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Feb 03, `08 — As Swedish prosecutors fixed their sights last week on The Pirate Bay, an Internet file-sharing service that is a scourge of the movie and music industries, the operators of the site responded by hoisting a defiant, digital Jolly Roger, reports the IHT.

The Pirate Bay, on its blog, called for a celebration saying, “This week we’ve hit some magic numbers. We’re tracking over 1 million torrents. We have had over 10 million simultaneous peers on the trackers. We’re at 2.5 million registered users (and they are active as well).”

The 100th post on the Pirate Bay blog further adds, “In case we lose the pending trial (yeah right) there will still not be any changes to the site. The Pirate Bay will keep operating just as always. We’ve been here for years and we will be here many more.”

The Wires writes, “Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi, one of the four Swedes charged in Sweden on Thursday, said in a telephone interview that the site has set up a clandestine, double-blind operation with its servers spread throughout the world — and out of reach of the Swedish authorities.

“The Pirate Bay is not in Sweden,” the 29-year-old Kolmisoppi said. Where are the servers?

“It’s a distributed system. We don’t know where the servers are. We gave them to people we trust and they don’t know it’s The Pirate Bay,” Kolmisoppi said. “They then rent locations and space for them somewhere else. It could be three countries. It could be six countries. We don’t want to know because then you’ll have a problem shutting them down.” More at IHT, theWired.

Los Angeles, Calif — Feb 03, `08 — A breakthrough in contract talks has been reached between Hollywood studios and striking writers and could lead to a tentative deal as early as next week, a person close to the ongoing negotiations said Saturday, the AP reports.

The report further said, “The two sides breached the gap Friday on the thorniest issues, those concerning compensation for projects distributed via the Internet, said the person, who requested anonymity because he were not authorized to speak publicly.

A second person familiar with the talks, also speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to comment publicly, said that significant progress had been made and a deal might be announced within a week.”

The Reuters reported, “Any deal would have to be endorsed by the governing boards of the WGA’s East and West Coast branches and ratified by the union’s rank and file.

The chief sticking point in the labor dispute has been the question of how much writers should be compensated for work distributed over the Internet and other digital media.

According to the New York Times, Friday’s breakthrough was an agreement on payment of “residual” fees for the advertising-supported online streaming of television shows.”

The last major strike to hit Hollywood, a walkout by screenwriters in 1988, lasted 22 weeks and delayed the start of that year’s fall television season. More at AP and Reuters.

HD DVD player sales in the US during a week from Jan 6 to 12, 2008, declined 88% to 1,758 units compared with the previous week, Tech-On! is reporting citing research company NPD Group.

Tech-On! further reports, “The period measured was immediately after US movie studio Warner Bros Entertainment had announced that it had shifted its support from HD DVD to Blu-ray Disc Jan 4, 2008.

Meanwhile, BD player sales grew 42% compared with the preceding week to 21,770 units, NPD said. An NPD analyst said Warner’s announcement might have impacted HD DVD player sales.

HD DVD supporter Toshiba Corp announced price reductions for its HD DVD players targeting the North American market following Warner’s announcement.” More at Tech-On!

Related:

HD DVD is ‘Missing the Boat’ in Australia

In the Battle of Formats Blu-ray Outsells HD-DVD in Europe

Feb 01, `08 — Four men who run one of the most popular file-sharing sites in the world have been charged with conspiracy to break copyright law in Sweden, the BBC reported on Thursday.

Pirate Bay does not store music and video files on its own servers, but instead helps users share them on the internet. The website acts as a directory of the files used by the BitTorrent file-transfer protocol.

“It’s not merely a search engine. It’s an active part of an action that aims at, and also leads to, making copyright protected material available,” public prosecutor Hakan Roswall told Reuters. “It’s a classic example of accessory — to act as intermediary between people who commit crimes, whether it’s in the physical or the virtual world.”

