Internet & Media

What does Hulu offer that YouTube doesn't?

When it comes to offering full-length content on the Web, YouTube isn't ready to yield to Hulu.

On Thursday, the San Bruno, Calif.-based video site of Google announced that it had reached agreement with notable entertainment companies, including Sony Pictures, Lions Gate Entertainment, and CBS (publisher of CNET News) to offer visitors full-length TV shows and feature films.

What this means is that YouTube wants to become a one-stop shop for everything video.

The strategy seems obvious. YouTube already has more than 100 million people visiting every month to watch a mixture of short clips created by amateurs … Read more

Pirate Bay defendants to fight on

The verdict has been handed down in the Pirate Bay file-sharing case, but the legal actions are far from done.

"The prosecutor leads 1-0 after the first round, but this will of course be appealed," said Per E. Samuelsson, defense lawyer for Carl Lundström, one of the four individuals sentenced in the Pirate Bay trial, according to the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter.

Samuelsson calls the verdict a scandal. He also claims that his client will have to pay the damages ruled by the court--a total of $3.6 million--because the other three sentenced lack economic resources.… Read more

Copyright holders cheer Pirate Bay verdict

Update, 8:44 a.m. PDT: Added comments from U.S. copyright owners.

Both copyright holders and some Pirate Bay supporters see opportunities to promote their causes as a result of the verdict handed down Friday in the Pirate Bay file-sharing case.

The large penalty--$3.6 million in damages to be paid to the copyright holders--will likely discourage illegal file sharers, according to those in the music business. In addition, each of the four defendants, Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg and Carl Lundstrom, were sentenced to a year in jail.

Reaction in the United States from those … Read more

Pirate Bay defendants found guilty

This story has been updated. See below for details.

A Swedish court on Friday found the four defendants in the high-profile Pirate Bay case guilty, sentencing each to a year in jail. The defendants were also ordered to pay a total of 30 million Swedish kronor ($3.6 million) in damages to copyright holders, among them a number of American media giants.

The four men--Peter Sunde, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Fredrik Neij, and Carl Lundström--were found guilty of having made 33 copyright-protected files accessible for illegal file sharing via the Piratebay.org Web site.

"The crime has been … Read more

Recession hits for real, but Google unfazed

It took awhile, but the recession has definitely sunk its teeth into Google's financial performance.

"No company is recession-proof. Google is absolutely feeling the impact," Google CEO Eric Schmidt said in a conference call Thursday after reporting first-quarter financial results.

The company, as is customary, reported results that most business only dream of, recession or not. Its net income grew 8 percent to $1.42 billion and its revenue, excluding commissions paid to advertising partners, grew 10 percent to $4.07 billion. It generated free cash flow of $2 billion for the quarter, the vast majority of … Read more

Facebook opens up vote on new terms of service

Following Facebook's privacy debacle earlier this year, the social-networking site is encouraging users to vote on whether a proposed terms of service culled from user feedback should replace the existing terms of service.

In a blog posting Thursday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg encouraged users to review documents posted to the site that contain proposed changes to the site's terms of service (TOS) based on user feedback along side the current TOS:

If these new documents are approved, all future changes to the Statement of Rights and Responsibilities will go through the same process of notice and comment, and … Read more

Google: We'd love to supply ads for Twitter

Twitter is booming, and Google would be "very happy to pursue" an advertising partnership with the microblogging service, Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said Thursday.

There have been signs Google is vying with Microsoft for the privilege of supplying ads to Twitter. Although Schmidt didn't mention any specifics about such talks during a conference call to report Google's first-quarter profits, he lavished praise on Twitter and expressed enthusiasm for an ad partnership with it or its competitors:

Twitter proves innovation is alive and well in Silicon Valley. It's really come on board very strong in … Read more

Google bringing pay-per-view to YouTube

So far, YouTube has been a free, advertising-supported service, but Google plans to build payment mechanisms into its video-sharing site.

"With respect to how it'll get monetized, our first priority is on the advertising side. We do expect over time to see micropayments and other forms of subscription models coming as well," said Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt after the company reported first-quarter profits Thursday. "We'll be announcing additional things in that area literally very, very soon."

The change in tactics will mark a new era for Google's attempt to make money from … Read more

YouTube signs Sony, preps site for studio content

Move over Hotforwords, Lonelygirl15, and all the other YouTube stars. The video site is bringing in more professionally made content and plans to make it a marquee product.

The Internet's largest video site on Thursday announced that it has struck deals with a host of entertainment companies, including Sony Pictures, CBS (parent company of CNET News), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Lionsgate, Starz, and the BBC, to acquire "thousands" of TV episodes and hundreds of films. The new content will only be available in the United States.

YouTube executives also said during a conference call that they have redesigned part of … Read more