Last-minute dramatics this afternoon as the next “deadline” approaches for Disney (NYSE: DIS) and Cablevision: tonight’s Academy Awards. Disney says it’s sent a new proposal and the ball is in the cable operator’s court. But Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) is playing a different game: calling on “CEO Bob Iger to immediately…

Roger Ebert thrives on the web. Now he’d like to get paid for it but not by blocking access to the site or its 10,000-review archive. Instead the Chicago Sun-Times movie critic—a master blogger and tweeter—is going the value-added route, launching The Ebert Club: annual subscriptions $4.99 through the end…

Tribeca Enterprises, the parent of Tribeca Film Festival, has launched two new multi-platform ventures in time for the upcoming festival next month. The first one is called Tribeca Film, a distribution arm for indie films year-round, with day-and-date releases on VOD through various cable cos as well. The first acquisitions…

Blockbuster’s stock is trading at under a dollar, its net losses are widening, and it’s in the midst of closing nearly 1,000 stores—but on CNBC Thursday CEO Jim Keyes insisted that the company had a bright future in digital because of its strong brand. “When you’re driving down mainstreet and…

The long-rumored Sony (NYSE: SNE) Playstation phone is now becoming a reality. Sony is developing a new lineup of handheld products, including a smartphone that would be capable of downloading and playing PlayStation games, as well as connecting to Sony’s online media platform, reports the WSJ, which quotes people familiar…

Rob Glaser is still chairman of the board but it looks like the post-Glaser era at RealNetworks (NSDQ: RNWK) is well underway. The latest unraveling: Real is giving up the fight over RealDVD, the software deemed a copyright killer by the studios because it allowed users to store an image…

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. And, with Hulu yet to launch services outside its home market of the U.S., it’s no surprise, perhaps, that there are some sites bearing an uncanny resemblance to Hulu launching in other markets. The latest is ivi.ru, a Russian portal that…

Yes Movielink and Cinemanow sucked for a long time, and iTunes never became a huge movie seller. That was 2-3 years ago. So what happened since, as online streaming has taken off? Turns out, not much on the uptick, only downside, in terms of revenues. According to new data coming…

Two months after hiring former HBO CEO Chris Albrecht to oversee Starz as part of an original programming push, Liberty Media (NSDQ: LINTA) says it is evaluating strategic alternatives for Starz’s Overture Films division, which was established three years ago to produce and distribute 8-12 full length films annually. In…

As if Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI) didn’t have enough competition, this week’s news that Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) is buying digital home video service Vudu comes just as the Dallas-based movie renter is taking a cautious approach to build its vending and on-demand. Blockbuster’s net loss widened to $434.9 million in Q4…

		EPS*	Rev. vs Q408	Net Inc. vs Q408
Blockbuster	Release		17.6%	20%

* vs. Analysts' Estimates: Beat Met Missed

Walmart is about to make a semi-major move into digital home: the company confirmed after the market closed Monday that it is buying online/embedded movie service Vudu. The retailer describes Vudu as a “leading provider of digital technologies and services that enable the delivery of entertainment content directly to broadband…

Redbox has ended its lawsuit against Warner Brothers Home Entertainment and will give in to the Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) unit’s demands for a longer lead time before the DVD kiosk operator makes its rentals available. The deal calls for new release DVD and Blu-ray titles to be made available…

Movie previews and news cable outlet Reelzchannel is adding a dash of mockery to its web holdings with the acquisition of HollywoodPressTV. The comedy site is being sold to Reelzchannel by its creator, The Buddy Group, an Irvine, CA.-based online video company. Terms weren’t disclosed. Along with the acquisition, HollywoodPressTV’s…

News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) received $12.5 million in Flixster stock when it sold its Rotten Tomatoes movie reviews site to the startup last month, according to an SEC filing. We first reported about it on Twitter this morning, though the filing wasn’t clear enough on the mix of stock and…

A big setback Down Under for Hollywood studios: A federal judge in Australia has ruled that ISP iiNet is not liable for copyright infringements that get made by its customers. The precedent-setting decision flies in the face of the three-strikes laws being formed in other markets like neighboring New Zealand,…

Movie Gallery has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy for the second time in less than three years, citing the “economic and competitive realities facing its business.” As rumored, the rental chain—which also owns Hollywood Video and Game Crazy—will shrink its retail footprint by at least a third. Movie Gallery says…

A figure that doesn’t seem to bode too well for paid content on YouTube: The video site grossed just $10,709.16 by renting five Sundance Film Festival movies on the site over the course of 10 days last week. Granted this was a very limited run with a select audience (movie…

Netflix’s online instant-streaming catalog is getting some indie cred. The company has reached deals with several big indie distributors, which will add about 300 new titles to Netflix’s online catalog. The distributors include the Criterion Collection, Gravitas Ventures, Kino Lorber, Music Box Films, and Oscilloscope Laboratories. The deals are relatively…

For some critics, the lack of participation from content companies at yesterday’s iPad launch threw some cold water on predictions for how the new device could help the media business regain revenues lost to the web. But if you looked hard enough, publishers were there and, more importantly, some have…