Hollywood’s man in Britain may open his own studio
Stewart Till, the British chairman and chief executive of United International Pictures, is considering launching a film studio when his contract expires at the end of next year. By Dan Milmo.
Dreamworks ends talks with NBC to sell studio
Dreamworks has broken off talks to sell its live action Hollywood studio to NBC Universal for about $1bn (£570m).
Search ads drive up online spending
10.45am: The rising popularity of search-based advertising helped push up US online advertising spending by 26% in the first six months of the year. By Dominic Timms.
Dotcom boom returns as eBay spends $4bn on loss-maker
The dotcom boom returned yesterday as online auction house eBay spent $4.1bn (£2.25bn) on a loss-making European start-up that last year reported sales of just $7m. By Richard Wray.
Mouse Zedong? Disney opens its gates in Hong Kong
The Communist heirs of Mao Zedong and the capitalist successors of Walt Disney will share the stage in Hong Kong today with a near £1bn monument to globalisation: China's first Disneyland. By Jonathan Watts.
UIP owners to split territories
United International Pictures, the film distribution business co-owned by media conglomerates NBC Universal and Viacom, is to be broken up. By Dan Milmo.
Tax trouble at the film factory
Pinewood Shepperton has urged the government to amend its film financing proposals after the movie studio reported a collapse in revenues following a crisis in UK production funding. By Dan Milmo.
Ex-Sky sales chief joins Yahoo!
11.15am: Mark Chippendale, the former Sky Media director of sales, has joined Yahoo! Europe in a new role to boost advertising across the
region. By Stephen Brook.
Investors lose battle with Disney over Ovitz’s $140m
A judge ruled last night that the Walt Disney board had not breached its fiduciary duties in hiring and subsequently firing former president Michael Ovitz with a $140m (£79m) severance package. By David Teather.
Vivendi’s game plan aids recovery
Vivendi Universal, the once-stricken French media group, yesterday underlined its sustained recovery by posting a 9% increase in first-half sales. By David Gow.
Disney names British executive as head of Miramax
Walt Disney last night named the British executive Daniel Battsek as the new head of Miramax Films, the studio behind hits like The English Patient and Kill Bill. By David Teather.
Mobile phone game sales set to soar
Computer games on mobile phones will be the fastest growing format in a mobile entertainment market that will generate sales of $42.8bn (£25.5bn) by 2010, according to an industry report.
Trinity swells online property brief
Trinity Mirror has stepped up its push into the online property classified advertising market by buying the owner of the smartnewhomes.com website for £16.6m. by Cosima Marriner.
Double trouble for DreamWorks
DreamWorks Animation delivered its second profit warning in three months yesterday, adding to Hollywood fears that the red hot DVD market is beginning to cool off. By David Teather.
Pixar hit as Incredibles disappoint
Pixar, the hit-making computer animation studio, last night lowered its profit targets for the current quarter due to weaker-than-expected DVD sales of The Incredibles. By David Teather.