U.S. Census Bureau Daily Feature for June 7

U.S. Census Bureau Daily Feature for June 7

WASHINGTON, June 7, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:

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GOING TO THE TAPE

Profile America -- Sunday, June 7th. A home entertainment revolution began on this date in 1975, when the videocassette recorder was introduced. It was Sony's Betamax format recorder, which in a very few years was superseded by the rival VHS format. Although Betamax was technically superior, VHS gained its dominance by being the first cassette to offer extended recording times. At its peak, some nine-out-of-10 households across the country had a VCR. Then the DVD was introduced in 1997, and now the rising format is the Blu-ray system, allowing video quality to match high-definition television sets. Renting out DVD and Blu-ray discs, and what's left of videocassettes, is the business of over 4,700 shops in the U.S., engaging in a nearly $4.5 billion a year business. Profile America is in its 19(th) year as a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau.

Sources:
Anniversary: http://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2011/06/0607betamax-vcr-television-recorder/
Betamax vs. VHS: http://www.mediacollege.com/video/format/compare/betamax-vhs.html
Video tape and disc rental establishments and receipts/NAICS 532230: http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ECN_2012_US_00A1&prodType=table

Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotions of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Multimedia Gallery" by the "Newsroom" button).

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SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau

Photo:http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110428/DC91889LOGO
http://photoarchive.ap.org/
U.S. Census Bureau

CONTACT: Rick Reed of the U.S. Census Bureau, +1-301-763-2812, fax: +1-301-763-3762, richard.thomas.reed-at-census.gov

Web Site: http://www.census.gov


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Profile: intent