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The Hills Is Making Its Way to Sling.com
I'm a big advocate of the video site Hulu, which streams movies and TV shows for free (they are commercial-supported). But there's still a huge list of shows, like The Hills, that aren't available on Hulu. The website Sling — brought to you by the masterminds of the SlingPlayer — is adding Viacom Shows (like The Hills) to its full streaming lineup.
Buzz News Roundup, 12/31
- The Terminator will be added to the Library of Congress' National Film Registry. — Zap2It
- Unless a deal is struck today, Time Warner Cable subscribers will lose Viacom channels (MTV, Comedy Central, etc.) just after midnight tonight. — Variety
- Fox is looking to delay the release of Watchmen.
YouTube Ordered to Shell Out Viewer Info
If you've ever checked out YouTube clips from The Daily Show and The Colbert Report (among many others), your information may soon be released to Viacom — they've been granted access to private user data to find out how many people are watching!
Part of a copyright infringement lawsuit, Google was ordered to release the deets about how many times copyrighted clips are played, and who's watching to determine if damages are owed to Viacom.
Viacom claims that Google knew about the infringements and could do more to stop it.
Do You Watch Premium Channels For the Movies or the Series?
There was news this week that Viacom, which owns Showtime (as well as CBS, the CW, Paramount Pictures, and approximately a billion other things), will be launching a new pay-cable channel in 2009. Unlike Showtime and HBO, which carry both movies and TV series, this new channel will have movies only.
I'm a relatively new subscriber to premium channels, but it was the TV series, not the movies, that convinced me I needed HBO and Showtime.
The Daily Show Presents Professional Important News
The Daily Show's Demetri Martin reports on the current legal dispute between Viacom and Google. Yadda, yawn, yadda. But the paper dolls and t-shirt backdrop set it all up nicely, which is why this is the best reporting I've encountered in a while.
Viacom vs YouTube
Viacom (my old fabulous employers) are suing one of my new favorite companies, YouTube. We all know YouTube is worth billions now that they are part of Google's family and Viacom owner Sumner Redstone is not taking it lightly that they are making money off many of his network's programs. In fact, today Viacom announced they are suing the video site for more than $1 billion!!!
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Viacom Sues Google For One Billion Dollars
Media giant Viacom, the parent company of networks like MTV, Comedy Central and the Cartoon Network, put the smack down today suing Google and YouTube for “massive intentional copyright infringement.” Viacom has been fighting with YouTube for some time over clips of Viacom programs and shows that end up on the site, and is now asking for $1 billion in damages. As we all know, Google bought YouTube recently for 1.65 billion, so $1 billion isn't exactly chump change. Here's more:
Viacom accused the video-sharing Web site of “exploiting the devotion of fans to others’ creative work in order to enrich itself.” It added: “There is no question that YouTube and Google are continuing to take the fruit of our efforts without permission and destroying enormous value in the process.”
The lawsuit is the latest scuffle between YouTube and Viacom.
This Just In: Two Andy Warhol Pop-erties Up for Grabs
According to Page Six, two of Andy Warhol's former Manhattan residences are on the market, under Corcoran listings. One of the properties is a 12-room, six-story Upper East Side house owned by former Viacom head Tom Freston, and has an asking price of $38.5 million. The pop icon "paid only $310,000 for the now-renovated 1910 townhouse," and "lived there from 1974 until his death in 1987."
Sugar Bits — Barack Obama Appears on The View
- Barack Obama sat down with the ladies of The View this morning to discuss his campaign and his relation to Brad Pitt. — CitizenSugar
- Tom Cruise was spotted having lunch in LA with Sumner Redstone, the head of CBS and Viacom, leading to speculation that the former business partners, who parted ways after Sumner famously fired Tom for being an embarrassment, had reconciled. — The Wall Street Journal
- After getting $6 million from People for their baby photos, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony splashed out $300,000 on an 8-carat canary diamond ring and $30,000 for a nursery in their Puerto Rico home.
Sugar Bits - Sumner Wants To Make-up with Tom
- After firing Tom Cruise from Paramount for being a total embarrassment the Viacom chairman now wants to be friends again. Yeah, good luck with that! - AP
- Simon shot his mouth off (again) last week, saying Jennifer Hudson owes her career to American Idol and he can't stand Taylor Hicks.
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