This article comes from
www.dvdexclusive.com which you have to be a member to access. The bold highlighted paragraph indicates they will choose between making a dvd of either the Billy Joel musical or the Queen musical. Let's hope they pick We Will Rock You! Maybe we can start a letter-writing campaign to pick Queen? Any thoughts?
DVD CLEAR CHOICE FOR LIVE CONCERTS
Promoter Clear Channel joins home video world
By Susanne Ault 7/19/2004
LAS VEGAS--Concert promotion powerhouse Clear Channel Entertainment will be striking its first notes in the home video world this year.
CCE will adapt content from its 26,000 annual events, also including theater, fine arts and sports productions, into DVD titles.
Expected to head first to retailers in the fourth quarter will be a documentary based on the military precision flying team Blue Angels. CCE is also launching a national live tour featuring the team this October.
Also in the fall/winter pipeline will be one theater title. The company is choosing between on-going Billy Joel musical Moving Out and We Will Rock You: The Queen Musical, based on the flamboyant rock band legend.
The latter will bow in Las Vegas in August and later on Broadway in the fall. Both musicals are CCE productions.
"The fact that the company that is responsible for mounting all of these shows is now in the business of turning them into DVD projects is very exciting," said Steve Sterling, senior VP CCE TV, which has oversight of CCE home video operations. "We're the world's largest live event company, [and] I'm helping CCE become more of a media company."
Sterling told VB [Video Buisness] that he should announce distribution partners within the next few weeks. Since CCE works with such a diversified array of properties, the company is fittingly choosing a mix of distributors.
CCE would team with two major studios and three independents for its DVD titles, he said.
"It's going to take a lot of specialists. Doing freestyle motocross and doing Queen--the same company won't have the same strengths," said Sterling, who joined CCE six months ago from Eagle Rock Entertainment division Eagle Vision.
Another live event CCE is planning to leverage onto DVD is its Treasures of the Vatican arts tour. Aiming to introduce mainstream crowds to religious artifacts, Treasures will wind through large arenas and exhibition halls--rather than museums--in 25 U.S. markets this fall.
CCE also is in negotiations with record labels and musicians to soon release concert DVDs. Classic Broadway musicals should also arrive from CCE as well.
Clear Channel Communications, CCE's parent, is a market leader in radio and outdoor advertising. Sterling intends to take full advantage of that wide reach in promoting CCE's DVD product.
"We'll have substantial impact across retail," said Sterling, adding that CCE will target mass merchants as well as specialty outlets.
As far as concerns that DVD product might cannibalize CCE's live shows, Sterling shook his head, and explained, "The reality is that they promote each other. And nothing beats the live experience."
Sterling is especially excited about the coming rollout of high-definition DVD players. Theater titles, in particular, "will have high-def appeal," he said. With these next-generation players on the horizon, "the timing is really right for that."
Bottom line, Sterling thinks CCE has a ready-made consumer base for its DVD titles.
"We sell 72 million tickets a year," he said. "That's a strong constituency to deal with."
