to integrate their highly popular Flixster movie application into our Viera Connect platform is another great step in our efforts to continuously drive the connected TV experience to a whole new level for consumers,” says Merwan Mereby, Panasonic’s Vice President of Interactive Content & Services.

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UltraViolet digital copy solution from Rovi Advanced Television January 9, 2012

As International CES prepares to get under way, Rovi has announced Rovi Digital Copy Solution, an offering that will enable consumers to access their physical DVD and Blu-ray Disc movie collections via the Cloud. Rovi Digital Copy Solution integrates into consumer electronics devices and PC applications, allowing them to recognise a movie on physical disc, authenticate its origin, and then trigger access to a copy from the UltraViolet Digital Library.

Digital copies can then be enjoyed by consumers from virtually anywhere on a range of enabled connected devices that may include HDTVs, Blu-ray Disc players, set-top boxes, game consoles, smartphones, tablets, and PCs.

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“Consumers want to watch movies anywhere, while still getting value from the investment they have made in physical media. The Rovi Digital Copy Solution combined with UltraViolet, unlocks new value for consumers and helps them rediscover some of their favourite entertainment that can be enjoyed on many different devices via the cloud,” said Corey Ferengul, executive vice president of products, Rovi. “Rovi Digital Copy Solution can provide CE manufacturers, digital storefronts, and movie studios with an opportunity to acquire new customers, generate new revenue, and introduce more consumers to the flexibility and convenience of digitally delivered entertainment.”

Rovi Digital Copy Solution incorporates Rovi Media Recognition and Media Authentication Services and can be incorporated as a component of Rovi Entertainment Store, the company’s end-to-end, white-label solution for digital storefront creation and management. Rovi Entertainment Store technologies and services can be used to facilitate the cloud storage of digital copies of DVD and Blu-ray Disc movies via the UltraViolet industry standard, and for facilitating cross-merchandising and promotion. To ensure a high-quality viewing experience, DivX Plus Streaming, another component of Rovi Entertainment Store, can be used to deliver digital copies purchased to a broad range of connected devices.

Rovi Digital Copy Solution is available for integration today and will be supporting new products and services expected to launch in the first half of 2012. ______

Akamai includes UltraViolet solutions Advanced Television January 9, 2012

In a further boost to digital content ownership models such as UltraViolet, cloud platform Akamai has introduced technology advancements for the rapidly evolving online entertainment industry in the areas of security and delivery, as well broader support for emerging business models.

Building on its Intelligent Platform, Akamai has introduced new solutions to enhance its next-generation broadcast solution – the Akamai HD Network – offering advanced monetisation capabilities, business model flexibility and simplified workflow to reach a growing device landscape.

“Cloud computing, ubiquitous connectivity, and the increasing consumption of IP video are driving content providers to move more content to the cloud and users to expect access to content on multiple devices,” said Bill Wheaton, Senior Vice President of Digital Media at Akamai. “Akamai is committed to reducing the complexities of the hyperconnected world by providing a platform that delivers the best user experience, securely, for any device type. By helping our customers solve the business challenges across security, multi-device delivery and analytics, we’re continuing to enable them to focus on their core business strategies.”

Akamai notes that the acceptance of cloud computing, as well as advances in connected device and mobile technology, has led to increased viewing of IP video, but recognises that it also opened the door for piracy and unauthorised consumption of content. As a result, the entertainment industry faces increasing complexities around entitlement, access, monetisation, quality and security.

To help companies navigate the changing landscape and meet consumer expectations, Akamai is announcing a range of initiatives, including standardising on HTTP as the primary delivery protocol, which includes HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) and Smooth HD Streaming for delivery across the Akamai HD Network.

In terms of Digital Asset Security, Akamai has developed Akamai SecureHD, a highly-scalable, cloud-based security solution that includes four protection capabilities: token authorisation, player verification, media encryption and content targeting.

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Akamai suggests that as it is positioned at the heart of the digital media ecosystem, it has the experience, scale and relationships to help bring new business models such as TV Everywhere and UltraViolet to market.

Akamai acts as an integration point between the players in the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE), the consortium of leading movie studios, technology providers, consumer device makers, entertainment retailers and video service providers powering UltraViolet.

To assist content providers and entertainment retailers in meeting consumers’ demands for accessing content on multiple devices, the Akamai for UltraViolet solution is now available to support library-style entitlement models through a simplified workflow, an intelligent cloud-based delivery platform, and broad security measures.

“B2B service providers like Akamai are utilising UltraViolet’s open-specs design ability to accelerate retailers’ and other service providers’ deployment, with premium-quality enablement and delivery on a rapid-deployment and cost-efficient basis,” said Mark Teitell, general manager of DECE. “Akamai is helping the deployment of UltraViolet move to the next phase as we continue to seek to provide consumers with access to their favourite movies and TV shows in ways never thought possible.”

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Akamai Rolls Out UltraViolet, Security, Delivery Upgrades for Streaming Video By Will Richmond Video Nuze January 9, 2012

Akamai has rolled out new capabilities as part of its "Intelligent Platform" for UltraViolet, security and delivery to reduce the complexities for content providers of streaming video in a multi-device world:

1. UltraViolet solution Akamai is positioning itself as an intelligent bridge in the UltraViolet ecosystem, between content providers, retailers and consumers. Akamai's UltraViolet solution provides a simplified workflow that allows entitlement across multiple devices and business models. Studios can upload files and have them encoded into appropriate formats and enabled with security. Entitlements are managed within the Akamai network, so that as consumers request the same titles for multiple devices and even from multiple sites, they are granted appropriate access.

Studios are in the early stages of deploying UltraViolet, but given the complexity involved, as well as the high stakes for replacing the DVD sell-through model, comprehensive solutions are going to be critical to UltraViolet's acceptance. Akamai said that it is already supporting multiple customers with existing UltraViolet implementations, with others forthcoming.

2. Secure HD introduction Akamai is introducing a new security framework, called SecureHD, a cloud-based solution which includes four components: token authorization, player verification, media encryption and content targeting. SecureHD can be used for either live or on-demand streaming, and also leverages each device's own particular security features. SecureHD was internally developed, but Akamai said down the road it will also support 3rd-party security solutions and will look to partner to augment its offering.

3. Support for Adobe's HTTP Dynamic Streaming (HDS) Akamai has recently made Adobe's HTTP Dynamic Streaming (HDS) available in its network, in addition to HTTP Live Streaming (HLS), used by Apple, and Microsoft's SmoothHD. All of these adaptive bitrate protocols are

22 becoming more important because as viewers access video across multiple devices and at multiple locations it's a given that the quality of their connection will vary, but still, the user experience cannot be impaired. HDS is available in addition to Adobe's traditional RTMP. ______

Akamai advances platform for e-entertainment industry Telecompaper January 9, 2012

Cloud-based services provider Akamai Technologies introduced technology advancements for the rapidly evolving online entertainment industry in the areas of security and delivery, as well broader support for emerging business models. Building on its Intelligent Platform, Akamai released new products to enhance its next- generation broadcast platform, the Akamai HD Network. The plethora of device types used to consume HD media has added complexity to content distribution and the ability to ensure high-performing viewer experiences on the go. Akamai has addressed this by standardising on HTTP as the primary delivery protocol, which includes HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) and Smooth HD Streaming for delivery across the Akamai HD Network. Akamai also recently made available Adobe HTTP Dynamic Streaming (HDS) across its platform. In addition, Akamai developed Akamai SecureHD, a highly-scalable, cloud-based security product that includes four protection capabilities, namely token authorisation, player verification, media encryption and content targeting. Akamai SecureHD is designed to protect consumers and businesses from the misuse of digital assets. As a licensee for UltraViolet, an ecosystem for delivering a new way to collect and enjoy home video entertainment, Akamai acts as an integration point between the players in the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE), the consortium of leading movie studios, technology providers, consumer device makers, entertainment retailers and video service providers powering UltraViolet. To assist content providers and entertainment retailers in meeting consumers' demands for accessing content on multiple devices, the Akamai for UltraViolet platform is now available to support library-style entitlement models through a simplified workflow, an intelligent cloud-based delivery platform, and broad security measures. ______

Amazon gets on board with Hollywood-created UltraViolet system for online movie 'lockers' By Peter Svensson Associated Press January 10, 2012

LAS VEGAS (AP) - An Amazon.com executive said Tuesday that the retailer has signed a deal with a Hollywood studio to sell movies that can be downloaded from an online "locker" system five studios have put together.

The extent of Amazon.com Inc.'s support of the UltraViolet online locker system is unclear. But the deal signals that Amazon is at least open to trying it. Studios are hopeful that UltraViolet is attractive enough to consumers that they keep buying movies rather than renting, which is less profitable for studios.

If Amazon fully joins the system, it would hugely boost UltraViolet's chance of becoming a mainstream technology.

"We're excited about additional possibilities," said Bill Carr, executive vice president of digital media at Amazon.

Carr didn't name the studio. He was speaking on a panel about UltraViolet at the International Consumer Electronics Show, which opened Tuesday in Las Vegas.

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UltraViolet launched late last year. The idea is to let consumers play purchased movies, whether downloads or as physical DVDs, on any device. A customer who buys an UltraViolet-enabled DVD can enter a code online to make the movie available as a download to an iPhone or PC.

So far, there are only 19 UltraViolet-enabled discs on sale, and many people who have tried to take advantage of the online feature were dismayed at how difficult it was. For instance, playing a movie on an iPad requires the creation of two new online accounts.

Mitch Singer, president of the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem, the consortium of movie and consumer electronics companies that created UltraViolet, acknowledged the problems but said most have been fixed.

"We built this great house and we had a great foundation ... and in our excitement to move in, we kind of moved in and there was some carpentry left to be done," he said on the panel.

UltraViolet is set for mass adoption next holiday season, he said. Representatives of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Warner Home Video on the panel agreed. Among the major studios, only The Walt Disney Co. has not joined the consortium.

Analyst Jan Dawson of Ovum said the biggest challenge to UltraViolet comes from the top competitors in online retail for entertainment: Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. Each of them maintains its own online "lockers" for purchases. If Amazon really commits to UltraViolet, that would be a "total game changer," Dawson said.

Hollywood wants badly for UltraViolet to succeed, and hopes it will lift sales of digital copies of movies, which in the U.S. rose 9 percent to just $554 million last year, a fraction of the $18 billion spent on home videos overall.

By allowing consumers to store and manage digital collections online with playback on multiple devices, studios are trying to ease concerns surrounding the limitations of digital movie ownership.

In further moves to demonstrate the growth of the system, UltraViolet's backers also announced several partnerships with consumer electronics companies that will enable playback on other devices.

Warner Bros.'s online movie service, Flixster, will be installed this year on certain Panasonic flat-panel TVs and Blu-ray players that connect to the Internet. Flixster gives consumers access to all of the movies they have stored in their UltraViolet lockers, even if they come from another participating studio.

Samsung also said that it plans this year to sell Blu-ray players that can recognize discs from a consumer's existing library and add them to their UltraViolet accounts for a nominal fee, using software developed by Flixster and Rovi Corp.

A Flixster spokesman said the cost of converting discs and which titles would be available from which studios would be announced in the coming months. ______

MediaFile Familiar script: Home entertainment spending slips By Lisa Richwine Reuters January 10, 2012

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Spending on home viewing of movies and television, on a downward spiral in recent years, fell again in 2011 as sales of DVDs and rentals at video stores dropped.

Total U.S. consumer dollars spent on home entertainment — including DVDs, video on demand and online streaming — declined 2.1 percent to $18 billion for the year, according to industry group DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group. Consumers continued to shift to lower-priced rentals from companies such as Netflix and Coinstar’s Redbox kiosks, eschewing outright ownership.

The DEG pointed to bright spots, including a 20 percent jump in sales of high-definition Blu-ray discs that topped $2 billion for the first time. “The industry’s performance clearly stabilized in 2011,” it said in a statement. (The top choices for the year? “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1,” followed by “Part 2″ at No. 2)

Meanwhile, Hollywood is trying to reinvigorate interest in movie ownership with a cloud-based digital locker called Ultraviolet that allows viewing anytime from Internet-connected devices. The consortium that runs Ultraviolet, in an announcement at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, said movie studios will offer hundreds of titles with the Ultraviolet option this year, up from a paltry, initial 19.

More than 750,000 households have registered with UltraViolet to create digital libraries since last fall’s launch, Mark Teitell, general manager of the Ultraviolet consortium, said in an interview. ______

Hollywood pins its hopes on UltraViolet By Matthew Garrahan Financial Times January 10, 2012

Hollywood is banking on a new cloud-based digital rights system reversing the decline in home entertainment sales, with hundreds of new titles to made available in the new format this year.

Ultra Violet is a cloud-based digital locker system that has been developed by Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem, a consortium of film studios, device makers, retailers and electronics companies.

Only a handful of Ultra Violet titles have been released so far but the participating studios – Paramount Pictures on Tuesday joined Warner Brothers, Universal Pictures and Fox Filmed Entertainment in the DECE consortium – plan to step up their efforts this year, releasing hundreds of films.

The BBC recently joined the DECE and intends eventually to release its own content using the Ultra Violet format. Tesco, the UK retailer, and Deutsche Telekom have also joined the consortium.

Ultra Violet gives consumers the right to watch a particular movie that they have bought on any device of their choosing. Early consumer reviews have been poor but Mark Teitel, executive director of DECE, expressed confidence that consumers would adopt the new service as glitches were ironed out.

“This service is only 89 days old,” he told the Financial Times. “We’ve estimated that more than 1m people are already using Ultra Violet.

“We think this is going to be the year when we reach mass consumer adoption ... by the end of the year, we anticipate exponential growth from where we are now.”

DECE used a Consumer Electronics Show event to reveal that Samsung and Panasonic are releasing UItra Violet-enabled Blu-ray players that give viewers access to their cloud-based digital rights lockers. The Samsung

25 player will also allow viewers to convert their existing DVD and Blu-ray collections into digital movies that can then be streamed or download to any device, such as Android phones or Apple iPads and iPhones.

