Bob Iger, CEO of Disney, has spoken out about the current state of the home entertainment industry, revealing that there is still a market for DVDs - but more choice of things to do in the home and not just the economic climate is having an impact on sales.

Interviewed on The Charlie Rose Show, Iger said that Disney was looking at all areas of distribution of its movies, but there was still a place for DVDs.

"The home video business is more challenged than ever before. And that's the problem," Iger explained.

"People are still buying [discs]… They're just not buying as many of them.And the primary reason, I would argue, is that they have other things to do."

Iger continued: "Technology may stand, but you are still facing a more competitive world. You have many more choices today than you ever did before. It's not just more channels, it is more websites, social networking and games, all of those things.

"I look at my kids' generation and it is not just about watching a TV show or a movie any more, it is about doing other things."

Taking the Mickey

When it comes to the download/DVD debate, Iger believes that while the internet is playing a big part in Disney's distribution plans, there is still a gap between how much money Disney was making in the DVD's heyday and its combined download and disc sales at the moment.

"There are all kinds of video on demand, pay per view and electronic sell-through – where you sell someone the movie to own on a hard drive – and that is all growing nicely," said Iger.

"But while that is growing fast, it hasn't grown large enough to make up for the loss of sale from physical goods.

"It will continue to grow, whether the whole will ultimately grow enough to be like what we had in the beginning of DVDs, I don't know."

Disney DVD sales are down 15 per cent year on year, according to Iger, but he believes that the humble disc isn't dead yet just "not as healthy as it was".

http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/ ... -is-934514

That's common sense there, that man wants to be careful

I was thinknig exactly the same thing when I was reading it!

LOL!

I must admit, since I moved in with my girlfriend, my DVD watching has dropped 80%, using the computer by about 85%, watching TV has gone up about 20%... Doing things not TV or computer related have gone up correspondingly.

There has always been something to do other that gawp at a screen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_Don't_You%3F

Dont you mean up and down, up and down for three minutes then sleep?

'One exec told me that 30 to 50 percent of DVDs are still in their original shrink wrap'

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20039915-261.html

Have a read at that, fascinating article IMO

I have to confess that a number of mine that I bought are still in their shrink wrap and have yet to be watched. Too many other things to do before I get around to watching them.

I have a couple of box sets bought over a year ago still in the shrink wrap.

That's not as bad as my books though; some of those are still wrapped having been bought over a decade ago