But we don't really know who the long-term participants are in this story. Now, with so many players in the video-sharing technology area, it is the distribution deals that will decide which among them will actually get the bride.

San Francisco's Guba, fresh from announcing a deal to offer video from Warner Bros., announces it has signed an agreement with Sony to immediately provide 100 movies, such as ``Memoirs of a Geisha'' and ``Spider-Man 2,'' for rental and download purchases. We don't know how much money Guba will make, but the move is significant, nonetheless. Here is the story by our colleague John Boudreau in the Merc.

File-sharing company BitTorrent, of San Francisco, meanwhile, has signed licensing agreements with at least four independent film companies. BitTorrent also has a deal to distribute Warner Bros. video, though nothing will be available until sometime in the fall, according to BitTorrent president Ashwin Navin.