Company: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Title: Prexy worldwide
How he’s leading: The former MGM homevid topper was originally brought in to make sure Sony’s marriage with the Lion went smoothly; he was given the prexy title in September after MGM broke off the engagement and moved its disc distribution to Fox.
Bishop is taking over the top spot at a tricky time for Sony, one of the leading advocates for the Blu-ray hi-def format.
Certainly, in the fourth quarter, he’s got enough to think about in terms of standard-def DVD releases, which includes the bulk of Sony’s 2006 $3 billion slate — “Monster House,” “Click,” “Talladega Nights” and “The Da Vinci Code,” to name a few. Now there’s a need to ramp up the hi-def content as well, given that Sony’s Blu-ray-equipped PlayStation 3 has finally been released.
POV: “More long-term planning is in place for our catalog, which domestically continues to perform steadily,” Bishop says. “We’re 30% ahead of last year in terms of catalog sales.”
Homevid Leader Report:
