In 2008, Terra Firma hired the guy who ran the company which makes Cillit Bang and Air Wick to turn EMI Music around. But now the record label finds itself seeking a reported £100 million to avoid breaching banking covenants. So now executive chairman Elio Leoni-Sceti is on his way…

Canada continues to stick it to the U.S. when it comes to hockey. Not only do they get the gold medal, now Canadians can watch Hockey Night in Canada streamed live on Yahoo Canada for the rest of the season. (For those who made it through the Vancouver closing ceremonies,…

The NFL has signed a new four-year deal with Verizon Wireless, putting an end to a roughly five-year partnership with Sprint (NYSE: S). The deal is valued at $720 million, including a rights fee and advertising spending, according to the WSJ, which quotes people familiar with the negotiations. NFL fans…

Litigious EMI may have avoided a court showdown with yet another digital music startup (it’s settled a case over lyrics data with TuneWiki), but it’s also fighting a case brought against it by one of its own artists… Pink Floyd has two beefs, according to some rather bare-bones reporting of…

David Dorn doesn’t flinch when the C word—“cheesy”—comes up during an interview about Rhino Entertainment. He embraces it, talking about the two extremes of the Warner Music Group (NYSE: WMG) catalog division—a “really great sense of humor” that can result in something like Golden Throats, the series of compilations featuring…

Variety followed up Sunday’s Academy Awards with a different batch of envelopes, handing out pink slips to eight editorial staffers—including chief film critic Todd McCarthy and theater critic David Rooney—in its latest reorg. Reed Business Information has sold or plans to sell most of its U.S. titles that rely heavily…

No need to duck out of work early, now you can watch March Madness games live over your iPhone, and for the first time—anywhere over AT&T’s 3G network. The application, which is expected to be available Monday on iTunes, will cost $9.99—twice as much as last year’s version that was…

Last-minute dramatics this afternoon as the next “deadline” approaches for Disney (NYSE: DIS) and Cablevision: tonight’s Academy Awards. Disney says it’s sent a new proposal and the ball is in the cable operator’s court. But Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) is playing a different game: calling on “CEO Bob Iger to immediately…

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. Instead the Chicago Sun-Times movie critic—a master blogger and tweeter—is going the value-added route, launching The Ebert Club: annual subscriptions $4.99 through the end…

Tribeca Enterprises, the parent of Tribeca Film Festival, has launched two new multi-platform ventures in time for the upcoming festival next month. The first one is called Tribeca Film, a distribution arm for indie films year-round, with day-and-date releases on VOD through various cable cos as well. The first acquisitions…

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 on CNBC Thursday CEO Jim Keyes insisted that the company had a bright future in digital because of its strong brand. “When you’re driving down mainstreet and…

Another batch of changes at AOL (NYSE: AOL) as ex-Googler David Eun moves into his new role of president, AOL Media and Studios. Two are meant to buttress AOL’s ambitious content management plans: David Mason, the co-founder and CEO of recent acquisition StudioNow, as SVP-AOL Content Platform, reporting to Eun,…

The long-rumored Sony (NYSE: SNE) Playstation phone is now becoming a reality. Sony is developing a new lineup of handheld products, including a smartphone that would be capable of downloading and playing PlayStation games, as well as connecting to Sony’s online media platform, reports the WSJ, which quotes people familiar…

Take-Two Interactive (NSDQ: TTWO), which is under heavy pressure to turn-around its flagging performance, is cutting 15 percent of its corporate staff. (A spokesman wouldn’t say how many jobs were cut but said no positions were eliminated at Take-Two’s studios). The company described the job cuts as part of a…

		EPS*	Rev. vs Q0109	Net Inc. vs Q0109
Take-Two Interactive	Release		9%	38%

* vs. Analysts' Estimates: Beat Met Missed

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 unraveling: Real is giving up the fight over RealDVD, the software deemed a copyright killer by the studios because it allowed users to store an image…

Former MySpace (NYSE: NWS) CEO Chris DeWolfe—who left MySpace last April—is back in the social media space via the acquisition of social games portal MindJolt. DeWolfe is partnering with fellow MySpace co-founders Colin Digiaro and Aber Whitcomb, along with VC firm Austin Ventures, to buy the company. He’ll also join…

Playdom, which said it would use some of its recent $43 million funding round for acquisitions, is following through on that pledge. The social gaming company is buying up Offbeat Creations, the developer of several Facebook titles, including dice game Super Farkle, which has more than one million users. Super…

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 surprise, perhaps, that there are some sites bearing an uncanny resemblance to Hulu launching in other markets. The latest is ivi.ru, a Russian portal that…

THQ (NSDQ: THQI) has confirmed that its mobile game studio in Finland has entered into liquidation, putting an end to a decision made a year ago to make the Universomo office the hub of its smartphone game development. In January 2009, THQ conducted a significant restructuring that included focusing on…