Although several retailers – including Amazon – are part of DECE, none of them has yet started selling Ultra Violet-enabled movies online: only Warner Brothers’ Fixster site sells Ultra Violet content.

Two companies are notable for their absence in the DECE consortium: Walt Disney and Apple. Apple has developed iCloud, its own cloud-based content service that only works on Apple devices and is unlikely to join the consortium. ______

Company Town Studios tout UltraViolet as home entertainment revenue falls 2% By Ben Fritz and Dawn C. Chmielewski Los Angeles Times January 10, 2012

Hollywood's seven year decline in total home entertainment revenue continued in 2011, but slowed to a modest 2% drop thanks to booming business from kiosks, Blu-ray discs and the Web.

However, movie sales, as opposed to rentals, dropped 12%. That's a problem for film studios, as DVD sales have represented their biggest source of profit over the last decade.

To address the issue, all of Hollywood's major studios except Disney have been working with a coalition of technology companies and retailers on a new initiative called UltraViolet. To spur ownership of movies online, the technology allows consumers to store copies in a digital "cloud" that can be accessed on a variety of devices.

UltraViolet had a troubled launch in October, with technology that some consumers found cumbersome because of the numerous registration steps and new pieces of software that had to be installed. Reactions on message boards, technology blogs and Twitter were overwhelmingly negative.

At a news conference Tuesday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, backers said that 750,000 households have registered to use UltraViolet, but admitted there were some early stumbles.

“The best way to describe the launch is we built this great house, it had an incredible foundation, and in our excitement to move in there was some finished carpentry that still needed to be done,” said Sony Pictures Chief Technology Officer Mitch Singer.

Also announced were some new developments that could help UltraViolet pick up steam. Panasonic and Samsung are both launching Blu-ray players that can read a compatible disc and automatically add the film to a user's digital locker online.

The Samsung device will even let consumers add certain movies they bought on DVD or Blu-ray before UltraViolet existed to their online collection for what a news release described as a "nominal amount" of money. In addition, Amazon.com announced that it will soon start selling digital downloads of movies from one studio in the UltraViolet format. That's a significant step because previously UltraViolet copies have come as codes with Blu-ray discs and DVDs and could only be accessed online with software from Warner Bros.-owned Flixster.

Amazon Executive Vice President of Digital Content Bill Carr said the partnership with a studio that he declined to identify was signed in the last few days.

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According to data released late Monday by the Digital Entertainment Group, total home entertainment revenue in 2011 was $18 billion, down from $18.4 billion the previous year and a high of $21.8 billion in 2004.

Among the businesses that grew significantly were Blu-ray discs at 20% to more than $2 billion, rentals from kiosks such as Redbox to $1.7 billion, and digital downloads and video-on-demand rentals, which grew a combined 7% to $2.4 billion.

Online subscription streaming, a business dominated by Netflix, hit $993 million in 2011, the first year that the Digital Entertainment Group broke out the business into its own category.

However, all of that growth was not enough to make up for the loss of $1.3 billion in spending on movie purchases, as well as a 29% drop in spending at retail stores such as Blockbuster, which shuttered hundreds of store locations last year as it emerged from bankruptcy reorganization. ______

CES 2012: Blu-ray Discs Break $2 Billion Barrier for First Time in 2011 By John Gaudiosi Forbes January 10, 2012

LAS VEGAS – The Digital Entertainment Group (DEG) used Hollywood’s home entertainment recovery continued in 2011 as consumers bolstered their home viewing experience with HDTVs, Blu-ray Disc players and discs, as well as the expanding offerings through electronic sell-through (EST) and video on demand (VOD) services. Sales of Blu-ray movies rose 20 percent over 2010.

Total consumer spending on home filmed entertainment for the second half of the year rose nearly one percent, fueled by a strong third quarter in which spending was up five percent, which marked the first quarterly increase since 2008. While overall spending for the category was slightly down two percent for the year, the industry’s performance clearly stabilized in 2011.

The recovery continues to be driven by high margin products that are gaining a foothold among consumers, a further indication that the home entertainment market is rebounding and in a healthy state. Among the various services and platforms delivering filmed entertainment, these higher margin businesses — Blu-ray Disc, EST and VOD — showed the strongest growth rates. Some highlights for the year:

Blu-ray Disc and EST continued to perform remarkably well with consumer spending on Blu-ray sell-through up 20 percent and EST up nine percent for the year. Additionally, consumer spending on VOD was up seven percent.

Blu-ray Disc has evolved to become the standard for home entertainment. Impressively, both new release and catalog sales saw double digit growth of 20 percent in 2011.

Increasing the value of ownership for movie lovers, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Warner Home Video launched their first Blu-ray Disc titles with UltraViolet in 2011. The DEG estimates that more than 100 UltraViolet titles will be available in 2012. Paramount Home Entertainment also has plans to launch titles in 2012.

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The number of Blu-ray homes continues to grow rapidly as Blu-ray players offer consumers increased versatility and affordability. Total Blu-ray penetration in 2011 jumped 38 percent (including BD set-tops, PS3s and HTiBs) with total household penetration of all Blu-ray compatible devices now at nearly 40 million U.S. homes.

Further, consumers enhanced their home viewing experience by purchasing more than 27 million HDTVs during 2011. HDTV penetration is now at more than 74.5 million U.S. households.

Consumers continue to show a keen interest in 3D TV, with a dramatic year-over-year increase in titles and unit sales of 3D Blu-ray Discs. Available 3D Blu-ray Disc titles more than tripled in 2011 compared to 2010, growing from 20 to 65, while unit sales increased more than six times in the same period. Some of the major movies now on 3D Blu-ray disc include Avatar, The Lion King, Cars 2, and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

The bestselling Blu-ray Disc titles of the year hit major milestones with five titles selling in excess of two million discs. The overall Top 10 bestselling home entertainment titles this year, according to Nielsen VideoScan First Alert are:

1. Harry Potter – Deathly Hallows, Part 1

2. Harry Potter – Deathly Hallows, Part 2

3. Tangled

4. Cars 2

5. Transformers – Dark of Moon

6. Bridesmaids

7. Rio

8. The Help

9. Lion King

10. Hangover Part 2 ______

UltraViolet preps for mass appeal DECE to launch multimillion dollar marketing campaign By David S. Cohen, Marc Graser Variety January 10, 2012

The UltraViolet platform has attracted 750,000 households to create accounts since the digital rights locker opened its doors in October.

That's far from the tens of millions Hollywood is waiting for to call UltraViolet a mass-market product -- and add more movies than the initial 19 titles currently available.

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But the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE), the large consortium of more than 75 content owners, retailers and tech firms, will launch a major multimillion dollar marketing campaign to lure more users this year, with the ad effort set to bow in the fourth quarter.

Mark Teitell, the DECE's general manager and executive director, said from a Tuesday press event at CES, that new marketing materials would look to create a consistent message to drive mass adoption among consumers under the slogan, "Your movies in the cloud."

Key to growing UltraViolet is getting more consumers used to what UltraViolet does, studio chiefs said. And adding more content, of course.

This year, Sony Pictures, Universal and Warner Bros. will make most of their theatrical releases, as well as studio catalogs and TV titles available with UltraViolet rights, with hundreds of millions of UltraViolet-enabled DVD's and Blu-rays to hit U.S. shelves in 2012. Paramount also recently announced that the Jan. 24 release of "Paranormal Activity 3" will be UltraViolet-enabled, its first such title.

Fox views UltraViolet as "a component to the digital ecosystem we're trying to construct and not the digital ecosystem, itself," according to Mike Dunn, president of Fox Home Entertainment. "Our job is to build this digital ecosystem to deliver an exciting and simple customer experience that we hope will lead to mass consumer adoption. It's not going to lead to mass consumer adoption if our infrastructure is not successful."

Dunn added that the purpose of UV is to restore the consumer purchase model to the level at the height of DVDs' popularity.

But studios say that will take some time, with UV not expected to come out of its current beta mode until the fourth quarter. Many of DECE's members have stressed that they didn't want to wait to launch UV until it was completely perfect; they wanted to fix the system's bugs as consumers learn how UV will benefit them and enable them to seamlessly transfer their films to 12 different devices, similar to how they can currently move songs or e-books around.

The magic number to reach that mass market is 25 million, many say.

"When you're talking 25 million members or people involved with UV, that starts to become mainstream," Dunn said. "Blu-ray has tipped into the mass market now and it did that when it crossed the 25 million household mark," especially with more people buying older catalog titles and family films.

"I think we're on the verge of another monumental event, because very rarely do you have the living room escalating into high-def TVs, thin TVs, and portable devices proliferating at a rate that's never been seen before," Dunn added. "It really allows the consumer very simple operation to move rights around. Rights extension is what made DVD what it was, and this is rights extension on steroids."

Also expected to help grow UltraViolet's usage is a new deal between Amazon and a major studio to support UltraViolet rights.

The e-tailing giant, however, is keeping quiet on just which studio that is.

"We have to keep that a secret," said Bill Carr, executive VP, digital media for Amazon.

Samsung also unveiled a new smart Blu-ray player with a "disc-to-digital" feature that adds titles from consumers' existing DVD and Blu-ray collections to their UltraViolet locker. When a disk is inserted in the player, the consumer gets the option to add it to UltraViolet, and if it's a DVD, they can upgrade to HD for "a nominal fee." The app was developed by Flixster and Rovi.

Netflix won't be part of UltraViolet's growth, however.

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The company was not on stage during the DECE's press conference -- mainly because it's no longer a DECE member.

UltraViolet is aimed at ownership, not rental, DECE members said, and Netflix is not interested in getting into sell- through to buyers anytime soon.

Only a few minutes was spent on Disney's decision to hold out from being an official DECE member.

"I don't think there's any company we haven't talked to about UltraViolet," said Mitch Singer, chief technology officer for Sony Pictures Entertainment. "It would be terrific to have them join. I'm not holding my breath but we're certainly talking." ______

Blu-ray up 20 percent in 2011: Homevid format tops $2 billion for first time since '06 launch Variety January 10, 2012

Blu-ray boosted Hollywood's homevideo biz in 2011, growing 20% to top $2 billion in sales for the first time since its launch in 2006.

There are now 40 million devices that can play Blu-ray discs in homes, up 38% compared to 2010, according to the Digital Entertainment Group, whose annual sales figures were released Tuesday from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Overall spending for the home entertainment category was slightly down 2% for the year, generating $18 billion, but the industry's sales performance clearly stabilized in 2011, the DEG said.

Total consumer spending on home filmed entertainment for the second half of the year rose nearly 1% to $9.7 billion, driven by a strong third quarter that was up 5%, the first quarterly increase since 2008.

The sale of discs fell 13% to generate nearly $9 billion, primarily because of slower DVD sales. On the rental side, traditional retail outlets took the biggest hit last year, dropping 29% to earn $1.6 billion. Kiosks, operated by Redbox and other vendors, showed the most growth in the category, up 31% to collect $1.7 billion in fees. The DVD-by-mail biz still saw 4% growth last year, earning $2.4 billion.

Any sign of growth -- especially when it comes to disc sales -- is good news for studios as they look to keep their homevideo businesses healthy through any means necessary. More recently, that's included creating longer windows between when new titles are available to rent through Netflix, Redbox and Blockbuster after they hit store shelves to purchase; and embracing digital locker services like UltraViolet to encourage sales.

The top selling Blu-rays of the year were Warner Bros.' "Harry Potter - Deathly Hallows, Part 1," "Harry Potter - Deathly Hallows, Part 2," Disney's "Tangled" and "Cars 2," Paramount's "Transformers - Dark of Moon," Universal's "Bridesmaids," Fox's "Rio," "DreamWorks' "The Help," Disney's "Lion King" and WB's "Hangover Part 2," according to Nielsen VideoScan First Alert. Five of the titles sold more than two million discs.

More than 100 UltraViolet titles will be available from the major studios this year that enable consumers to access the films from the cloud to play on electronic devices registered with the digital locker. The first titles became available last year through Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Warner Home Video. Lionsgate and Paramount Home Media Distribution launch their first titles this year.

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On the 3D front, sales of 3D Blu-ray discs have also started to find some traction, with available titles more than tripling in 2011, growing from 20 to 65, while unit sales increased more than six times in the same period.

Films available as 3D Blu-rays include Fox's "Avatar," Disney's "The Lion King," "Cars 2" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides."

Other findings by the DEG:

-- Electronic sell through (EST) was up 9% for the year to earn $554 million.

-- VOD rose another 7% to $1.86 billion.

-- Subscription-based streaming services like Netflix generated $993.6 million.

-- Both new release and catalog sales of Blu-ray titles saw double digit growth of 20% in 2011.

-- Total Blu-ray penetration in 2011 jumped 38% (including BD set-tops, PS3s and home theater units) with total household penetration of all Blu-ray compatible devices now at nearly 40 million U.S. homes.

-- There are now more than 74.5 million U.S. households with HDTVs; more than 27 million HDTVs were purchased in the U.S. in 2011. ______

Tech gear revs engines at CES Automakers revamps cars with new gadgets By Marc Graser Variety January 10, 2012

Ford’s Evos concept car connects to the cloud to deliver drivers entertainment. Talk to designers of a car company's entertainment system and they're quick to bring up two devices: smartphones and tablets.

Around 24% of car owners use an iPod or MP3 player to listen to music in their vehicles, although that increases to around half when asking 18- to 24-year-olds, according to Arbitron, Edison Research and Scarborough Research. Around 6% stream Pandora from a phone; up to 19% among the younger set. Of those questioned, 38% are interested in connecting phones to interact with apps on an infotainment system.

Not all infotainment designers are app-obsessed, however. Most caution that the point of driving should still be about focusing on watching the road and controlling the car.

