Business Notes Entertainment

- The blockbuster Dances with Wolves may have swept this year's Academy Awards, but the videotape version of the three-hour epic has left some viewers and store owners snarling. To load the entire Orion Pictures film onto a single cassette, the tape's manufacturer used a thin stock that has sometimes snapped when rewound. While Orion said last week that about 5% of the initial 655,000 Dances tapes have proved faulty, some stores said the defect rate is closer to 15%. The problems stole a bit of luster from the tape, which has been among the top video rentals since its release last month. But cash-strapped Orion denied that it squeezed the film onto one cassette to cut costs. Orion said video shops prefer single-cassette tapes because they are easier to handle.