Monday News: Internet Video, High-Def Formats, Hulu Lawsuit, and More

The NY Times has a bunch of Internet video stories today...

- Warner Bros. is creating original Web video series, and hopes to sell advertising around them.

- A profile of the attorney who cut the lucrative new 'South Park' deal

- The self-publishing site Lulu.com is suing Hulu, the new Web video site created by News Corp. and NBC, because its name is too similar.

The LA Times says there's no end in sight to the HD DVD/Blu-ray format war, which some had predicted would be over by Christmas. From the piece:

The brinkmanship is intensifying. Another major studio, Warner Bros., is being courted by both camps and believed to be mulling over a lucrative offer that could bring such popular titles as "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" into the HD DVD camp, according to Hollywood insiders who requested anonymity because the talks were confidential.

"Any movement by one of the studios tilts the playing field in one direction or the other," said David Sanderson, head of the global media practice at consulting firm Bain & Co. "It's a bit of jump ball right now."

What's more, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the dominant seller of DVDs, has been contemplating whether to boot stand-alone HD DVD players from its shelves in favor of Blu-ray. Wal-Mart executives would not talk about the company's conversations with suppliers, but said it would continue to carry hardware and software in both formats until consumers indicate a clear preference.

- IFC and a tech start-up called B Side are working together to get home video and online distribution for movies that garner good buzz at film festivals, but don't get distribution deals, according to Variety.