Summer Camping in San Diego

22 Jul, 2013 By: Stephanie Prange

I’m getting ready to head down to San Diego for the Comic-Con International Convention as I write this column. Meanwhile, the kids (thank goodness) are in summer camp. The following week is the Los Angeles Entertainment Summit, which like Comic-Con the week before brings together many of the players in our industry.

Years ago, we all gathered in Las Vegas for the annual VSDA convention. The VSDA (Video Software Dealers Association) is now the EMA (Entertainment Merchants Association), and the EMA is a co-host of the Los Angeles Entertainment Summit, which benefits the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (a truly worthy cause) and brings together suppliers and retailers in the home entertainment space.

While our annual July convention in Las Vegas is no longer a venue to catch up with friends and colleagues in the home entertainment industry, Comic-Con and the Los Angeles Entertainment Summit provide a forum for industry discussions before the all-important fourth quarter, when many of the biggest home entertainment releases of the year hit shelves and shoppers look to physical media to round out their stocking-stuffers and gift lists. With the summer theatrical slate already producing winners and losers, the pressure is on for home entertainment to offer an assist to the losers and fulfill the promise of the winners.

We will no doubt also discuss the digital future, and how the home entertainment industry might transition from physical to digital delivery.

I look forward to catching up with friends and colleagues during these two events to help the industry plan for the future. It’s nice to touch base at least once a year, if not more often (the International Consumer Electronics Show in January also is a good place to take the temperature of home entertainment). But getting together once or twice a year is an invaluable chance to forge a path and provide a vision for the home entertainment business.

Summer Camping in San Diego

About the Author: Stephanie Prange