September 8 - 7:45am EDT   Real early on Monday introduced a potentially controversial app that could affect the legality of media transcoding. RealDVD would be one of the first DVD ripping programs from a major developer but claims to dodge the legal setbacks that have shut down earlier apps: the software preserves Macrovision's CSS encryption and limits sending copies to a maximum of five authorized PCs. The solution would let notebook owners or a whole home play a DVD movie from anywhere, Real claims. [full story]

January 3 - 5:35pm EST   Macrovision, the company largely responsible for modern DVD copy-protection schemes, has officially integrated its technologies with CinemaNow to offer downloads of CinemaNow premium video directly to Macrovision-enabled consumer electronics devices. Users who have registered Macrovision-enabled hardware at CinemaNow.com can use those devices to watch movies, TV shows, and music videos from CinemaNow's online library of available programming, according to TWICE. [full story]

December 7 - 3:00pm EST   Gemstar-TV Guide International will be bought by Macrovision in a deal worth $2.8 billion, Reuters says. The deal is unusual for several reasons; among these is the fact that Gemstar is actually larger than Macrovision, requiring the latter company to enter $800 million in new debt, which in turn has triggered a 25 percent drop in its stock. For most people, however, the deal is important because Macrovision is responsible for the CSS copy protection on DVDs, and Gemstar produces both TV Guide magazine and similarly-themed TV channels. [full story]