Viacom

Time Warner, Viacom take iPad issue to court

Cable television provider Time Warner Cable and content company Viacom swapped lawsuits today about whether Time Warner has the right to make Viacom's programming available to subscribers on Apple's iPad.

The tussle reflects the growing importance of the Internet as a distribution channel for movies and TV, as streaming companies like Netflix rake in subscribers and subscription fees--and hand out sizable licensing payments to content providers. (It also reflects the iPad's runaway success.)

Complexities aside, Time Warner and its ilk are looking to prevent services such as Netflix (not to mention iTunes and other outlets) from making … Read more

Hulu eyeing half a billion in sales this year

Hulu is forecasting sales of close to half a billion dollars and more than a million Hulu Plus subscribers this year.

In a blog posted yesterday, CEO Jason Kilar marked the end of the first quarter with some notable figures and projections about the company's recent past and upcoming future.

The forecast of almost $500 million in sales for the year follows the first quarter in which revenue shot up around 90 percent compared with last year's initial quarter, according to Kilar. For 2010 as a whole, Hulu took in sales of $263 million.

Touting the expected rise … Read more

Time Warner Cable scales back iPad app channels

Just two weeks on the App Store and Time Warner Cable is once again scaling back the number of channels available on its live TV application for the iPad. But unlike the last time this happened, this crop could be gone for good.

Bowing to legal pressure from News Corp, Viacom, and Discovery, Time Warner Cable has removed 11 channels from the application, cutting away at the 32 it had offered before. Though a scant number when compared with home cable packages, which can number in the hundreds, the app represented the step toward taking that same lineup on the … Read more

Yahoo exec rips Google for overpaying for YouTube

Someone from Yahoo has accused Google of overpaying for YouTube.

Oh, the irony.

Steven Mitzenmacher, a Yahoo senior director of corporate development, is skeptical that Google has recouped the $1.65 billion the search company paid in October 2006 to acquire YouTube, the Web's top video-sharing site. According to a story in The Wall Street Journal, Mitzenmacher was speaking on a panel at the Global Technology Symposium in Menlo Park, Calif., on Friday. Also on the panel were execs from LinkedIn, Adobe, and Google.

The paper reported Mitzenmacher was ballyhooing Yahoo's plans for "a very big year&… Read more

Strange turn in dancing baby vs. Prince case

The woman who posted a video of her children dancing to the Prince tune "Let's Go Crazy," and waged a three-year court fight with a top record company over the clip, has been accused of violating a court order and could be held in contempt of court.

Pennsylvania resident Stephanie Lenz generated a lot of headlines in 2007 after she claimed in a lawsuit that Universal and music star Prince knowingly made a false copyright claim about the dancing-baby video she posted to YouTube. Now she finds herself with a court-order hanging over her head that requires … Read more

Netflix rises as studios' DVD money plunges

Not long ago, ambitious young executives at the six major Hollywood film studios maneuvered to get into the home entertainment divisions.

Nowadays, getting assigned to home entertainment is like being sent to the Eastern front. Better to work in theatrical distribution, international, or maybe studio facilities. Recently, I spoke with an executive from one of the big studios who, while discussing the challenges of working in the film industry, noted there was one silver lining: "At least I don't work in home entertainment."

The studios' home-entertainment divisions typically oversee sales of DVDs and Blu-ray discs as well … Read more

'Colbert Report,' 'Daily Show' return to Hulu

Some of the most popular shows from MTV and Comedy Central are returning to Hulu.

Viacom and Hulu have come to an agreement that will enable Hulu's ad supported service to stream clips and full-length episodes of "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report." The shows will be made available today, the companies said.

Viacom will make available to Hulu Plus subscribers a selection of current programs, like "Jersey Shore," "Tosh.0," "Teen Mom 2," "Manswers," "Let's Stay Together," and "… Read more

Texting 911

Links from Tuesday's episode of Loaded:

The FCC is looking into letting people report emergencies over SMS and streaming video

Netflix launches a streaming-only plan, letting people ditch the DVDs

Amazon launches a Black Friday shopping page

Yelp introduces Check-In Offers, giving people discounts for location check-ins

Google TV serves up almost no TV now that Viacom joins the networks that block the service from playing their online content

Amazon allows you to give someone an MP3 as a gift

Google Docs has a Microsoft Office plug-in that lets you sync your desktop documents to Google Docs

Amazon launches … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1356: Microsoft listens to the show (podcast)

Microsoft now says the Kinect was left open "by design." Ok, if that's what you have to say to save some face, guys. We know you got the "Lego robotics model" idea from us. Also, Netflix officially launches its streaming-only plan, Murdoch brings the paywall to the iPad, and FIOS gets even faster for the lucky few who have it (or can afford it). --Molly

Rock Band is breaking up

Links from Friday's episode of Loaded:

Facebook plans an announcement for Monday in which it may announce a "Gmail killer"

Viacom is selling off Harmonix, maker of Rock Band

Apple teams up with Twitter to promote its music social network, Ping

YouTube claims to have 35 hours of video uploaded to the site every minute

Walmart.com will ship for free this holiday season with no minimum purchase

Microsoft receives a patent for foot computing

Hustler releases an app for Android