Movie Gallery Files for Bankruptcy; Will Close 760 Stores

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Wilsonville, Ore. – Movie Gallery, the operator of some 1,900 movie
and video game rental stores in the U.S., announced on Wednesday that it has
filed for Ch. 11 bankruptcy protections, and will immediately liquidate and
close 760 of its locations. Oregon-based Movie Gallery "cited the economic
and competitive realities facing its business" in the Ch. 11 filing,
recounting how its closure of several hundred underperforming stores over the
past two years was insufficient.

The company stated that it will continue to
operate during the bankruptcy proceedings, and aims "to emerge from the restructuring
process with a new and sustainable business model centered on a smaller base of
profitable stores."

Following the closures, Movie Gallery will operate 1,111
Movie Gallery, 545 Hollywood Video and 250
Game Crazy locations — although it said it "anticipates closing
additional stores during the Chapter 11 process."

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/u9j75

http://www.moviegallery.com

Russian Casual Games Firm Alawar Secures $3 Million

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Los Angeles
– Alawar Entertainment, a Russia-based casual games publisher, has received a
$3 million equity investment from Almaz Capital Russia Fund, which will hold a
23% stake in the company, PaidContent reported.

Alawar, whose titles include
"Tales of Montezuma" and "Farm Frenzy," claims to account
for 70% of the Russian casual games market.

The company will use the funds to
expand its operations and international distribution.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/u9j2n
(PaidContent)

http://www.almazcapital.com

http://www.alawar.com

Yammer Gets $10 Million for Enterprise Microblogging

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

San Francisco
– Yammer, the developer of a microblogging service for businesses, has raised
$10 million in its second round of venture capital financing, led by Emergence
Capital.

Other investors in the round included Ron Conway, and previous backers
Charles River Ventures and Goldcrest Investments.

Launched in 2008, San
Francisco-based Yammer says its internal microblogging service is now being
used by more than 60,000 organizations.

Both free and premium versions are offered
by Yammer, which said it will use the new funds to accelerate product
innovation and increase sales coverage.

 

Related Links:
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/02/prweb3553664.htm

http://www.yammer.com

Online Video Ad Network BrightRoll Raises $10 Million

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

San Francisco
– BrightRoll, an online video advertising network, announced on Wednesday that
it has raised $10 million in third round financing, led by Scale Venture
Partners.

Previous backers True Ventures, Adams Street Capital and KPG Ventures
also participated.

San Francisco-based BrightRoll says that three-quarters of
the top 100 online media properties in the U.S. use its services.

The company
also announced that it has been profitable for "nearly the entire last 12
months," and that its network recently passed Hulu in the number of unique
users per month it reaches.

BrightRoll will use the new funds to expand its
technology platform, and worldwide advertiser and publisher operations.

 

Related Links:
http://www.brightroll.com/2010/02/02/brightroll-funding/

http://snipurl.com/u9it7

YouTube Posts Video Interview with President Obama

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

San Bruno,
Calif. – Google’s (NASD: GOOG) YouTube has
posted its video interview with President Barack Obama, taking questions
submitted by YouTube users after his State of the Union address last week.
YouTube said over 11,000 questions for Obama were submitted, and it received
over 55,000 votes on which questions its users wanted posed to the president. "We hope this interview brings us one step closer to
creating better access to your government through YouTube," Steve Grove,
YouTube’s head of news and politics, wrote on the company’s blog. "We had
many more questions on hand than we had time to deliver, so we’re pleased that
the White House has agreed to respond to more of the top-voted questions in
their blog soon, at whitehouse.gov."


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/u98y9
(YouTube blog)

Reuters, News Distribution Network Offer Video News Service

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

New York – Newsgathering
agency Reuters announced on Tuesday that it has partnered with News
Distribution Network on a video news platform for U.S. newspapers, magazines and
radio stations. The service will deliver licensed news video from partners
including CBS News and E! Entertainment to Reuters customers at no extra
charge. Revenue from advertising will be shared between Reuters, NDN and the content
providers.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/u98oa

http://www.newsinc.com

Clicker Launches Web Video Program Guide with UCLA

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Los Angeles
– Clicker Media, the provider of an online video programming guide that
includes more than 600,000 episodes from over 10,000 shows, on Wednesday
announced a collaboration with UCLA. UCLA on Clicker is a co-branded service
designed for UCLA students that combines Clicker’s catalog with original videos
from the school itself, such as lectures and symposiums.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/u98x1

http://www.clicker.com/ucla

Open Mobile Video Coalition to Study Mobile TV Viewing

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Washington
– The Open Mobile Video Coalition, a trade group looking to accelerate adoption
of over-the-air mobile TV, announced on Wednesday that it has partnered with
Harris Interactive and Rentrak to measure consumer viewing habits with mobile
TV. During a consumer test in Washington,
D.C., viewers will be able to
receive up to 20 channels of free mobile TV from eight local area stations.
OMVC will work with Harris and Rentrak over the spring and summer to measure
viewing patterns.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/u98tn

http://www.openmobilevideo.com

http://www.harrisinteractive.com

http://www.rentrak.com

Univision Launches YouTube Channel

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

San Bruno,
Calif. – Spanish-language
broadcaster Univision has launched its own channel on YouTube, offering both
full-length TV episodes and other content from Univision, TeleFutura and
Galavision. Programs to be offered include "Despierta America,"
"Escandalo TV" and "Decorando Contigo."


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/u98wb
(YouTube blog)

"Lost" Hawaii Beach Screening Camcorded, Leaked Online

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Los Angeles – A preview
screening of the first hour of the premiere episode of the new season of ABC’s (NYSE:  DIS)
"Lost," held recently on a beach in Hawaii, was camcorded by an attendee and is
now available for download on the BitTorrent file-sharing network, TorrentFreak
reported.

The screening reportedly drew at least 10,000 attendees.

The video
available on BitTorrent has so far been downloaded just over 25,000 times.

TorrentFreak noted that "Lost" was the second most-downloaded show on
BitTorrent, with 6 million downloads per episode.

 

Related Links:
http://torrentfreak.com/lost-season-6-premiere-cammed-on-the-beach-100202

 

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