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GLOBAL sales of 3D TVs increased by 72% in 2012 despite an industry-wide slump in the global TV market, according to data from DisplaySearch, reported by Advanced Television. 3D TV shipments totaled 41.45 million units last year, compared with 24.14 million units in 2011 and 2.26 million units in 2010. The proportion of 3D TVs in the flat-panel TV market almost doubled to 19% from 11%. By company, Samsung led the market with a 27% market share, down from 31% in 2011 and 37% in 2010. LG ranked second with an 18% market share, up from 14% in 2011 and 6% in 2010. Sony came in third with 7%.

DIGITAL sales of movies and TV shows now account 10.9% of total sales in the $1.174 billion Australian home entertainment industry, according to trade body the Australian Home Entertainment Distributors Association (AHEDA). The size of the digital film and TV market was $127.77 million in 2012, up 36% on the previous year. It is dwafed by the sales of DVD and Blu-ray disc that generated $1.046 billion or 89.1% of total spending.

DATA on entertainment sales compiled by Nielsen Media Research for the UK Film Distributors' Association show that film sales - incorporating DVD, Blu-ray and downloads - were down 10% to $2.42 billion. Digital sales were up 20.3% to $147.1 million. Therefore, physical sales still accounted for a massive 93.9% of all film sector sales. This compares with digital sales accounting for 34.6% of games industry sales and 38.05% of music sales.

AUSTRALIA's Blu-ray sales grew 40% to $122.1 million in 2012, while DVD sales fell 30% to $748.6 million. Blu-ray was included for the first time in Screen Australia's analysis in 2008 when it accounted for around 2% of total value and 1% of units sold. In 2011, Blu-ray accounted for 14% of total value and 12% of units sold.

WHILE Iranian officials dismissed Ben Affleck's Oscar-winning film Argo as pro-CIA, anti-Iran propaganda, and has not been screened in any Iranian theaters, many Iranians have seen it nevertheless. In downtown Tehran, bootleg DVDs of Argo sell for about 30,000 rials, or less than $1.

DUTCH revenues from the sales of DVD and Blu-ray fell sharply in 2012, said trade association NVP. Despite a slight increase in Blu-ray disc sales, total revenues fell 18% from the previous year. In total, almost 3 million fewer movies were sold, compared to 2011. The number of titles that sold over 100,000 units decreased to 2 from 5, due largely to the declining number of stores selling these units. The online market meanwhile grew by 36%.

THOMAS & Friends' Blue Mountain Mystery was the most popular pre-school DVD of 2012 in the UK, according to the Official Charts Company. The 60-minute animated special also aired on Channel 5 on New Year's Day, and 537,000 viewers tuned in to watch it. Last year's Thomas & Friends feature-length special, Day of the Diesels, drew 328,000. Hit Entertainment's other pre-school properties including Mike the Knight and Fireman Sam also made up half of 2012?s top 20 selling UK pre-school DVDs.

AZERBAIJAN's parliament has approved an amendment to the law on religions limiting sales of religious materials. According to the amendment approved on 22 February, all religious materials, such as books, discs, videos, audiotapes and books can be sold only if they are specially marked to show they are allowed for sale in the country. The new regulation also says that all religious materials should be sold only in specially designated stores. The parliament speaker, Oqtay Asadov, said the measure's goal was to prevent the illegal import of material propagating religious extremism.