Disney Digital Narrows Losses As Revs Rise 20 Percent
photo: AP Images
The Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) posted healthy gains this past quarter, and the company cited box office successes such as Alice In Wonderla… Read more »
BlinkBox Begins Off-PC Box Delivery With PS3 Service
It’s added 4.8 million views a month to the BBC’s iPlayer – so what can it do for commercial VOD services?
BlinkBox is about to find out. I… Read more »
FCC Lets Hollywood Distribute First Run Films As VOD — And Block Copying
photo: Justin Jibbs
A Federal Communications Commission rule change has granted two big wishes to the Hollywood film studios on Friday. Rejecting pleas from cin… Read more »
News Corp. Beats Estimates On Profit, Revenue But Digital Losses Increase
photo: Avatar (official site)
Avatar didn’t bring home the Oscar for best picture but it helped News Corp (NYSE: NWS) to a win for its FYQ3 — revenue up nearly 19 percen… Read more »
It’s A Wrap: Movie Gallery To Close All U.S. Locations
photo: Corbis
A milestone in the transition to alternate video rental models: Movie Gallery, the second largest video rental chain in the U.S., is closing… Read more »
Broadband Content Bits: Video Views, Virgin Media Movies, STV Local
– Video views: Monthly UK online views jumped 37 percent from last year to 5.5 billion in February, comScore says, with BBC, ITV (LSE: IT… Read more »
Redbox Ends Legal Wrangling With Fox, Universal; Agrees To 28-Day Window
photo: Fox Entertainment
It took a couple of extra months but Fox and Universal have agreed to roughly the same deal with DVD rental kiosk company Redbox as Warner B… Read more »
YouTube’s Rental Store Now At ‘Hundreds’ Of Videos And Counting
YouTube’s video rental store — which started out with five Sundance Film Festival titles in January — now has “hundreds” of movies, TV sho… Read more »
Netflix Reports Big Jump In Instant Streaming
photo: AP Images
Netflix (NSDQ: NFLX) continues to add subscribers at a fast clip, adding a record 1.7 million subscribers to its roster during its first qua… Read more »
Netflix Agrees To Delay Distribution Of New Releases From Fox And Universal
photo: Corbis / Kimberly White
Universal Studios and Twentieth Century Fox, which are both trying to protect sales of their DVDs, have now gotten Netflix (NSDQ: NFLX) to a… Read more »
News Flash: Blockbuster Execs Still Got Bonuses, For “Fiscal Leadership”
photo: Flickr / lucias_clay
That’s about the only thing you can say working for Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI) now, nevermind those movie studio deals that it closed over the… Read more »
Sony And Fox Give Blockbuster A Break
photo: Corbis
The big studios are coming to Blockbuster’s aid. Two weeks after Warner Bros. (NYSE: TWX) said it would provide Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI) with… Read more »
Spain Finds Film Piracy A Hard Habit To Break
By Giles Tremlett: It has been the setting for many a spaghetti western, but now Hollywood has warned that Spain could be facing high noon o… Read more »
Icahn Checks Out Of Blockbuster
photo: Corbis
Activist investor Carl Icahn has sold 75 percent of his holdings in Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI) — at a time when the rental chain probably need… Read more »
Blockbuster To Get New Warner Bros DVDs Four Weeks Before Netflix/Redbox
This surely isn’t the four weeks of Advent, but nevermind, at least Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI) gets some breathing space it desperately needs.… Read more »
Studios, Operators Spending $30 Million To Promote Movies On Demand
photo: programwitch
Several cable operators and movie studios are teaming together to launch a $30 million marketing and promotion campaign touting the virtues… Read more »
10-K Watch: Blockbuster Warns Of Crushing Debt Problems; Chapter 11 Filing Remains A ‘Possibility’
A few weeks after reporting that its net loss grew in Q4, Blockbuster’s 10-k presents some stark details about its debt struggles. The movie… Read more »
Variety Follows Oscars With Cuts, Including Chief Film Critic
Variety followed up Sunday’s Academy Awards with a different batch of envelopes, handing out pink slips to eight editorial staffers — inclu… Read more »
Pre-Oscar Drama: Disney Sends ‘New’ Proposal; Cablevision Offers Binding Arbitration
photo: Corbis / Reuters / Mario Anzuoni
Last-minute dramatics this afternoon as the next “deadline” approaches for Disney (NYSE: DIS) and Cablevision: tonight’s Academy Awards. Dis… Read more »
Roger Ebert Makes Pay Play: The Ebert Club
Roger Ebert thrives on the web. Now he’d like to get paid for it but not by blocking access to the site or its 10,000-review archive. Instea… Read more »
Tribeca Enterprises Launches Film Distribution & Online Premium Movie Ventures
photo: William Rexer II/Tribeca Films
Tribeca Enterprises, the parent of Tribeca Film Festival, has launched two new multi-platform ventures in time for the upcoming festival nex… Read more »
Blockbuster CEO: ‘We Certainly Don’t Think We’re Late For The Digital Side’
photo: Corbis
Blockbuster’s stock is trading at under a dollar, its net losses are widening, and it’s in the midst of closing nearly 1,000 stores — but o… Read more »
Sony’s Comeback Plan Includes PlayStation Smartphone
photo: veroyama
The long-rumored Sony (NYSE: SNE) Playstation phone is now becoming a reality.
