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News in Brief

LOSSES at Irish entertainment retailer Golden Discs rose by 77% to €129,000 last year in the year to the end of June 2012, the company said yesterday. The company?s turnover declined by 7.5% from €10.7 million to €9.9 million over the same period. However, if CD sales have declined by 16%, DVD sales experienced growth, outperforming Chartrack statistics for Ireland, which suggest CD sales declined by 20% and DVD sales were 16% lower in 2012.

THE MEDIA-TECH Conference Europe, that will take place 11-12 June 2013 in Hamburg, Germany, will feature all of the key players within the Packaged Media market and will look at the current marketplace and future business models. The event will discuss all aspects of Blu-ray technology to redefine the link between physical and digital media. For programme, speakers and registration, visit www.media-tech.net.

DESPITE a growing ownership base of Smart TVs, there is still a lack of conscious desire to use the sets to connect to the Internet, with most consumers preferring to connect their televisions to the Internet with other devices like games consoles, according to new research from UK pollsters YouGov. An estimated 13% of the UK population is now thought to own a Smart TV, although less than half of these owners currently use their device as the primary means of accessing online content. Furthermore, fewer than half (47%) of Smart TV owners currently use the set to go online on a weekly basis.

FORMER Warner Home Video & Digital Distribution executive, Frenchman Yves Caillaud, has been appointed Region Manager Europe by the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) to oversee the deployment of cloud-based digital locker UltraViolet delivery system on the Continent.

JAPANESE independent replicator Toyo Recording, a leading disc manufacturer and solutions provider to the media industry, has purchased an additional Bluline II BD production line from Singulus Technologies. Established 50 years ago, Toyo Recording started as a bridal video production and high-speed video duplication. The company expanded to authoring, CD, DVD, and BD manufacturing for the advertising industry. Toyo Recording installed the first Singulus CD replication machine Skyline in Japan.

ANNUAL revenue generated from content delivered to mobile handsets and tablets is expected to increase by nearly $25bn over the next three years, reaching $65bn by 2016, a new report from Juniper has found. Growth would primarily be fuelled by an upsurge in game, video and eBook purchases via tablet devices, allied to increased opportunity for content monetisation via DCB (Direct Carrier Billing) on smartphones.

TESTRONIC Labs has been named an Authorized Test Center for the HTC Connect testing and compliance programme. HTC created this programme to offer consumer electronics manufacturers the opportunity to create an improved sound and visual standard when connecting HTC devices with their consumer electronics. For the consumer, this logo will indicate that wireless audio and video may be sent through their HTC smartphones to in-home and in-car electronics displaying the logo. Testronic is the first testing center in Europe to become certified by HTC for this programme.

TDK Corp., a leading innovators of Blu-ray technology, and the first to offer multi-layer Blu-ray discs, including BDXL, announced a number of restructuring measures aimed at improving its financial positions. Among the most significant changes is the plan to either sell its optical disc manufacturing business or simple withdrawing from Blu-ray disc manufacturing (by March 2014) as BD discs are becoming a commodity with low profit margins.