Hollywood

NEW YORK -- In the wake of the MegaUpload indictment, the top Hollywood film studios are pushing for more cyberlocker services to be charged with crimes.

"We continue to make criminal referrals," Alfred Perry, vice president for worldwide content protection at Paramount Pictures, said during a panel discussion at the On Copyright conference here yesterday. Later he added that "more than 41 billion page views (yearly) are generated by the top 5 rogue cyberlocker services. That's five page views for every person on the planet."

After the panel, Perry provided CNET with the names of … Read more

Hulu Plus, the subscription video service chasing Netflix, said today the service is now available on seven Android tablets.

Hulu is the company backed by NBC Universal, News Corp., and Disney that is trying to become as ubiquitous on popular hardware devices as Netflix, the top player in providing premium Web video.

Hulu said that the Android-equipped tablets that now support Hulu Plus are Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime, Asus Eee Pad Transformer, Motorola Xoom, Motorola XYBoard 10.1, Toshiba Thrive, Acer Iconia, and LG G-Slate.

The company said that it also rolled out "the new Hulu Plus app on Android, … Read more

It's a match made in heaven: "Star Wars" and Lego. And on March 29, visitors to Legoland California will have a chance to check out a whole new area filled with nothing but large-scale Lego models featuring things like Jawa sandcrawlers, R2-D2, Darth Vader, and more.

All told, the models will use more than 2 million Lego bricks and will include models from each of the six "Star Wars" movies.

Each model is 3 feet tall and uses at least 10,000 bricks, according to Lego.

Netflix executives should be whooping it up.

IHS Screen Digest predicts more movie viewing will occur online rather than with DVDs or Blu-ray discs this year. Not only did the research firm say that Netflix's popularity helped fuel Internet film consumption, but it added that the company owns a significant percentage of that growing market.

If the prediction proves true, Netflix should see its share of growth this year. Also, a world where Internet-delivery is king means the company -- the Web's top video-rental service -- should be in a stronger position to negotiate content licenses.

IHS forecasts … Read more

Managers at Google Play are considering a plan to sell films, multiple sources have told CNET.

Google Play, formerly known as Android Market, only rents movies now, but the company has shown an interest in giving owners of Android handhelds the option to buy, according to multiple film industry sources.

One reason why Google Play is likely to make the move is that some of the big Hollywood studios may have required Google to commit to sales as a condition for getting access to rentals, the sources said. One of the industry insiders said Google could begin selling titles as … Read more

For years, Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman were known for one thing: being the "MythBusters."

But now, the two have launched a new show, Discovery Channel's "Unchained Reaction," "a new six-part series that pits two teams of varying backgrounds against each other to build an elaborate chain-reaction contraption."

Think giant Rube Goldberg machines--balls falling and knocking things into other things. Seesaws going up and throwing things into the air, each step in the process impacting the next, with each team vying to build the most impressive contraption in five tension-packed days. The … Read more

Authorities in New Zealand have acknowledged making a procedural error prior in seizing property belonging to MegaUpload founder Kim DotCom, and the mistake could mean the government will now be required to return them.

Police arrested DotCom at the mansion he lived in outside Auckland on January 19 at the request of the United States government. The U.S. Department of Justice alleges that DotCom is the mastermind of a criminal enterprise designed to help the masses pirate music and movies. U.S. officials say he made millions from piracy and seek to extradite DotCom to this country to stand … Read more

Folks interested in buying movies can either get them at brick-and-mortar stores or online. Now the film studio Twentieth Century Fox is trying a new tack aimed at combining the two, albeit in a convoluted fashion.

Fox has partnered with Taubman Centers, which operates shopping malls across the country, to create virtual storefronts in Taubman's physical shopping malls.

The storefronts are "wallscapes" that feature photos and titles from Fox movies. Users can scan a QR code found on the wall using iPhone or Android phones that will direct them online to finalize their purchase. After that, the … Read more

AUSTIN, Texas--Despite the success of Spotify and its competitors, music sharing still hasn't caught up to what Napster offered before being neutered by the courts, that service's founders, Sean Parker and Shawn Fanning, said today.

During a on-stage discussion at South by Southwest here, Parker and Fanning argued that though new technologies and licensing models finally allow music lovers to legally access and discover vast collections of songs online, even the best new services are still philosophically behind what Napster originally offered its users.

Parker, who appeared earlier this week alongside former U.S. vice president Al Gore … Read more