Pirate Bay told the news agency that the people running the site cannot be held responsible for how its directory services are used. The website is said to have between 10 and 15 million users around the world and is supported by online advertising.

Police seized computers in May 2006, temporarily shutting down the website.

Prosecutor Hakan Roswall said the website was commercially exploiting copyright-protected work because it was financed through advertising revenues. According to the Pirate Bay website, its users are currently downloading close to a million files.

On the site, a statement says: “In case we lose the pending trial (yeah right) there will still not be any changes to the site.

“The Pirate Bay will keep operating just as always. We’ve been here for years and we will be here many more.”

In an interview with the BBC’s technology programme Click last year Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde said: “I think it’s okay to copy. They get their money from so many places that the sales is just one small part.”

The other three men facing charges are Carl Lundstrom, Frederik Neij and Gottfrid Svartholm Warg. If convicted, the four men could face a maximum of two years in prison.

The website had up until 2006 based its servers in Stockholm, but moved some to the Netherlands after a raid in May of that year by Swedish police, who seized equipment and held three people for questioning “on suspicion of breaking copyright law or abetting the breaking of copyright law,” authorities said. The site was taken down for a day, but was soon up and running again.

Moves against the site have been backed by entertainment industry groups, including the Motion Picture Association of America and the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. More at BBC News.

Little Rock, AR — The world’s biggest retailer, Wal-Mart, has closed its video downloading service less than a year after it started selling films online.

The retreat for Wal-Mart, which accounts for about 40 percent of all DVD sales, follows the company’s 2005 decision to abandoned efforts to build an online DVD rental service. The world’s largest retailer instead turned its rental service over to Netflix.

It stopped the service on Dec 21, according to a message on the discount chain’s video download website. Wal-Mart said the decision had been forced by Hewlett-Packard withdrawing the software running the site.

The move ends a challenge to Apple’s iTunes store, Amazon and Netflix to win customers who rent films over the web.

The market for online video downloads has become very competitive with video rental chain Blockbuster buying Movielink over the summer to expand into this area.

TEMPE, Ariz — Dec 17, `07 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Limelight Networks, the leading content delivery network (CDN) for digital
media, today announced that Blockbuster has exclusively selected Limelight Networks’ rich media CDN and Microsoft Silverlight to provide the technical streaming capabilities for the first studio-backed feature streamed in its entirety — JACKASS 2.5 — to be distributed directly online by Paramount Pictures, MTV New Media group from MTV Networks and BLOCKBUSTER.

Available for free, courtesy of BLOCKBUSTER, at Jackassworld.com beginning Dec 19th through Dec 31st, `07, the US online distribution of JACKASS 2.5, an event made possible by the recent acquisition of Movielink by Blockbuster, leverages the power of Limelight Networks’ CDN and Microsoft Silverlight.

Streaming JACKASS 2.5 is open to anyone in the U.S. 17 years or older whether they are a BLOCKBUSTER member or not. And best of all, it’s free. More at Limelight Networks.

WASHINGTON, Dec 05, ‘07 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Frank Sinatra, one of the most iconic entertainers of the 20th century, will be commemorated on a postage stamp next spring, Postmaster General John Potter announced today.

Sinatra’s three children — Nancy, Frank, Jr. and Tina Sinatra — will preview the stamp image during a special ceremony in Beverly Hills, CA, on
Sinatra’s birthday, Wed., Dec. 12.

“Frank Sinatra was an extraordinary entertainer whose life and work left an indelible impression on American culture,” said Potter. “His recordings, concert performances and film work place him among America’s top artists, and his legendary gift for transforming popular song into art is a rare feat that few have been able to replicate. The Postal Service is proud to honor his achievements.”

“On behalf of our family, we are honored that the United States Postal Service has recognized our Dad’s achievements with a stamp,” said Tina
Sinatra, speaking on behalf of her siblings, Nancy and Frank Sinatra, Jr. “Of all the awards he has received, this one would have been very special to him.”

