This should be obvious. Trying to separate physical and digital distribution is pointless. It is all about content.


Physidgital. I know it’s not a real word, but it’s the new word (you heard it here first!) that kept coming to mind as we laid out the news pages this week.

Back in May, we changed VB’s design to draw equal attention to stories about packaged media and those about new formats such as electronic delivery to homes and portable devices. Our tagline says it: “Covering Video Entertainment: Physical - Digital - Mobile.”

The challenge is, it’s getting harder to separate physical, digital and mobile.

Consider these stories. In “Connected devices come home quickly,” Jennifer Netherby talks about the growth of Internet-connected devices in living rooms—many of which have been playing physical media (think Blu-ray Disc players and game consoles) as their primary purpose.

Or the story about Apple adding DVD-style extras to iTunes downloads.

There’s also the Down Low blog “Hulu linking to Amazon VOD,” in which we see that Hulu is linking to Amazon so that viewers who like something they’re streaming can buy a permanent download, or potentially even a DVD.

And this week’s Netflix story, tells us that customers who have left DVD-by-mail merchant Netflix are returning to entertain themselves with video streaming.

Maybe our “Physical” and “Digital” story distinctions are already out of date?

We face the same challenge as retailers and studios—whether to compartmentalize stories (or revenues), or go with the big, messy flow. Physical? Digital? Both!

http://www.videobusiness.com/blog/1120000312/post/150048815.html