With the ubiquitous adoption of the app-filled devices around the world, "entertainment is mobile," says Stuart Norris, senior design manager at General Motors' Cadillac division. "We're expecting so much from our cars now. You want connectivity wherever you live and you can't get more mobile than being in the car."

As a result, the car is yet another platform Steve Jobs and his team at Apple have influenced forever.

Nearly every automaker has revamped or is readying to roll out new infotainment systems that easily connect to cell phones, tablets, offer WiFi and a variety of apps through large touchscreens that look and operate like the graphically slick software on most mobile devices.

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The auto industry prefers the term infotainment because in addition to a variety of audio platforms, the systems are adding more information to traditional navigation systems (naturally, now in 3D!) like live traffic, weather, news, sports and stock updates, local gas prices and restaurant recommendations.

Providing that mix of info and entertainment are versions of familiar apps that fill up iPhones, iPads and Android devices.

Online music service Pandora, for example, has made itself at home in cars as it has on smart TVs, videogame consoles and mobile devices. Other app makers are also going along for the ride. BMW recently brokered a deal with Yelp to provide restaurant reviews and local eatery suggestions to drivers. Audi has Google Earth in its newer vehicles. And Toyota's Entune features Bing, iheartradio, MovieTickets.com, and OpenTable, along with Pandora. It's only a matter of time before Netflix also hits the road.

This week's Consumer Electronics Show introduces even more features, with a keynote by Daimler's Dieter Zetsche outlining Mercedes-Benz's moves to catch up to its competitors with new infotainment offerings that include gesture controls, 3D displays, handwriting recognition and software developed specifically for the iPhone that will incorporate such social networking tools as Facebook.

CES has become more car-friendly over the years, with Ford and Audi chiefs added to the confab's roster of official keynotes and the show hosting a pavilion for auto-related technology.

Ford will promote its futuristic Evos concept, a vehicle that connects to cloud-based services to deliver information and entertainment, but also track a driver's behaviors and predict preferences.

The Evos "shows the future of where we see connectivity going," says Jim Buczkowski, director of electronic research at Ford Motor Co.

Ford also will showcase updates of its popular MyFord Touch system, which enables apps from companies such as Pandora, Stitcher and OpenBeak to be accessed in its cars through SYNC and voice controls, and will soon double that to include iHeartRadio, Slacker Radio, TuneIn and NPR.

In making the deals, Ford and other automakers aren't necessarily doing the heavy lifting. They want drivers to be able to access the entertainment they're already carrying around on their phones and are providing that connection in the car -- any software updates are carried out when a driver updates the apps on their phone.

"We think that the phone is going to be very central to many people's lives today and many people's lives in the future," Buczkowski says. "The phone will be the access point to experiences."

Cadillac recently spent the past three years designing its new CUE system (or Cadillac User Experience) after iPhone sales had taken off and the iPad was still two years away. The result is a system that could easily be mistaken for one, with its large 8-inch touchscreen housed in a shiny piano black frame mounted on the centerstack.

"We were already inundated with our iPhones in 2008 and wanted to figure out ways to scale this kind of (touch) interface for automotive," says Norris, who knew CUE's success would be dependent upon seamless connections to smartphones to deliver entertainment.

CUE will debut in 2012 in the Cadillac XTS and ATS luxury sedans and SRX luxury crossover.

"We went through a period where we were offering 40 gigabyte hard drives that people ripped their music to in order to play it in their cars," Norris says. "People don't want 15 different places where they have to save their music."

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If an app is offered, it "should be related to driving," says Filip Brabec, general manager of product planning for Audi of America. He considers apps "a new area that still needs to be looked at deeper. There are early examples of where the industry is going but it's a matter of time before we see that in more cars."

"For us the key thing is the driving experience and that's one thing we're going to expand on," Brabec says. "We want to make sure it's entertainment that's meant for driving. There are only so many things you can carry out as a driver. That's only getting more complex with more traffic and people getting busier. People want to increasingly do things inside their car and we want to enable them in a safe environment that's keeping in mind all of the things that are distracting to drivers."

As a result, designers are adding more voice controls or text-to-speech translations to their infotainment systems "to make information available but in a way that makes drivers focused on what's important, to drive and keep your eyes on the road," Buczkowski says.

Because of that, automakers have primarily focused on new audio features due to safe driving concerns.

"We completely support a ban on handed operation of the phone," Buczkowski says. "You should be able to get in your car and through voice command get access to features without having to pull out your phone."

But new video options aren't too far behind. While flip-down screens in SUVs and minivans and seatback screens inside luxury cars have been playing DVDs, Cadillac has become the first carmaker to support Blu-ray.

"People are buying Blu-ray," Norris says. "It's about giving people access to what they've already got and making sure people who have a library of Blu-rays at home can play them wherever they go."

Others like Audi are looking to provide faster Internet connections that will enable video from such services as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and UltraViolet to be streamed directly to devices.

"Once people will be able to stream movies in their back seat, that will completely change the landscape of in-car entertainment," especially when it comes to entertaining kids, Brabec says. While Audi, of course, doesn't encourage drivers to view video in the front seat, "there's no way to limit it in the car," he says.

In fact, future innovation of infotainment systems will rely heavily on the Internet down the road, with Ford and Mercedes' concept cars turning to cloud-based storage to deliver entertainment similar to what Apple and Amazon now offer and studios are promoting through UltraViolet's digital lockers, to access movies, games, books and music.

Audi is considering other options, like connecting its cars wirelessly to parking meters and garages to make payments at the press of a button.

"Again it's relevant to the driving task," Brabec says. "We've had these kinds of thoughts for a long time, but one thing that prevented us from doing it was the wireless networks. They weren't in place with the speeds where we wanted to accomplish things faster."Audi needed faster Internet speeds, of which it turns to T-Mobile, and faster chips from NVIDIA to be able to add Google Earth maps onto its cars' navigation system in 2011, given the bandwidth requirements of the software.

The automaker doesn't want to get to the point where it will have full Google search functions inside its cars, instead, limiting search to specific terms while driving, leaving full Internet accessibility to cell phones and tablets that connect to its WiFi service.

"There are some things that don't make sense in the car," such as traditional Google searches, Brabec says. "You're far better doing that on your tablet or smartphone. It's not suitable for driving."

Cadillac also hopes Internet speeds will help it beef up CUE in the future.

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"We've already passed the point of relying on people's smartphones to provide entertainment," Norris says. "Now we're focused on how to get 3G and 4G into our vehicles."

All of this innovation is paying off for automakers, factoring into consumers' buying decisions when choosing which vehicle to purchase, key for brands in a competitive market. According to the Consumer Electronics Assn., in-car entertainment systems generated $5.9 billion in 2011, up from $5.5 billion in 2010.

For Ford, half of SYNC owners say the system played a critical role in their purchase, with a survey of 2011 Ford Edge owners showing that four of the top seven purchase reasons were elements of the MyFord Touch system: the touchscreen, steering wheel controls, voice recognition and dashboard styling. One-third of Ford customers said their impressions of Ford improved after experiencing a SYNC demo.

There are now more than 3 million Ford vehicles on the road running the original SYNC software, which launched for the late 2007 models, and was updated with MyFord Touch in 2010. Similar options are available in Ford's Lincoln luxury brand.

"It's been very important for us," Buczkowski says. "When SYNC first launched it democratized telematics and was a low cost option to leverage their phone. We have found it's a differentiating experience."

WiFi is followed by Google Earth among the top options Audi's buyers consider, the company claims, given that over a third of its customers own a tablet, more than the average of luxury car buyers.

One key selling point, however, is making sure that these systems work.

Although praised for SYNC and MyFord Touch, Ford hit some bumps in the road for cumbersome controls, which led it to update the system this year with faster software that features simpler graphics that are easier to use.

Naturally, these new entertainment options threaten Sirius XM's satellite radio's subscription-based service, and the aging CD and advertising-dependent AM and FM radio channels.

But there's still time.

"Once network speeds continue to increase, more people will gravitate toward their mobile devices," Brabec says. "But we don't expect that until more 4G speeds come along," which won't become "ubiquitous" until after 2014. ______

DECE: UltraViolet Registration Surges In First Three Months By Carolyn Giardina The Hollywood Reporter January 10, 2012

LAS VEGAS--More than 750,000 households in the US have registered for UltraViolet accounts in the three months since the service launched, according to the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem consortium, which is leading the effort.

UltraViolet is essentially a “purchase once, watch anywhere” model for digital content through which consumers can maintain a personal, virtual digital content library. DECE member studios suggest that this could improve the value prop for digital content ownership.

DECE offered an update on the UltraViolet rollout Tuesday at the Consumer Electronics Show.

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Nineteen UltraViolet movies have already been released—a combination of Sony, Universal and Warner Bros. titles. Collectively from these studios “hundreds” more are expected to become available in 2012, according to Mark Teitell, DECE’s general manager and executive director.

Release plans include new release titles, such as Moneyball, J. Edgar, Happy Feet 2, Tower Heist and Hop, along with theatrical catalog and TV titles, including The Town, The Smurfs and One Tree Hill Season 9, Chuck Season 5 and The Big Bang Theory, Seasons 1 and 2.

Paramount’s first UltraViolet title, Paranormal Activity 3, is slated for Jan. 24 availability.

UltraViolet launched in the UK on December 26 with availability of Final Destination 5. UltraViolet-enabled titles planned for the UK in 2012 includes, Crazy Stupid Love, Midnight in Paris and Dolphin Tale. In 2012, further international expansion is planned into countries including Canada.

Amazon has signed an agreement with an undisclosed studio through which then will offer UV rights to consumers.

At CES, Samsung and Panasonic were among the technology manufacturers that announced support for UltraViolet in select devices.

The DECE consortium includes roughly 75 member companies. As first reported by CNET, Netflix didn’t renew its DECE membership this year.

Two leading companies that have remained absent from the DECE consortium have been Apple and Disney.

Asked if there were any changes, Tietell said, “I’m optimistic that Disney is going to work with Ultraviolet.”

He added, “you can download and stream (Ultraviolet content) to Apple mobile devices (with a supported app).” ______

BEST IN SHOW; International CES expands beyond electronics By Jonathan Takiff The Philadelphia Daily News January 10, 2012

OPENING TODAY in Las Vegas, the 2012 edition of the International CES is awash in Internet-connected and higher-definition video screens, razor-thin Ultrabook laptops and iPad wannabees - some at dirt-cheap prices. The enormous consumer electronics (and beyond) trade show also is flaunting dramatic growth in categories ranging from health and fitness to voice- and motion- controlled everything.

But for this seasoned showgoer, the most compelling CES story is how veteran companies are striving to make their products relevant. Old-school offerings are new again, tweaked to deliver the same instant gratification as Internet-connected mobile phones, computers and on-demand video and music boxes. … UltraCool

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The home-video divisions of Warner Bros. and Sony Pictures dipped toes into a high-tech stream at year's end with the first Blu-ray disc releases (including the "Harry Potter" finale and "Friends With Benefits") featuring UltraViolet content sharing. This year, the streaming tech could really get flowing.

Designed to keep movie buffs buying instead of renting their entertainment, UltraViolet titles come with a code that (once registered through a computer) allows as many as six friends and family members to stream the same flick, for free, to their computer, tablet or smartphone from studio-run servers in the cloud.

A legal form of peer-to-peer sharing, UV also allows for up to five copies to be downloaded for off-line viewing, much more generous than the terms with today's Digital Copy. And there's potential in this system to make movies you already own UltraViolet-streamable (at a modest per-title cost).

NBC/Universal, Fox, Paramount and Lionsgate (most big studios, except Disney) also are committed to the UV cause. But the anticipated announcement of a big retail partner or three that have their own streaming services (Amazon, Walmart and Best Buy are likely candidates) won't come until midyear, shared one studio exec at CES. That's also when a single standard for encoding UV streams will be finalized and "UltraViolet-ready" players will be good to go. … ______

Amazon casts flattering light on UltraViolet By Greg Sandoval CNET January 10, 2012

LAS VEGAS--Hollywood should offer Jeff Bezos the keys to the city.

The Amazon CEO and his troops rode to the aid of the five major film studios backing UltraViolet, the name of the effort to promote studios vision of digital lockers and create the next generation home-entertainment format.

In the fall, when the studios began releasing movies for UV, a participating Web retailer of any size or significance was conspicuously missing. But today, Bill Carr, Amazon's executive vice president of digital, said during a panel discussion at CES, that the merchant had signed a deal with one of the major film studios to support UV rights.

Carr and the home-entertainment chiefs from Sony, Fox, Universal and Warner Bros., who were also members of the panel, declined to identify which studio. (I was the panel moderator and even backstage they wouldn't give up the name.)

By itself, a single studio inking a deal with a single retailer is a baby step. Sure, the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE), the consortium behind UV, advanced the ball, but we'll have to wait to see if the agreement is a sign that UV has begun to spur broader adoption among retailers.

In addition to the Amazon announcement, Samsung provided UV with a larger hardware profile by announcing that the company's 2012 Smart Blu-ray disc players would be UV compatible. DECE also announced that it has signed up more than 750,000 households in the three months since officially launching.

Taken all together, it was a good CES showing for UV and its studio supporters. Still, UV's apparent trouble to attract support from distributors is puzzling. I've heard from my studio sources that the deals are complex and some retailers are still studying what impacts selling UV films might have on their businesses.

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UV is a set of standards and specifications that will enable film owners to play their movies on scores of different devices or store them in any digital-locker service. In a world where films play anywhere and on anything, devices and services become less important. Hardware manufacturers and service providers must compete on such things as price and selection. The content takes on more significance.

Is this giving some retailers pause?

One thing is for sure, UV didn't just pop out of box last fall. While the technology was rolled out three months ago, DECE was formed more than three years ago. Among its earliest members were retailers such as Wal-Mart and Netflix. Online film distributors have had a long time to ponder UV.

