DVD BOOM CAME AS A SURPRISE.

Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer

Entertainment executives underestimated the explosive growth of the now-booming DVD format when it was first made available to the public five years ago, one of the industry's pioneers said Wednesday.

Benjamin S. Feingold, the president of Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment, was honored Wednesday with the the first DVD Pioneer's Award at the fifth annual DVD Conference and Showcase held at the Hilton Universal City and Towers. He was among those at the forefront of the launch of DVD - in conjunction with Warner Bros., Toshiba and Sony - who had to deal with anti-digital bias in Hollywood, as well as technology and regulatory issues, at a time when VHS was firmly ensconced as the dominant format in U.S. households.

``Intuitively, we thought it was a great product, but we had to overcome a level of conservatism at some of the other studios, as well as piracy concerns, in launching this digital format,'' Feingold said before the award dinner. ``When we launched, some people said DVD would not work because there is no recordability, and they were dead wrong.''

Columbia TriStar, the home video division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, released its first four DVD titles in 1997: ``Jerry Maguire,'' ``Fly Away Home,'' ``Jumanji,'' and ``In the Line of Fire.''

Feingold said the strategy was to make the movies immediately available at ``sell-through'' prices that made them affordable to early DVD enthusiasts. At that time, even films on VHS were not typically priced to own until after they had been available as rentals for some time.

``It was love at first sight for the consumers at the beginning, and as the (DVD player) prices came down, more and more people purchased machines,'' Feingold said. ``It's clearly the fastest-growing consumer electronics product in the history of the business.''

With parent-company Sony Pictures Entertainment setting a new single- season box office record this week, less than eight months into the year, its home video division is primed for a wildly successful fourth quarter.

Among the titles that will hit store shelves are ``Spider-Man,'' the highest-grossing movie of the year - more than $400 million - and fifth-highest of all time, the suspense film ``Panic Room'' starring Jodie Foster, the summer blockbuster ``Men in Black II,'' the Adam Sandler comedy ``Mr. Deeds,'' a special two-disc version of ``Black Hawk Down'' and the family film ``Stuart Little 2.''

``XXX,'' the action-adventure starring Vin Deisel that has topped the box office for the last two weeks, may also be released on DVD late in the year.

``DVD has revolutionized home entertainment and provided an enormous boost to the motion picture industry globally.'' Feingold said. ``The future is just as bright as the current robust environment for movies on disc and we look forward to another five years of continuous growth.''

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(color) BENJAMIN S. FEINGOLD

Honored as DVD pioneer