Struggling UK entertainment retailer HMV (LSE: HMV) is giving equity worth 2.5 percent to its key suppliers - music and movie studios - to avoid breaching its banking covenants.

HMV’s CEO says the slowdown in plastic music and movie sales is itself slowing down - even though its Christmas was nearly a tenth worse than the previous year.

Waterstones—the leading UK bookseller that was recently bought by Russian billionaire Alexander Mamut—is taking a tip from its U.S. counterpart Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) and launching its own e-reading device. The news, to be revealed by the company’s MD James Daunt in a radio interview today, raises all sorts…

HMV (LSE: HMV) must move steadily away from selling physical entertainment content and toward the hardware on which digital content is consumed, according to the CEO of the company advising the high street retailer on the transition.

The sale of UK bookseller Waterstones to Russian billionaire Alexander Mamut should not hamper its ability to sell electronic books.

HMV’s sale of Waterstone’s, one of the UK’s leading booksellers, removes some weight from around HMV’s neck, but doesn’t necessarily set Waterstone’s up for a digital future.

HMV (LSE: HMV) has sold its Waterstone’s book chain to a fund controlled by Russian billionaire Alexander Mamut for £53 ($85.79)m.

Not to pile the pressure on CEO Ben Drury - but HMV’s worsening fortunes appear to suggest the increasing strategic importance of 7digital, his digital music retailer and distributor which HMV bought half of from investors in 2009.

HMV (LSE: HMV) is to close 60 stores across the UK after suffering a sharp fall in sales over the crucial Christmas period. The struggling high street chain issued the retail sector’s first profits warning of 2011 this morning, dashing hopes that the company’s fortunes had improved.

Here’s the first outcome of HMV’s part-acquisition of 7digital—HMVDigital.com, a new online store for digital music. Curiously, the upshot is the separation of HMV’s digital music retail from the existing HMV.com site, where HMV (LSE: HMV) used to sell digital music and where it will continue to sell other digital…

Some briefs from Mobile World Congress in Barcelona… —Orange SMS ads: Orange is extending its interactive mobile advertising service to multiple markets in Europe, following a launch earlier this year in the UK. Orange Shots, as the UK SMS/MMS service is called, is based on a platform originally operated by…

A trading update from retailer HMV for the last five weeks ended January 2 indicates that its move into new lines of business like digital media are starting to pay off. The company says sales at the group grew by 6.7 percent. To further its position in ticketing and live…

HMV (LSE: HMV) promises more collect-at-store gig tickets (there’s a new partnership with Seatwave), in-store cinema screens and “further pay-to-play gaming centres” on top of the current five, after slimming its pre-tax loss in the half-year to October 24. Pre-tax loss reduced by £2.6 million to £24.9 million, as sales…

High street music chain HMV (LSE: HMV) has a new head of online: former head of DVD buying at Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) Sarah Hughes is joining the company and will lead a 15-strong content and display team. Before Amazon, Hughes, worked at defunct retailers MCV and DVD wholesaler Entertainment UK…

Discussions to wrap online music retailer 7Digital in to HMV (LSE: HMV), which is buying half the firm for £7.7 million, began with their CEOs sharing seats on the Entertainment Retailers Association board, 7Digital chief Ben Drury told paidContent:UK. “I asked Simon Fox: What’s HMV doing in digital? You’ve made…

HMV (LSE: HMV) is making a surprise announcement at its AGM today - it’s buying a 50 percent stake in the increasingly well-thought-of online music retailer 7Digital for £7.7 million, in a move that will finally kickstart its digital ambitions. The deal means HMV Group will use 7Digital as its…

HMV (LSE: HMV) profit rose 18.5 percent to £44.2 million in the year to April 2009, after 4.4 percent better sales of £1.95 billion. Online, HMV.com sales were up 16 percent and Waterstones.com up 60 percent. Waterstones.com has an exclusive deal to deliver ebooks to Sony (NYSE: SNE) Reader -…

Keen to tap into the UK’s enthusiasm for real-life book discussion groups, Random House today launches a social networking site to stimulate debate among readers, offer a platform for discussion and of course encourage people to buy more books. Readersplace.co.uk goes live today offering book group organisers reading guides for…

A slight sigh of relief for high street and online entertainment retailer HMV: in a trading update today ahead of its full-year results the group announced like-for-like sales up 4.8 percent for the 16 weeks to April 25. In the UK and Ireland total sales were up 11.7 percent—a 4.3…