I wrote this week that Netflix--a subscription rental service and certainly not a great fit for a sales-focused service like UV--has opted out of DECE. In September, I wrote that Wal-Mart was close to signing. At the time, I was told Wal-Mart, parent company of the Web movie service Vudu, was "on the fence." Well, that's a long time to be up there.

For sure, UV has signed a big retailer and hardware company and deserves a pat on the back but the next test is how fast Amazon will build on its UV offering and how many other retailers sign up in coming weeks.

I'm betting that UV would become more attractive if DECE could bring Disney into the fold. Disney has its own locker service effort but Mitch Singer, a Sony exec and DECE president, said during the panel that his group has spoken in the past to Disney about joining and they would love to have Disney as a member.

Hey, Disney, in case you hadn't noticed, that's an olive branch. ______

Samsung helps UltraViolet boost hardware profile By Greg Sandoval CNET January 10, 2012

LAS VEGAS--Samsung said today it is making its Smart Blu-ray players compatible with the UltraViolet, the cloud-movie platform backed by the Hollywood studios.

The main UV feature will enable owners of the Blu-ray players to move their existing DVD and Blu-ray libraries into their own UV digital lockers.

The feature, which will be made available later this year, is being referred to as "disc to digital," which enables owners to slip in an eligible movie disc and the software will then attempt to scan and recognize the film. When it does, the technology will then offer owners a chance to buy a copy for a "nominal fee" that will be stored in their UV lockers.

These UV-stored movies can be accessed from any device that can connect to the Web. Disc to digital is kind of a nifty trick (with an assist from Rovi), even if some consumers are likely to be unwilling to repurchase their films.

UV's backers, a group of more than 70 companies connected to the film industry called the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE), are banking on consumers being attracted to the idea of having ubiquitous access to their movies. Unlike discs, the UV films can't be broken or lost.

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"Disc to Digital can work with any authorized retail service and will initially be available using a new Flixster application on Samsung's Smart Hub," DECE and Samsung said in a joint statement.

Once an owner of the Samsung Blu-ray player loads UV movies to the locker, he or she can access the movies through the Flixster Smart Hub application on Samsung's Smart Hub, in addition to a broad range of mobile and portable devices, including iPhones and Android devices. ______

Amazon, Samsung throw UltraViolet a lifeline By Ryan Lawler GigaOM January 10, 2012

Hollywood’s UltraViolet initiative might not have gotten off to a great start, with some critical reaction to its initial launch. But things are looking up, as more companies are joining in and adding new ways of accessing that content.

Not all news about UltraViolet is bad news. During a panel discussion Tuesday at the Consumer Electronics Show, UltraViolet GM Mark Teitell said that 750,000 household accounts have signed up for UltraViolet, which he believes translates into more than a million individual accounts. And the DECE expects to have hundreds of titles and hundreds and millions of UltraViolet-enabled discs out in the market.

Furthermore, Amazon and Samsung announced that they are adding some more weight behind the initiative. Amazon, for one, is joining the initiative and will soon enable digital purchases through its streaming video service. Bill Carr, Amazon’s vice president of Movies and Music, said that the company had signed a deal with one of the Hollywood studios for electronic sell-through (EST) rights that also include UltraViolet rights. That means consumers who buy that studio’s titles will be able to access those titles across multiple services and devices.

Samsung also announced new features to its Blu-ray disc players that will quickly enable consumers to add their existing DVDs to the service. With a disc-to-digital function in their Blu-ray players, consumers can with a few clicks add discs that they’ve already purchased to their UltraViolet digital rights locker.

There is a catch, of course: Consumers will have to pay a “nominal fee” to re-purchase the digital version of that title. But it does open up the possibility for consumers to have digital copies without having to pay full price for them.

The studios are hoping that getting new partners on board and providing more capabilities for adding titles to their digital libraries will give consumers more reason to own content, rather than renting it or accessing it through subscription services like Netflix. ______

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UltraViolet Backers Get Ready to Make More Noise in 2012 By Brent Lang TheWrap January 10, 2012

UltraViolet launched last fall with a murmur, not a roar, but its backers plan to make more noise about the format once hailed as a potential savior to the sagging home entertainment business this year.

Tuesday at CES, backers of the cloud-based platform announced a multi-million dollar awareness campaign and an Amazon partnership, while also disclosing the number of accounts that have been activated since its soft launch in the fourth quarter.

Roughly 750,000 UltraViolet accounts have been set up following a modest promotional push. Roughly 20 films have been released in the video anywhere format thus far, with more studios coming on board this year.

To build awareness, the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem, the consortium behind the format, said it will partner with the Digital Entertainment Group to create the awareness campaign.

In interviews with TheWrap, DECE members said they were enthusiastic about the response among consumers even without heavy marketing.

They believe that UltraViolet is poised to take a big leap in the mainstream, with more retailers, devices and studios ready to come on board in the coming months.

“We see 2012 as being the year when we move from the accomplishments made in 2011 into mass consumer adoption,” Mark Teitel, general manager and executive director of the DECE, told TheWrap. “Looking ahead, we’re going to have hundreds of titles coming on the market, so we fully expect to see exponential growth.”

Teitel said that the number of accounts does not directly correlate with the number of discs sold with UltraViolet. He said more accounts could be set up as disc owners get around to signing up for the cloud-based format in coming months.

The cloud based video-anywhere platform was unveiled just in time for the holidays, but aside from a few mentions in commercials for UltraViolet copies of Blu-rays for such Warner Bros. titles as “Horrible Bosses” and “Green Lantern,” it was in essence a soft launch.

Sony and Universal also debuted a handful of titles in the format, but nearly three months after opening, UltraViolet is still not a household word.

DECE is also excited that Amazon has signed an agreement with a major studio that includes granting UltraViolet rights, giving the consortium, which does not include Apple, an important digital partner. Helping to further compensate for Apple's absence, Samsung is rolling out new features on its Blu-ray players that streamline the process for customers looking to add their discs to the cloud.

Moreover, UltraViolet has taken its first steps toward being global in nature, launching with copies of “Final Destination 5” in the United Kingdom.DECE plans to begin UltraViolet roll-out in Canada in the coming months and other territories in 2012 and 2013.

And an important new studio partner has joined the fray. Paramount has quietly announced that it will launch its first UltraViolet titles, beginning with “Paranormal Activity 3” on Nov. 24, and Fox and Lionsgate are expected to roll out films in the near future.

Though the excitement for UltraViolet is measured, the movie business is likely heartened by the most recent Digital Entertainment Group study that show the smallest slide in home entertainment revenue since 2008.

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Though the sector constricted by 2 percent to an estimated $18.04 billion in 2011, there was a 20 percent jump in Blu-ray spending and a 51 percent jump in digital spending. Those two trend lines augur well for UltraViolet and its mission to encourage consumers to keep buying movies for their home libraries -- whether they exist in the digital cloud or in wooden shelf form.

So why not launch with a bigger bang?

Studio executives say that the slow-burning rollout is analogous to Blu-ray, which was launched in 2006 with modest fanfare against the competing HD DVD format. Since then it has grown steadily, if not stratospherically.

“We consciously followed a path to build up an organic and gradual adoption,” Teitel said. “We think that as positive word of mouth starts and more studios and more content and more devices come out, we’ll start to grow faster. Those things are going to happen as we build more awareness about what UltraViolet does.” ______

UltraViolet Digital Movie Locker Expands with Amazon, Samsung By Mark Hachman PC Magazine January 10, 2012

The collection of Hollywood studios and companies backing the UltraViolet digital locker concept said they planned to expand the technology further to new providers, including Amazon and Samsung.

Amazon said that it would support UltraViolet rights with a single, unnnamed studio, and Samsung said it would add authentication technology with its connected Blu-ray players, which it called "disc to digital". Executives also said that they had streamlined the sign-on process to limit the number of accounts, pushing things like parental controls to various devices.

The Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) also said that it planned to expand to new territories. Just 19 movies are UV-enabled; that will grow in 2012.

While 2009, 2010, and 2011 established a multitude of connected devices as delivery vehicles for Netflix, Hulu, and related video streaming services, 2012 might be the year that UltraViolet capabilities become the next connected service offering, DECE hopes.

Last year, the DECE and a collection of Hollywood studios announced UltraViolet, a service that allows purchased movies to be stored and viewed from the cloud. The technology launched with Horrible Bosses and Green Lantern, bundling a digital copy of the film with the Blu-ray version.

How does UltraViolet work? The Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE), the name of the consortium that developed UltraViolet, doesn't lock UltraViolet to the individual purchaser of a movie. Instead, users sign up for a Household Account, in which six members of your family can access UltraViolet content, whether they're physically in your home, on the road, or living as a student in another city. In total, UltraViolet content can also be registered to a PC as well as 11 other "devices"—namely, game consoles, PCs, smartphones, tablets, plus media player software or other apps.

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Earlier this week, Rovi and others announced Digital Copy, (the "disc to digital" technology that Samsung announced) a version of UltraViolet that allows consumers to register, or authenticate, their own DVDs with the digital locker that UltraViolet provides.

Bill Carr, executive vice president of digital for Amazon, said that the concept of a digital locker was consistent with its cloud storage mantra. Customers like knowing that whereever content is stored, its their content, he said.

Mitch Singer, the Sony Pictures CTO who works with DECE, compared the structure of UltraViolet to a structurally sound house that lacked some of the polish of a finished product. UV was criticized in its early days for problems downloading on Android devices and Google TV. Since then, executives said those problems have been solved.

"The issues are not technology issues, but user interface issues," said Lisa Hook, the chief executive at Neustar, one of the technology providers behind UV.

Research has also shown that consumers are also 47 percent more likely to buy, rather than rent a UV disc - part of the concept of "digital collections" that Hollywood is beginning to encourage. UltraViolet can support rentals, but that's not the focus of the UltraViolet services, executives said.

What's next?

People will see the UV logo on physical media, so they'll know they can stream that content, Teitell said. Online, registering a cookie with a site will allow them to automatically log in to UltraViolet sites.

UltraViolet already reaches hundreds and millions of devices: PCs, Macs, iPads, iPhones, and Android devices, Teitell said, and in the future it will reach even more with native UltraViolet consumer devices. Over 750,000 households have registered for UV accounts.

Three studios support UV, and a fourth studio announced support: Warner Bros., Sony, Universal, and Paramount. UV has been launched in the UK as well. Samsung and Panasonic have also begun talking about bringing UV to TV screens.

Interestingly, Singer also floated the idea of e-books and music being sold under the UV brand.

For 2012, the UltraViolet consortium expects broad consumer marketing of the technology, Teitell said. In addition, DECE plans a common file format for downloaded movies. With a common file format, downloaded movies can be moved or copied between different UV devices.

Other territories will be announced, including Canada, Teitell added.

"We feel that 2012 will be the year that UltraViolet will become .. a household name, " Teitell said. DECE is planning for "exponential growth" among consumers, he said.

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Speech Recognition Coming to Panasonic TVs By Mark Hachman PC Magazine January 10, 2012

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Move over, Microsoft Kinect. Panasonic said Tuesday that it will begin building in speech recognition into future televisions and other consumer electronics devices.

In addition, the CE giant also said that it would begin putting the Flixster application on Panasonic's Viera Connect devices including HDTVs and Blu-ray players, allowing users to tap into their UltraViolet content.

Panasonic said that it had licensed a large-vocabulary speech library from Novauris, which co-developed the NovaLite speech recognition software product for use with Panasonic, and to license to other TV and CE makers who wish to build in speech recognition. NovaLite will be available this quarter, Novauris said.

Novauris didn't say when the speech recognition would be included on Panasonic TVs and other CE devices. A Novauris representative also said in an email that Nouvauris would be working with another "very large Asian CE and mobile device manufacturer," but not who or when. CES 2012

Languages supported include American and British English, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, French and Canadian French, Italian, Castilian, Mexican Spanish and German. The NovaLite software can run on Android, iOS and Linux.

To date, of course, speech recognition has been prominently featured on two popular products: Microsoft's Kinect add-on for its Xbox console, as well as Siri, which powers the Apple iPhone S. A video demonstration of the Novauris technology running on a smartphone showed it able to look up contacts, dial numbers, and find addresses, although manual confirmation was needed in some cases.

While Siri was developed by DARPA, via SRI International's Artificial Intelligence Center, Novauris' pedigree isn't bad, either: the company was founded by James Baker, who founded speech recognition company Dragon Systems.

Panasonic also strck a partnership with Ooyala, which pushes content to connected devices. The Country Network (TCN) announced a parnership with Panasonic that will push country music content to devices equipped with the Viera Connect technology. ______

Panasonic Goes For 3D Olympic Gold By Greg Tarr TWICE January 10, 2012

Las Vegas - Panasonic celebrated its plans for 3D and smart-TV technology in 2012 by having a couple of entertainment and sports stars brighten up its International CES eve press conference here Monday.

Actor Justin Timberlake was introduced to help announce a deal that will bring a new MySpace application for chatting while watching popular TV programs on newly advanced 2012 Smart Viera TVs.

Then the company introduced U.S. Olympic Women's Soccer Team gold medalist turned color commenter Brandi Chastain and members of the 2012 U.S. Women's Soccer team to help announce that Panasonic will sponsor NBC Universal's 3D telecasts of the 2012 Olympics from London this summer.

The 3D games will be available to U.S. distributors who carry Olympic coverage, marking the first time coverage of the games will be presented in 3DTV.

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No multichannel service providers were announced as carrying the 3D telecasts as yet.

Panasonic is the exclusive flat-panel HDTV and Blu-ray Disc player advertiser for NBC's coverage of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games.

More than 200 hours of 3D telecasts are to be produced using Panasonic 3D technology and shown on next-day delay in the U.S.

The sponsorship will underscore the company's multiple roles as a manufacturer of 3D-enabled plasma and LCD TVs, 3D production equipment, and content production enabler.

