by Greg Sandoval
May 19, 2009 9:24 PM PDT

Microsoft has struck a deal to bring Netflix's streaming movie service to Windows Media Center, the companies said Tuesday. Netflix's more than 12,000 "Watch it now" movies and TV episodes are only available to users of Windows Vista Home Premium or Ultimate. XP users won't be able to access the service.

Owners of Windows Media Center will also be able to search the entire Netflix library, manage their DVD queues, and "filter searches by titles that are available to watch instantly," Microsoft said in a statement. Microsoft continues to try to boost the amount of content available on Windows Media. In March, the company launched a new sports channel, including replays of the past NCAA basketball tournament.

"We're building on our broader vision to alleviate the need to jump from Web site to Web site to find TV shows, movies, sports and news," Microsoft said in a statement. " "With Windows Media Center, (users) can now find it in one place." For Netflix, the partnership offers the Web's No.1 video rental service the chance to reach scores of of Vista users. Netflix's deal with Microsoft's Xbox videogame console proved to be a boon for the company.

Netflix has steadily been crossing the once wide chasm between the PC and the television by striking partnership deals with a wide assortment of set-top box makers, including Roku, and LG. To access Netflix's service, Windows Media Center owners must first subscribe to the rental service. Then, to stream movies, they can start Windows Media Center on their computers by selecting the new Netflix tile under TV+Movies heading.

By Nate Anderson
May 18, 2009 12:11 PM CT

Harvard Law professor Charles Nesson is headed to federal court this summer to defend an accused file-swapper, and he plans to mount a novel defense: P2P sharing is simply "fair use." Wholesale copying of music on P2P networks is fair use. Statutory damages can't be applied to P2P users.

File-swapping results in no provable harm to rightsholders. These are just some of the assertions that Harvard Law professor Charles Nesson made last week in his defense of accused file-swapper Joel Tenenbaum. In court filings, Nesson spelled out his defense strategy, which doesn't appear to involve claims that his client "didn't do it."

Instead, Nesson argues that it doesn't matter if Tenenbaum copied music; such noncommercial uses are presumptively "fair" and anyone seeking to squeeze file-swappers for statutory damages is entitled to precisely zero dollars. The strategy certainly doesn't lack for boldness. In making the case that statutory damages only apply to commercial infringers, Nesson says that his reading of the law is "constitutionally compelled."

His most interesting argument is that the law offers rightsholders the chance to seek either statutory or actual damages, but that the two are meant to be equivalent. "It would be a bizarre statute indeed that offered two completely unrelated remedies," he writes, "one which granted actual damages and lost profits, and the other of which granted plaintiffs the right to drive a flock of sheep across federal property on the third day of each month."

By Nick Farrell
13 April 2009, 13:35

THE MPAA has found that its nasty habit of paying hackers to steal emails from TorrentSpy and the Pirate Bay has ended it up in court again. The MPAA was sued after it hired Robert Anderson, to steal e-mail correspondence and trade secrets from TorrentSpy and the Pirate back.

Anderson was a former associate of TorrentSpy owner Justin Bunnel, and he flogged the data he nicked for $15,000. When Bunnel sued, a judge chucked the case out because the MPAA did not technically intercept them under the WireTap Act. Now TorrentSpy, supported by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, is appealing on the grounds that if the ruling is upheld then it would mean that unauthorised copying of other people's emails was perfectly legal.

Pirate Bay is not doing anything because those cutlass wielders find it amazingly funny that the MPAA may have bought information like that, expensively, and against the US law. Only proves their stupidity and that they have no case. However if the MPAA loses the appeal it could be one stuff-up too many for MPAA President Dan Glickman. Hollywood insiders are gettting miffed at Glickman for being about as useful as a chocolate teapot. The appeal is due around the time his contract is up for renewal.

By Austin Modine
30th March 2009 22:31 GMT

Together with the world's four largest music labels, Google has formally launched an ad-based MP3 download service in China to combat easily accessible illegal downloads that have effectively killed the country's music industry online.

The venture, which also has the backing of 14 independent labels, will compete against similar MP3 search services — most significantly the country's leading search engine, Baidu — that "deep link" directly to music files and whose results are heavily skewed in favor of unlicensed music. Google began testing the service in August 2008 in partnership with the partially-Google-owned Top100.cn, which had dropped its own download service for the venture.

The companies have secured licenses for more than 1.1 million songs from record labels including Warner, Sony BMG, Universal, and EMI. Under testing, the service only had about 350,000 songs available for download. The companies said they will share advertising revenue with the record labels — although no financial details were disclosed. But in China, Google doesn't have nearly the clout it does elsewhere.

