LoveFilm, which is often regarded as the “Netflix (NSDQ: NFLX) of the Europe,” has struck a major deal with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios that gives its streaming rental service access to hundreds of classic movies and new home video releases. The deal comes as LoveFilm is trying to be seen as more…

Another win for fledgling premium net Epix HD: a deal with Dish Network to offer the service to those of its 14.1 million customers who subscribe to HD. It’s the first national deal for the net, which already has signed up *Charter*, Cox , Verizon FiOS, Mediacom and NCTC. When…

Last month, Viacom (NYSE: VIA) CEO Phillipe Dauman confidently said he expected new premium network Epix to add more distribution partners before its fall launch but the Oct. 30 launch date announced this week still has only one launch partner: Verizon (NYSE: VZ) FiOS. The joint venture of Viacom, Paramount,…

The high-profile premium movie JV from Viacom (NYSE: VIA), Paramount, MGM and Lionsgate, now called Epix, is still optimistic on getting a distribution deal on cable or satellite by fall this year, despite worsening economic conditions. The JV has already announced that it will go ahead with an online/broadband launch…

Back when I started writing about cable programming, if a wannabe network couldn’t get distribution on cable, it tried satellite in the hopes that would put pressure on cable or at least give the network a way to move off paper and into some homes. If it couldn’t get satellite,…

So much has been written about the new premium movie channel that is supposed to be launched jointly by Viacom (NYSE: VIA) with MGM, Lionsgate and its own Paramount Pictures in the fall of 2009, including the fact that it may have run into some trouble on the distribution side,…

Frozen out of most of mainstream full length content, YouTube’s repository is beginning to thaw a bit, as traction among competitors such as Hulu and TV networks’ own sites begins to grow: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (MGM) is tying up with the Google-owned video site, and will start posting episodes of its…

It was leaked weeks ago but the players involved in the new premium network wouldn’t confirm officially: Mark Greenberg is president and CEO of the new premium entertainment JV recently announced by Viacom (NYSE: VIA) with MGM, Lionsgate and its own Paramount Pictures. Greenberg had a long career at Showtime,…

One sign that a company is ultra serious about a new venture: when the CEO of a major media company does press calls on a Sunday afternoon. Viacom (NYSE: VIA) CEO Philippe Dauman was doing just that today, as he explained the surprising decision to band together with Lionsgate and…

We reported first earlier this month that former Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) CEO Terry Semel is boosting his investment firm Windsor Media, with the addition of three senior executives, two from Yahoo and one from Endeavor. Also, we had mentioned that the firm is morphing from an investment firm into a…

Not that a lot of people are interested in Movielink‘s fate anymore, after it got sold to Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI) earlier this year, but if you are from one of the five studios—MGM, Paramount, Sony (NYSE: SNE), Universal and WB—that invested a total of about $148 million in five years,…