Midlothian, Va. - Video game publisher SouthPeak Interactive said on Friday that it will co-publish "Igor," based on the forthcoming animated film from The Weinstein Company and MGM Studios, along with developer Legacy Interactive. The game is slated for release alongside the film in September for Nintendo Wii, DS and the PC.

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).

Mesa, Ariz. - FireSky, a newly established video game publisher, said on Thursday that has signed a deal to publish "Stargate Worlds," a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game based on the sci-fi franchise owned by MGM. The company, which currently has four studios working on a variety of titles, says it will focus on "SNAP" (Social Networks at Play) games -- "a unified theory of online gaming that combines social interactive, economies and game play across a variety of titles."

Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema (NYSE: TWX) finally reached an agreement to make J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit," a prequel to the blockbuster trilogy "The Lord of the Rings." While it appears that the parties have settled their longtime blood fued over Lord of the Rings' royalties, the announcement today is that Jackson will NOT direct "The Hobbit", but serve as "Executive Producer" together with his on- and offscreen partner Fran Walsh. So how significant is that little detail?

After worldwide box office sales of almost $3 billion for the trilogy of The Lord of the Rings, it’s unthinkable that anyone other than Peter Jackson, director of the films, could be involved in a project for The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien's original adventures in Middle Earth. But after a spat between Jackson and New Line Cinema threatened to derail the film, AP reports the Kiwi filmmaker has agreed to executive produce The Hobbit, with a director yet to be named.

Los Angeles - News Corp. and NBC Universal on Monday announced a private beta launch of Hulu, their video distribution joint venture that offers streaming programming on a free, ad-supported basis.

Los Angeles - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (MGM) announced on Tuesday that it will launch its first high-definition channel this fall on the DirecTV satellite service. MGM HD will be the studio's first wholly-owned channel in the U.S.; the company did not detail additional deployments with other satellite or cable providers. MGM already offers some 20 different feeds of MGM channels outside the U.S., in nearly 120 countries.

Yahoo! Inc. today announced that the Board of Directors has appointed Blake Jorgensen, the co-founder of Thomas Weisel Partners, as chief financial officer. Jorgensen will commence employment with the Company on or about June 4, 2007. Jorgensen will replace Susan Decker, who has moved into a new role as head of the advertiser and publisher group. Jorgensen will be a key member of Yahoo!'s executive team, overseeing the company's finance, investor relations and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) groups. He will report directly to Yahoo!'s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Terry Semel.
http://www.yahoo.com

Los Angeles - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (MGM) announced on Wednesday that it has made select titles from its catalog available for purchase and download from Apple's iTunes Store. MGM said initial offerings include "Mad Max," "Rocky," "Dances With Wolves" and "The Great Train Robbery," with other titles to be added in the coming weeks. Apple said that iTunes' library of over 500 films have now been downloaded more than 2 million times.

 
Related Links:
http://www.mgm.com

Alviso, Calif. - TiVo announced on Wednesday the launch of Amazon Unbox on Tivo, giving TiVo users the ability to download movies and TV shows from the online retailer's new Unbox download store.

Los Angeles - Hollywood movie studio MGM plans to launch a high-definition channel for cable, satellite and telco TV providers by the end of the year, TVWeek.com reported. The studio says 1,200 of its 4,100 films, and hundreds of hours of its television shows have been formatted for HD.