Estimates put Google at controlling between 17-28 per cent of the search market, compared to Baidu's 62-77 per cent. According to the the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), over 99 per cent of all music downloads in China are illegal. IFPI claims about half of online music piracy is done by deep-linking music sites, compared to Europe and North America where P2P is the preferred platform of pirates.

March 17, 2009

Sources close to Tony-award winning actress Natasha Richardson tell FOXNews.com that the 45-year-old actress is brain dead, and being transported back to New York City before she is to be taken off life support.

Richardson's condition deteriorated following a skiing accident on Monday on a beginner's trail at the Mont Tremblant ski resort in Quebec, Canada. A spokeswoman for Montreal's Sacré-Coeur hospital, where Richardson was transferred after being sent initially to nearby Centre Hospitalier Laurentien in Ste-Agathe, said a family representative was expected to release a statement Wednesday.

The Toronto Star said one of their reporters witnessed Richardson, heavily wrapped in blankets, "in an intensive-care bed, tubes covering her face," as she was put into ambulance in Montreal shortly after noon. The Star said her husband, actor Liam Neeson, was crouched down inside the back of the ambulance, and "looked extremely worried."

Richardson was first reported in serious condition with a head injury by multiple outlets early Tuesday. "We know that she has had an accident but we really do not know any more details," said Kika Markham, who is married to Richardson's uncle, Corin Redgrave. "We are very concerned." Neeson left the set of a movie he was filming in Toronto to be by his wife's side.

Tuesday, 17 March 2009

The creator of the bumbling cartoon character Mr Magoo, Millard Kaufman, has died at the age of 92. Kaufman wrote for television and film earning Oscar nominations for Bad Day at Black Rock and Take the High Ground.

He created weak-eyed elderly Magoo for the 1949 animated short Ragtime Bear, which was voiced by actor Jim Backus. The screenwriter published his first novel aged 90. Bowl of Cherries was a surprise cult hit and his second novel is due out in late 2009.

Kaufman described his change of career to the Los Angeles Times in 2007: "I decided, knowing that nobody my age gets work in movies, and that I had to do something, otherwise I'd get into terrible trouble, that I would try writing a novel." The nonagenarian was an unusual signing for McSweeney's publishers, which specialises in cutting edge young writers.

Bowl of Cherries was a comic coming-of-age romp where the 14-year-old hero moves between Yale university, a horse ranch, a porn studio and the war in Iraq. Millard Kaufman worked as a merchant seaman and a newspaper journalist before serving with the Marine Corps during World War II. He later worked on the 1955 film Bad Day at Black Rock, one of the first films to look at white racism toward Japanese Americans during WWII.

By Bob Tourtellotte
Mar 16, 2009 1:45am EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Award-winning actor and activist Ron Silver, who was Emmy-nominated for his role on the hit U.S. television drama "The West Wing," died on Sunday of cancer. He was 62.

"Ron Silver died peacefully in his sleep with his family around him early Sunday morning," said Robin Bronk, executive director of the Creative Coalition, which Silver helped found. Bronk said Silver was with his family in New York City and he had been fighting esophageal cancer for two years. Bronk called Silver not only a very talented actor, but a champion of free speech and artists' rights.

New York-based Creative Coalition is an art-oriented political group founded in 1989 by Silver, Alec Baldwin and Susan Sarandon, among others. Silver, who won Broadway's 1988 Tony Award for his work in David Mamet's drama "Speed the Plow," had been a longtime liberal activist, but after the September 11 attacks became an outspoken supporter of Republican President George W. Bush.

He was a featured speaker at the 2004 Republican National Convention, sometimes called himself a "9/11 Republican" and switched his party affiliation from Democrat to independent. Silver said his shift in politics cost him jobs in liberal Hollywood, yet he remained sought out for his skills as a character actor.

By Paul Bond
March 4, 2009, 08:09 PM ET

It may be little consolation, especially considering that Sony Pictures is reportedly preparing to cut 300 jobs, but layoffs in the media business don't come close to the carnage in some other sectors. In the first two months of this year, 7,453 jobs were lost at media companies. Even when combining that with the 2,183 jobs that were cut from entertainment/leisure, a sector that includes movie theaters and theme parks, it's relatively mild.

The worst industry, for example, is retail, which slashed 72,727 jobs so far in January and February. The data is based on announced job cuts and comes from a Challenger, Gray & Christmas report released Wednesday. The industry with the second-most job losses was automotive, at 70,058, and that was followed by industrial goods, with 51,545 jobs lost.

