Blu-ray Sales Up Nearly 18% – Because of big sales of the latest Batman feature, Nielsen’s Market Share report for last week showed Blu-ray disc sales up 17.85% for the previous week vs. only 7.93% for DVDs. The previous week Blu-ray was up 7.12% and DVDs down 5.21%.
RIAA Abandons Most Downloading Lawsuits – After five years of shaking down college students and suing children and people who don’t even own computers, the Recording Industry of America Association has announced they have abandoned their anonymous lawsuits against most private parties for illegally downloading music files for free, and will instead put pressure on ISPs to limit illegal downloads. More than 35,000 lawsuits were filed against music lovers for file sharing online downloads, but the RIAA recently lost a high profile case, which seems to have changed their tune. (An example of the many misdirected suits was one for thousands of dollars for illegally downloading quantities of rap music, against a low-income single woman who didn’t even know how to download music on her computer and only listened to country music anyway.) They said they will not require ISPs to reveal the names of illegal downloaders, but that such people must have their service either downgraded or canceled as a result. The RIAA left open the possibility they may still go after individuals who are heavy uploaders of free copyrighted material or repeat offenders.
Sony to Close Last TV Plant in U.S. – Sony will shut down in February its last factory in the U.S. making TV sets. Located in Westmoreland, PA, it is part of 10% of Sony’s 57 worldwide factories, which closure will lay off roughly 8000 employees. The plant produced LCD panels, which will henceforth come to the U.S. from a plant in Baja, Mexico. In 2010 the Sony Blu-ray Disc Repair and the East Coast Logistic Operations facilities will also close.
Sirius XM Radio Merger in Operation Now – The two providers of satellite radio now have a monopoly of the service due to the approval of the FCC. Several consumer benefits have resulted: There is no longer a decision required as to which of the services one will have installed in their vehicle, and both brands of existing receivers will continue to work. A new a la carte service with 50 channels will be $6.99 a month (but has to wait for new receivers within nine months) and 100 channels are $14.99 per month. Those who have been paying $12.95 a month will be frozen at that rate for three years by FCC regulation. The new network will incorporate many of the most popular channels of both services, and the merger also provides that 4% of the new programming will be set aside for noncommercial and educational programming. Other companies will be offering Sirius XM Radio hardware, allowing users new choices. More high end receivers and preamps are also being offered with “satellite radio ready” options included.
Wayne Shorter – In Memoriam
Rememberance of the artist
