Video Industry Ready for the Year’s Biggest Get-Together

The Video Software Dealers Assn. convention in Las Vegas, a yearly gathering of video retailers and manufacturers, is the biggest get-together of the year for an industry that’s getting bigger every year.

The eighth annual convention, a four-day affair beginning Sunday, is expected to follow tradition by celebrating the industry’s success, bringing potential deal-makers together and providing a forum for issues and announcements of which videos will be released for the Christmas holiday season.

This is the time of year everyone revels in the size and growth of the industry. For example, at the 1984 convention, the percentage of households with a VCR was barely 20%. In May of this year, Nielsen Media Research reported that figure had reached 65.5%.

In retail dollars, the industry is approaching $10 billion. Last year, according to Betsy Niesyn of the trade journal Home Video Publisher, business topped $9 billion in rentals and sales.

The focus of the convention has changed somewhat in recent years. The big attraction used to be the splashy announcements of the Christmas holiday releases. But now the major announcements are made as early as June, to allow for longer advertising buildup and to give retailers time to plan those crucial fourth-quarter buys.

However, this year rumors are rampant that there will be one or two major announcements of Christmas releases of summer smash hit movies--Warner’s “Batman” and RCA/Columbia’s “Ghostbusters II.”

The most persistent rumor is about “Batman,” mainly because trade journals have leaked the news that Warner has discussed pricing possibilities with distributors and that the duplication wheels are reportedly set to go. Normally a blockbuster like “Batman” wouldn’t be released to video for at least another year.

According to Lou Berg, the Houston retailer who’s also president of the association, these are some of the matters concerning retailers:

-- Defective tapes. Because of all the aging VCRs, many renters are ruining tapes. So far, video retailers absorb the loss fully. They would like the video manufacturers to share the cost of the loss. According to Berg, many retailers are solving the problem through piracy--making another copy of the tape rather than buying a new one.

-- Nintendo. A federal bill is in the works that would prohibit the rental of computer games--and maybe Nintendo cartridges. The Japanese company that makes the computer games is anticipating the availability of a machine that copies game cartridges.

-- Sales. This is a perennial issue, stemming from the fact that most retailers focus on the rental of tapes and ignore sales. The problem is that mass-merchant chains, such as Target, are getting heavier into the sales business.

-- Laser. Laser discs are becoming more popular. Retailers need to confront this growing phenomenon, which, Berg said, is more of a bonus to retailers than a threat.

-- Violence bills. On Aug. 28, the first anti-violence law goes into effect in Missouri, prohibiting the sale or rental of movies featuring offensive violence to anyone younger than 17. The fear, said Berg, is that if this measure goes into law, other states will pass similar laws.