It’s 2010. Hooray! Does anyone feel the home entertainment business is less embattled than it was three weeks ago?

Every year, CES opens right after New Year’s, and it’s terribly inconvenient for everyone involved. Why, oh why, does such a trade show have to be in early January, goes the lament. The answer, traditionally, is that it’s the nature of the business, and the show must be held in January to accommodate product manufacturing and retail merchandising cycles for the fourth quarter. I suspect, however, that the real reason is to make all involved feel good about their businesses heading into the New Year. Everything shown at CES is so shiny and new and full of bells and whistles and promise that the year ahead surely will be good, right?

This year, the te...Read More

As I write this, and you read it, 2009 is drawing to a close. And without a doubt, one widespread sentiment about the year is probably "Good riddance."

It has been a tough one all around, but particularly in the home entertainment industry. Here, hardworking executives have had to deal not just with declining DVD sales, but also with the exaggerated perception in the general media, on Wall Street and sometimes even within the media conglomerates themselves that the decline in home entertainment revenue is deeper and more widespread than it actually is.

Perhaps we all need to take a deep breath and say slowly, together, "The sky is NOT falling." Om…

When every 2009 transaction is tallied, I expect the bottom line is going to look very similar to the wa...Read More