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U.S. DVD Media Market Reaching Saturation

According to the Hollywood Reporter, with the number of active DVD releases in the market expected to pass the 60,000-unit mark by year's end, studios finally are slowing their release pace, perhaps in recognition of the worsening shelf-space crunch at retail.

The first half of this year saw 9.2 percent fewer DVDs come to market than in the first half of 2005, according to preliminary estimates from the DVD Release Report, an industry tip sheet. The Report pegs the number of first-half 2006 titles at 5,758, down from 6,392 in the first half of last year.

"Call it the 2005 product bulge," editor Ralph Tribbey writes in the DVD Release Report. "Call it maturity. Call it a creative response to space limitations." The first-half 2006 results are virtually identical to first-half 2004, when 5,749 DVDs came to market, Tribbey said.

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