Blu-Ray Partners France Welcomes European Studios

Blu-ray Partners France is soon to celebrate its first anniversary. Having started out with 11 members, one of its most significant successes this year has been to increase its membership. Amongst its new members are the movie studios Paramount and Universal which have joined since the end of the format war. Two replicators – QOL and Sony DADC – have joined. Significantly, the association has welcomed the French national home entertainment trade association, SEVN, as well as independent French studio TF1 Video. Blu-ray Partners France reports that StudioCanal is now joining the association as well.

“In France it is so important to have local studios like TF1 and StudioCanal in the BDA since around 20 per cent of movies sold in our country are produced in Europe,” commented Daniel-Georges Levi, from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment and President of Blu-ray Partners France. 2008 has been a strong year for Blu-ray Disc in France with the task force having embarked on a major marketing communications program in 2007. In the hardware market it is forecast that around 130,000 stand-alone players will be installed by the year’s end, accounting for three per cent of total player sales in terms of volume and nine per cent in terms of value.

“Currently, player prices are following the price decrease that traditionally exists with consumer electronics products,” remarked Arnaud Brunet, General Secretary of Blu-ray Partners France and from Sony France. “This is good news for consumers and will help build the installed base of players.”

In France the killer hardware device is still PLAYSTATION3 and it is forecast that 1.3 million units will be sold in 2008. However, another strong BD hardware market is IT devices. The French team reports that as many as 240,000 PCs and opens solutions BD-IT devices will be sold this year in France. The French Blu-ray Disc software market is looking progressive. Up until the end of October slightly over 1 million discs had been sold and this is forecast to double by the end of the year.

It is the new title releases (as opposed to catalog) where Blu-ray Disc is scoring the biggest success. Currently, Blu-ray Disc releases account for more than 10 per cent of total disc sales. By the end of the year this figure is set to increase to 15 per cent. “We are seeing a very positive trend in movie sales,” commented Daniel- George Levi. “Currently we have around 600 BD titles available in France and this will increase to over 700 by the end of December. Working with retailers, we are not sparing any effort to move BD into the French mainstream.”