Sony Pictures to lay off 450, Blames DVD sales

Sony Pictures Entertainment told employees Monday that in March the company will lay off 450 workers, more than 6.5 percent of its 6,800 global workforce.

Pointing to the economy, as well as changes in technology, the company noted that DVD and Blu-ray sales fell 13% in the U.S. last year.

An article on CNET quotes Francis Ford Coppola as saying: "The cinema as we know it, is falling apart."


I have quite a few DVDs; I started buying them when the format first came out, and bought dozens a year, but now my consumption has gone way done. I don't rent (or "steal") more either. Frankly, I think more than half the movies I bought were actually back catalog items that I bought as they were released. But I'm not planning on buying those again in Blu-ray.
I think the movie studios enjoyed a bit of a once-in-a-lifetime windfall; I'm not sure that the economy picking up will immediately pick up sales. Maybe I'm wrong; I know they hoped they'd get it again with Blu-ray, but I think it's unrealistic for people to replace all their DVDs within ten years of buying them.

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