America's largest retailer Wal-Mart has launched a 'beta' version of its long-awaited online movie download store.
The test version of the service will sell digital versions of around 3,000 films and television episodes.
However it will not, at launch, offer content from the ABC, CBS or NBC networks, according to a Reuters report.
Wal-Mart is entering an increasingly burgeoning market that includes Apple's iTunes - which only carries films from the Disney and Paramount studios - Amazon's 'Unbox' rental and download service and the likes of Netflix.
Wal-Mart's massive clout means it has struck deals to offer films from all the main studios at variable process; Apple's aim of selling films at one price point has seen many studios balk to come on board
Wal-Mart will not, however, rent films online and the downloaded content will not play on Apple Computers or the iPod.
Viacom v YouTube
Meanwhile Google-owned YouTube is grappling with MTV-owner Viacom over copyrighted content continually being uploaded to the video-sharing website.
Viacom has demanded that YouTube take down more than 100,000 clips - the largest number it has ever ordered deleted - for clips from shows including Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
The media company's beef is that despite negotiations GooTube is the only winner in terms of revenue generation from the practice.
According to SFGate.com, Forrester Research analysts reckon the showdown will fizzle with the companies returning to the bargaining table quickly.
Viacom is making a point that its shows - on paid cable - are more valuable than some of YouTube's other free-to-air partners and frequently appear at the top of YouTube's "most watched" list.
Disney loses European internet chief
Walt Disney Internet Group's European Managing director Attila Gazdag has left the company to "pursue other interests," the company said in a statement. Mr Gazdag, who joined the unit in 2001, will be replaced on an interim basis by Mark Handler, executive VP and MD of WDIG International.
The success of the SuperBowl advertiser's websites
With something like 60 ad slots at $2.6m per 30 second pop advertisers spent in excess of $150m on commercials during Sunday's SuperBowl.
Research firm HitWise has taken a look at the winners and losers, in terms of the increase in market share of user visits on SuperBowl Sunday compared to the day before.
While the results are interesting it is all to be taken with a grain of salt in terms of reading too much into it.
A case in point is number one ranked King Pharmaceutical's www.beatyourrisk.com - it wouldn't take much traffic for this kind of promotional website to rocket from an almost zero-traffic base.
With brands like Budweiser buying up as many as nine spots - well over $20m in media spend - return on investment is front of mind and, unsurprisingly www.bud.tv ranked second.
Bud's www.budweiser.com and www.budlight.com also did well.
See the full list of rankings here.
In the case of King Pharmaceuticals I was speaking to Antony Young, president of its media agency Optimedia US in New York, about this interesting campaign in the run up to the SuperBowl.
A first time advertiser King tied up with the American Heart Association to promote Altace, a drug which combats high blood pressure. You can see the nice link there.
Telegraph launches Six Nations podcasts with Will Carling
Starting tomorrow Telegraph is launching a series of podcasts surrounding the Six Nations competition featuring Will Carling, New Zealand legend Zinzan Brooke and Former Welsh winger Ieuan Evans.
Sponsored by BT Softphone and launched in conjunction with rugby community Rucku.com, the Telegraph Talk podcasts will provide 20 minutes of "unadulterated, uncompromising, uncensored rugby talk" every Wednesday.
World's oldest newspaper goes digital
For centuries, readers thumbed through the crackling pages of Sweden's Post-och Inrikes Tidningar newspaper. No longer.
The world's oldest paper still in circulation has dropped its paper edition and now exists only in cyberspace. The newspaper, founded in 1645 by Sweden's Queen Kristina, became a Web-only publication on January 1.
