FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information:
Charles Van Horn
President, CDSA
+1-609-279-1700
cvanhorn@contentdeliveryandstorage.org
Sean Bersell
Vice President, Public Affairs
Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA)
+1-818-728-8663
sbersell@entmerch.org
CDSA and EMA Establish Strategic Alliance for the
Development of Digital Delivery Metadata Standards
PRINCETON, NJ - April 24, 2008 - The Content Delivery & Storage Association (CDSA) has announced that it has joined the Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA) in the establishment of industry metadata standards for the digital delivery of home entertainment content via the Internet. In doing so, CDSA actively joins EMA's Digital Delivery Council, which has gained the participation of leading studio and retailers for this vital step in the industry's technical development.
The industry metadata standards will provide uniformity in the communication of product data by content suppliers to retailers and in the nomenclature used to convey that data.
"We welcome CDSA and its members' support in our effort to create a common language for digital files and thereby streamline the pipeline of entertainment from the studios, via retailers, to the consumer," says EMA President Bo Andersen. "Without common standards the industry faces substantial inefficiencies and unnecessary roadblocks to the inevitable development of our industry's digital future."
According to CDSA President Charles Van Horn, the fact that the various online home entertainment retailers require differing sets of metadata with their files causes unnecessary production difficulties for his association’s membership, which is set with the responsibility of storing and delivering the content on behalf of their studio clients.
“Only through bringing the digital service providers into the discussions with the studios and their retail partners can we truly overcome what is becoming a burdensome production and distribution process,” Van Horn says. “Everyone – the studios, the retailers, and their service providers –are all in a position to benefit from the establishment of standards and we applaud EMA in taking such a collaborative approach to solving the metadata debacle.”
CDSA joins current members of the EMA Digital Delivery Council including: Lionsgate, Warner Home Video, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Universal Home Entertainment, Cinema Now, and Netflix.
The EMA Digital Delivery Council was founded in June 2007 to facilitate education for any company that delivers digital data through a financial transaction, whether it is a subscription model or an individual sale. One of its first steps was the development of a Digital Delivery Glossary, which ultimately led to the understanding that there was no single “metadata language” for the industry’s digital video files.
CDSA has also been actively involved in investigating the metadata issue, which came as a direct result of its establishment of standards and procedures for the protection and security of digital files through post production facilities. These Post Production Security Standards and Procedures specify requirements for security management applied by content production, compression, encoding and authoring organizations in post production that contribute to the security of video and audio content from front end production to delivery. These standards and procedures were presented to the industry in 2007 in cooperation with Deluxe Digital Services.
“Our members were encouraging us to begin our own metadata standardization initiative but, once we became aware of EMA’s efforts, it only made sense to work together since the most effective plan involves bringing all concerned parties around a single table at one time,” Van Horn explains. “We encourage all our members and all our partnering associations to work together to help build these standards as quickly as possible.”
About EMA
The Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA) is the not-for-profit international trade association dedicated to advancing the interests of the $33 billion home entertainment industry. EMA represents approximately 600 companies throughout the United States, Canada, and other nations. Its members operate approximately 20,000 retail outlets in the U.S. that sell and/or rent DVDs and computer and console video games and digitally distributed versions of these products.
About CDSA
CDSA, the Content Delivery & Storage Association (formerly IRMA, the International Recording Media is the worldwide forum, advocating the innovative, secure and responsible delivery and storage of entertainment, software and information content. Founded in 1970, this global trade association's membership includes companies involved in every facet along the digital and physical media supply chain.
EMA is headquartered at 16530 Ventura Blvd, Suite 400, Encino, CA 91436. Phone: +1-818-385-1500, Fax: +1-818-385-056, Web: entmerch.org
CDSA is headquartered at 182 Nassau Street, Suite 204 , Princeton, NJ 08542-7005 USA. Phone: +1-609-279-1700, Fax +1-609-279-1999, Web: contentdeliveryandstorage.org
About CDSA
CDSA, the Content Delivery & Storage Association (formerly IRMA, the International Recording Media Association), is the worldwide forum advocating the innovative and responsible delivery and storage of entertainment, software and information content. Founded in 1970, this global trade association's membership includes companies involved in every facet along the digital and physical media supply chain. Beginning with the audiocassette, through the home video revolution, and into today’s digital delivery era, CDSA has always been the organization companies have turned to for news, networking, market research, information services, and leadership. CDSA also publishes the professional journal Mediaware that provides "Executive Strategies for the Advancement of Content Delivery & Storage."