Dallas - Video rental giant Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI) on Tuesday announced a partnership with PayPal, whose online payment service will now be accepted as a payment method for its online DVD rental service. To promote the deal, Blockbuster is offering PayPal customers $10 cash back if they sign up for a new online rental subscription plan; the company's online DVD rental service has struggled to gain traction against market leader Netflix.

Los Gatos, Calif. - Online DVD rental service Netflix (NASD: NFLX) on Tuesday introduced the Netflix Player, a $100 set-top box made by Roku that lets subscribers stream some of the company's library of films and TV episodes directly to their televisions. The Roku device currently offers access to 10,000 titles, or about 10% of Netflix's total catalog.

After a spasm of irrational exuberance pushed shares of Netflix to new highs over the past few weeks investors abruptly reversed course late Monday, hammering the shares in after-hours trading after the company's Q1 earnings report included lower-than-hoped for guidance for the rest of the year. After officially closing up almost 2% on the day, the shares plunged more than 14% in the after-hours market, losing $5.52 a piece. The company shaved 1 cent off the upper end of its projected full-year EPS to $1.29, quickly deflating a bubble of expectation that had lifted the shares by nearly 50% over the past year.

Los Gatos, Calif. - Online DVD rental service Netflix (NASD: NFLX) plans to issue credits to subscribers whose shipments were delayed because of a website outage on Monday, the Associated Press reported. The outage, which wasn't completely fixed until Tuesday morning, resulted in a one-day delay for customers expecting to receive DVDs on Tuesday. Affected subscribers will receive a 5% credit on their monthly bill.

Los Gatos, Calif. - Online DVD rental service Netflix (NASD: NFLX) announced this week that its board has authorized a $150 million stock repurchase program, which will run through the end of 2008.

Los Gatos, Calif. - Shares of online DVD rental service Netflix (NASD: NFLX) rose over 9% on Wednesday, as the company upped its first quarter and fiscal year 2008 earnings outlook, as well as its subscriber growth forecasts.

DMW’s CEO & Publisher provides a wrap-up of the top stories of the week. Who’s hot, who’s not and what’s the industry buzz?

It was a crazy week for all of us at DMW with much of our time spent on planning three major events we are producing in the coming weeks: Digital Music Forum East in New York City, February 26-27; The Millennials Canada in Toronto, March 5; and Future of Television West in Los Angeles, March 24-25. We have been producing the entertainment industry’s leading digital events for years, but developments over the past year have really increased the profile of our events, which now attract large (often standing room only) crowds and camera crews from leading media outlets, such as CNBC, CNN, PBS and the BBC.

Beverly Hills, Calif. - In another bad sign for Toshiba's next-generation HD DVD format, online DVD rental service Netflix (NASD: NFLX) announced on Monday that it has decided to begin exclusively stocking high-definition DVDs in Sony's (NYSE: SNE) Blu-ray format. The company has stocked both formats since early 2006, but said the decision of four of the six major movie studios to exclusively support Blu-ray influenced its decision.

Los Gatos, Calif. - Online DVD rental service Netflix (NASD: NFLX) announced on Monday that it will offer unlimited streaming of movie and TV episodes to subscribers of its unlimited monthly DVD rental plans, which start at $8.99 per month.

It is rumored that Steve Jobs will announce a video rental service for iTunes in his much-anticipated MacWorld keynote on Tuesday. Adding fuel to the fire of speculation, Netflix has preempted Apple's announcement saying it will offer unlimited access to its streaming video library to most customers. To lend context to the announcements, I wanted to profile Netflix and Blockbuster, the two biggest players in online movie rental.

Los Gatos, Calif. - Online DVD rental service Netflix (NASD: NFLX) announced on Thursday that it has partnered with Korea's LG Electronics, to develop a set-top box that will allow consumers to stream movies and other video from the Internet to HDTVs.

Los Gatos, Calif. - Online DVD rental service Netflix (NASD: NFLX) announced on Thursday an agreement with NBC Universal Domestic Television Distribution, that will see episodes of NBC's primetime series "Heroes" made available for viewing online by Netflix subscribers they day after they first air on TV. Netflix also offers its subscribers prior season episodes of NBC's "30 Rock," "Friday Night Lights" and "The Office."

Dallas - Movie rental giant Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI) announced on Thursday that its third quarter revenues fell 5.7% to $1.24 billion, from $1.31 million in the same period a year ago, while the company's net loss was $35 million, compared with a $24.7 million net loss a year ago.

Palo Alto, Calif. - Trusted Opinion, a social network where users recommend media and offer product reviews to their friends, has raised $1.3 million in first round funding from undisclosed investors, TechCrunch reported.

Dallas - Video rental giant Blockbuster announced on Thursday that it has acquired Movielink, a joint venture of a number of movie studios that sells movie and TV downloads.

San Francisco - Hackers have found a way to strip the digital rights management (DRM) protecting the movies offered by online DVD rental service Netflix's "Watch Now" on-demand service, Wired.com reported, citing a post on Hackzine. The hack does require some work, likely violates copyright law and Netflix terms of service, and may be patched by Netflix at any time, but for the time being enables users to watch movies from the service on any video player.

Los Gatos, Calif. - Online DVD rental service Netflix announced on Monday that it has partnered with CBS Corp.'s Showtime Networks, on a marketing promotion that will let Netflix subscribers watch the upcoming series "Californication" three weeks prior to its premiere on Showtime. The first episode of the comedy series, which stars David Duchovny and is set to debut on Showtime on Aug. 13, will be offered both on DVD, and via Netflix's WatchNow video-on-demand service on its website.

Dallas - Days after rival Netflix announced subscription price cuts at its online DVD rental service, video rental giant Blockbuster said on Thursday that it has lowered the cost of several of its online subscription plans.

Los Gatos, Calif. - Online DVD rental service Netflix announced that it will lower the prices of its two most-popular subscription plans by $1, in part to counter price cuts at the online service of rival Blockbuster.