Resolutions and wishes

By Carl DiOrio -- Video Business, 12/30/2005

DEC. 30 | It’s a new year, so why not a new attitude?

No more hand-wringing over video industry consolidation and assorted threats to packaged media. Enough of the forecasts of doom and gloom for rentailers, and just save your breathe when it comes to big boxers’ cutting DVD prices to the competitive disadvantage of smaller-fry retailers.

Not that there isn’t an ample measure of truth behind many such complaints. But how about joining me in a shift in emphasis, focusing more in 2006 on the solutions and less on the problems?

More specifically:

* Viewed in a certain light, rental isn’t weak but remarkably resilient.

So isn’t it time to tap that abiding core loyalty of rental customers by expanding subscription plans to take advantage of store and product allegiances?

An industry vet recently told me he’s surprised there remains so little differentiation in store inventory from one market to another. Maybe urban rentailers need to get a bit edgier, while suburban operators and others emphasize family rental plans.

* DVD isn’t dying, it’s evolving.

Indeed even flat revenue of the sort the format continues to produce is a business marvel to behold. And even the slow-to-arrive delivery of next-generation discs can be seen as a positive, as the longer gestation allows proponents of the new format(s) to promote next-gen benefits to the masses.

* The Internet isn’t a threat, it’s a resource.

Of course, it’s “all good” for Netflix and others who actually conduct their business online. But even more traditional video retailers can use cyberspace as a low-cost promotional medium—provided store managers are trained in amassing the necessary info so that coupons and other promos can be e-mailed to customers.

So, the retail glass is half full at the start of 2006. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it—who’s with me?

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OK, now that the requisite New Year’s-resolution bit is out of the way, on to a more fun tradition: The New Year’s wish list.

* First off, wearing my consumer hat, I offer the fond hope that suppliers will begin placing as much emphasis on ease-of-use in disc packaging as they do on foiling shoplifters.

* Next, as someone who would still like to visit the movie theater occasionally, here’s hoping exhibitors finally realize that their recent embrace of cinema advertising is a short-sighted money grab, turning away prospective patrons by the droves.

Of course, on behalf of video retailers, I just as well could say here’s hoping the theater owners continue to cut their own throats with the spreading ads lunacy. But there are signs that the Hollywood studios are starting to cry foul, so look for continued debate on the issue over the coming year.

Here’s what Universal vice chairman Marc Shmuger recently told the Los Angeles Times regarding on-screen commercials and other audience annoyances:

“[T]heaters need to clean up their act—quickly. Some are obscenely cluttered with ads that interfere with the moviegoing experience, along with ringing cell phones, crying babies and patrons providing their own commentary.”

Talk about an advertisement for home theaters.

Finally, for those wondering whether we at VB ever will get around to running a feature on your particular hot-button industry issue, this New Year’s wish: Keep those e-mails and letters coming!