Amazon.com launches video download service

Amazon.com launched a digital video downloading service Thursday, ending months of speculation that the Internet retailer would be getting into the online TV and movie business.

The service, dubbed Amazon Unbox, will offer television shows, movies and other videos from more than 30 studios and networks, the company said.

TV shows will cost $1.99 per episode, and most movies will go for $7.99 to $14.99; movies can also be rented for $3.99.

When customers download a show or movie, Unbox will automatically give them a second file that can be viewed on portable digital players that use Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Media Player.

•A former vice president of Staples Inc. has been charged with embezzling nearly $600,000 from the office products company.

James Dorman, 39, is charged with money laundering, mail and wire fraud for allegedly submitting fraudulent vendor invoices so he and three friends could receive payments from Framingham-based Staples.

Dorman is also accused of misusing corporate travel funds to pay for his own personal travel as well as travel-related expenses for friends.

•The United Auto Workers union is talking with Ford Motor Co. about expanding the automaker’s buyout and early retirement offers to cover more workers and a decision could come next week, a union local leader said in a memo posted on the Internet.

Tim Levandusky, president of UAW Local 1250 in Brook Park, Ohio, near Cleveland, said in the memo on the local’s Web site that the UAW leadership is in talks with the company about the buyouts and news of the outcome of those talks is expected at a union meeting on Monday. The Detroit News reported about the memo in Thursday’s editions.

Ford spokeswoman Marcey Evans said the automaker would not comment on talks with the UAW or about further extending the buyouts.

•A U.S. district judge in New York is allowing some of Wall Street’s biggest investment banks to appeal an Enron Corp. court ruling that the banks said could “devastate” the country’s $500-billion distressed-debt market.

U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin took the unusual step of permitting the banks to immediately appeal the ruling by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Arthur Gonzalez, who is overseeing the Enron case.

Gonzalez ruled earlier this year that holders of claims against a bankrupt company could see those claims wiped out even if they did nothing wrong.