Palo Alto, Calif. - Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) (NYSE: SNE) has signed on to be the first major studio to authorize older titles from its library to be manufactured and distributed through HP's DVD on-demand service. "We know there is strong consumer demand for these titles, and by working with HP we can monetize our deep product library and help give retailers the means to bring a wider offering of Sony Pictures product to consumers without a significant investment in inventory," said SPHE president David Bishop. Among the 5,000 or so titles currently available through HP's year-old service are classic TV shows not available yet on DVD; foreign and independent films; and specialty cable TV programming.

Palo Alto, Calif. - HP on Thursday announced agreements with 30 content providers who have agreed to license their libraries, comprising 4,000 movie, TV, documentary and other titles, for production and distribution via its HP Video Merchant Services. The service is designed to allow retailers to offer on-demand or pre-packaged DVDs, as well as digital downloads. HP said the providers include Arts Alliance America, First Look Studios, Gaiam Americas, Nelvana Enterprises and Venevision International Films.

Santa Monica, Calif. - Ascent Media Group, a provider of creative, digital and technical media services to the media and entertainment industries, announced on Tuesday a strategic alliance with HP, to co-develop and distribute services and technologies to studios, content providers and aggregators that archive, repurpose and distribute media digitally for the multi-channel market. The deal cements a three-year collaboration between the companies, which together have implemented solutions for clients including Sony Pictures Entertainment and Paramount Studios.

Washington - Microsoft plans to submit a filing to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Monday, that disputes the agency's recent finding that prototype devices designed to receive Internet service beamed over unused TV spectrum will cause interference, the Washington Post reported.

Washington - Several prototypes of devices that can transmit broadband Internet service over unused portions of the TV broadcast spectrum, developed by companies including Google, Microsoft and Dell, have failed a Federal Communications Commission interference test, the Associated Press reported.

Palo Alto, Calif. - HP announced on Tuesday that it has partnered with Trans World Entertainment to launch an on-demand DVD manufacturing service that will feature specialty and "long-tail" titles not readily available in stores or online. Orders placed via Trans World's fye.com online store will be manufactured and mailed by HP, usually within 24 hours. "Through this service, we're enabling customers to tap into a vast selection of content that until now has been locked away in a Hollywood vault," said Willem de Zoete, vice president and general manager of HP's Digital Entertainment Services.

San Francisco - A number of journalists whose phone records were obtained by private investigators working for Hewlett-Packard -- which at the time was looking into boardroom leaks to the media -- have decided to sue the company for invasion of privacy, CNET News.com reported on Monday.

Washington - A coalition of large technology firms -- including Microsoft, Google, Dell, HP, Intel and Philips -- have asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to allow unused TV channels ("white space") to be used for distribution of Internet access into homes and offices, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

Bentonville, Ark. - Retail giant Wal-Mart on Tuesday announced the launch of a beta version of its new video download service, which initially will offer more than 3,000 movies and TV shows for purchase and download from its website.

Washington - President Bush has signed into law a bill that outlaws "pretexting," or the fraudulent or unauthorized acquisition or disclosure of confidential phone records.