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.

London - U.K.-based video game publisher SCi, which owns Eidos and the "Tomb Raider" franchise, has received a $119 million investment from Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) Warner Bros. and real estate investor Robert Tchenguiz through a private share placement.

Stanford, Calif. - A federal court in New York on Monday heard arguments from Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, who along with Warner Bros. (NYSE: TWX) has filed suit to prevent the publication of a reference guide to the series, claiming its creator has stolen her work. The defendant, RDR Books, argued that its print version of "The Harry Potter Lexicon," based on school librarian and Harry Potter fan Steven Vander Ark's Web resource of the same name, is a legal "fair use" or Rowling's works.

Los Angeles - Warner Bros. is the first studio to offer some of its titles via video-on-demand services in the U.K. on the same day and date as their DVD releases, Variety reports. The Warner titles will be available for about $7.88 each, and will be available for unlimited viewing for 24 hours from services including Sky Box Office, Virgin, BT Vision and Xbox Live.

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.

Los Angeles - Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) Warner Bros. on Tuesday announced an agreement with National CineMedia (NCM), the operator of an in-theater digital ad and entertainment network, whereby Warner will provide original, exclusive behind-the-scenes looks at upcoming films for display before films in theaters served by NCM. The NCM Digital Content Network currently is seen on around 13,500 screens in 164 U.S. markets.

Los Angeles - Apple (NASD: AAPL) is close to making deals with most of the major movie studios that will see their films put up for sale at the company's iTunes Store, BusinessWeek reports. While the Financial Times previously reported that Apple had signed a deal with 20th Century Fox (NYSE: NWS) to offer downloadable movie rentals, sources told BusinessWeek that Apple is close to deals for rentals and/or sales with Warner Bros. (NYSE: TWX), Paramount (NYSE: VIA) and Lionsgate.

Los Angeles - Warner Bros. Entertainment (NYSE: TWX) announced on Friday that, "in response to consumer demand," it will now exclusively release its high-definition titles on Sony's (NYSE: SNE) Blu-ray disc format, ending its dual support for Toshiba's rival HD DVD format. "The window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger," said Warner Bros. chairman and CEO Barry Meyer.

Los Angeles - Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution (NYSE: TWX) will add segments from the online network No Good TV to its syndicated entertainment news show "Extra," TVWeek.com reports. No Good TV attracts an estimated average of 10 million views weekly across its own site, YouTube and mobile screens for its celebrity interviews. "To us there is a giant untapped audience that gets all their entertainment news online," "Extra" senior executive producer Lisa Gregorisch-Dempsey told TVWeek.com. "We thought this was a perfect opportunity to bring young viewers in a way that none of the entertainment shows are doing." No Good TV co-president Kourosh Taj also told TVWeek.com he's in talks with networks on bringing a half-hour show to late-night TV.

Los Angeles - Warner Bros. Intl. Television Distribution (NYSE: TW) has announced plans to launch a series of video-on-demand services with cable, satellite and broadband providers in regions including the U.K., Europe and Asia, Variety reported. The Warner TV services will offer on-demand access to select movies and TV shows in certain windows, making sure not to adversely affect deals with foreign broadcasters. "It's a brand new revenue stream," WBITD president Jeffrey Schlesinger told Variety. "The costs here are much lower than creating a linear channel. You don't have as much on-air promotion that you have to do. You don't have as much scheduling or advertising sales infrastructure. You don't have to worry about commercial insertion."

Los Angeles - Looking to offer a relatively cheap alternative in China, the world's largest pirate DVD market, Hollywood movie studios Warner Bros. (NYSE: TW) and Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) Paramount and DreamWorks have partnered to sell new DVDs for $2.95 there as soon as two months after a film's U.S. premiere, Variety reported.

Burbank, Calif. - Time Warner's (NYSE: TW) Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group announced on Thursday that it will acquire TT Games, which comprises independent game developer Traveller's Tales, and TT Games Publishing, which has released a series of LEGO Star Wars titles.

New York - Ecast, a maker of Internet-connected digital jukeboxes for bars and restaurants, said this week that it will exclusively offer pre-release tracks from new albums from Faith Hill and LeAnn Rimes on its network of 10,000 jukeboxes. The company partnered with Warner Bros. Records and Curb Records, respectively, on the promotions.

Seattle - RealNetworks and Warner Bros. Digital Distribution on Monday announced the debut of "On Set, On Edge," a 20-episode original online reality series that follows filmmaker Vanessa Parise ("Kiss the Bride") during the production of her second film, "Jack and Jill vs. The World." The series will be available on RealNetworks' Film.com site, as well as to subscribers of its SuperPass broadband entertainment service.

Burbank, Calif. - Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment announced this week that it plans to publish a game based on the upcoming "Speed Racer" film, which is being written and directed by "Matrix" creators the Wachowski brothers. The game will be developed by Sidhe Interactive for Nintendo Wii, DS and PlayStation 2, and is slated for release in 2008.

Burbank, Calif. - Warner Bros. International Television Distribution said on Wednesday that it has signed an agreement with Hong Kong-based online video distributor ViDeOnline. Under the deal, ViDeOnline will distribute legal downloads of an initial batch of over 100 Warner Bros. films, such as "V For Vendetta," "Superman Returns" and "Happy Feet," on its new 08Media portal.

Burbank, Calif. - In a move aimed at combating piracy, Warner Bros. Pictures announced on Wednesday that it has cancelled all promotional and word-of-mouth screenings in Canada for all of its forthcoming releases.

Seoul, Korea - Korean consumer electronics firm Samsung has announced plans to introduce a dual-format player that will support both Blu-ray and HD DVD high-definition formats in time for the holidays.

Burbank, Calif. - Warner Bros. Entertainment said on Tuesday that it has licensed thousands of original stills and film clips to Getty Images. Seattle-based Getty Images, which also hosts professional celebrity and event photos, will then license the Warner Bros. content for use by editors, publishers and filmmakers.

Menlo Park, Calif. - Zannel on Wednesday announced the launch of its mobile social networking service, which lets users create and share content on any mobile device across multiple networks. The company counts 1,500 content partners, including Konami, the X Prize Foundation and Warner Bros. Pictures, who are distributing their content through Zannel. Menlo Park, Calif.-based Zannel raised $6 million in its first round of funding in June 2006 from Palomar Ventures and U.S. Ventures.