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We report to Rentrak for some pics and distribs and not all of them. Some demand it every night and others eith call or we fax it in the am. That's what we had been doing with Fox until this week when they freaked out about it. They said "we're doing this across the country." Anyone else hear anything like this? Meanwhile: we are reporting to Rentrak. We had resisted because we had a competitor who wanted to build in our town and they were working our grosses. We since learned that you can designate your info "do not share." Or so they say.

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Michael Hurley
Impresario

Yes, I had the same thing happen this week. Fox wouldn't take a booking for one of my booking accounts unil they opened an account with Rentrak.

Yes, there is a "do not share" option. Many of the comparisons I would like to get are not listed because of this...both indies and circuits.

I got the call this week too. will be put on hold if we dont call in each night from now on.

I went through this with Fox about a year ago--report to Rentrak or no booking. I thought it was nation wide at that time--must have just been branch since you are just hearing about it now.

HOW MANY DONT REPORT TO RENTRAK???

We do.

I only report Fox to Rentrak---Warner Bros and Buena Vista to EDI--the rest directly to the Distributor

I report every studio to Rentrak as do the theaters in my area.

Since I am the little fish in this pond, I do not care if others see my grosses. This way I can compare myself to the others. For example we are having a very good March vs. my peers based on 1 film; Wild Hogs, the others got it I could not.

I got a letter from Fox 6 mos. or more ago about reporting nightly to Rentrak or else... Like wimovieman, I report Fox to Rentrak; WB and Disney to EDI; all others to distributors directly.

I don't care for Rentrak's answering machine--seems pretty lame and verbose. A couple weeks or so ago, I couldn't even get through at all the entire weekend, so I called Fox on Monday AM. Then Rentrak called to scold me!!! I told them that I had tried to get through, but their recording was different than normal and at the end it said "goodbye." She told me I had made a mistake and called the wrong extension. Yeah, okay, whatever, I have only one number! (The same number worked the next weekend.)

I suggested to them that DreamWorks had the best recording ever, and they should see about getting that service.

I always e-mail my Rentrak grosses. Generally seems to work ok, although sometimes they miss posting a classic, an obscure indie, or even Rocky Horror.

If I'm missing something I'll get a polite e-mail from one of their people asking if I have the figures yet.

I fax all bo grosses to rentrak and EDI every night. Never had any problems and its a 1-800 number.

We use RTS ticketing, and ours is sent every night by FTP over an internet connection. To both Rentrak and EDI.

Rentrak calls me every night at the exact same time. I like it this way as I don't have to remember to make a call and deal with an answering machine. I always prefer talking to people, not machines.

EDI calls me nightly when I have a Warner Bros. picture, but not always at the same time. Sometimes I have to wait for them and can't leave the office. However they do always call before the theatre closes.

A side note about dealing with machines rather then with people. My banks drive up window is in another building on the other side of their parking lot. As a cost cutting measure, they replaced the cashier out there with one of those tube devices that runs into the main building to the regular tellers. You now talk to the teller through an intercom just like ordering at the fast food drive through. You don't see anyone. There is a camera and they have a screen so that they can see you. When you are inside the main bank at the walk up counter you see the screen they are watching and hear everything that is being said by the customer out at the drive up window. I certainly don't want or need every customer in the bank to hear my conversation with the teller, so I have never used the drive through since they made that change, and never will.



[This message has been edited by RoxyVaudeville (edited March 27, 2008).]

They told us: due to not calling Rentrak we're taking you off service. I thought that a bit radical. I feel like they should have said " part of doing biz with us is that you call Rentrak. If you have a problem with that then we can't do biz." It was never conveyed to me how critical this issue was and these comments shows how all over the board this issue is. The requirements before an "off service" should be clear.

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Michael Hurley
Impresario

Mike,

It certainly has been a recent demand to promptly report numbers from Fox.

I email mine in to Rentrak daily and 95% of the time things are on their website within 30 mins. If I do forget to send it in, I too get a nice email reminder.

Rentrak also has a significant presence in the video rental industry. About 6 years ago they invited myself and about 6-7 other video store owners to their corporate office in Portland, Oregon. This was just after their was a nasty fight over control of the company and the new CEO was in place. These people are extremely nice folks. Each of the top management spent a couple of hours with us listening to our concerns, opinions, etc.

If anyone has a problem with what Rentrak does, I have no doubt that any reasonable request will be considered. This top management of this compnay is probably the nicest and accessable of any publicly traded company.