Challenger, which is an executive outplacement firm, breaks its data down into 25 industries. There are 14 industries that suffered more layoffs than media and 18 more than entertainment/leisure. In all of 2008, the media sector suffered 28,083 layoffs. In the first two months last year, 5,544 jobs were lost, 34% less than in the first two months this year. As for Sony, the studio had no comment on impending layoffs, though the cuts are reportedly due to poor DVD sales and are unrelated to the 8,000 jobs recently cut from Sony's electronics unit.

Horton Foote, the Pulitzer Prize- and Academy Award-winning screenwriter of "To Kill a Mockingbird," has died, according to officials at the Hartford Stage theater, where he was working on a production of several of his plays.

Horton Foote won Oscars for his "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "Tender Mercies" screenplays. He was 92. Foote was born in Wharton, Texas, and, at age 16 moved to California to study acting. He would later move to New York, where he would transition to writing for the stage, television and movies, according to the Internet Movie Database.

He won the Oscar for best adapted screenplay in 1962 for his reworking of Harper Lee's classic novel "To Kill A Mockingbird," and another for best original screenplay in 1983 for "Tender Mercies," which starred Robert Duvall as a down-and-out country singer. He also was nominated for 1985's "The Trip to Bountiful." In 1995, his play "The Man From Atlanta" was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for drama.

By Paul Bond
March 3, 2009, 06:30 PM ET

Add Blockbuster to the list of companies that could use a bailout right about now. With $300 million in debt due in August, the nation's top old-style video rental firm confirmed Tuesday it has sought the help of a law firm to help it raise capital. Wall Street, though, decided early in the day that the hiring of Kirkland & Ellis signaled that Blockbuster could face bankruptcy, so its shares plunged 77% to 22 cents before trading was halted for the rest of the day. But Blockbuster spokeswoman Karen Raskopf said Wall Street was off the mark. "We do not intend to file for bankruptcy," she said.

Raskopf said Blockbuster's options include a retreat to its capital management plan, whereby it operates the business on the cheap in order to meet its financial obligations. "We hope we don't have to do that, because we have lots of plans to grow our business," she said. Blockbuster already has invested vast sums of money to compete with Netflix in the DVD-by-mail industry and to deliver VOD through the Internet, just as Netflix, Amazon.com, TiVo and others are doing.

Blockbuster also is investing in a kiosk business, a response to Redbox, which rents movies for $1 a day at locations like McDonald's and Wal-Mart. Blockbuster's pain was Netflix's gain, its shares rising 13% before settling for a 6% gain to $36.36 on Tuesday. Blockbuster, founded in 1985, was purchased by Viacom for $8.7 billion in 1994, then spun out in 1999, saddled with a mountain of debt. It has struggled to turn a profit ever since.

By Kelly Fiveash
3rd March 2009 19:09 GMT

Neil Young has hit out at YouTube by complaining it “unfairly” punishes artists to keep the online video business ticking over. Writing on his blog yesterday, the Sixties rocker and one-time supporter of Ronald Reagan, grumbled about a row that kicked off in December between Warner Music and YouTube after the firms failed to agree to a licensing deal.

"YouTube has a responsibility to respect the artists it facilitates and resist punishing them to make a business point," opined Young on his website. The Canadian rock star described YouTube as "the new radio" but claimed that unlike the wireless* days of yore, Google's video sharing website fails to equally compensate for every artist and record label.

"Since You Tube has given some labels better deals that others, the Media Giant is treating artists unequally, depending on which label they are on," said Young. "If all artists were compensated equally, and the people decided who had the hits and misses by virtue of number of downloads and plays, there could be no grounds for disagreement that would cause the facilitator of the art to break the conduit between an artist and an audience.

"That is what has happened to Warner Bros artists caught in YouTube's web." Warner Music's content was yanked from YouTube after the two firms failed to reach an agreement earlier this year. YouTube has previously inked separate licensing deals with each of the Big Four record labels. Young isn't impressed with YouTube's handling of the agreements.

by James Hibberd
February 24, 2009

Despite low expectations, the 81st Annual Academy Awards was TV's most-watched entertainment telecast in two years. The Oscars averaged 36.3 million viewers and a 12.1 adults 18-49 rating, up 13% from last season's all-time low. With awards show telecasts in recent years typically getting hit with a morning-after double barrel of critic scorn and decreased ratings, Sunday's ceremony proved a pleasant exception on both counts.

An overhaul by first-time producers Lawrence Mark and Bill Condon seemed to largely please pundits, providing elegant staging and a quicker-feeling pace that helped offset a lack of suspense over the coronation of best picture “Slumdog Millionaire.” ABC's red carpet coverage benefited from the increased interest, pulling 24.3 million viewers and a 7.2 rating, also up 13% from last year. "The Barbara Walters Special" drew an average audience of 11.6 million viewers and delivered a 3.2 rating and Jimmy Kimmel's post-awards special was up 16% (4.3 million).

