The Entertainment Software Association, the trade group that represents the video game industry, spent almost $1.1 million in lobbying efforts in Washington D.C. in the third quarter of 2011. The group lobbied on a variety of issues such as energy efficiency, entertainment industry ratings, parental control technology, foreign trade policy reform, the H1-B visa program, piracy, and copyright issues. The group spent about the same amount of money that it did in the second quarter of this year - slightly less than in the third quarter of 2010.
According to a regulatory filing dated Oct. 19 with the House clerk's office, the group lobbied Congress, the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Trade Commission and other government agencies.
The group strongly supported the passage of two bills before both houses of congress - the Protect IP act and SOPA. In a letter dated September 22 the trade group (along with several other prominent companies and trade groups) urged lawmakers to pass bills that deal with "rogue sites." That letter, found here (PDF), has some surprising signatories including News Corp. (they own IGN), Viacom (they own GameTrailers), Electronic Arts, Nintendo of America, Sony Electronics Inc., Sony Music Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, UFC, WWE, NBA, MLB, NFL and Zumba Fitness. Several ISP's signed on as well including Comcast and Time Warner Cable.
One a related note, the EMA also supports SOPA and Protect IP - in case you didn't know that fact. While its name does not appear in the previously mentioned letter, the Entertainment Merchants Association (who you may recall for their great efforts on Brown v. EMA earlier this year) issued its own press release on September 19 throwing its support behind efforts by lawmakers.
Source: Bloomberg