A 10-ft. image of the stamp will be unveiled at the Beverly Hilton’s Wilshire room at 10 a.m. PT, Dec. 12.

In a career studded with accolades, Sinatra won an Oscar, several Grammy awards, received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1971, and was recognized at the Kennedy Center Honors in 1983.

Sinatra also gave generously to many charities. President Reagan awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985. He was born in Hoboken, NJ, in 1915 and died in 1998. The Hoboken Post Office was renamed in his honor in 2002.

NEW YORK, Dec 05, ‘07 /PRNewswire/ — Just in time for the holiday season, Verizon is unwrapping high-definition video-on-demand in many of its FiOS TV markets.

HD VOD is now available over the FiOS TV systems in Richmond and Virginia Beach, Va.; Tampa, Fla.; Fort Wayne, Ind.; and Pittsburgh. It is coming soon to the FiOS systems in the Washington, D.C., metro area, Massachusetts and Rhode Island; and to Verizon’s remaining FiOS TV markets next year.

Verizon last month said it expects to have more than 150 HD channels by the end of 2008 as it continues to add to its HD lineup, and programmerslaunch new channels. It also said that it would increase its HD VOD titles to more than 1,000 in 2008.

Verizon’s initial HD VOD offering contains around 75 HD titles including a mix of free programs and recently released blockbuster movies such as “Transformers;” “The Hoax,” starring Richard Gere; “Mr. Brooks,” with Kevin Costner and Demi Moore; and the animated “Surf’s Up.” In the coming months, the company will continue to add HD titles to its VOD library, which now totals more than 10,000 titles.

Customers access video-on-demand simply by pressing the “VOD” or “On Demand” button on their remote control, through a menu on FiOS TV’s
interactive media guide, or by tuning into channel 900. Customers need an HDTV and an HD set-top box to view the on-demand titles in high definition. More at PRNewsWire.

Nov 24, ‘07 — With some of America’s favourite television programs pushed off the air and high-profile film projects biting the dust, Hollywood’s studio bosses and network chiefs will return to talks this week to try to end a two-week writers’ strike that has hit them harder and faster than they anticipated.

The studio brass initially said they would not consider a return to talks as long as the strike persisted, but they changed their tune when it became clear that Hollywood’s 5,000-odd writers in regular work were standing firm to shut down late-night chat shows, dramas, comedies, daytime soap operas and – if the dispute is not resolved soon – the next round of new shows that would ordinarily start to shoot in January. More at TheIndependent.

LOS ANGELES – Nov 21, ‘07 –Big-screen casualties from the Hollywood writers strike mounted further on Tuesday as movie studios reported postponing two more films, one starring Johnny Depp and another with Penelope Cruz and Sophia Loren, according to Reuters.

Warner Bros. said Depp’s adventure drama “Shantaram,” which was slated to begin shooting in India in February 2008, has been put on hold due to “strike-related script issues.”

The Time Warner -owned studio said the inability to guarantee a February start date threatened to push production of the film into India’s monsoon season.

Another high-profile feature production delayed by the 15-day-old strike is Weinstein Co.’s “Nine,” a musical adaptation of the Frederico Fellini classic “8 1/2″ to be directed and choreographed by Rob Marshall and starring Cruz, Loren, Javier Bardem and Marion Cotillard.

The delays bring to at least four the number of feature film projects derailed by the strike, which began Nov. 5 after contract talks between the Writers Guild of America and major film and TV studios collapsed.

Columbia Pictures announced last Friday it was delaying production on “Angels & Demons,” a sequel to last year’s box-office hit “The Da Vinci Code.”

The two sides agreed last Friday to return to the bargaining table on Nov. 26, but the union’s 12,000 members remain on picket lines for now, with a major rally and march down Hollywood Boulevard planned for later on Tuesday. More at Reuters.

