New owner Jay Penske is shutting down Variety magazine’s daily print edition and removing the paywall around the century-old tabloid’s online content. But will these radical moves help the paper survive against more nimble rivals? Read more at paidContent »
Months after China’s largest online video site was formed through merger, Tencent claims its own video site has already overtaken its rival thanks to its incredible diversified digital service scale. Read more at paidContent »
Call it a minor pivot. The Berlin- and L.A.-based IMDb rival Moviepilot has decided that the real money lies in turning its masses of user data into cross-platform marketing campaigns for the likes of Universal and Disney. Read more »
The company has free rein to repeat its bullish declarations that it will out-bid incumbent BSkyB for UK movie rights. But what exactly will that take? Let’s compare the two outfits’ abilities to spend on premium digital content as they vie for European customers. Read more at paidContent »
Netflix’s first disclosure of European subscriber numbers shows it has quickly become a big competitor to local incumbent Lovefilm, thanks to heavy marketing outlay. Read more at paidContent »
If it can’t beat Sky Movies for UK movie subscription rights within a year, Netflix says it may have to consider ‘other routes’, including calling for a new competition case. Read more at paidContent »
The adoption of tablets, social media and new interfaces and the changing nature of the TV itself mean the digital living room will continue on its path of rapid change, thanks to new ways of creating, viewing, bundling, distributing and selling content. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The Berlin-based IMDB rival Moviepilot, which is already working with film studios to give them better understanding of their projects’ fanbase, has secured funding to put a sales team in LA Read more »
In the first quarter of 2012 all eyes were on the screen, both big and small. Apple’s new Retina display pushed video streaming, and broadcast-TV streaming service Aereo’s launch was quickly followed with litigation. These events and more are discussed in a new quarterly report. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Silicon Valley startups may be trying to free the entertainment industry from Hollywood’s death grip. But anyone who wants to kill Hollywood deserves a history lesson in its tenacious will to survive. Screenwriter Steven E. de Souza and Scripted.com CEO Sunil Rajaraman explain why. Read more »
Who needs an awards show to tell us which movies and actors fans prefer when we have Twitter? IBM is turning its skills in social-media sentiment analysis to Hollywood awards so the world can see which movies and stars are generating the most buzz on Twitter. Read more »
A survey conducted by BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield shows that Hollywood studios would likely make more revenue with the collapse of movie windows. More importantly, those sales would come with better margins since they wouldn’t be sharing with exhibitors. Read more »
YouTube’s announced new viewership milestone today, with more than 4 billion video views daily. That’s impressive, and more importantly, shows how YouTube could serve as a blueprint for other technology companies that wish to create an alternative to the existing media industry. Read more »
In a major win for Hollywood, a High Court judge told the country’s biggest internet service provider, BT (NYSE: BT), that it has two weeks… Read more at paidContent »
We got a chance to talk with Ustream president and co-founder Brad Hunstable in the company’s San Francisco office last week to discuss the company’s evolution and opportunities for future growth, as well as how it sees growing competition from some big-name players. Read more »
This guest post was written by Alex Swartsel, who is a member of the MPAA’s communications team, and originated on the MPAA Blog. It was written in response to Janko Roettgers’ piece “Sorry, Hollywood: Piracy may make a comeback,” which we published Thursday. Read more »
Less than two weeks after a federal court issued a preliminary injunction against its DVD-streaming service, Zediva has suspended its operations. The shutdown is a big win for Hollywood studios, which took the company to court earlier this year. Read more »
Now there’s even more evidence that movie viewers are turning to a rental, rather than a purchase, model for their home entertainment needs. Subscription services like Netflix and kiosk rentals from Redbox were bright spots in an otherwise dismal second quarter for the big Hollywood studios. Read more »
A federal court has issued a preliminary injunction against Zediva, essentially ordering a shutdown of its streaming-DVD-rental service. The decision comes less than six months after the launch of the service, which aimed to avoid licensing fees by renting and streaming DVDs over the Internet. Read more »
A judge in London has ruled that the country’s largest internet provide should block access to Newzbin, a filesharing service which Hollywood has been trying to shut down for years. Could the decision encourage other ISPs to institute filters against unauthorized downloading? Read more »
