Entertainment

PayPal has been working for a year or more to translate its brand of safe online payment to other channels. It has rolled out several products to establish bona fides in the mobile payment space, as well as among brick-and-mortar retailers. Now it is making the same push for the TV viewer. It is joi...

Facebook and Google are reportedly interested in acquiring a stake in the music video website Vevo. Up for grabs is an equity stake in the site, as well as an advertising deal. Vevo is said to be valued at approximately $1 billion. This tug of war over Vevo must be validating to the site. It launche...

What does the future of TV look like? Is it cable TV, IPTV, Satellite TV, Google TV, Apple iTV or something crazy like watching TV over the airwaves like we used to do? Is it on your television, your computer, tablet, smartphone or whatever is coming next? Who will be the industry leaders? You may b...

Fox, CBS and NBC filed lawsuits against Dish Network Thursday over a feature found in a new digital video recorder that lets subscribers automatically skip the advertisements on recorded shows from major networks. Dish countered by asking a judge to declare that the feature does not infringe on any ...

In the U.S. market, the percentage of broadband households owning and connecting at least one product besides PCs to the Internet has increased 45 percent between 2010 and 2011. Today, approximately 40 percent of all U.S. broadband households own at least one Internet-connected device, with game con...

Dish Network began offering a new service Thursday that lets users skip all commercials for shows broadcast on major networks when watched the day after the programming first aired. Dubbed "Auto Hop," the feature on Dish Network's digital video recorders allows users to bypass commercials on recorde...

Amazon is taking the long-expected step of developing its own content for Amazon Instant Video. It is doing so via its content development division, Amazon Studios, which uses audience feedback to suggest content for its customers. Now it has pushed this model further, though, inviting series crea...

What a difference a year makes. Netflix, the tech industry's golden child last spring, has been struggling to overcome a series of missteps it made later in 2011. There is guarded optimism that when the company posts its fiscal first quarter report after the closing bell on Monday, some progress wil...

The European Commission's competition authority has given an investment group led by Sony the go-ahead to acquire EMI Group's music-publishing division for US$2.2 billion. The commission's approval is conditioned on Sony, which is partnering with ATV in this transaction, selling certain music assets...

Microsoft continued to expand its television offerings for members of its Xbox Live Gold service Monday by adding HBO Go, Major League Baseball video and Comcast's on-demand video service. Comcast Xfinity TV allows Xbox Gold members to access the cable carrier's expansive library of entertainment pr...

Cisco Systems has revealed plans to acquire NDS Group, paying $5 billion for the video software company as part of an effort to increase investment in its software and video services. NDS software ensures that paid digital content gets to appropriate set-top boxes, smart TVs and consumer gadgets, an...

Intel is rumored to be considering entering the pay-television service market. The chipmaker reportedly has reached out to media companies and cable channels as part of its research. The service would be based on a Web-connected set-top box that could offer both streaming TV and video-on-demand prog...

Pandora reported a 62 percent increase year-over-year in active users for its fiscal fourth-quarter, which ended Jan. 31, along with a 74 percent increase in advertising revenue and a 99 percent rise in listening hours. However, those gains were accompanied by increases in royalty payments the onlin...

Netflix is reportedly in talks with cable TV providers to bundle its services with cable packages. Although the streaming online media provider wouldn't confirm a Tuesday report quoting insiders, a Netflix spokesperson did not deny talks are ongoing with cable operators. "What's revolutionary is evo...

Google tore down the silos around its app, music, movie and ebook stores Tuesday and melded them into a single outlet called "Google Play." The move emulates Apple's highly successful iTunes model. "Apple has set the standard with the iTunes store where you can get books and music and apps all in on...