Another traditional media company has made the plunge into new media. Sony Pictures Entertainment has acquired user-generated video site Grouper.

Sony paid $65 million to acquire Grouper, which has 8 million users - much fewer than rival YouTube, for example - but it has grown from 1 million users less than six months ago, writes the Financial Times. Grouper would be useful for distributing and promoting Sony films and TV programs as well as for serving as a generator of new ideas and creative talent.

"Consumers are spending more and more time on sites such as Grouper, and as one of the world's largest creators of entertainment, we want to be where the audiences are," Michael Lynton, chief executive of Sony Pictures, is quoted a saying.

Josh Felser, Grouper's founder, will stay with the company. He said the deal would create a site offering both user-generated and copyrighted content. Felser sold internet startup Spinner.com to AOL for $320m in 1999.