Warner Bros

The 56-day rental window Warner Bros. has reportedly tried to impose on its partners didn't go over too well with Redbox.

The kiosk-rental company announced yesterday that its contract with Warner Bros. had expired and that it had no intention of entering into a new agreement with the film studio. The company did assure customers that it has other ways of getting access to Warner Bros. movies and TV shows, and that they'll still be available in its kiosks.

"Redbox will continue to provide our consumers with affordable access to new release movies from all major studios … Read more

Amazon has become the first major retailer to agree to sell films on the UltraViolet platform and the Web's biggest store is starting with movies from Warner Bros., multiple film-industry sources told CNET.

Amazon VP Bill Carr announced during a panel discussion at CES yesterday that the retailer had struck a UV deal with a single Hollywood studio, but he declined to identify which one or provide many details about the agreement.

Carr was joined on stage by members of the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE), the consortium that founded UV. Among them were top executives from Sony, Warner … Read more

Warner Bros. has kicked off a new trend that could make it even harder for you to rent a DVD when you want, according to a report.

The movie studio has signed a deal with Netflix, Redbox, and Blockbuster, requiring the rental firms to wait to rent DVDs 56 days after they go on sale, All Things Digital reported yesterday, citing sources. The deal is expected to be announced at the Consumer Electronics Show next week.

If the companies did, in fact, ink the deal, it could be a major blow to the rental companies. Currently, consumers are forced to … Read more

Hollywood continues to try to lay the foundation for UltraViolet, the technology that studio managers hope will replace the DVD.

Sony Pictures on Friday issued Blu-ray versions of "The Smurfs" and "Friends With Benefits" and also provided disc buyers with access to UV copies of the films. The studio will do the same with the release of the revenge flick "Columbiana" on December 20.

In addition, Variety, a film industry trade publication, is reporting that Sony Pictures will release a UV version of the Brad Pitt hit movie "Moneyball" on January 10. … Read more

After Netflix announced key partnerships for its U.K. and Ireland streaming service earlier this week, its chief competitor in those countries has fired back with one of its own.

Lovefilm announced today that it has inked a streaming deal with Warner Bros. that will make its service the exclusive provider of the studio's films in the "second window." In other words, after the films are made available on pay TV in the first window, they will exclusively come to Lovefilm next.

According to the companies, the deal will go into effect in December, and will initially … Read more

LOS ANGELES--An online locker service accused by some of Hollywood's biggest film studios of "massive copyright violations," has made counter claims that generated a lot of press attention last week.

Hotfile, a Florida-based online storage service sued by the studios in February, alleges that one of its accusers, Warner Bros. Entertainment, made numerous false copyright claims as part of attempt to remove content from Hotfile's site.

Some media pundits have suggested that Warner's actions are an example of how the studios abuse copyright law and have even drawn comparisons with Hotfile's situation to the … Read more

LOS ANGELES--Warner Bros. has ironed out a short-lived glitch with the film studio's UltraViolet service just in time for the upcoming "Harry Potter" Blu-ray release.

Today, the updated Flixster app enables users to not only stream movies available on UltraViolet, but also download them to iPads and iPhones, a feature that was missing from Warner's initial movie releases on UltraViolet.

UltraViolet is the name of the technology standards and specifications that will enable film fans to store titles on the servers of film distributors, or what is commonly known as the cloud. From now on those … Read more

Adobe puts their support behind HTML 5 and ends further development of Flash on mobile browsers. Somewhere Steve Jobs is smiling. Warner Bros. takes down files they never even saw, which makes us feel great about the future of the Stop Piracy Online Act. Plus, a Rotisserie Meatball Passes Between Earth and Moon, and Siri tries to help us get a gift for mom on Christmas.

Jerusalem-based AnyClip has just signed a deal with Warner Bros. Digital Distribution to make thousands of films searchable online.

You know that scene in "Casablanca" when Rick says, "Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine"? AnyClip just made "Casablanca" searchable, so you can get to that line of the movie and perfect your new pickup line.

AnyClip has signed a content licensing agreement with Warner Bros. Digital Distribution to create a library of clips from movies like "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of … Read more