New York - Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA) today reported that its quarterly net profit rose 33 percent, beating Wall Street forecasts, on strong sales of the "Rock Band" video game and higher advertising revenue at its cable networks, including MTV Networks. The company said that revenue for the period rose 15%, to $3.12 billion, from $2.72 billion in the first quarter of 2007.

Portland, Ore. - The top-grossing films of 2006-2007 in the U.S., when including box office sales, DVD and VHS sales and rental estimates, and video-on-demand viewing, were "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" (Disney), "Transformers" (Paramount) and "Cars" (Disney), according to data compiled by Rentrak. The only R-rated film to crack the top 20 was Warner Bros.' "300," while the majority were either action or family films rated PG-13. Rentak tracks data from 51 million set-top boxes, more than 10,000 retail and 12,000 home video locations, and 35,000 movie screens across North America and other countries around the world.

Cupertino, Calif. - Apple (NASD: AAPL) on Thursday announced that new release movies from the major Hollywood studios will now be made available for purchase and download from the iTunes Store on the same day as their DVD releases, and will be priced at $14.99. Participating studios include 20th Century Fox (NYSE: NWS), The Walt Disney Studios (NYSE: DIS), Warner Bros. (NYSE: TWX), Paramount Pictures (NYSE: VIA), Universal Studios Home Entertainment (NYSE: GE), Sony Pictures Entertainment (NYSE: SNE), Lionsgate, Image Entertainment and First Look Studios.

New York - Video rental giant Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI) is in negotiations toward taking a stake in the new pay-TV movie channel joint venture announced by Viacom (NYSE: VIA) and several movie studios last week, people familiar with the situation told The Wall Street Journal. Under the prospective deal, Blockbuster -- which used to be owned by Viacom -- would invest in the joint venture and in return get digital rights to the new channel's programming.

New York - Media conglomerate Viacom (NYSE: VIA) announced on Monday that it has formed a joint venture to create a premium TV channel and video-on-demand service that will feature classic and new movies and TV shows from five studios. Scheduled to launch in the fall of 2009, the service will feature programming from Viacom's Paramount and Paramount Vantage, MGM, United Artists and Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF).

New York - Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) MTV Networks said this week that it will begin offering owners of its "Rock Band" video game to download full albums compatible with the game beginning next week, to include records from Judas Priest, the Cars and the Pixies.

New York - Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) BET Networks on Tuesday announced a deal with Microsoft to offer a selection of full-length BET television shows for download to the Xbox 360 via the Xbox Live online service. Shows offered will include "College Hill 4," "American Gangster," "Comic View" and "Iron Ring." Currently, the Xbox Live Marketplace features more than 4,200 hours of premium entertainment content from more than 40 studios and networks.

New York - Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group announced on Friday that it plans to launch a number of additional virtual worlds for kids, building on the success of its existing Neopets and Nicktropolis sites. The company said it will develop virtual worlds for "SpongeBob SquarePants," "Monkey World" and "World of Neopia."

New York - Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) MTV Networks said on Wednesday that it streamed more than 57 million mobile videos over the past year across all of its brands, representing 94% year-over-year growth. The figure includes 17 million streams from its MTV properties. Comedy Central now streams nearly 1 million mobile videos a month, up 28% on a year ago, while mobile streams are up 70% at Nickelodeon.

Los Angeles - Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) Paramount Pictures has formed a new division in its interactive department to fund the development of video games based on its films, Variety reports.

New York - South Park Digital Studios, a joint venture between "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) Comedy Central, on Wednesday launched a new website where users can watch every episode of the 12-season series for free.

Nashville, Tenn. - Guitar manufacturer Gibson has filed a second patent infringement lawsuit over guitar-replica controllers used in the video games "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band," this time suing "Rock Band" makers Harmonix, Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) MTV Networks and Electronic Arts (NASD: ERTS). Gibson also last week filed suit against a number of retailers, including Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT), for selling Activision's (NASD: ATVI) "Guitar Hero" in violation of its 1999 patent.

Cambridge, Mass. - Harmonix, the video game studio unit of Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) MTV Networks that created the "Rock Band" music game, announced on Thursday that more than 6 million song downloads have been purchased for the game since its launch just over three months ago. Over 70 songs are currently available for purchase and download for the game, priced at $0.99 to $2.99 per track, with the vast majority selling for $1.99. "The success of Rock Band downloadable content to date firmly reinforces our vision and its potential as a platform for music discovery," said Paul DeGooyer, SVP DVD, Gaming and Audio, MTV.

New York - Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) MTV and Dickhouse Productions on Wednesday announced the official launch of JackassWorld.com, a site devoted to the MTV hit show "Jackass" and its spin-offs. The daily-updated site will feature original programming, unreleased footage and will eventually host Big Brother, the skate culture magazine that was the inspiration for Jackass. MTV said JackassWorld.com has generated over 2.6 million streams of "Jackass 2.5," an hour-long collection of clips, since the site launched in beta just over two months ago.

Hollywood, Calif. - Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) Paramount Pictures on Monday launched a new mobile entertainment unit under its digital division, which will focus on developing mobile entertainment and alternative distribution models for the studio. Paramount Mobile Entertainment's management team will include Madeline Herdrich, VP of Mobile, North America; Pradeep Mittur, VP of Mobile, Asia Pacific; and Giovanni Maruca, Director of Mobile, EMEA.

New York - Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) MTV Networks on Friday announced that MTV president Christina Norman is stepping down at the end of the month, to pursue new opportunities. MTV Music and Logo Group president Van Toffler will assume her duties until a replacement can be found.

New York - Viacom is not in talks to acquire "Grand Theft Auto" game publisher Take-Two Interactive, Reuters reported, citing a source familiar with the matter, despite various online reports that Viacom was going to make an offer of $1.5 billion for the company.

Los Angeles - Microsoft (NASD: MSFT) has signed deals with Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) MTV Networks and major label Sony BMG (NYSE: SNE), to offer clips of TV shows and music videos on its free MSN Video service in Europe, Variety reports. The deal will bring clips of shows such as "South Park" and "Pimp My Ride," as well as music videos, to MSN Video sites in nine countries, including the U.K.

Sunnyvale, Calif. - Yahoo (NASD: YHOO) announced on Monday that it will dump its Yahoo Music Unlimited digital music service, and replace it with Rhapsody, the competing on-demand streaming service offered by Rhapsody America, a joint venture between RealNetworks (NASD: RNWK) and Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) MTV Networks. Yahoo and Rhapsody also intend to collaborate on other digital music services, such as music downloads.