Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg imagined that the Oculus virtual reality technology his company acquired would eventually go beyond gaming — and it looks like that trend is already taking shape. Developers from a wide variety of industries are working on new apps for the Oculus Rift that could be used by stock traders, educators, psychiatrists, astronauts, filmmakers and others. The Oculus Rift is making VR more accessible because of its relatively low cost and growing variety of content. Continue reading Oculus Rift Virtual Reality Technology Not Just About Gaming

Speaking at the WSJD Live global tech conference in Laguna Beach on Wednesday, filmmaker James Cameron discussed how his upcoming “Avatar” sequels will be influenced by virtual reality, noting that he now directs his cast using VR headsets and is increasingly involving CGI designers more closely during the scriptwriting process. While he does not anticipate his three films to be viewed on VR headsets, Cameron envisions a future in which VR devices will impact how audiences experience movies. Continue reading WSJD Live: James Cameron on Virtual Reality and Cinema

Music sales via Apple’s iTunes Store have dropped about 14 percent since the start of the year. Meanwhile, streaming services now supply one-third of the recorded music revenue in the U.S. The total number of streams reported for services such as Spotify and Pandora have increased 46 percent this year over 2013. This shift may be one reason behind Apple’s $3 billion acquisition of Beats Electronics. The company is reportedly planning to relaunch Beats next year as a part of iTunes. Continue reading Streaming Services Grow While iTunes Music Sales Decline

The National Association of Theatre Owners, which currently maintains 32,000 U.S. screens, and the Motion Picture Association of America announced in a joint statement yesterday that their anti-piracy policies would now include powering off wearable devices. “As part of our continued efforts to ensure movies are not recorded in theaters,” the groups explained, “we maintain a zero-tolerance policy toward using any recording device while movies are being shown.” Continue reading NATO, MPAA Update Anti-Piracy Policy to Include Wearables

Apple and Amazon, two of the world’s most successful retailers, find themselves struggling in today’s market to increase the sales of books, movies, music, and games because of a shift in consumer priorities. It seems that consumers no longer want to buy media; they want to rent it. The two companies can be considered largely responsible for creating the problem because they made it so easy to rent books and stream music that consumers didn’t feel the need to buy media anymore. Continue reading Consumers Transitioning from Purchasing to Renting Media

Amazon announced its Fire TV Stick, a $39 device ($19 for Prime subscribers) that plugs into the back of a television to provide access to movies and shows via online services such as Amazon’s Prime Instant Video and competitors Hulu and Netflix. Scheduled for a November 19th release, the Fire TV Stick offers twice the memory of Google’s $35 Chromecast (a bestseller on Amazon) and is priced lower than Roku’s $50 stick. However, it joins a crowded market of over-the-top Internet streaming devices. Continue reading Amazon to Join Crowded OTT Device Market with Fire TV Stick

Japanese startup Crunchers unveiled a system at Tokyo International Film Festival’s content market that will help forecast how a movie will perform in theaters. The system uses big data to determine the success of a movie based on marketing and promotional efforts, word-of-mouth or the “viral effect,” and the timing of the release, and it will only continue to improve its accuracy as it gets more data. Crunchers’ system launches in Japan in November with the U.S. release expected by early 2015. Continue reading Startup Introduces System to Predict Box Office Performance

According to a new study, prank-based viral videos have recently become the most-shared forms of movie content. In the study, social video advertising platform Unruly analyzed the most-shared movie promos from September 2013 to September 2014. In that time, the six major movie studios generated 3.4 billion views of promotional content. Through the study, Unruly determined that the studios that went beyond the simple trailer were more successful in promoting movies. Continue reading Study Shows Prankverts Currently Most-Shared Movie Content

As HBO and CBS introduce their own streaming video subscription services, they may face a variety of content-related challenges, according to panelists at Variety’s Entertainment & Technology Summit on Tuesday. Companies will need a large catalog of titles if they want to compete with services such as Netflix. Then the content has to be marketed and distributed on a variety of platforms. The panel talked about how hard it is for a subscription service to compete for viewers’ attention today. Continue reading Streaming Video Subscription Services Struggle with Content

In the wake of HBO and CBS announcing online subscription offerings, Tribeca Enterprises and Lionsgate announced yesterday that they plan to offer a new online VOD service by June 2015. The Tribeca Short List service will focus on prestige titles curated from their libraries, in addition to a selection of foreign films. The move is the latest by media companies looking to leverage the Netflix-dominated SVOD market. Univision is joining networks HBO and CBS with its plans for a standalone streaming video service. Continue reading Tribeca and Lionsgate to Launch Video on Demand Service

Speaking at MIPCOM this week, Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos said his company is going to modernize the distribution model of movies. The online streaming video service has new film deals in the works, including a sequel to “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” and a four-picture agreement with Adam Sandler. Netflix’s original films will have a day-and-date release, so that viewers can have the option of watching the movie in theaters, buying the DVD, or streaming it on demand beginning the same day. Continue reading MIPCOM: Netflix Pushing Day-and-Date Releases for Movies

HBO announced yesterday that it plans to launch a standalone Internet streaming service in the U.S. next year that would not require a traditional TV subscription. The move is part of the cable network’s strategy to reach out to cord cutters, and underscores its growing rivalry with Netflix. The two companies are battling for a new generation of viewers who prefer watching their TV shows and movies via Amazon, Hulu, Netflix, and YouTube rather than subscribing to cable or satellite television. Continue reading HBO to Take On Netflix with New Streaming Service in 2015

While Netflix has become the largest standalone subscription programming service in the U.S., and the leading brand among millennials, the company attracted a disappointing number of new users during the third quarter, resulting in a 26.4 percent drop in its stock value yesterday. Netflix added 980,000 customers for the quarter, down from 1.3 million for the same period last year. The disappointing results were intensified by HBO’s announcement that it plans to offer a competing service next year. Continue reading Netflix Shares Take a Hit After Disappointing Third Quarter

Panelists at the Entertainment Merchants Association’s Digital Media Pipeline 2014 conference last week considered what defines a premium experience for consumers and how to best deliver it. Execs from Inception, MovieLabs, The Orchard and Sony discussed today’s variety of platforms, ways to keep consumers connected to content, meeting consumer demands, the need for a universal specification that supports multiple platforms, using social tools for search and discovery, and more. Continue reading Digital Media Pipeline: Making Digital a Premium Experience

Sony’s much-anticipated PlayStation TV went on sale this week for $100 MSRP — or $140 packaged with a DualShock 3 gamepad controller, 8GB memory card, and “The Lego Movie Videogame.” The mini console, which essentially provides a Vita experience on a big screen, connects to a TV or PC via HDMI and allows users to access games and streaming services. “It is essentially a modern version of Nintendo’s GameBoy Player mashed up with all the capabilities of an Amazon Fire TV,” suggests VentureBeat. Continue reading New PlayStation TV Provides Gameplay and Streaming Media