Panasonic Corp. of North America CEO and chairman Joseph M. Taylor said this year's CES presentations will serve to underscore the company's expanding role in electronics beyond A/V entertainment hardware.

"The pace of change in the consumer electronics industry has accelerated remarkably in the past few years, and our customers' needs are changing along with the definition of who our customers are," Taylor said. "Their needs go well beyond traditional consumer electronics, and so we are changing too. In fact, we are moving to redefine who we are beyond traditional consumer electronics by adding new products and services in energy management, web-connected and networked products, and even more entertainment and information products for consumers and businesses, alike."

In traditional CE announcements, Panasonic unveiled its 2012 line of Smart Viera FullHD 3D HDTVs and FullHD 3D Blu-ray Disc players. Of the 17 models in the CE maker's 2012 plasma lineup, 16 feature the 3D technology, while five of the 14 LED/LCD HDTVs provide 3D capability. In addition, Panasonic unveiled two new larger screen sizes in the LED family, 47 and 55 inches.

Meanwhile, Panasonic said Time Warner's Flixster movie app will be available this year on Panasonic's line of Viera Connect devices, including HDTVs and Blu-ray players, to let consumers watch UltraViolet movies and TV shows directly on the devices.

In addition, Panasonic said it will use Ooyala's online video-syndication platform to bring new content to Viera Connect devices. The Country Network will be the first publisher to participate. ______

CES: Amazon to Offer UltraViolet Rights Deal with a major studio makes Amazon the first major retailer to offer consumers UltraViolet rights for access to movies and TV programming on multiple devices By George Winslow Broadcasting & Cable January 10, 2012

Complete Coverage: CES 2012

In an important development for the UltraViolet effort to allow consumers to access content on multiple devices, Bill Carr, executive VP of digital media, at Amazon says that the online retailer will be offering UltraViolet rights from an as yet unnamed Hollywood studio.

The UltraViolet effort to allow consumers to access multiple copies of movies and TV programs they own on multiple devices via a cloud based service is backed by the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE)

43 whose members include Hollywood studios, major technology companies, multichannel operators and TV programmers.

During a panel at CES discussing the progress being made by UltraViolet, DECE also announced that it would be working with the Digital Entertainment Group to promote UltraViolet with a major advertising campaign.

At CES Samsung also announced that it would be launching a Blu-ray player that would be capable of handling UltraViolet rights. Ultimately such devices could allow consumers to easily add content to their UltraViolet library or even upgrade older DVDs to HD rights.

The technology is relatively new, with the first launches made only a few months ago. So far around 20 movies have been released with UltraViolet rights but the studios are expecting that at least 100 titles will be released on Blu-ray this year with UltraViolet rights and that this number could grow much larger as the studios make their electronic digital sell through rights available.

DECE's general manager and executive director, Mark Teitell, noted during the session that "2012 would be the year for UltraViolet," with a significant expansion of titles, the launch of an industry standard format to further simplify the movement of content from device to device and the movement of the service into additional international markets.

"We will be moving from a small number of devices to a very large number," Teitell noted.

Ultimately, the effort will allow consumers who have purchased a Blu-ray disk of a movie or TV program to access a digital copy via a cloud based service on as many as 12 other devices.

In announcing that Amazon would begin offering UltraViolet rights, Carr noted that they had always been in favor of the idea of a "digital locker" where consumers could access their content on multiple devices via the cloud.

"We have reached an agreement in the last few days with one of the major studios for rights that will include UltraViolet rights and we are excited about the additional possibilities this will enable," Carr said.

Carr declined to name the studio. ______

UltraViolet Garners Support from Samsung and Amazon By Stephanie Prange Home Media Magazine January 10, 2012

LAS VEGAS — The cloud-based platform UltraViolet got a boost of support from various segments throughout the industry here at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

Already 750,000 households have UltraViolet accounts, which is estimated to be about 1 million people, according to Mark Teitell, executive director and GM of Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE), the cross-industry consortium behind UltraViolet.

“This UltraViolet business model was build to make ownership easier,” said Sony Pictures Home Entertainment president David Bishop, during a panel following the UltraViolet press conference.

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Samsung Electronics Co. announced a feature on its new smart Blu-ray player line that will allow consumers to upload their existing disc library onto their UltraViolet digital library via the Blu-ray player.

With the Disc to Digital feature, announced last week, consumers can register ownership of their DVDs and Blu- rays and access the content on a variety of devices through UltraViolet. The content will available through the Flixster application on Samsung’s Smart Hub and a range of connected devices such as smartphones, tablets, PCs and smart TVs.

In addition to Samsung, Amazon is joining the UltraViolet space, announcing a deal with a major studio to offer electronic sellthrough and UltraViolet rights through Amazon.

Executives on the UltraViolet panel said they were in continuing negotiations with many other retailers. That panel included Sony Pictures’ Bishop, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment president Mike Dunn, Universal Studio Home Entertainment president Craig Kornblau and Warner Home Video president Ron Sanders.

So far, Sony Pictures, Universal and Warner have together released 19 UltraViolet-enabled titles and say they play to significantly expand their list of UltraViolet films and TV shows. The latest studio to announce an UltraViolet title is Paramount, with the Jan. 24 release of Paranormal Activity 3.

Panelists discussed Disney’s absence in UltraViolet and DECE and all agreed that they’d love to have Disney on board. Disney has its own digital initiative, Disney Studio All Access, which has yet to launch, as well as a relationship with Apple, which has iTunes — both factors that may be holding up the studio in joining UltraViolet.

Not on board any longer, however, is Netflix, which is leaving DECE, according to various reports.

Yesterday, Panasonic touted its partnership with Flixster to add UltraViolet to its Viera connected HDTVs, and Rovi announced the launch of the Rovi Digital Copy Solution, which is software that enables compatible CE devices and PCs to recognize movies on disc, authenticate origin and trigger access to UltraViolet. ______

DEG: Blu-ray, Digital Helped Lift 2011 By Chris Tribbey, Thomas K. Arnold Home Media Magazine January 10, 2012

Higher-margin products and strong consumer spending on Blu-ray Disc helped stabilize the home entertainment industry in 2011, according to full-year figures released Jan. 9 by DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group.

While overall spending on packaged media and digital delivery was down 2% for the year to an estimated $18.04 billion, down from $18.43 billion in 2010, a 20% jump in Blu-ray spending and a 51% jump in digital spending point to a sustained recovery for the industry, DEG reported.

The box office value of films that came to home entertainment during the year, by comparison, was down 8.7%.

The second half of 2011 saw consumer spending on home entertainment up 1%, and the third quarter saw a 5% rise, the first quarterly increase since the first quarter of 2008.

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Annual spending on Blu-ray software hit $2 billion for the first time, and Blu-ray players are now in nearly 40 million homes, a 38% rise from 2010. Electronic sellthrough spending was up 9% for the year, while VOD saw a 7% rise. 3D Blu-ray Disc unit sales were up sixfold year-over-year.

Helping drive Blu-ray spending was the further adoption of HDTV, with more than 27 million HDTVs purchased in 2011, bringing household penetration to more than 74.5 million American homes, DEG reported.

Total consumer spending on packaged media, Blu-ray and DVD, slipped slightly more than 13% to $8.95 billion from $10.52 billion in 2010. Rental spending (packaged media only) was down 3% to $7.54 billion from $7.6 billion the previous year, with a 28.8% drop in brick-and-mortar rental activity offset by a 31% uptick in the kiosk rental business, mostly Redbox vending machines.

But those declines are to be expected, observers say, as consumers transition to digital delivery, mostly streaming. Overall spending on digital delivery rose 51% to nearly $3.42 billion, up from $2.26 billion in 2010. The largest chunk of that went to VOD ($1.87 billion) and the new category of subscription streaming ($993.6 million), while electronic sellthrough remained a nonstarter at $553.7 million.

Five of the 10 best-selling titles of 2011 (in order, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 1, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2, Tangled, Cars 2 and Transformers: Dark of the Moon) sold more than 2 million discs, according to the data. The rest of the top-selling titles were Bridesmaids, Rio, The Help, The Lion King and The Hangover Part 2.

Looking at 2012, DEG says UltraViolet — the buy-once, play-anywhere, cloud-based digital copy platform — will help keep disc sellthrough relevant, with an estimated 100-plus UltraViolet-enabled titles released during the year.

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Samsung outs compact BD-ES6000 Blu-ray player, less compact ES6500, get down with UltraViolet By Tim Stevens Engadget January 10, 2012

Samsung outs compact BD-ES6000 Blu-ray player, get down with UltraViolet We've reached a point where Blu-ray players can't really add a whole lot more functionality. Size, then, is the next frontier, and Samsung's showing another player with a "slightly larger-than-a-disc" form-factor. It's the BD- ES6000, a decidedly petite player with a slot-loading mechanism and a boot time of just one second. There's also the slightly less svelte yet still "slim and stylish" BD-E6500, with dual HDMI inputs to help out with those sets that are a bit limited in the input department. More important, though, is added support for UltraViolet Disc to Digital support on all the company's 2012 lineup. Your media just got a little more portable. ______

Flixter comes to Viera Connect, gives Panasonic fans more movie access By Michael Gorman Engadget January 10, 2012

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Flixster's nothing new; it's been available for iOS and Android for more than a minute, but earlier today Panasonic announced that it's bringing the movie app to its Viera Connect platform. In addition to helping you find the next Hollywood hit, the app gives owners of Panny's TVs, Blu-ray players and home theater systems with Viera Connect on board access to UltraViolet's watch anywhere functionality -- giving you access to your own movie collection on any Viera Connect device, assuming its UV-enabled, of course. ______

Hollywood’s Digital Movie Locker Finds a Home in Amazon and Samsung’s Hallways By Andrew Tarantola Gizmodo January 10, 2012

The UltraViolet Initiative hasn't exactly been the iTunes-killer Hollywood had hoped for. The File-Locker system, designed to simplify the process of owning one piece of content across multiple formats, has floundered in its first few months with poor reviews, unhappy customers and little industry support. But now that Amazon and Samsung have both invited UltraViolet over to the cool kid's table, it might actually have a shot.

A little UltraViolet background, since not a lot of people use it yet. UV is basically an online storage system that allows users who have purchased a film—either as a download or as a hard copy—to play it on any desktop or mobile device. It employs a "household account," rather than a conventional individual license, that allows up to six users to access UV content on any of 11 registered devices: phones, tablets, game consoles, connected Blu- ray players, and the like.

Amazon announced today that it's going to support UltraViolet rights for an unnamed studio. Basically, all that means i that if you buy a digital movie from Studio X through Amazon, you'll be able to adjust your sharing settings however you like from your own personal UV locker.

On the physical media side of things, Samsung's going to add "disc to digital" authentication technology to its Blu- ray players starting later this year. This will allow users to add digital versions of DVDs that they've already purchased to their locker; however, they'll will have to pay a nominal fee if they wish to upgrade their DVD version to digital HD.

Will the big-name partners help pull UltraViolet out of its funk? Many initial adopters have been less than pleased with the numerous steps needed to actually get a movie out of the locker. To play a movie on an iPad, for example, the user would have to create not one, but two new online accounts—for UltraViolet itself and also for Flixter. It's not clear whether Amazon or Samsung are going to help streamline that process at all; but they'll certainly publicize the hell out of it. ______

Amazon is UltraViolet's first retail partner; Samsung offering disc-to-digital on 2012 Blu-Ray players By Nathan Ingraham

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The Verge January 10, 2012

UltraViolet announced a few big new partnerships that should give the fledgling digital distribution system a big boost. Amazon is the first official retail partner, while Samsung will offer disc-to-digital features in its 2012 Blu-Ray players. Bill Carr, executive VP of digital media at Amazon and Tae-Jin Kang, senior VP, media solution center at Samsung, were on hand as part of a roundtable discussion to make the announcements. Unfortunately, there's very little information on Amazon's role as a retail partner; we assume that Amazon will eventually begin selling UltraViolet-compatible movies without needing to buy a physical disc (as is currently the case).

But Mark Teitell, executive director at the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem, told us this deal was closed just a few days ago and that they knew nothing more than beyond that initial announcement. Bill Carr did make it very clear that Amazon has always felt strongly about consumers being able to access their purchased digital content across a variety of devices and that they want to provide the most options and choices for consumers, so they'll continue to offers discs to purchase, digital downloads to own, and video on demand / movie rentals as well.

As for Samsung's disc-to-digital system, consumers will be able to drop a disc into a 2012 Samsung Blu-Ray player, choose disc-to-digital, and then pick what kind of file they want (standard or high definition). It sounds like this service is free, but there is a "nominal fee" if you upgrade a DVD to high-definition. This technology is powered by software from Flixster and Rovi, who announced disc-to-digital yesterday (though it wasn't clear who would take advantage of it). Once this process is complete, your movie should be available in UltraViolet's digital locker for you to stream and download to supported devices. There are demos available of disc-to-digital on the show floor at CES, so we'll be looking for them and will let you know our impressions.

Executives from four of the five major movie studios (Sony, Fox, Universal, and Warner) involved in UltraViolet were on hand, as well, and there was a lot of discussion about UltraViolet's stumbles as it launched as well as its future. To date, 750,000 UltraViolet accounts have been registered in the 89 days since launch — the company is claiming over one million users, since UltraViolet accounts support multiple members as part of one "household." The studio executives made it quite clear that they're looking for UltraViolet to revive movie sales and that rentals are not in the immediate future, although they wouldn't rule it out. They also talked about the improvements UltraViolet has made, including the elimination of multiple accounts needed to set up the service. However, they also defended the service, noting that having to register for two accounts wasn't really that major a roadblock (while glossing over other problems people had, like the lack of Android and iOS support at launch). Apparently there's a major marketing push planned for the year, and the DECE hopes that by the end of 2012 UltraViolet is fully mainstream — so get ready to hear a lot more about this new standard for digital distribution. ______

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Samsung announces Blu-Ray players with Wi-Fiand Ultraviolet disc to digital support By Nathan Ingraham The Verge January 10, 2012

To go along with Samsung's recently-announced partnership with UltraViolet, Samsung launched two Blu-Ray players, the BD-ES6500 and BD-ES6000, that support disc to digital technology. As we heard earlier, users can register ownership of physical DVD or Blu-Ray discs by popping them into either of these players; digital copies will then be created and added to the user's UltraViolet account. If you're upgrading a DVD to high-definition, there's a small fee (though Samsung hasn't said how much it would be).