Los Angeles will close down its 405 freeway this weekend, and the fact that the event is officially called Carmageddon hints at how much traffic the city is expecting. The best plan is likely to just stay home and watch the traffic live online. Read more »
20th Century Fox released a viral video last week that supposedly documents African soldiers giving an ape an AK-47, only to have the monkey open fire on them. The video has attracted millions of views on YouTube, but also provoked a wave of racist comments. Read more »
File sharers can download a spy thriller with a cast including Six Feet Under actor James Cromwell this Friday, thanks to a collaboration between the film makers and P2P distribution platform VODO. The site is asking for donations to bring the movie to theaters. Read more »
MoviePass will soon begin offering a $50 all-you-can-eat monthly subscription video plan that will let users watch any movie they want at any participating movie theater. That might help some cinephiles save money. But will it get more-casual viewers into the seats? Read more »
Google wants to sell you movie rentals from major Hollywood studios on YouTube, according to reports that surfaced last night. The question is: Would anyone pay? YouTube’s past VOD efforts haven’t fared so well, and only attracted a few hundred paid plays for some movies. Read more »
YouTube has thrived as the undisputed leader of long-tail content, but it could soon begin reining in its content to create specialized channels instead. While YouTube is ready to invest heavily, the initiative marks a departure from its open platform for video sharing. Read more »
AOL chief executive Tim Armstrong has been busy signing content-production deals with celebrities like former supermodel Heidi Klum and singer Queen Latifah — but can this new Hollywood-focused strategy produce enough financial bang to make a difference to a fading web giant like AOL? Read more »
If read just one article about the demise of quality movies being produced by Hollywood, check out Mark Harris’ “The Day the Movies Died.” With studio decisions being increasingly driven by marketers, the focus has shifted to producing film franchises rather than telling original stories. Read more »
The success of The Social Network at the Golden Globes might look like a thorn in Mark Zuckerberg’s side — but in fact it shows how the Facebook billionaire is clever enough to have used Hollywood’s fiction to his own benefit. Read more »
It’s important to dispel potential myths and market misunderstandings when it comes to consumer electronic devices and trends. For 2011, that includes paid video chat, Apple dominating the living room and the misinformed belief that Google will rule the e-book space. ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Now there’s even more evidence that Hollywood studios need to embrace alternative business models before they cannibalize their existing business: In-Stat forecasts DVD sales are expected to decline by $4.6 billion over the next five years. Meanwhile, streaming revenues are expected to triple in that time. Read more »
The Federal Communications Commission handed the major Hollywood studios a significant victory last week, granting their long-pending petition to allow use of selectable output controls (SOC) on cable and satellite set-top boxes to prevent copying of early-release video-on-demand movies. The studios’ push for the new early ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Demand Media CEO Richard Rosenblatt, whose company is widely rumored to be headed for a billion-dollar IPO, has added Hollywood movie mogul Peter Guber to the board. Rosenblatt has also been playing tennis with the former studio head, and dining with him and other Hollywood stars. Read more »
The film industry has performed well at the box office as of late, buoyed by 3-D releases like Avatar and Alice in Wonderland. And now Hollywood is looking to cash in even further — by raising prices for movies by as much as 10 percent. But […] Read more »
There was lots of buzz not too long ago about Apple trying to get into the streaming music service, and moving that content to the cloud to compete with services like Pandora and others who seem to be taking some of the wind out of iTunes’ […] Read more »
While many writers’ strike-inspired Internet projects seem to be petering out now that everybody’s back to work, it appears Strike.TV, a network of original online shows, will launch July 4. Strike.TV, which has some part of its origins in the strike blog/community site United Hollywood, will […] Read more »
As we touched on earlier this week, in exchange for releasing new content directly to your home sooner, Hollywood studios are seeking governmental permission to choose how that content will get to you. According to The Wall Street Journal, studios want the option to block video […] Read more »
Actors and the studios have agreed to extend their contract negotiations until May 6th, in what is being viewed as a positive (small) step towards averting another crippling strike in Hollywood. Formal negotiations were supposed to end today, but both sides agreed to continue talking after […] Read more »
Some How-To Videos are Making Money; instructional videos on stuff like turning a flashlight into a laser earned Kip Kedersha $102,000 from Metacafe last year. (The New York Times) Hollywood Divided Over Net Neutrality; WGA president testifies before Congress to keep the Internet open, but studios […] Read more »
