DVD: A Though Challenge In EuropeBy Gary Reber

At the recent DVD Summit 2 Conference, one of a number of seminars on the Continent attended by European video executives to discuss marketing approaches, packaging and distribution of DVD, the impression left was that Europeís home entertainment executives are still trying to figure out how to launch the DVD format successfully. Marketing a single-disc concept on the Continent has been a though challenge. Among the issues facing DVD marketers are a perception that Europe is composed of too many cultures to effectively market a single product. Then too, thorny issues relating to varying censorship standards in individual nations is a central conflict. And, as well, the high price of DVD-Video players has daunted mass appeal.Unlike in America, the U.S. majors apparently have been reluctant to fully push DVD in Europe. In the U.S., studios and hardware manufacturers regularly joint venture to promote the DVD format with attractive disc-player offers, but such practice has not found favor with European companies nor support from American movie studios that could supply DVD titles offered with machines.Probably the most difficult hurdle to DVD success with a single-disc concept is the challenge presented by censorship issues. Producing a disc to satisfy European movie fans accustomed to sexual explicitness and the strict content standards imposed in Britain is, for example, an obstacle. To deal with the censorship issues, a group known as the Steering Group of European Censors is now working with the European Commission toward a proposal to standardize certification requirement for movies on DVD.Regional coding also has not proven successful and, as a result, has slowed acceptance. Savvy consumers and retailers are regularly modifying DVD players sold in Europe to defeat regional code encryptions, thus allowing Region 1 U.S. discs, which are reported to be of better quality and cheaper, to be played. Such activity to modify DVD players and import Region 1 discs is illegal and punishable with jail sentences but nevertheless a situation that persists. Such acts totally run counter to the desires of motion picture studios to protect their copyrighted content from being viewed prior to scheduled European theatrical release. This is yet another factor that has caused studios to be reluctant toward a major DVD push in Europe because they are on uncertain ground.Still, the DVD Video Group, the U.S.-based group that promotes the DVD format, reports that Europe will see an installed base of almost 1 million players by the end of 1999 with software sales amounting to some 11.2 million units in 1999 and 25.1 million in 2000, based on player sales of 2.2 million. The market in Europe is more than 150 million households. Along with these projections are the a trend in falling player prices from 1998ís average $825 to nearer the U.S. average of $399, which is being driven by a push to sell to the masses low price $250 DVD players.In summary, the conference in Dublin, Ireland left the impression that the development of a single, pan-European DVD disc was far greater an obstacle than the formatís optimists had perceived. While the issues are being addressed, the impact has daunted the prospects for the same level and speed of acceptance of the fledging DVD format as in the U.S.