Raindance TV live on Joost

Raindance.tv, a web and mobile-based independent film destination, today announced that it is joining Joost, the world’s first broadcast-quality internet television service. Joost users will now be able to view for free Raindance.tv's unrivalled range of independent features, shorts and documentaries.

read more (80 comments)

Google Signs Viacom

Shows from Viacom's MTV and Nickelodeon will now be available on Google.

The content can be seen on Google Video but it will also be available through the Adsense network which will start streaming video as well as displaying text and image ads. The clips seen on Adsense will be 2-4 minutes in length, whilst Google Video will show the full episodes from shows such as Laguna Beach: The Real O.C., The MTV Video Music Awards, and Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants.

read more (25 comments)

Sony on Demand

Sony Pictures has signed a VOD deal with Arts Alliance Media and will now have its films available to download, alongside those of fellow distributors Warner Brothers, Universal, Momentum, Tartan and Fremantle, on LoveFilm and AOL UK.

read more (20 comments)

Blockbusted

Rumour has it that Blockbuster may be withdrawing from Europe, and is hoping to sell off it’s 700 strong UK operation for £300 million.

The rental chain, despite boosts with its online rental service, has struggled with changes in consumer habits as well as piracy and growing online rental and download-to-own services.

(43 comments)

Film Pirates Arrested

Film pirates worldwide are having a bad day today, which is always good news for the industry.

Following a three year investigation, FBI agents claim to have arrested 13 members of a piracy ring in New York. The individuals were part of an international ring allegedly responsible for half of all video recorded copies of films available on the black market and on the internet in the States, and a quarter of all video recorded copies of counterfeit films worldwide. The ring distributed master copies worldwide via the internet, through illegal distribution centres in Pakistan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia.

read more (35 comments)

A Scottish Point of Vue

Vue Entertainment is in a management buyout partnership with Bank of Scotland Corporate.

Bank of Scotland is taking a minority stake in the company, as well as supporting the current management team to buy out its previous investors Boston Ventures, Clarity Partners and Legal & General Ventures; in a deal worth £350m.

read more (13 comments)

Piracy in Czech Republic

Warner Bros have decided to stop distributing home video to the Czech Republic. Apparently, a combination of piracy, a 14% increase in VAT, and a new legislation which required home entertainment distributors to give 3% of their profits to the State Fund for the Support and Development of Czech Cinematography, makes the business unprofitable for Warners in that territory. They will continue theatrical releases though.

read more (21 comments)

Video On Mobiles & What It Means For Us

This morning, BBC News 24 carried a story about sending TV news to mobile phones. Apparently the good guys and gals at the BBC Interactive department have been looking at ways of sending TV news to mobile phones. They ran a test in Oxford. Pete Clifton from BBC Interactive said that the Oxford test "...showed that people would use a handheld device to watch the news in video and it's our plan over the next year to roll out more of these video services to good devices around the country".

read more (47 comments)