Netflix has acquired the rights to an initial 53 indie movies from the Independent Film Channel (IFC). The movies are available to Netflix customers immediately for streaming, and more titles will be added in the future.

Sony has launched its high-definition video store on the PlayStation Network across Europe. Sony has made distribution deals with studios including Disney, Lionsgate, MGM, Paramount, Sony and Twentieth Century Fox, with approximately 50 new titles expected to be made available each week. The European launch comes in the same week Microsoft launched Zune, its HD-streaming […]

A ruling stating that sporting events may be aired live online without violating copyrights undermines the legal basis for managing broadcasting rights, representatives of the English soccer Premier League have stated in their appeal to the Israeli High Court of Justice. The earlier ruling was handed down by the Tel Aviv District Court. The English […]

Ericsson, the world's largest provider of telecommunications infrastructure, has signed its first deal with a television broadcaster. The 10-year contract to provide television transmission services to TV4, one of the biggest broadcasters in the Nordic region, opens a new potential market for Ericsson. Under the TV4 contract, Ericsson will take day-to-day responsibility for transmitting all […]

Virgin Media's attempt to sell its wholly-owned television channels has been called to a halt following an initial review in October and it now seems certain Virgin will try and package up a deal to sell its owned stations and its half of the UKTV joint venture. The company's advisors have valued its channels – […]

From Colin Mann in London UK satellite broadcaster BSkyB may no longer have sole rights to show cricket's 'Ashes' series between England and Australia when the matches are played in the UK, according to the findings of an independent review Panel into the future of listed sporting events, which suggested that these be added to […]

Speaking on the company's fourth quarter earnings call, Disney CEO Bob Iger outlined his his disagreements with TV Everywhere. "What we've heard suggests that interest in charging the consumer for greater access isn't a priority and we think it should be," he added that, "if we go to a world of authentication we shouldn't be […]

The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) plans to establish an organisation to supervise the new media industry, with a particular focus on evaluating new media content “transaction prices” and the “tort value” in copyright infringement cases. At the beginning of November, SARFT’s legal department sent a task force to China Central Television […]

ITV and Hulu are to sign a deal allowing the platform to distribute full-length ITV shows- some exclusively. As part of the deal ITV will gain an equity stake in Hulu UK, understood to be about 25%. Hulu’s parent company is owned equally by Disney, NBC Universal, Providence Equity and News Corp. ITV is the […]

Sony will make its new animated hit "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" available to viewers directly through Internet-enabled televisions and Blu-ray players before the movie is released on DVD. With the decline in DVD sales, down as much as 25 percent at some studios, finding new ways to distribute movies has become a necessity […]