Aside from disc to digital, the BD-ES6000 is an extremely compact little player that looks a bit like an older Mac Mini — the player itself is not much wider than a disc itself. The BD-ES6500 looks more conventional, but includes two HDMI ports to help streamline a user's home theater: instead of hooking into the TV, game consoles and set-top boxes can be hooked directly into the Blu-Ray player. Both players support 3D Blu-Ray, of course, and include Wi-Fi, DLNA, and access to the Samsung Smart Hub for apps. Lastly, there's a new Android and iOS remote app specifically for Blu-Ray; previously it was only available for TVs. We'll keep an eye out for these players on the show floor and see if we can get a demo of disc to digital. ______

Samsung And Amazon Boost UltraViolet Movie Streaming Initiative By David Lieberman Deadline.com January 10, 2012

Samsung’s announcement is really interesting, The company says that it will introduce this year a Blu-ray player that can take users’ existing DVDs and Blu-ray discs and upload them to an UltraViolet digital locker. That means people don’t have to wait for a movie to be released on a disc that includes UltraViolet streaming rights in order to watch their home videos on digital devices. The remote control for the Samsung player will have a dedicated button that says “Disc To Digital.” The announcement followed the long-awaited disclosure that Amazon has an UltraViolet agreement with a studio which it declined to name. The agreement means that when Amazon sells an UltraViolet-enabled disc from the mystery studio, the retailer will also handle digital streams for the movie. Amazon and Samsung made their announcements at a 2012 International CES panel about UltraViolet. ______

Ultraviolet Movement Picks Up New Backer: Samsung By Daniel Frankel PaidContent January 10, 2012

Samsung has rolled out a new line of Blu-ray players that support Ultraviolet, thus joining the ranks of entertainment brands that support the fledgling Hollywood studio-backed digital-locker initiative.

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UltraViolet, which went “live” last month, is the new digital locker scheme—backed by Hollywood studios including Warner Bros. (NYSE: TWX), Universal, Sony (NYSE: SNE) and Paramount (NYSE: VIA)—that lets buyers of physical media also own a cloud-based digital version for no extra cost. The initiative is intended to curtail a rental and streaming trend among movie consumers, and re-kindle a demand for good old-fashioned disc ownership, with home entertainment revenue falling every year since 2004.

Samsung’s new players will support the new “disc to digital” feature that allows owners to authenticate their existing DVD and Blu-ray titles and store digital versions of them that can be played on devices like laptops, tablets and smart phones – for an extra “nominal” fee.

This authentication plan was concurrently announced at CES by Samsung and the technology’s developers, Rovi and Flixter, the latter of which is owned by Warner Bros. The feature will begin showing up in other home entertainment devices from other manufacturers in 2012.

UltraViolet is in its early stages, but Warner, for example, has already published several Blu-ray titles, Horrible Bosses and the Green Lantern, that include digital-locker versions that a purchaser can share with up to six members of their family. DECA, the consortium of consumer electronics companies that created Ultraviolet, says that about 750,000 people have signed up for accounts so far. It claims that consumers are 47 percent more likely to buy rather than rent an Ultraviolet-supportive disc. ______

Flixster brings UltraViolet to Panasonic Advanced Television January 10, 2012

Flixster has revealed its popular movie application will be available this year on Panasonic’s line of VIERA Connect devices including HDTVs and Blu-ray players. By launching this new Flixster app, consumers will be able to watch their UltraViolet movies and TV shows from the comfort of their living room.

“Bringing UltraViolet to the living room will make it easy for consumers to enjoy their UltraViolet-enabled movies and TV shows,” said Steve Polsky, President of Flixster. “One of the great benefits of UltraViolet is the ability to watch your content whenever and wherever you want. If you’re at a friend’s house with a VIERA device, you can easily access your collection by simply logging into Flixster.”

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Akamai UltraViolet Integration on Devices Coming Up By Sanjeev Ramachandran Device Magazine January 10, 2012

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The video market is trying it’s best to make it easier for customers; Hollywood’s new UltraViolet video format will vouch for it. With the announcement of rolling out new capabilities to their HD Network for video distribution, Akamai has made clear it has no plans of staying behind.

Akamai has unveiled their plans, saying they have integrated with the UltraViolet Coordinator, which controls access to the digital rights locker and manages entitlements and other information around which movies consumers have bought.

The Akamai for UltraViolet product is designed to connect with the digital rights locker and offer up storage, security and delivery of UltraViolet-enabled digital assets.

Akamai UltraViolet Integration on Devices Coming Up

Basically, there will be a common reference point that studios and retailers can point to whenever a consumer tries to access an UltraViolet title.

Akamai is pitching the studios first, since they are moving quickly to make these services available. They believe themselves to be well positioned to offer a solution that provides an easier way to make UltraViolet movies available, and can take forward the promise of allowing viewers to buy a movie once and stream or download it from multiple retailer websites or applications has yet to fully catch on.

There’s more to it. As time goes on, retailers with digital storefronts like Walmart’s Vudu, Best Buy’s CinemaNow or Amazon Prime Video would have a unified storage and delivery point will simplify access to, and distribution of, UltraViolet movies. This also means there won’t be the need for them to store and manage their own copies of the files.

Akamai announced that they are adding new security features to its HD network to ensure that content owners and retailers can distribute video assets to multiple devices.

Akamai’s SecureHD offering provides four layers of protection, including token authorization, player verification, media encryption and content targeting. Media customers will be able to optimize their security protection based on the capabilities of the device.

The content delivery network is also simplifying the process of streaming on its HD Network by selecting HTTP as its default delivery method and integrating Adobe’s HTTP Dynamic Streaming (HDS) functionality into its product offering.

This means customers can make use of HTTP streaming without having to make changes to their existing Adobe Flash workflow. ______

~ MULTIPLATFORM CONTENT NEWS ~ Cynopsis Digital January 10, 2012

An upgrade to the Rovi Home Entertainment solution now features support for over-the-top storefronts delivering video content through the web. The update includes the addition of DivX Plus streaming technology, as well as enabling support for the UltraViolet Digital Library for companies who want to develop storefronts and services compatible with Hollywood's new digital download and streaming solution. Platforms supported by the upgrade include connected TVs, digital stores, Blu-ray players, iOS and Android devices, as well as consoles such as the Xbox 360 and the PS3.

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Amazon, Samsung Throw UltraViolet A lifeline By Stefanie O'Neill ITGawker January 10, 2012

Hollywood’s UltraViolet initiative might not have gotten off to a great start, with some critical reaction to its initial launch.

Rovis service helps plug a gaping hole in Hollywoods UltraViolet initiative, which encourages people to buy Blu- ray discs by including access to a digital copy of that movie in the cloud.

During a panel discussion Tuesday at the Consumer Electronics Show, UltraViolet GM Mark Teitell said that 750,000 household accounts have signed up for UltraViolet, which he believes translates into more than a million individual accounts.

UltraViolet was developed and deployed by the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem consortium, which includes five of the six major studios and mini-major Lionsgate, as well as retailers, consumer electronics manufacturers, cable companies, ISPs, network hosting vendors and other Internet vendors. By planting the seed inside millions of discs, Warner Bros.

Amazon, for one, is joining the initiative and will soon enable digital purchases through its streaming video service.

Apple launches its iCloud service on Wednesday, which saves and pushes digital purchases to all your devices, but that system won’t include movies for now.

Last year, the DECE and a collection of Hollywood studios announced UltraViolet, a service that allows purchased movies to be stored and viewed from the cloud.

Amazon said that it would support UltraViolet rights with a single, unnnamed studio, and Samsung said it would add authentication technology with its connected Blu-ray players, which it called “disc to digital”.

The next step in Hollywood’s effort to educate consumers about its UltraViolet digital rights locker came from Warner Bros.

They apparently fail to realize that there are a vast number of consumers like us, consumers who only want a digital version and who don’t need all the garbage they stuff onto a Blu-Ray, just because they have the space.

Instead, consumers are increasingly turning to the already popular disc-rental option, while consuming more and more on-demand video through both their pay-TV subscriptions and Internet-based subscription services like Netflix, Adams noted.

Connected Consumer Q3: Netflix fumbles; Kindle Fire shinesWhat Amazons new Kindle line means for Apple, Netflix and online mediaConnected Consumer Q2: Digital music meets the cloud; e-book growth explodes. ______

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Amazon Is First Big Retailer to Back Hollywood Film Format By Cliff Edwards and Michael White Bloomberg January 11, 2012

(Updates with comment from Carr in eighth paragraph.)

Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Hollywood’s effort to sell digital copies of movies got a boost when Amazon.com Inc., the largest online vendor, agreed to use the industry’s common system for storing and streaming films.

Amazon is working with an unnamed studio to offer movies in the UltraViolet format, Bill Carr, the Seattle-based company’s executive vice president for digital media, said yesterday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Amazon is the first major retailer to commit to using the platform.

Amazon’s participation may speed adoption of Ultraviolet, the Hollywood-led initiative to allow consumers to purchase a title from any retailer, store it in a central online account and stream it to a variety of gadgets, from televisions to Blu- ray players to mobile devices like Amazon’s Kindle Fire.

“The best movie and TV service for consumers is the one that provides them with the broadest choice possible,” Carr said.

UltraViolet aims to promote home-video sales, which are more profitable to studios than rentals. The system has struggled to attract users since its debut in October because no major retailers were promoting it and consumers have been confused about how to register and access movies they purchased.

Courting Amazon

Studios have been courting Amazon since October, people with knowledge of the matter said last month. Best Buy Co., owner the CinemaNow website, and Wal-Mart Stores Inc., owner of Vudu.com, are members of the UltraViolet consortium, although neither website has begun using the system.

During a panel discussion with studio executives yesterday, Amazon’s Carr touted UltraViolet’s reach to a range of devices.

“We’re very excited about the additional possibilities from a customer’s point of view that UV enables,” Carr said.

Samsung Electronics Co. said it will make Blu-ray players equipped with an application that will load digital copies of older DVDs and Blu-ray discs into the UltraViolet system for a “nominal” fee. The stored movies would be accessed through Time Warner Inc.’s Flixster movie site.

Warner Bros., Comcast Corp.’s Universal Pictures and Sony Corp.’s Sony Pictures have released DVDs and Blu- ray discs that can be registered for viewing through UltraViolet. Viacom Inc.’s Paramount Pictures has said it plans to release titles. Walt Disney Co. isn’t an UltraViolet member.

The service has attracted 750,000 households since it was introduced in October, the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem LLC, the consortium backing the platform, said yesterday in a statement.

Consumer electronics companies including Samsung, Panasonic Corp. and Toshiba Corp. also are members of the group.

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Warner Bros. Plan for DVD Rental-Delay Rejected by Blockbuster By Michael White and Edmund Lee Bloomberg January 11, 2012

A Netflix Inc. DVD and envelopes are arranged for a photograph in New York. Photographer: Jin Lee/Bloomberg

Warner Bros., leading a push to spur movie purchases by delaying the availability of DVD rentals, is running into resistance from two of its biggest customers.

Dish Network Corp. (DISH)’s Blockbuster, the largest U.S. movie- rental chain, and Coinstar Inc. (CSTR), operator of the Redbox DVD kiosks, are pushing back against the Time Warner Inc. (TWX) film unit’s efforts to make consumers wait 56 days before they can rent the latest releases. The current delay for Redbox is 28 days after a DVD goes on sale to the public.

Warner Bros. is calculating the potential gains outweigh the risk of alienating the retailers. While Netflix Inc. (NFLX) is going along, Blockbuster stores are buying the studio’s movies from others the day they go on sale and renting them to customers right away, according to a person with knowledge of the matter who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly.

“As a company that’s really not focused on new releases, Netflix doesn’t really care about a move from 28 days to 56,” said Eric Wold, a San Francisco-based analyst at B. Riley & Co. “For the other companies, new releases really dominate their rentals, so that kind of delay would really hurt them.”

Coinstar, which has an agreement with Warner Bros. that expires at the end of this month, hasn’t agreed to lengthen its 28-day window and has suggested it too may find alternatives. No Revised Accord

“The current agreement Coinstar has with Warner Bros. is to receive movie titles 28 days after their release,” Marci Maule, a spokeswoman for the Bellevue, Washington-based company, said yesterday in an e-mail, reiterating earlier statements. “No revised agreements are in place.”

Coinstar, operator of more than 34,000 DVD-rental kiosks, has “workarounds” to obtain new releases if studios seek to impose a longer delay, Chief Executive Officer Paul Davis said on an Oct. 27 conference call.

Peter Binazeski, a Warner Bros. spokesman, said the company had no comment on talks with Blockbuster or Coinstar.

Comcast Corp. (CMCSA)’s Universal Pictures, News Corp. (NWSA)’s Fox and Warner Bros. previously made deals with Coinstar and Los Gatos, California-based Netflix for a 28-day delay.

Netflix, the streaming and DVD rental service, agreed with Warner Bros. yesterday to double the period to 56 days.

The longer window is part of an effort at Warner to get customers to buy movies rather than rent them, Mark Horak, president of Warner Home Video North America, said yesterday in the statement announcing the Netflix deal.

U.S. consumer spending on home-video entertainment fell 2.1 percent to $18 billion last year, the seventh straight annual decline, according to the industry-backed Digital Entertainment Group.

