Metro Goldwyn Mayer Inc

The Tuesday ouster of Harry Sloan as chief executive of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. underscores the continued turmoil at the debt-ridden independent studio since it was taken over by private equity owners five years ago. MGM, which is struggling to refinance its $3.7-billion bank loan, will be overseen by a newly created "office of the CEO," composed of production head Mary Parent, Chief Financial Officer Bedi A. Singh and Stephen F. Cooper, a...

The Terminator said he would be back. Now, Comcast Corp. cable TV subscribers can summon him from their sofas. The Philadelphia-based cable giant joined movie company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. on Tuesday to announce the launch of a video-on-demand channel, Impact, solely for action titles like the Arnold Schwarzenegger picture, as well as action-oriented TV shows. Comcast and MGM said they began offering the channel this week.

Wall Street may be ready to show Tom Cruise the money. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.'s long dormant United Artists movie unit -- which Cruise and his producing partner are attempting to resuscitate -- is close to raising about $500 million to finance a slate of movies over the next few years. The money would pay the cost of making prints of the films and advertising them, as well as the cost of making them.

His office looks more like it belongs to a New Age guru than a type-A chief executive crusading to save one of Hollywood's most storied movie studios. Dozens of crystals, an amethyst cluster as big as a boulder, an amber lion, running-water sculptures and other talismans populate his corner suite at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.'s headquarters in Century City. Shortly after becoming chairman and chief executive 18 months ago, Harry E.

Seeking to tap into the growing Latino market in the United States, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. has partnered with actress Salma Hayek to make two to four Latin-themed movies a year. Hayek's production company, Ventanazul, will be housed at MGM and will be charged with making broad appeal films that star Latino talent or have Latin sensibilities. The studio will finance the movies, which will have budgets ranging from $5 million to $25 million.

Apple Inc. has started selling movies from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.'s film library on its iTunes website, advancing an effort to obtain material that can be downloaded and played on Apple's iPod and a new set-top box. MGM is selling rights to about 100 movies to Apple, said Derek Mains, a spokesman for Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple. Films from MGM boost the iTunes catalog to more than 500 films. MGM won't be offering new releases, Mains said. The titles will sell for $9.99 each.

Director Nicolas Lopez gave Hollywood the cold shoulder two years ago, when he was asked to produce a remake of "Revenge of the Nerds." The 24-year-old Chilean had his own creative visions, and he persuaded the Spanish producers behind this year's hit, "Pan's Labyrinth," to fork over $7 million for his superhero comedy, "Santos." With that movie under his belt, Lopez is giving Hollywood another try.

For nearly a decade, actress Salma Hayek and her production partner, Jos? Tamez, have been trying to launch a mini-studio that caters to the Latino audience. They're finally getting some traction, thanks in part to the success of "Ugly Betty," the popular television show they produce for ABC that is based on a Colombian soap opera, "Yo Soy Betty, la Fea," and "Frida," the 2002 biography of artist Frida Kahlo in which Hayek also starred.

Banking on the future of high-definition television, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is launching a movie channel next month on the DirecTV satellite service that will be the studio's first channel in the United States. MGM HD will offer movies from its own 4,100-title library, initially screening such films as "West Side Story," "Robocop" and "Leaving Las Vegas."

The owners of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. are entertaining offers from several suitors to sell the historic United Artists movie label, an executive familiar with the details said Thursday. However, another executive with knowledge of the talks said an outright purchase was only one of many options, which primarily involve forming strategic alliances. No deal is imminent, but at least one bid for the studio topped $500 million. Acquiring UA would enable a buyer to form a new, independent studio.