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Abstract:
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In 1997 , DVD was introduced to the American public , beginning the fastest diffusion of any consumer electronics product in history . In this dissertation , I show how DVD , via favorable conditions in industry , technology , culture , economics , and the regulatory environment , replaced existing home video and computing technologies while transforming home entertainment . I analyze how DVD was successfully developed and commercialized by member firms in the filmed entertainment , consumer electronics , and computing industries from 1994 -2002 . I demonstrate how a new industry developed around DVD through unprecedented cooperation between these three industries . This study uses trade publications , mainstream press reports , industry data , advertisements , depositions to congress , and published interviews with industry members to analyze a process that has been understudied by scholars . Through the use of these resources , I explore how demand for the technology developed within existing contexts and how myriad forces aligned to enable the emergence of a new disc technology . Furthermore , I demonstrate how DVD reshaped these contexts while transforming the nature and business of filmed content distribution . DVD initiated a new era for digital content distribution . This era was marked by the convergence of three industries , new levels of access to filmed entertainment , mobilized viewing opportunities , the conflation of the computer and the television set , and heightened efforts to protect content through a variety of legal , regulatory , and technological strategies . |