Also Sunday: First a holiday weekend, then the Oscars, CBS' "The Amazing Race" (7.8 million viewers, 2.6 preliminary adults 18-49 rating and 6 share) can't catch a break. The second episode of the veteran reality series matched its modest premiere rating from last week. Also Sunday: First a holiday weekend, then the Oscars, CBS' "The Amazing Race" (7.8 million viewers, 2.6 preliminary adults 18-49 rating and 6 share) can't catch a break. The second episode of the veteran reality series matched its modest premiere rating from last week.

by James Hibberd
February 24, 2009

Don't tell NBC, but Americans are watching more TV than ever before. Nielsen's fourth-quarter report says the average American watches more than 151 hours of TV per month -- an all-time high. The study backs up previous reports showing TV viewership growing, even as the Big Four broadcast networks struggle in the ratings. The proliferation of quality content on cable networks, and the use of DVRs and growth of online streaming have contributed to an overall live viewership decline for the largest and most established networks.

Also in Nielsen's findings: Fans who watch TV shows on the Internet consume about three hours of online video per month, and those who use mobile video watch nearly four hours per month. “The American fascination with television and other video content is not easing up, as consumers keep turning to TV, Internet and mobile at record levels,” said Susan Whiting, Nielsen’s vice chair. "It is clear that TV remains the main vehicle for viewing video, although online and mobile platforms are an increasingly important complement to live home-based television.”

The study also found:

>> The number of TV viewing hours tends to increase with age (except during teenage years)

>> Use of video on the Internet peaks among young adults; mobile video is highest among teens

by James Hibberd
February 20, 2009

Know your fall comedy pilots! Laid off? Pinching pennies? Have networks got TV for you:

* A group of friends all get fired on the same day.

* A halfway home for troubled cops.

* A Wall Street executive loses his job and has to reconnect with his small-town family.

Laughing yet? Those are a few loglines for next fall’s TV pilots. The comedy pilots. Networks are looking at recessionary ideas for their new half-hours, with several projects embracing family themes and avoiding office settings. CBS’ “Waiting to Die” is a “buddy comedy about two simple guys who are happy with their life, no matter how bad it might look from the outside.” Fox’s “Two Dollar Beer” is about a blue-collar couple in Detroit who “deal with the reality of their long-standing roots in this community slowly becoming less relevant as the rest of the world passes them by.”

Ha-ha-ha-hee-hee ... oh-oh, oh man. That’s just too much. Groups of single, perky young people seem to be waning. No more friends with benefits; they’re friends with unemployment benefits. The creative upside is that networks that rushed back to formulaic police and medical procedurals for their fall drama pilots seem to have ordered some refreshingly nontraditional-sounding comedies. Yet the police-show resurgence is getting some play here too (there are, bizarrely, four comedies in development about police officers or security guards).

Office-based shows seem less popular this time -- network executives likely figure viewers do not wish to be reminded of their workplace (or lack thereof) during a recession. In another assumption-busting move, there are plenty of single-camera comedies, accounting for nearly 40% of comedy pilots despite the traditional multicamera sitcom generally performing better in the ratings. Below is your comedy pilot guide. Turns out, it’s tougher to say something vaguely witty about comedy loglines than dramas, so I'll leave the wisecracks to you. Icons indicate Recession Theme, Family Based, Distressed Modern Woman, Workplace, Single Camera, if it's a Fairly Unique Idea and if there are Cops (yes, Defamer’s suspect cop has returned).

by Steven Musil
February 19, 2009 9:10 PM PST

Despite extreme measures to prevent U2's new album from appearing prematurely on the Internet, copies of the band's "No Line on the Horizon" have begun circulating on file-swapping networks--a full week before its official release.

CD-quality copies of the band's 12th album, which is slated for release in Ireland on February 27 and worldwide on March 3, started appearing Wednesday on BitTorrent and now reportedly number in the hundreds of thousands.

Copies were also found circulating on LimeWire. After four tracks from the forthcoming album leaked on to the Internet last summer, the band decided not to send review copies of the album to the press, opting instead to have "listening parties" where journalists were prohibited from possessing recording devices--including cell phones.

The leak is likely to raise the ire of U2 manager Paul McGuinness, who has waged a vocal campaign against file-swapping sites and even blamed some tech heavyweights with facilitating piracy. McGuinness wants to fight file sharing by forcing Internet service providers to ban people who pirate music, and suggested last year that Apple and other makers of digital music players were wrongly profiting from their "burglary kits."