[ARSCLIST] RIP, VHS (from Variety)

[David Lennick <dlennick@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

VHS, 30, dies of loneliness

  The home-entertainment format lived a fruitful life
  By DIANE GARRETT


  After a long illness, the groundbreaking home-entertainment format VHS has
died of natural causes in the United States. The
  format was 30 years old.
  No services are planned.

  The format had been expected to survive until January, but high-def formats
and next-generation vidgame consoles hastened
  its final decline.

  "It's pretty much over," concurred Buena Vista Home Entertainment general
manager North America Lori MacPherson on
  Tuesday.

  VHS is survived by a child, DVD, and by Tivo, VOD and DirecTV. It was
preceded in death by Betamax, Divx, mini-discs
  and laserdiscs.

  Although it had been ailing, the format's death became official in this, the
video biz's all-important fourth quarter. Retailers
  decided to pull the plug, saying there was no longer shelf space.

  As a tribute to the late, great VHS, Toys 'R' Us will continue to carry a few
titles like "Barney," and some dollar video chains
  will still handle cassettes for those who cannot deal with the death of the
format.

  Born Vertical Helical Scan to parent JVC of Japan, the tape had a difficult
childhood as it was forced to compete with
  Sony's Betamax format.

  After its youthful Betamax battles, the longer-playing VHS tapes eventually
became the format of choice for millions of
  consumers. VHS enjoyed a lucrative career, transforming the way people
watched movies and changing the economics of
  the film biz. VHS hit its peak with "The Lion King," which sold more than 30
million vidcassettes Stateside.

  The format flourished until DVDs launched in 1997. After a fruitful career,
VHS tapes started to retire from center stage in
  2003 when DVDs became more popular for the first time.

  Since their retirement, VHS tapes have made occasional appearances in
children's entertainment and as a format for
  collectors seeking titles not released on DVD. VHS continued to make as much
as $300 million a year until this year, when
  studios stopped manufacturing the tapes.