A new streaming video service called HitBliss lets users earn virtual cash by watching targeted ads. They can then redeem their earnings for new movies and TV episodes. Read more at paidContent »
Google added new Japanese reading features to its ebooks app yesterday and is now selling the Nexus 7, ebooks and movies through the Google Play store in Japan. Kobo expanded to Japan in July, and Kindle is expected to launch there in October. Read more at paidContent »
The government-licensed operator of cable-based VOD and PPV services in China now has four of Hollywood’s six major studios in its portfolio. Read more at paidContent »
Anecdotal evidence suggests over-the-top video is a booming trend. But it takes technical skill, state-of-the-art broadband connections and the willingness to shell out money for both bandwidth and content subscriptions to fully integrate OTT into a household, much less consider trying to use it to cord cut. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
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 studio behind the famous Godfather trilogy is asking a court to make the franchise’s literary heirs an offer they can’t refuse. Read more at paidContent »
Tom Lesinski, who has headed digital at Paramount (NYSE: VIA) as long as it’s mattered, is out in a major reorganization that folds the Para… Read more at paidContent »
Netflix is coming to Brazil and other Latin American countries this week, where it will be competing with thousands of street vendors peddling unlicensed DVDs. Can the service beat piracy, or will it be too expensive for the average consumer in Brazil and beyond? 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 »
Movieclips.com confirmed that it has raised an additional $6 million in venture funding. While its founders declined to discuss what the funding is for or who was part of the most recent investment, they said a big announcement was in the works. Read more »
Word leaked earlier this week that YouTube (NSDQ: GOOG) was going to start renting out premium movie content, putting it in a position to co… Read more at paidContent »
Surprise! New video rental service Zediva is being taken to court for copyright infringement. The MPAA filed suit Monday on behalf of six Hollywood studios, claiming that Zediva illegally streams their films over the Internet without licensing the content from rights holders. Read more »
Netflix is adding more content to its streaming library in Canada, striking a deal with Paramount Pictures for first-run access to movies in the pay TV window. So movies like Iron Man 2 won’t show up on Canadian cable channels, but will appear on Netflix instead. Read more »
Today on the Net: Apple & Disney may just be a tad too cozy, HBO Go is coning to Samsung TVs and U.S. viewers only like Al-Jazeera if they’re told it’s CNN. Read more »
Today on the Internet: Web companies including Google and Yahoo team up to protest the Comcast-NBCU merger, Paramount announces a digital-only follow-up to the latest successful Jackass installment, and the BBC is determined to count every view, including online and VOD. Read more »
United behind the idea that “If anyone is going to ruin Footloose, it’s us,” a collective of 50 production teams came together over the last year to remake the 1984 Paramount film before anyone else could, premiering the hilarious results last night in Los Angeles. Read more »
Three strikes and you’re out used to be the entertainment industry’s favorite approach against P2P piracy. However, with more and more people moving towards one-click hosters, Paramount COO Frederick Huntsberry is now calling three strikes ineffective, instead calling for laws to have ISPs block pirate websites. Read more »
After 10 months of studying Redbox rental data, Paramount decided that its $1 nightly rentals were having a negligible effect on new release sales. The result? The studio struck a deal to let Redbox rent its new releases on the same day they go on sale. Read more »
Movieclips.com, the online video site for distributing short-form clips of Hollywood movies, has expanded the availability of its library, opening up the site for viewing worldwide. The company has also released an API for others to develop applications that take advantage of its video selections. That’s […] Read more »
What do you do when your DVD business starts to show serious signs of decline? If you’re Paramount, you look for ways to create a new revenue stream from your existing catalog of video content. With that in mind, the movie studio today launched ParamountClips.com, a […] Read more »
Despite a recent study that concluded Redbox’s low-cost DVD rentals are destroying the entertainment industry, Paramount Home Entertainment has extended its trial period with the DVD rental kiosk company. With the extension, Paramount — a division of Viacom — has agreed to make new release titles […] Read more »
Time Warner Sales Dropped 6% to $7.1B in Q3; company’s networks including Turner and HBO saw growth with revenue up 5 percent to $2.9 billion. (CNET) Comcast Profits Up 22% to $944M in Q3; cable company wouldn’t talk about the NBC acquisition deal. (paidContent) Google to […] Read more »
Mike Masnick of Techdirt this week points us to a presentation made by Paramount COO Frederick Huntsberry, who was invited by the FCC to take part in a hearing entitled “The Role of Content in the Broadband Ecosystem.” Huntsberry used his presentation to offer a quick […] Read more »
DivX announced today that for the first time in the U.S., major Hollywood movies will be available for download in the DivX format. Warner Bros., Lionsgate, Sony Pictures and Paramount have all signed on to have both catalog and new release titles sold through through a […] Read more »
Redbox has found itself at the center of a Hollywood war over the price of movie rentals, and up until now, sides have lined up either with the kiosk rental company (Sony, Lionsgate) or against it (Universal, Warner Bros., Fox). Paramount has chosen a third option […] Read more »