Sony is developing a new lineup of handheld products, inclu… Read more »
RealNetworks Gives Up On RealDVD; Will Pay Studios $4.5 Million
photo: Flickr/mightykenny
Rob Glaser is still chairman of the board but it looks like the post-Glaser era at RealNetworks (NSDQ: RNWK) is well underway. The latest un… Read more »
Russian Hulu Lookalike, Ivi.ru, Opens For Business
photo: ivi.ru
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. And, with Hulu yet to launch services outside its home market of the U.S., it’s no sur… Read more »
Movie Downloads Windfall Fails To Materialize; Is Hulu To Blame?
photo: lanuiop
Yes Movielink and Cinemanow sucked for a long time, and iTunes never became a huge movie seller. That was 2-3 years ago. So what happened si… Read more »
Liberty Evaluating ‘Strategic Alternatives’ For Overture Films
Two months after hiring former HBO CEO Chris Albrecht to oversee Starz as part of an original programming push, Liberty Media (NSDQ: LINTA)… Read more »
Blockbuster Loss Widens; Next 18 Months Remain ‘Challenging’
As if Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI) didn’t have enough competition, this week’s news that Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) is buying digital home video servic… Read more »
Updated: Walmart Buys Digital Home Video Service Vudu
Walmart is about to make a semi-major move into digital home: the company confirmed after the market closed Monday that it is buying online/… Read more »
Redbox Drops Warner Bros. Lawsuit; Accepts Extended DVD Window
photo: Eddie Does Japan
Redbox has ended its lawsuit against Warner Brothers Home Entertainment and will give in to the Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) unit’s demands for a… Read more »
Reelzchannel Buys Acquires Online Comedy Site HollywoodPressTV
Movie previews and news cable outlet Reelzchannel is adding a dash of mockery to its web holdings with the acquisition of HollywoodPressTV.… Read more »
News Corp. Got $12.5 Million In Flixster Stock For Rotten Tomatoes
photo: Flickr/heath_bar
News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) received $12.5 million in Flixster stock when it sold its Rotten Tomatoes movie reviews site to the startup last mont… Read more »
Industry Moves: LoveFilm, Dailymotion, Samsung, Unanimis
– LoveFilm: Lesley Mackenzie is the new group digital officer for the film and game rental site. Her previous roles include CEO of now-defu… Read more »
Aussie Court Rules ISP Merely A Conduit For Hollywood Piracy
A big setback Down Under for Hollywood studios: A federal judge in Australia has ruled that ISP iiNet is not liable for copyright infringeme… Read more »
Movie Gallery Files For Chapter 11 — Again
photo: Corbis
Movie Gallery has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy for the second time in less than three years, citing the “economic and competitive realiti… Read more »
YouTube’s Rental Box Office Totals Flop
photo: YouTube / manymorningsmovie
A figure that doesn’t seem to bode too well for paid content on YouTube: The video site grossed just $10,709.16 by renting five Sundance Fil… Read more »
Netflix Adds A Trove Of Indie Films To Its Streaming Catalog
photo: AP Images
Netflix’s online instant-streaming catalog is getting some indie cred. The company has reached deals with several big indie distributors, wh… Read more »
Hulu’s Plans Include Embracing Any Mobile Device
photo: Tricia Duryee
Hulu, the second-most popular video streaming service after YouTube, has had an on-again, off-again view on mobile, and at the moment it’s b… Read more »
Taking A Deeper Look At Media’s Appetite For The iPad
photo: gdgt
For some critics, the lack of participation from content companies at yesterday’s iPad launch threw some cold water on predictions for how t… Read more »
Netflix Subs Surpasses 12 Million, Helped By Streaming Deals
Netflix was able to fulfill its high expectations for Q4, thanks in part to the addition of 17,000 streaming video titles via the movie-rent… Read more »