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Rental Stores

Rental revenue at stores like Blockbuster tumbled 28 percent, the DEG said. Purchases of DVDs fell 20 percent, the DEG data suggest, while spending on Blu-ray discs gained 20 percent to $2 billion. Kiosk rentals, led by Redbox, grew by 31 percent, the DEG said.

Another part of the strategy, Horak said, is to promote UltraViolet, a technical standard that allows consumers to buy movies online from multiple sources and watch them on a variety of devices, including TVs, computers and smartphones.

Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), the largest Internet retailer, announced yesterday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that it is rejoining the UltraViolet initiative and will make films purchased by consumers accessible on devices such as its Kindle Fire tablet.

Netflix probably is getting a reduced price on DVDs in return for waiting longer, Wold said. Before Netflix started its streaming business, new releases accounted for about 30 percent of customer requests, he said. That percentage probably declined when streaming was introduced.

“They always push consumers toward catalog titles anyway,” Wold said.

Dish, which bought Blockbuster out of bankruptcy in April, gained 0.3 percent to $28.88 yesterday at the close in New York. Coinstar advanced 2.3 percent to $44.18, while Time Warner added 0.4 percent to $36.97. Netflix declined 2.4 percent to $95.83. ______

Studios' digital dreams face marketplace realities CES Daily Spotlight: UltraViolet By Debra Kaufman Variety January 11, 2012

On Jan. 24, Paramount Home Entertainment will do something it has never done before.

The studio unit -- which over the years has issued movies for the home market on physical media such as VHS, DVD and Blu-ray -- will release the hit horror film "Paranormal Activity 3" not only as a Blu-ray/DVD combo, but also via the UltraViolet cloud-based digital library system.

This is Paramount's first UltraViolet release, but it joins a slate of 28 similarly released entertainment properties from the homevid divisions of Warner Bros., Sony Pictures and Universal that have already been released or will be by mid-March.

The UltraViolet digital rights library system was created and championed by the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE), a consortium of more than 75 companies, including the four aforementioned major studios as well as consumer electronics manufacturers, big box retailers and technology and video service providers.

Warner Bros. released the first UltraViolet titles -- "Horrible Bosses" and "Green Lantern" -- in October, and DECE has announced the launch of UltraViolet in the U.K. with the Warner Bros.' "Final Destination 5" as the first title for that market.

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"We are at the very, very beginning (of UltraViolet)," says DECE president Mitch Singer, CTO of Sony Pictures, who notes that the only existing service for accessing UltraViolet content is Warner Bros.' Flixster app for the PC and Mac platforms and devices. "You could almost consider this a beta launch."

Plans for the coming year include the roll-out of UltraViolet in Canada and other still unidentified territories, as well as the introduction of a common file format for downloads, making functionality consistent across all UltraViolet retailers.

Rumors have swirled that Amazon may declare its support for UltraViolet at CES, with a plan to let consumers pay 99 cents to convert a DVD or Blu-ray they own into a digital copy stored online.

Many DECE members are tight-lipped about their UltraViolet announcements. "It's a hyper-competitive market," says DECE general manager Mark Teitell. "Of the 75 companies in the consortium, about half of them are keeping quiet. Companies launching UltraViolet in the near term will be pioneers."

That sluggishness in getting on board is a chief obstacle to UltraViolet's development: no manufacturer, retailer or provider of download and streaming services has yet unveiled plans to integrate UltraViolet.

For Screen Digest analyst Tom Adams, the near-term priority is to get Best Buy, Vudu, Blockbuster and any other DECE member that already have a relationship with the consumer to launch in 2012, so that by next Christmas the consumer sees that UltraViolet is real. "I can guarantee you the studios are pushing very hard for them to do just that, and pushing the holdouts that haven't embraced the standard," Adams says.

But there's another issue that could trip up UltraViolet. For studios, UltraViolet is a way to add value to DVD and Blu-rays, with the hope that sales of packaged media will cease its downward spiral. But what UltraViolet offers so far -- a digital copy -- is something that consumers have shown little interest in.

Adams reports that redemption rates of "old-style digital copies" ran up to 25% for the biggest titles but averaged in the mid-teens -- not compelling numbers. BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield adds that pricing of UltraViolet digital files vis-a-vis rental prices is key. "UltraViolet is all about the value of ownership," he says. "You can reset interest in ownership if it costs $9 vs. $5 to rent. But if a Blu-ray disk or digital file costs $20, it's a challenging proposition."

DECE members also have to re-educate consumers who've had bad experiences with digital downloads.

"We thought digital direct-to-consumer would be a huge business, but it's been relatively flat," Singer says. "Consumers didn't want to download content because they thought it would fill up their hard drive and crash it. They were concerned they wouldn't be able to share content on different devices and there was no way to aggregate their libraries."

To dispel fears and get the UltraViolet message across, participation of the big box stores and streaming services is crucial since they'll be heavy lifters when it comes to consumer education. So far, they don't appear to be rushing in. "It doesn't seem that anyone is terribly interested," says Greenfield.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment exec VP John Calkins notes that studios will set UltraViolet prices and that, when it comes to marketing UltraViolet, Sony anticipates that "the retailers will look to the studios to refund some marketing costs and to help work with them on in-store collateral or programs that will get the right message across to the consumer."

Building a so-called ecosystem and promoting it while it's under construction is difficult. SNL Kagan analyst Wade Holden believes the idea of UltraViolet is headed in the right direction. "I can't help but think that consumers will be excited about accessing content anywhere, on any device," says Holden. "For the tech savvy people who are the head of this wave, UltraViolet is what they've been waiting for."

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The question is whether the studios can exert enough pressure on the other DECE members, and entice other key players to join in, so they can build the momentum necessary to create a truly cloud-based digital content library system. ______

Turf war puts bucks in flux CES Daily Spotlight: UltraViolet By Debra Kaufman Variety January 11, 2012

In the world of Apple, users buy a piece of content once and can play it on their Mac, iPad, iPod and iPhone.

With UltraViolet, the studios are attempting to replicate that success on a much larger scale. But creating a content-sharing ecosystem that spans widely divergent companies in the digital Wild West is as hard as it sounds.

The first major stumbling block to UltraViolet ubiquity came when one major studio -- Disney -- declined to join DECE, the UltraViolet consortium. Instead Disney trumpeted its own digital rights locker, Disney Studio All Access (DSAA), powered by its proprietary Keychest technology.

Since the initiative was announced in January 2010, however, news about DSAA has slowed to a trickle. A Disney rep told Variety : "Disney remains committed to the DSAA initiative. We are looking to launch in the next several months as we continue working to create the greatest consumer value and experience."

Why go it alone? Disney believes -- perhaps rightly so -- that its brand is strong enough to do so. Disney is not alone. Any company with a toehold in content distribution -- from Amazon to Wal-Mart -- is vying for a chance to establish its brand. "We'll see if consumers tolerate it," says Screen Digest analyst Tom Adams.

"The whole point of interoperability is that we want one standard, not three."

To say the digital distribution industry is in flux would be an understatement. As a result of this instability, roles shift, allies become competitors and competitors join forces. The recent multibillion-dollar deal between arch-rivals Verizon and a consortium of top cable TV companies can attest to this.

Elsewhere, U.K.-based streaming movie service LoveFilm -- an original UltraViolet supporter -- was pulled out of the group by its new owner, Amazon. But that rivalry doesn't prevent Amazon from promoting sales of UltraViolet- enabled DVD/Blu-ray discs or LoveFilm from signing a deal with Sony Pictures Television, a studio that's a key player in forming and promoting UltraViolet.

The prospect of digital rights wars may be overstating the case but the studios' interest in UltraViolet as a way to prop up the sales of packaged media isn't shared by the many players out to make a name for their own brand. Why enable users to buy content they can consume on other platforms? "Apple holds you in their Apple world and makes it so their devices benefit," says BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield. "If I'm Amazon, do I want the consumer watching on the Best Buy platform?"

Instead, Greenfield believes "in a rental access world, there'll be lots of winners, not just one or two." Will UltraViolet be just one of those winners? The answer is a qualified yes. A Mac user can already watch UltraViolet content on Apple iOS devices using Flixster Movies, an app released in October, 2011 by Warner Bros. For that matter, Amazon Cloud Drive, which features streaming and downloading, could support UltraViolet files.

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In an environment of brands competing to build out their platforms, competition is likely to win out over cooperation in the near term. As Adams puts it, "You're seeing the wrinkles that new technology is bringing to the industry."

It's simply too early to tell what that will mean for the future of UltraViolet or any other digital rights system. "The market technology could reduce the chance that multiple formats kill a consumer's interest in this kind of consumption," Adams says. "On the other hand, anything that contributes to consumer confusion is a bad thing."

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Hollywood stumbles on next big step in home video UltraViolet hasn't gone as well as planned, backers say at the Consumer Electronics Show. Technology produced by a consortium of studios, makers and retailers is criticized as buggy and confusing. By Ben Fritz and Dawn C. Chmielewski Los Angeles Times January 11, 2012

Reporting from Los Angeles and Las Vegas— When Jason Mockford bought a DVD of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" with the words "digital copy" on the box, he assumed that he would be able to watch it on his iPad.

But the digital version of the film was accessible only through a new technology called UltraViolet. It required him to register on two different websites and download new software. It wasn't compatible with the iTunes application he uses for all his other music and video.

Finding the process too difficult, the 30-year-old San Luis Obispo resident said, "I just stopped at some point because it asked me to do too much."

If UltraViolet were just a new tech demo for geeks, a rocky start might not matter. But the new format is Hollywood's next big thing, an ambitious attempt to drive consumers to keep buying movies as they abandon discs in favor of tablets, smartphones and Internet-connected TVs.

"Getting UltraViolet right is the single most important strategic issue for studios in 2012," said Spencer Wang, head of Internet and media research at Credit Suisse. "All CEOs for the major entertainment consortiums need to be focused on getting it right."

The stakes are enormous. Film studios derive about half of their total revenues from home entertainment sales. Yet overall consumer spending on home entertainment dropped 2% in 2011, the seventh consecutive annual decline, according to Digital Entertainment Group, which collates digital media sales. More notably for UltraViolet, revenue from consumer movie sales, as opposed to rentals, dropped 12%.

At a standing-room-only press event at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Tuesday, backers admitted that things hadn't gone quite as smoothly as hoped. "The best way to describe the launch is we built this great house, it had an incredible foundation, and in our excitement to move in there was some finished carpentry that still needed to be done," said Sony Pictures Chief Technology Officer Mitch Singer.

UltraViolet has been in the works for more than five years, as more than 70 movie studios, electronics makers and retailers have tried to build a unified ecosystem for selling and storing movies online. This consortium of members whose interests are not always aligned has experienced difficulty developing and launching its new product.

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The first UltraViolet movies became available last year, their access codes sold with the discs for films including "Green Lantern," "The Smurfs" and "Cowboys and Aliens."

To watch a movie via UltraViolet, consumers have to use a code that comes with compatible discs to register on two different websites. They then need to install two new pieces of software on a PC and a new application on a mobile phone or tablet to download the film.

About 750,000 people have bought compatible DVDs and registered for UltraViolet. But chatter on message boards, tech blogs and Twitter has been largely negative as consumers found it confusing and buggy.

Even within Hollywood, there have been fissures among the studios backing the technology.

Some home entertainment executives who were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly said the launch, which was led by Warner Bros., happened prematurely. It would have been better to wait, these insiders said, until the technology worked smoothly and more retailers were selling UltraViolet-compatible digital copies online.

"We felt it was important to take a leadership position and show our firm commitment to this new industry standard by beginning to make these new rights and benefits available and to help drive momentum around this initiative," said a Warner spokesman.

Warner includes UltraViolet copies on all of its DVDs and Blu-ray discs. Sony, Universal and Paramount are including it only with selected movies. But the latter two also include iTunes copies of their movies for those who prefer Apple's technology.

Executives at 20th Century Fox, meanwhile, are waiting to get aboard UltraViolet until there are more places to buy and store UltraViolet movies online, more devices on which to watch them, and a common file format in which titles can be downloaded and utilized.

"We think that mass consumer adoption starts to have a tipping point when all of these pillars are built," said 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment President Mike Dunn, whose studio is officially behind UltraViolet but doesn't expect to launch its first title until late 2012.

At the Consumer Electronics Show event, UltraViolet supporters cited the large number of people who have signed up in less than three months and the debut at the show of new Blu-ray players from manufacturers Panasonic and Samsung that connect directly to UltraViolet.

"Studios are going to be making hundreds of titles available, at a minimum, throughout 2012," said Mark Teitell, general manager of the UltraViolet industry consortium known as the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem. "By the time we're having a conversation like this [next year], we'll have grown exponentially."

Amazon.com also announced that it would be the first independent retailer to sell UltraViolet movies directly online, without a disc. Executive Vice President of Digital Content Bill Carr said the Web retail giant just signed a partnership with one studio, which it declined to identify.

Previously, the only digital service that works with UltraViolet was Flixster, a movie rating website that Warner Bros. acquired last year as part of its plans to stimulate digital movie sales. Flixster makes an UltraViolet- compatible application for Apple and Android phones, tablets and PCs.

Best Buy and Wal-Mart, which also sell movies online, have yet to take the leap into UltraViolet. Representatives for both companies declined to comment.

Later this year, the companies behind UltraViolet plan to develop a marketing campaign to explain the format's benefit and exactly how it works. Despite missteps out of the gate, backers say history proves that UltraViolet can overcome a troubled start.

