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Viacom plans to rid itself of Harmonix, the video game developer behind the Rock Band franchise, ending a failed foray into the gaming business.
Shares of Viacom rose more than 4 percent in morning trading on Thursday as the company reported quarterly results that topped Wall Street expectations.
Analysts had long questioned the value of Rock Band for a company known more for its cable networks MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and film studio Paramount Pictures. Get the full story »
Popular U.S. Web video service Hulu should more than double revenue this year to $240 million, its chief executive said on Wednesday, a growth projection likely to create more buzz about a potential public offering. Get the full story »
Don’t count Blockbuster out yet.
The Dallas-based movie and game rental chain is hiring about 4,000 seasonal employees to staff its stores nationwide this holiday season. That’s comparable to previous years when Blockbuster wasn’t reorganizing under Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Get the full story »
The Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed sympathy for a California law that aims to keep children from buying ultraviolent video games in which players maim, kill or sexually assault images of people.
But several justices said the law faces a high constitutional hurdle before going into effect. Get the full story »
YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley is stepping down as CEO of the world’s most popular Web site for watching video.
Hurley’s decision to give up the leadership role at the 5-year-old site formalizes a transition that has been in the works for some time as YouTube’s owner, Google Inc., asserted more control. Get the full story »
Lee Abrams. (Handout)
Tribune Co. Chief Innovation Officer Lee Abrams, who began the work week by sending a companywide e-mail that contained content deemed inappropriate, resigned Friday.
The e-mail, the latest in a weekly series of free-form observations and exhortations Abrams sent to all Tribune Co. employees in hopes of inspiring them to reconsider print and broadcast conventions, included links to video newscast parodies. One, which contained profanity and nudity, he labeled “Sluts.” Get the full story »
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Carey extended the filing deadlines in Tribune Co.’s bankruptcy case Wednesday to give rival creditor groups more time to propose alternative restructuring plans for the Chicago-based media company.
The move will push the first disclosure hearing on those plans into late November and guarantees that the all-important confirmation hearings in the case won’t be held until sometime next year.
Carey had earlier given Tribune Co. and its various creditor constituencies until this Friday to file any restructuring plans. But junior creditors asked that a company-sponsored plan negotiated earlier this week be filed first and that they be given two extra weeks to decide whether to file competing plans. Get the full story »
Online movie rental company Netflix Inc. and NBC Universal Domestic Television Distribution have expanded their license deal that covers TV shows subscribers can watch instantly by streaming them online, the companies said Friday. Financial terms of the multiyear deal were not disclosed. Get the full story »
Time Warner Inc. could offer premium video-on-demand as early as the first quarter for $20 to $30 per movie in a trial, the company’s CFO said Thursday.
Time Warner is considering making movies available for rent on pay television services shortly after their theatrical release and before their DVD release, Chief Financial Officer John Martin said at a Goldman Sachs investor conference in New York. Get the full story »
Blockbuster's existing stores will remain open. (AP)
Blockbuster Inc. announced early Thursday that the company and its U.S. subsidiaries have filed voluntary Chapter 11 petitions with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, hurt by major shifts in the way consumers view movies and media. Get the full story »
Netflix launched an online video-streaming service in Canada for films and television Wednesday, its first foray outside the United States and a direct threat to established cable companies. Get the full story »
Blockbuster Inc. is in the final stages of preparing a long-awaited bankruptcy filing, marking a milestone in consumers’ shift away from brick-and-mortar video stores to films delivered by mail and the Internet.
Blockbuster, struggling amid more than $900 million in debt, could file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the next few days, said people familiar with the matter. The filing could come as soon as Wednesday, they said, and is likely to come by Friday or sometime next week. Get the full story »
Fast-growing DVD rental provider Redbox said it reached a milestone this weekend with the rental of its 1 billionth movie — “Clash of the Titans,” at a kiosk in Tampa, Fla.
The rental milestone occurred six years after the first kiosk appeared in Denver. Get the full story »
A customer looks at films at a Blockbuster Video store in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)
After dominating the home video rental business for more than a decade and struggling to survive in recent years against upstarts Netflix and Redbox, Blockbuster Inc. is preparing to file for bankruptcy next month, according to people who have been briefed on the matter.
Executives from Blockbuster and its senior debt holders last week held meetings with the six major movie studios to discuss their intention to enter a “pre-planned” bankruptcy in mid-September, said several people familiar with the situation who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of ongoing talks. Get the full story »
Netflix iPhone app. (Netflix photo)
Netflix unveiled its long-awaited app for the iPhone on Thursday, sending the company’s shares almost 2 percent higher.
The free app lets Netflix members stream TV episodes and movies to their Apple iPhone or iPod Touch for no additional cost. Get the full story »
