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NEWS ABOUT: Viacom

Google CEO Says Saving Media Is a 'Moral Imperative'

Search engine chief says company wants to help publishers make Net ads work

(Newser) - Search engine giant Google wants to maximize online ad revenues for traditional media, CEO Eric Schmidt said yesterday, not work against them. CNets reports that with so many traditional media companies struggling to make online ads work, "it's a huge moral imperative to help here," Schmidt said. More »

Movie Studios to Create Premium Channel

MGM, Paramount, Lionsgate joint venture would target HBO

(Newser) - Paramount Pictures, MGM Studios, and Lionsgate are creating a premium TV channel to compete with HBO and Showtime, reports the Los Angeles Times, which currently showcase their programming. The joint venture comes as those same channels look to pay studios less for movies and pursue production of their own content. More »

Warners Swallows New Line

Studio falls in latest Hollywood cost-cutting move

(Newser) - New Line Cinema, the studio that created the Lord of the Rings blockbuster franchise, will be folded into the Warner Brothers unit of Time Warner, reports the Los Angeles Times. It's a cost-cutting move and part of a trend that has seen DreamWorks swallowed by Viacom, and Miramax downsized by... More »

Studios Want Piece of Bollywood

Big names want in on the Indian film industry

(Newser) - Big studios such as Sony, Paramount Pictures, and Disney will be doing their best to make it big this year in Bollywood, India's increasingly profitable film scene, the Financial Times reports. As the India business becomes less mystifying to outsiders, big international studios want a piece of the world's most... More »

Microsoft, Viacom Ally to Check Google

Partnership aims to counter search giant's ad growth

(Newser) - Microsoft and Viacom joined forces to counter Google's growth in the ad market yesterday, with a 5-year, $500-million partnership. Microsoft gets audio and video content from Viacom, and is a preferred partner in online gaming. Viacom will switch its ad placement from DoubleClick, which Google is about to buy, to... More »

Jackass 2.5 to Have Web-Only Debut

'First Internet movie', studio heads say

(Newser) - Paramount is moving into uncharted territory by premiering Jackass 2.5 online, the New York Times reports. The December 19 premier on Blockbuster's Movielink service will be the first time a studio-backed feature film has made its debut on the Web. Executives hope that a successful experiment will pave the... More »

The Internet Didn't Kill the TV Show

Economist argues online viewers more likely to tune in the old fashioned way

(Newser) - With Viacom's lawsuit against YouTube, and widespread speculation that the dearth of material created by a long TV writers' strike will send more viewers online, there are still some economists who think Internet video could stimulate rather than stifle TV viewing. The key is not to think of the online/on-air... More »

Viacom Puts Daily Show Online

Free site archives every episode since 1999 launch

(Newser) - Taking a page from YouTube's playbook, Viacom is putting every minute, ever, of "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" online, the Los Angeles Times reports. The parent of Comedy Central has long been stung by the unauthorized appearance of clips on YouTube; the massive archive is Viacom's attempt—sure... More »

Piracy Lawsuit Against YouTube Continues

Viacom spokesman: "The new technology obviously has no bearing on the past"

(Newser) - Google's new anti-piracy software on YouTube may do great things from now on, says Viacom, but it still plans to go ahead with a lawsuit over the its products showing up on the Google-owned site without permission. "The new technology obviously has no bearing on the past," a... More »

Google Bares Tool to Hunt & Zap Copyrighted Videos

Technique designed to dodge Viacom lawsuit

(Newser) - Google yesterday unveiled new technology to seek out copyright-protected material on its YouTube site, which the company hopes will head off Viacom's $1 billion lawsuit. The software scans videos, breaks them down into data points and analyzes them so that any matching versions can be flagged and removed "in... More »

Speilberg & Paramount Head for Divorce

Unhappy DreamWorks director will likely seek new backer

(Newser) - A split between the DreamWorks braintrust and Paramount appears inevitable amid reports that director Steven Spielberg and partner David Geffen will seek new backers as soon as they're free to do so. The duo have been upset almost from the moment they sold Dreamworks to Paramount two years ago, complaining... More »

Rather Sues CBS for $70M

Anchor alleges fraud in Guard report aftermath, says contract violated

(Newser) - Dan Rather has filed a $70 million lawsuit against CBS and its corporate parent, claiming bias and fraud in the investigation of the broadcast that brought him down—and then violated his subsequent contract with “60 Minutes.” The filing says Rather was made “a scapegoat” in order... More »

Advertisers Will Soon Be Facebooking You, Too

Social-networking site to allow targeted ads based on user profiles

(Newser) - Facebook is at work on a way to sell ads based on information users and their friends post on the site, the Wall Street Journal reports. A basic version of the service could launch this fall, and the social-networking titan eventually might allow marketers to predict products and services users... More »

MySpace, MTV Team Up to Grill Candidates

Rivals unite to offer individual chats with presidential contenders

(Newser) - MySpace and MTV will team up to host a series of live discussions with individual presidential contenders, Reuters reports. Held on college campuses, the hour-long sessions will offer questions from the audience as well as those submitted during the event by IM or text message. John Edwards will be the... More »

Music Publishers Add Vocals to YouTube Suit

Join sports leagues and other aggrieved parties in class-action suit

(Newser) - Apparently YouTube forgot to make a deal for the music and lyrics played on its website, or so claims a music publishers’ association that has joined a growing copyright lawsuit aimed at Google, the site's owner, ars technica reports. YouTube, which did agree to share ad revenue with four major... More »

Spielberg May Split From Paramount

Angry director could pack up DreamWorks and leave studio

(Newser) - Steven Spielberg is so disillusioned with Paramount Pictures that he may bail on the studio, which less than 2 years ago bought the director's DreamWorks for $1.53 billion. The legend behind Jaws, E.T.,  and Transformers is furious that Paramount takes credit for his movies and mistreats his... More »

Shari Redstone Weighs Bolting From Viacom

Angry with her father, heir apparent looks to leave family business

(Newser) - Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone is involved in a bitter spat with his daughter and heir apparent, Shari Redstone, that may lead to her splitting from the Viacom board. Negotiations for her separation from the media empire that counts CBS, MTV, and Paramount among its many holdings are under way, the... More »

Apple Shoots Down Report of Trouble With Universal

iTunes talks with major label said to be ongoing

(Newser) - iTunes and the Universal Music group are still at the bargaining table, and reports that the online retainer and the megalabel have changed the terms of their agreement are "just not true," Apple says. The tech giant contradicted a report in yesterday's New York Times, saying through a... More »

TV Moguls Blast Web Rivals

Parsons: 'They are the Custer of the modern world. We are the Sioux Nation.'

(Newser) - A panel of top television executives at a Vegas conference yesterday went on the offensive against their digital rivals, blasting the perception that cell phones, the Web, and other digital formats are killing their business. Quite the contrary, pronounced Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons: "The Googles, they are the... More »

Google Stares Down Viacom, Copyright

How do the boys keep YouTube from turning into Napster?

(Newser) - With Viacom incubating "the biggest copyright lawsuit in history" against YouTube, the video-sharing site is beginning to smell a bit like Napster. Which leads Clive Thompson to ponder in New York why the Google boys decided to acquire YouTube—and its looming crisis—last year. And why, once they... More »

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