Entertainment

Joel Tenenbaum's fate was probably already sealed before he went to trial for the copyright infringement of 30 songs by Nirvana, Green Day and the Smashing Pumpkins, but the 25-year-old college student made sure of it on Thursday when he admitted on the stand that he did in fact download and share t...

Macrovision, a company that has a number of operations under its roof but is best known for its digital rights management software, has issued a spate of announcements. Two major developments head the list: It is changing its name, and it is embarking on a new product path -- namely the launch of a ...

Blockbuster and Samsung announced Tuesday that they are partnering to bring the movie-rental chain's digital streaming library to the electronics giant's televisions, home theater systems and Blu-ray disc players. The service should be available by this fall. The owners of some existing 2009 model t...

Pandora Radio Founder Tim Westergren had been one of the most vocal critics of the royalty rates that small online radio broadcasters were forced to pay per government edict. However, Tuesday's announcement of an agreement between those webcasters and SoundExchange, the organization tasked by the re...

Just three years after launching in a fanfare of publicity, Joost, which provides professionally made TV on the Web, is shifting directions. It will now provide white label online video platforms to media companies and distributors. Joost is closing down its offices in the Netherlands, retaining off...

He may still have an eye patch, a peg leg and a funny hat, but is a pirate still a pirate if he writes you a check before plundering your ship? How long would Robin Hood keep his band of merry men intact if they took from the rich -- and charged the poor a redistribution fee for access to those rich...

The cable industry's new rallying cry may indeed be "TV Everywhere," as announced Wednesday by Comcast and Time Warner executives. However, TV arguably is already everywhere -- on the Web, on your smartphone, on your Xbox 360. Perhaps what Brian Roberts and Jeff Bewkes really meant to announce was "...

Jammie Thomas-Rasset, the Minnesota mom who has been at the center of the RIAA's legal battle against music piracy, has been found liable for illegal file-sharing in the retrial of Capitol Records v. Thomas-Rasset. She now faces a $1.92 million penalty, or $80,000 for each of 24 songs she made avail...

Napster's choice of a headphone-wearing cat for its logo has turned out to be quite appropriate. The grand-tabby of all digital music services enters its second decade apparently intent on using up every one of a feline's nine lives, with the latest reincarnation coming Monday in the form of a new b...

Video streaming site Hulu has struck a deal with Disney to make the media conglomerate's programming, including shows from its ABC television network, available online through its channel. In addition to taking a nearly 30 percent stake in Hulu, Disney will put full episodes of its ABC TV subsidiary...

Two different types of media uses are propelling the vision for a connected consumer electronics home. These two concepts -- media server and cloud media -- increase the value of television, as well as other devices, by increasing the ability to discover, aggregate, access and display different type...

The music and entertainment industry didn't even have a week to fully savor its victory against the four proprietors of The Pirate Bay before they filed an appeal. Though the move was expected, the grounds for the appeal may have caught the plaintiffs by surprise. The Pirate Bay contends that the ju...

You may keep your computer and your TV in separate rooms in your house, but the living arrangements between the two devices are going to get a little cozier, thanks to Adobe. The multimedia software company used the National Association of Broadcasters' annual meeting in Las Vegas Monday as a stage ...

Google's YouTube and Universal Music Group are partnering to launch Vevo, a music video vehicle featuring UMG's videos. The site will launch in the coming months. Few details have been provided about the launch; however, both companies will share in the revenues, and additional deals with other musi...

Consumers have come to accept that songs can be purchased a la carte for 99 US cents via the Internet. That is a result, of course, of Apple's revolutionary introduction of the iPod music player and the iTunes music store several years ago. Before then, consumers had few options for downloading musi...