Disney's slate of family-friendly characters includes epic names like Mickey Mouse, Hannah Montana, and others, but the company isn't stopping there. Disney is staying that sociable route and today announced it will acquire casual gamemaker Playdom for more than half a billion dollars. The deal will see Disney obtain Playdom--which was founded just two-and-a-half years ago--and its properties for $563.2 million. Additionally, Playdom shareholders can expect a "performance-linked earn out of up to $200 million" on top of the previous financial figure, according to Disney. The deal is expected to be ...

American online movie rental giant Netflix is coming to Canada, a move that is set to send shockwaves through the country's entertainment industry. The company already offers more than 17,000 movies and TV shows through its Internet-based Watch Instantly service. For $9 U.S. per month, subscribers in the U.S. can watch as many of those movies and TV shows as they want, all commercial free and on-demand. The company has revealed very little details about its Canadian expansion, except to say Monday it will be available this fall. Canada will ...

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Interactive Media Peer Group (IMPG) has announced the nominees for the 2010 Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Creative Achivement in Interactive. The nominees for the Emmy Award for Creative Achievement in Interactive Media: Fiction are: Dexter Interactive (Showtime.com) Glee Hyperpromo and Superfan (Fox.com) Star Wars Uncut (StarWarsUncut.com) The nominees for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media: Nonfiction are: The Biggest Loser Digital Experience (NBC.com) The Jimmy Fallow Digital Experience (LateNightWithJimmyFallon.com) Top Chef: Las Vegas (Bravo.com) A Blue Ribbon Panel from the IMPG will evaluate the ...

A judge granted Google's YouTube motion for summary judgment in Viacom's copyright lawsuit against the online video giant. Viacom filed a $1 billion suit against YouTube back in March 2007. The original complaint claimed 160,000 unauthorized clips were available on YouTube and those clips had been viewed 1.5 billion times. This is hardly the end of this battle — Viacom says it's going to appeal this ruling. In the three years since the suit was filed YouTube has gone to great lengths to identify all the clips on its site and to monetize those clips for the content ...

Online video site Hulu could begin testing a paid subscription service as early as later this month, according to people briefed on the plans, a high-profile test of whether consumers will pay to watch television shows online. The popular video site is working to finalize agreements with content owners and hoping to wrap them up in the coming days, these people said. The service, which is being referred to as Hulu Plus, marks a new effort from the Web venture to address the shifting Web strategies of its three big-media owners, General ...