For Immediate Release:
Federal Trade Commission Finds “Vigorous” Enforcement by Video Game
Retailers and “Meaningful Improvement” by DVD Retailers
ENCINO,
CA (April 20, 2011) … Bo Andersen, President & CEO of the Entertainment
Merchants Association today commended video game and DVD retailers for their
performance in the latest “undercover shop” by the Federal Trade Commission,
which seeks to identify the level of ratings enforcement by leading video game,
DVD, and music retailers and movie theaters.
Andersen said,
“EMA is pleased with the leading performance of its members in enforcement of the video game ratings and the significant improvement in enforcement of the DVD ratings. The credit for these improvements goes to the individual retailers who have made ratings enforcement a part of their corporate culture, and in the case of video games, the ESRB and their ESRB Retail Council.
“These numbers demonstrate once again that industry self-regulation can and does work, and there is no need for punitive government regulation, such as the California video game law that EMA and the Entertainment Software Association are currently challenging in the U.S. Supreme Court.”
The
results of the most recent “undercover shop” by the FTC released today showed,
according to the FTC that “video game retailers continue to enforce most
vigorously the ratings governing age and content that were established by the
entertainment media industry,” and that, while there is opportunity for
additional improvement, “[r]etailers of R-rated and unrated DVDs demonstrated
meaningful improvement in ratings enforcement.” The overall rate of ratings
enforcement among video game retailers surveyed was 87% and among DVD retailers
was 62% for R-rated DVDs and 53% for unrated DVDs. The complete “undercover
shop” results are available at http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2011/04/violentkidsent.shtm.
The Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA) is the not-for-profit international trade association dedicated to advancing the interests of the $35 billion home entertainment industry. EMA-member companies operate approximately 35,000 retail outlets in the U.S. and 45,000 around the world that sell and/or rent DVDs, computer and console video games, and digitally distributed versions of these products. Membership comprises the full spectrum of retailers (from single-store specialists to multi-line mass merchants, and both brick and mortar and online stores), distributors, the home video divisions of major and independent motion picture studios, video game publishers, and other related businesses that constitute and support the home entertainment industry. EMA was established in April 2006 through the merger of the Video Software Dealers Association (VSDA) and the Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association (IEMA).
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For more information, please contact:
Sean Bersell
EMA
818-531-4362 or sbersell@entmerch.org