TWICE News

• Planar HT Sees Q1 Sales Drop
  
  By Greg Tarr, February 6, 2008
  Beaverton, Ore. — Planar said sales from its home theater unit, including the Planar, Runco and Vidikron brands, dropped 3 percent from a year ago.
  
• Harman Reports Higher Q2 Sales, Lower Earnings
  
  By Steve Smith, February 6, 2008
  Washington — Harman International Industries reported higher sales, but lower net earnings due to portable navigation devices, product mix and higher costs for its second fiscal quarter, ended Dec. 31.
  
• EPA Revises Energy Star DTV Specs
  
  By Greg Tarr, February 6, 2008
  Arlington, Va. — The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday updated its guidelines for qualifying the most energy-efficient digital televisions eligible to bear the Energy Star label.
  
• Circuit City's Credit Line Raised To $1.3B
  
  By TWICE Staff, February 6, 2008
  Richmond, Va. — Circuit City’s chief lenders have raised the chain’s credit limit from $500 million to $1.3 billion under terms of a new loan agreement that went into effect Jan. 31.
  
• Dish Rearranges Executive Posts
  
  By Greg Tarr, February 6, 2008
  Englewood, Colo. — Dish Network president Carl Vogel has resigned from the post for personal reasons and has been replaced by Charlie Ergen, the company said Tuesday.
  
• HES Elects New Board, Names Schuster President
  
  by Alan Wolf, February 6, 2008
  Anaheim, Calif. - Home Entertainment Source (HES), the A/V specialty division of the Brand Source buying group elected Marvin Electronics principal Stuart Schuster its new president.
  
• Apple Boosts Memory, Prices Of iPhone, Touch
  
  By Joseph Palenchar, February 5, 2008
  Cupertino, Calif. — Apple doubled the memory capacities of its iPhone and iPod Touch and tacked on an additional $100 to their price tags, but lower capacity versions will remain on the market.
  
• Whirlpool Reports Record Q4 Results
  
  by Alan Wolf, February 5, 2008
  Benton Harbor, Mich. — Strong overseas sales, combined with greater operating efficiencies, helped Whirlpool surmount the U.S. housing market slump to post record sales and earnings for the fourth quarter of 2007.
  
• New Global Test Standard For DVD Media
  
  By TWICE Staff, February 5, 2008
  Cupertino, Calif. — OSTA and Ecma International announced today that the International Standards Organization (ISO) has approved ISO/IEC 10995.
  
• Hitachi CE Reports Higher Q3 Sales
  
  By Steve Smith, February 5, 2008
  Tokyo — Hitachi’s digital media and consumer products unit reported a double-digit sales gain  in its fiscal third quarter, ended Dec. 31.
  
• D&H To Transition Management Team
  
  by Alan Wolf, February 4, 2008
  Harrisburg, Pa. — D&H Distributing’s senior management team will assume new roles and responsibilities this spring when president Gary Brothers hands off his day-to-day duties in advance of a planned retirement.
  
• Apple Stores Add Polk
  
  By Joseph Palenchar, February 4, 2008
  Baltimore — In its second major distribution deal in as many weeks, Polk Audio announced plans to sell its first products through Apple stores and Apple’s online store.
  
• Visteon Sells Factories; Keeps Aftermarket Biz
  
  By Amy Gilroy, February 4, 2008
  Van Buren Township, Mich. — OEM car electronics supplier Visteon Corp. sold its non-core North American-based aftermarket underhood and remanufacturing facilities to Centrum Equities.
  
• Cable Networks Sue FCC Over Dual Carriage
  
  By Ted Hearn, Multichannel News, February 4, 2008
  Washington - Several major cable TV programmersare are suing to block the FCC from forcing cable systems to carry some local TV stations in analog and digital format for three years, beginning in early 2009.
  
• Popcorn Launches DVD/VOD Service
  
  By Greg Tarr, February 4, 2008
  Los Angeles — A new DVD/video-on-demand (VOD) service called Popcorn Home Entertainment said it has reached a deal with cable TV multisystem operator Cablevision to enable subscribers the ability to purchase a package of both the DVD and VOD versions of new and catalog movies.
  
• JVC Announces HD Camcorders
  
  By Greg Scoblete, February 1, 2008
  PMA News Las Vegas — JVC will ship two new HD camcorders to dealers in March, the company announced at PMA.
  
• Harman Specialty Group To Restructure
  
  By Joseph Palenchar, February 1, 2008
    Bedford, Mass. — Harman International’s Harman Specialty Group (HSG) will consolidate offices during the next several months.
  
• HP Enters Digital Frame Market
  
  By TWICE Staff, February 1, 2008
  Las Vegas — Hewlett-Packard has joined Sony as a new player in the digital photo frame market.
  
• Sharp’s Q3 Operating Profit up 5.5 %
  
  By Greg Tarr, February 1, 2008
  Osaka, Japan — Sharp reported a 5.5 percent increase in operating profit to $486 million for the third quarter ended Dec. 31, despite greater-than-expected price competition in LCD TVs.
  
• XM Settles With Sony BMG Over Inno
  
  By Joseph Palenchar, February 1, 2008
  Washington — XM Satellite Radio has settled with a third major music company over the recording capabilities of its Pioneer Inno headset satellite radio.