From Yahoo: By Scott Hillis Fri May 9, 7:31 AM ET

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WebVideoReport.com reports:

Fora.tv, which offers intellectual videos from think tanks and educational institutions, raised $4 million in an A round of venture funding from William Randolph Hearst III, Adobe Ventures and other investors, Beet.tv reports. The money will be used to add content to the site.
-Elizabeth Jensen

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In Berkeley circa 1971, a weekend matinee at the local movie house cost about a buck. Ten-year-old Projector, flush with his $5 weekly allowance, could catch “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory,” hit the concession stand for popcorn, a Coke and Bon-Bons, and still have enough cash left over to buy the next week’s essentials at the corner store: baseball cards, Hershey bars and comic books.

Like everything else, the economics of moviegoing has gotten more complicated. With baby-sitting and dinner, a recent Friday night at the multiplex cost Mr. and Mrs. Projector $73.66. (That tab, by the way, does not include the two hours of our lives spent watching “Leatherheads.” Call that a write-off.) No wonder so many folks simply flop down in front of their flat screen TVs and pop in DVDs from Netflix or Blockbuster.

Complete article here

Hollywood taking sides in network neutrality debate

Hollywood believes the Internet is the key to its future. But its constituents are again squabbling over how to get there.

As in the recent television writers strike, the major studios are at odds with some members of the creative community over digital distribution. This time it’s about a public policy issue known as network neutrality.

The-Numbers.com contains data on box office past present, and links to modeling of film finance. worth a look see, and I will be incorporating and commenting more on some of the data over time.

http://www.the-numbers.com/

Ah so now I am back! What does that mean for the readers?

I have a whole stack of topics to blog on in my to-do list. But first I have to do a little clean up on the software side since I have been away for so long.

• Update software - blogging software moves fast, and there is software from a bunch of different sources running this site. I need to bring stuff up to the latest version, and that is already partly done.
• Add new RSS feeds - One of the most popular features of this site is s centralized source of RSS feeds where news and analysis of the industry can be found. I have a large group to add. At some point, the sheer number is going to lead to a redesign of the layout, but for now look for more in the same format I have now.
• Same goes for “Interesting pages” links - maybe some of those have RSS feeds now, but I also have lots of new pages to present that may not have RSS feeds - these will be added soon too.

As I do all that, look for more regular updates, commenting on material I find, online and off, as well as original analysis by me.