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"During the launch of the DVD there was a wave of negative comments, and people said it was a failed format," Sony Pictures Home Entertainment President David Bishop recalled. "In the end, DVD did extremely well." ______

750,000+ households for UltraViolet By Colin Mann Advanced Television January 11, 2012

Following the launch of an initial 19 UltraViolet-enabled titles, more than 750,000 households have registered with UltraViolet to create and start using personal digital libraries, the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) – a cross-industry consortium dedicated to creating a consumer-friendly open market for digital content distribution – has revealed at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

DECE suggests the audience of registered users is expected to grow exponentially in the year ahead, as Hollywood studios offering UltraViolet films and TV shows, through UltraViolet-enabled DVDs and Blu-rays as well as electronic sell through (EST), plan to expand dramatically the scope and scale of UltraViolet. Collectively, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group will release hundreds of additional UltraViolet-enabled titles in 2012, including new releases, catalogue and TV titles

Release plans include most theatrical new release titles in 2012, such as Moneyball, J. Edgar, Happy Feet 2, Tower Heist and Hop, along with theatrical catalogue and TV titles, including The Town, The Smurfs and One Tree Hill Season 9, Chuck Season 5 and The Big Bang Theory, Seasons 1 and 2. Also, a sampling of additional UltraViolet-enabled titles planned for the UK in 2012 includes, Crazy Stupid Love, Midnight in Paris and Dolphin Tale.

UltraViolet-enabled DVDs and Blu-rays are currently for sale in thousands of retail locations across the US and UK. Sony Pictures, Universal and Warner Bros. estimate that hundreds of millions of their DVDs and Blu-rays bundled with UltraViolet rights will hit US shelves in 2012.

Mark Teitell, General Manager and Executive Director, DECE, said the consortium had entered 2012 with significant momentum, thanks to a wide range of major companies, as well as innovative and fast-moving small ones, joining the list of UltraViolet implementers. “In addition, the Hollywood studios have made a major commitment to expanding the list of UltraViolet titles coming to market in the year ahead. We believe the consumer value proposition will only strengthen as the availability of UltraViolet content expands and more retail outlets, apps and devices come on-board. As consumers begin to build digital libraries and take advantage of this open and interoperable platform, they will increasingly benefit from the convenience, choice and flexibility that UltraViolet will deliver to the home video market,” he declared.

In the first half of 2012, DECE will introduce a Common File Format for downloads, making download functionality consistent across all UltraViolet retailers. This will further increase consumer convenience by making repeated downloads of different file types unnecessary, even when using different brands of UltraViolet-compatible media player apps or devices.

UltraViolet became available to UK consumers with the marketing of Warner Bros.’ Final Destination 5 on December 26, 2011. Numerous other companies have become UltraViolet licensees for the UK market, and further announcements on UltraViolet products and services for the UK are expected soon. Additionally, DECE plans to begin UltraViolet roll-out in Canada in the coming months, with specific details on timing to be announced, as well as a number of other territories in 2012 and 2013

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“The collaboration among leading multi-industry companies in developing UltraViolet has been exceptional,” Teitell continued. “As the roll-out expands globally, additional geographic launches will benefit from the experience and data we are gathering through our US and UK deployments,” he concluded.

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CES 2012: Amazon Joins DECE, Backs UltraViolet Amazon says it has signed a deal with a major Hollywood studio for UltraViolet rights; Netflix pulls out of DECE By Adrian Pennington Streaming Media January 11, 2012

Amazon has put its weight behind Ultraviolet (UV), the DRM/authentication system that gives users unlimited online access to movies once they've purchased a DVD.

It is the largest retailer to have joined the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) and gives the initiative a significant boost - just as Netflix has pulled out.

During a CES press conference updating its progress and future roadmap, the DECE consortium revealed it has 750,000 UltraViolet accounts in U.S. households since its launch in October. It predicts that number to dramatically rise during 2012.

“We are anticipating and planning for an exponential growth of the user base in 2012,” said DECE general manager Mark Teitell.

There are 19 Ultraviolet titles available (in the U.S.) now, with around 100 titles forecast for released in 2012.

Said Fox Home Entertainment president Mike Dunn, “We are at the forefront of digital ecosystem being formalised. You have wide access among multiple service providers. You have an ecosystem where mass consumer adoption could come in the fourth quarter.”

Amazon has signed a deal with a major Hollywood studio for EST rights—which includes UV rights—but it did not disclose which one.

“We haven’t been closely involved with DECE before but we have been big advocates of the concept of a digital locker,” said Bill Carr, executive VP of digital media for Amazon. “In the past few month we have engaged with the process and signed an agreement with one of the major studios. We are excited about this additional possibility from a customer’s point of view.” Netflix Out, Amazon In

The reasons for Netflix’ decision to abort its support were discussed and broadly are that while Netflix’ business is based on streaming rental, UltraViolet is firmly targeted at a new model for ownership of content. While Amazon will continue to rent movies online, Carr said the company is "keen on ownership and making ownership easier in the digital world.

“We believe that the best experience is the one that gives consumers the broadest choice possible. Amazon is committed to a thriving DVD and Blu-ray business," said Carr. "We are looking to build the best possible customer experience for VOD and EST. We have an s-VOD combined with disc rental from Lovefilm in the UK. There are different consumer needs and we want to meet all of them and we think all can be successful and not be too exclusive.”

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A number of devices are emerging with support for the locker. This includes a new smart Blu-ray player from Samsung with a function enabling consumers to port their existing physical discs of movies to UltraViolet. The player simply reads the key from the disc and uploads that information to the cloud offering upgrades to HD or other formats and making the content available on any of the user’s devices.

There have been some teething problems, such as initial failure to work on Android devices but these concerns were brushed away by DECE president Mitch Singer, who is also CTO of Sony Pictures.

“The best way to describe the launch is that we are building a house which has incredible foundations and integrity and in our excitement to move in there was some finished carpentry that needed to be done,” he said. “If you think about the UV platform, it is the first ever interoperable cloud service. This has never been done before.”

Blinkbox, Disney Holding out on UltraViolet

While movie studios and technology companies may have signed up, until Amazon there were few retailers backing UltraViolet. Even UK retailer Tesco, a signatory to DECE, has not yet supported UltraViolet, giving its backing instead to a digital locker devised in conjunction with its subsidiary Blinkbox.

“It might be that the complexity of the system is keeping retailers out, but we only just launched three months ago,” said Singer. “This is the beginning of an evolution. I am not at all concerned about the complexity. You have to realise that UltraViolet takes the retail environment to another level. There are many complex viewpoints that have to be negotiated."

The problems have not been technical issue rather “how consumer’s interact with UltraViolet,” said Lisa Hook, CEO of Neustar, which provides the back-end infrastructure for the project.

One key content owner is also missing from the DECE: Disney.“We are an open platform," Singer said. "It would be terrific to have them join. I am not holding my breath, but we are certainly talking.” Video Purchases on Decline

The Digital Entertainment Group (DEG) is also embarking on a marketing initiative.

Executive director Amy Jo Smith said: “We will have a multimillion dollar ad campaign from in the fourth quarter. We plan to devote the same attention to UltraViolet that we did for DVD and Blu-ray so that UltraViolet can enjoy the same success as those formats.”

The stakes are enormous for the studios, with combined U.S. consumer purchasing of video content—both physical and electronic—expected to decline to $9.9 billion in 2011, down 29 percent from its $14.1 billion peak in 2004, according to IHS Screen Digest.

Unless there’s a change in the consumer proposition, revenue is expected to continue to fall in the coming years to $8.1 billion in 2015, the analyst predicts.

"The U.S. video retail business is in decline,” said Tom Adams, principal analyst and director of U.S. media, for IHS. “Although the rate of decrease moderated during the last two years from the double-digit drop in the recessionary year of 2009, we don't see those declines turning into renewed growth without a fundamental change in the ownership proposition for consumers.”

Instead, consumers are increasingly turning to disc-rental, while consuming more and more on-demand video through both their pay-TV subscriptions and internet-based subscription services like Netflix, Adams noted. The problem for film and TV producers is that the purchase models—both physical and electronic—produce far more revenue per view than do rentals or subscription services.

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"We think it's important that UltraViolet is being launched not so much as a feature of EST files, but as a value- added feature of the digital disc, on which consumers have spent $113 billion since they were introduced in 1997," Adams added. "Even if our projections are correct that annual disc sales in the United States will have declined to some $9.3 billion in 2011, that's still about 14 times the size of the EST business. If UltraViolet sparks just a 7 percent increase in consumer disc buying in the years ahead, it would pay off for studios as much as a doubling of the EST business."

Warner Home Video kicked off the UltraViolet market in October in the U.S. with the release of the first Blu-ray discs enabled with the technology. The company rolled out Horrible Bosses on Oct. 11 and Green Lantern Oct. 14. In Europe, UV launched on Dec. 26 with Warners’ release of Final Destination 5 in the UK. ______

In a hit for Hollywood, Amazon buys into UltraVioilet By Jim O'Neill FierceOnlineVideo January 11, 2012

A big win for Hollywood, as Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) Tuesday said it was working with an unnamed studio to implement the UltraViolet digital content locker. Rumors that Amazon would become the first major retailer to work with UltraViolet surfaced in December.

The sudden popularity of its Kindle Fire tablet moved Amazon to the front burner for studios, which see the tablet as an opportunity for them to solidify their efforts to maximize return on content by both making it both more available to consumers to watch on multiple devices while keeping their digital rights safe.

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On Tuesday, Amazon's EVP for Digital Media, Bill Carr, said Amazon was "very excited about the additional possibilities from a customer's point of view that UV enables."

"The best movie and TV service for consumers is the one that provides them with the broadest choice possible," Carr said.

Having Amazon's bulk behind it could prompt other competitors, Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), in particular, into the UltraViolet fold.

Most of the major studios already have bought into UltraViolet, and retailers like Wal-mart and Barnes & Noble also are on board.

A number of companies have been reluctant to join. Apple and Disney, for example, have balked, and those are two major players the rest of Hollywood really can't do without.

Part of the problem is that the two reportedly are working on their own competing technology, KeyChest. Part of the problem is that UltraViolet has been a dud with consumers, many of whom were frustrated and confused.

The service has attracted 750,000 households since it was introduced in October, the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem, the consortium backing the platform, Tuesday said.

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Amazon signs on for a bit of the old UltraViolet Sees potential for Kindle Fire By Kate Solomon TechRadar January 11, 2012

Amazon has joined the UltraViolet movie project (aka the Saviour of Hollywood), working with at least one studio to offer its films under the UltraViolet banner.

UltraViolet, which landed in the UK on Boxing Day, is intended to allow us to buy a physical copy of a film from any retailer and get a digital copy which is stored in the cloud and streamed to our many and varied devices whenever and wherever we fancy it.

Getting Amazon on board will be a huge boon to UltraViolet given its mammoth size and interest in media streaming to the Kindle Fire, and the mega-retailer is currently working with an unnamed studio to sell its films in UltraViolet format. Parma violet

"The best movie and TV service for consumers is the one that provides them with the broadest choice possible," said Bill Carr, Amazon's VP of digital media.

"We're very excited about the additional possibilities from a customer's point of view that UV enables."

Other companies currently involved in the project include Lovefilm, Warner Brothers, Universal and Sony Pictures, while Disney is notably absent from the roster. ______

UltraViolet signs up 750,000 users, expands to UK Telecompaper January 11, 2012

The Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) announced that over 750,000 households have signed up to use its digital storage service UltraViolet since the launch in the US last autumn. The media industry has launched 19 titles enabled for UltraViolet, which allows users to store digital content purchased in the cloud and access it from different devices. Hollywood studios such as Sony Pictures, Universal Studios and Warner Bros will release "hundreds" of additional UltraViolet-enabled titles in 2012, DECE said, including films such as Moneyball, The Town and The Smurfs. UltraViolet also launched in the UK in late December with the film Final Destination 5, and additional titles planned for the UK in 2012 include Crazy Stupid Love, Midnight in Paris and Dolphin Tale. Manufacturers also have announced new UltraViolet Blu-ray players and applications.

Samsung announced that its Smart Blu-ray players will stream movies and TV shows stored in the cloud through a new Flixster application coming this year. In addition, these players will offer a "Disc to Digital" feature, developed in conjunction with Rovi, that will allow consumers to add their existing DVDs and Blu-rays from participating studios to their UltraViolet digital libraries. In the first half of 2012, DECE will introduce a Common File Format for downloads, making download functionality consistent across all UltraViolet retailers. This is

64 expected to increase consumer convenience by making repeated downloads of different file types unnecessary, even when using different brands of UltraViolet-compatible media player apps or devices. Ultraviolet is currently available in the US and the UK. UltraViolet plans to roll out its services to Canada and other territories in 2012-13. ______

UltraViolet signs 750,000 homes By Goran Nastic CSI Magazine January 11, 2012

The DECE consortium has said that more than 750,000 households have registered with the UltraViolet scheme to create and start using personal digital libraries, following the launch of an initial 19 titles.

The update on the roll-out was given at this week’s CES show, where it was announced that the number of registered users is expected to grow exponentially in the year ahead, as Hollywood studios offering UltraViolet films and TV shows, through UltraViolet-enabled DVDs and Blu-rays as well as electronic sell through (EST), plan to expand the scope and scale of UltraViolet.

Together, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Warner Bros Home Entertainment Group promised to release hundreds of additional UltraViolet-enabled titles in 2012, including new releases, catalogue and TV titles.

For the UK market, where UltraViolet first became available in December, planned titles this year include Crazy Stupid Love, Midnight in Paris and Dolphin Tale. Further announcements on relevant products and services in the country are expected soon.

DECE plans to begin UltraViolet roll-out in Canada in the coming months, with specific details on timing to be announced, as well as a number of other territories in 2012 and 2013.

The standard has been gathering a greater level of support from a range of companies, with the likes of Samsung, Akamai, Neustar Media and Rovi developing Blu-ray players and related technologies for the forthcoming UltraViolet Common File Format that will make download functionality consistent across all retailers.

The initiative launched to a lukewarm reception in the US, where consumers complained that the system was overly complex and didn't work well at launch. And while it has garnered a great deal of momentum within the industry there are still those that question its value, business model and potential impact ______

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