BURBANK, Calif – Nov 19, ‘07 /PRNewswire/ — Disney/Pixar’s “Ratatouille,” the best reviewed movie of 2007, raced past the $600 million mark at the worldwide box office over the weekend, and now stands as the second biggest international release of all-time for a Disney/Pixar production, it was announced today by Mark Zoradi, president, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Group.

The film’s worldwide cume climbed to $602.6 million over the latest three-day period (11/16-18/07). With its international gross-to-date of
$396.5 million, “Ratatouille” now stands as the fifth most popular film released this year and the top grossing non-sequel.

The film ranks as the #1 animated release in 17 international territories and is the #1 film of the year (including all categories) in France. The film is expected to pass the $400 million international plateau sometime during the week, making it the sixth release from Disney (live-action or animated) to achieve this milestone.

Amongst all animated titles ever released in industry history, “Ratatouille” is only the third non-sequel to cross this threshold. “Ratatouille” also becomes the ninth release from Disney to pass the $600 million global mark, an achievement unmatched by any other Studio. Domestically, “Ratatouille” has posted an impressive gross-to-date of $206.1 million.

Los Angeles  — Nov 17, ‘07 — In the first big-screen casualty of the Hollywood writers strike, Sony Corp.’s Columbia Pictures said on Friday it had postponed production on “Angels & Demons” based on the book by author Dan Brown, a prequel to its box-office hit “The Da Vinci Code” starring Tom Hanks.

“While the filmmakers and the studio feel the screenplay is very strong, we do not believe it is the fully realized production draft required of this ambitious project,” Columbia spokesman Steve Elzer said. “At this time, there is no new start date, but we are setting a release date of May 15, 2009.” The previous date was Dec. 19, 2008, according to Box Office Mojo LLC, which tracks release dates.

Writers stopped working on feature films and television dramas and comedies on Nov. 5 after negotiators for the Writers Guild of America failed to reach a labor agreement with the studios.

“Angels & Demons” is being adapted from the bestselling book of the same name by author Dan Brown.

Published in 2000, it was Brown’s first novel to introduce the character of Robert Langdon, the crime-solving Harvard professor of iconography and religious art played by actor Tom Hanks in the big-screen adaptation of “The Da Vinci Code.”

Hanks is on board to return as Langdon for “Angels & Demons,” which the studio optioned as part of its 2003 acquisition of film rights to Brown’s “Da Vinci Code.”

Despite mainly negative reviews after its premiere at the Cannes film festival in May 2006, “Da Vinci” went on to tally more than $753 million at the box office worldwide.

That film, like the book, teamed up Langdon with a young French cryptologist to solve a murder entwined with the works of Leonardo Da Vinci and a supposed alternate history of Christianity.

A central premise of the story was that Jesus fathered a child by Mary Magdalene, and that a clandestine society has for centuries protected the identity of Christ’s living descendants from agents of the Catholic Church.

In “Angels & Demons,” another murder investigation leads Langdon on a quest to thwart a plot by an ancient group, the Illuminati, to blow up the Vatican during a papal conclave.

Los Angeles, CA — Nov 05, ‘07 — Hollywood writers will strike after last-ditch talks called by a federal mediator failed.

Writers and studios broke off talks late Sunday after East Coast members of the writers union declared they were officially on strike, the group representing producers said. Last-ditch negotiations between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers ended after about 11 hours.

Producers said writers refused a request to “stop the clock” on a planned strike while talks continued. “It is unfortunate that they choose to take this irresponsible action,” producers said in a statement. Producers said writers were not willing to compromise on their major demands.

The writers union confirmed that talks had ended and that members would strike, but did not have any further comment. The first casualty of the strike would be late-night talk shows, which are dependent on current events to fuel monologues and other entertainment.

The strike will not immediately impact production of movies or prime-time TV programs. Most studios have stockpiled dozens of movie scripts, and TV shows have enough scripts or completed shows in hand to last until early next year. More at AP.