Ifilm Company

MTV Networks, the cable television channels owned by Viacom Inc., bought Internet video provider Ifilm Corp. for $49 million to add short movies from Hollywood studios and amateur filmmakers to its websites. Ifilm, based in Hollywood, has the biggest library of short films on the Web and reaches more than 10 million users a month, MTV said in an e-mailed statement Thursday.

Less than two years after buying the Hollywood Creative Directory and Lone Eagle Publishing, Ifilm acknowledged this week that its print publications are up for sale.

Hollywood-based Ifilm has changed its focus again, expanding its Web site from short films online to movies in general. The switch aims to broaden the audience for Ifilm, a privately held company whose backers include Yahoo Inc.

Responding to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' recent ruling banning any film from being nominated for an Oscar if it debuts on the Internet, IFILM and AMC Theaters have formed a partnership to create a theatrical showcase for selected shorts.

The founders of would-be Internet entertainment site Pop.com have found an exit strategy for their once much-balleyhooed but ultimately ill-fated venture.

ON a recent Tuesday morning, Doug Hammond told his colleagues that he had a winner: "We've got a strange video of Sharon Stone unleashing a very bizarre The rest of the room chuckled -- always a good sign.