So how exactly does unlikely Pirate Bay bidder Global Gaming Factory X intend to profit from the scourge of the entertainment industry, and pay content owners? CEO Hans Pandeya, who offered SEK 60 million (£7.4 million) this week, tells paidContent:UK he wants to sell users’ unused hard disk space to…

Update: A source has confirmed that the talks are ongoing, but are preliminary (not advanced, as FT reported), and include the other studios as well, besides Sony (NYSE: SNE) and Fox. This is more of a backend physical production+distribution merger talks to save on costs.

Cablevision-owned AMC has made two small online acquisitions: it has bought filmsite.org, a site for classic movie reviews and commentary, and filmcritic.com, a catch-all movie review website. Financial details were not disclosed. Filmcritic is one of the oldest movie review sites and founded by journalist and editor Christopher Null in…

Swedish publicly listed software company Global Gaming Factory X says it wants to buy The Pirate Bay SEK60 million ($7.8 million) and will begin compensating copyright ownersfor material its users find and download. GGF announced today said it will also buy P2P technology company Peerialism and plans “to launch new…

» What the future looks like for *Netflix*, now that mailing things has become passe (and not everyone decided to get an Xbox 360).  [WSJ.com] » Good thing Netflix (NSDQ: NFLX) has a backup plan because Redbox has its own plan for DVD dominance. [Yahoo Finance] » The new owners of the San…

Nikki Finke (pictured), who delights in Hollywood scoops and gigging the entertainment establishment, has sold her one-woman DeadlineHollywoodDaily.com to Mail.com Media Corp., ending considerable speculation about where the site would wind up. In addition to the sale, Finke has a partnership agreement for exclusive distribution via MMC; she maintains “complete’…

DVD-by-post rental business Lovefilm told us it is reviewing some kind of sell-off options, after earlier FT reports hinted at a deal. A spokesperson told us: “We can confirm Lovefilm has received approaches and the board is considering options on on behalf of the group and its shareholders.” Amazon (NSDQ:…

It’s been a while since we’ve heard any definitive news about BD Live, the platform that lets studios embed interactive features like games and IM chats into their Blu-ray movies—but at least one studio has figured out that BD Live needs to tap in to preexisting social networks for it…

The pending Xbox Live integration with Last.fm, Facebook and BSkyB shows that *Microsoft* has been busy making new content deals ever since the launch of last year’s very successful *Netflix* partnership. And Xbox Live’s GM Marc Whitten said that there were more coming down the pike—including deals that would increase…

Epix, the high-profile premium movie JV from Viacom (NYSE: VIA), Paramount, MGM and Lionsgate, is launching online tomorrow in a private beta. The service, announced with much fanfare in April last year, still hasn’t announced a distribution deal on cable or satellite. Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer said in an earnings…

Best Buy wants a piece of the booming digital movie distribution business—and it has brokered a new deal with CinemaNow parent company Sonic Solutions to get it. Movie buffs will soon be able to download films directly from BestBuy.com, and through select devices the company sells in-store. This is the…

YouTube is taking another stop in its transition from a purely user-generated site to one that also broadcasts premium content like TV shows and movies. In April, it started showing professional programming from the networks and studios. Tomorrow, Bloomberg reports, it will broadcast its first live premiere of a movie:…

*Google* is beating *Microsoft* at search, and *Apple* is pummeling *Microsoft* on the music front—but with the popularity of the Xbox 360 and Xbox Live, *Microsoft* has a major edge on all of its challengers when it comes to controlling the living room. And the company made it clear that…

Legendary Pictures has tapped *EA* and *Activision* vet Kathy Vrabeck to head up its new interactive entertainment arm (via Variety). Vrabeck joins Legendary after a few months of speculation about the movie studio’s gaming aspirations; she left her post as head of EA’s casual games division in November 2008. Prior…

The home video category apparently wasn’t recession-proof enough for Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI), which said Q1 net income plunged 39 percent to $27.7 million ($0.12 per share) from $45.4 million the year before. On an adjusted basis, profits were $41.3 million ($0.19 per share). Revenues fell 19.4 percent to $1.12 billion,…

After a long period of uninterrupted growth, Sony (NYSE: SNE) has announced its first full-year loss in 14 years due to a downturn in consumer spend on gadgets and the collapse of financial markets and currencies in Japan and worldwide. In its full-year results to March 31, the company announced…

*Apple* already sells iPods through kiosks in airports and stores, but the company also has plans for units that will let people load up on digital movies and music on the go. AppleInsider dug up a patent detailing Apple’s plan to develop a kiosk that will let owners of iPods,…

RealNetworks (NSDQ: RNWK) said today that its first-quarter financial results were heavily affected by currency exchange rates, resulting in a five percent decrease in revenues compared to the year-ago period, and a net loss, compared to a profit in the first quarter a year earlier. Excluding the effects of these…

Sony (NYSE: SNE) is still trying to build up Crackle (fka Grouper). Previously, the site focused on “minisodes” of original and condensed classic TV shows, but now the video site’s execs are telling WSJ that it will concentrate more on streaming full-length movies as a way to get its target…