New York - CBS (NYSE: CBS) announced this week that it will fold its College Sports Television Networks (CSTV) businesses into the operations of CBS Sports, to include CSTV.com and its network of over 200 official collegiate athletics websites. Day-to-day operations at CSTV will now be overseen by Tony Petitti, EVP and executive producer for CBS Sports. CSTV founder Brian Bedol will stay on during the transition, and remain a senior advisor to CBS president and CEO Leslie Moonves. CBS acquired CSTV in 2005 for $325 million.

New York - Warner Music/Poe Boy Entertainment (NYSE: WMG) recording artist Flo Rida set a

Emeryville, Calif. - Gracenote said on Friday that it has expanded its partnership with Philips, with the two companies combining their respective content fingerprinting technologies. Through the deal, Gracenote has combined its audio fingerprinting technology with Philips' video fingerprinting technology, creating a system that content owners and service providers can use to control the use of copyrighted content.

Los Angeles - Live Nation (NYSE: LYV), the large concert promoter and venue owner, said this week that it has signed platinum-selling Hollywood Records artists the Jonas Brothers to a long-term, worldwide touring deal. The agreement follows similar deals Live Nation has struck with Madonna, the Rolling Stones and the Police. Tickets for Jonas Brothers tour dates will be sold through LiveNation.com.

Las Vegas - EchoStar Holding Corp.'s (NASD: SATS) Sling Media, a developer of media place-shifting devices and technology, announced on Friday that it will offer a version of its software compatible with BlackBerry smartphones later this year. The SlingPlayer Mobile software will enable Slingbox owners to shuttle their home TV channels, recorded programs and other media to their BlackBerry devices.

San Diego - Mad Catz Interactive, a maker of video game accessories, said on Friday that it has signed a multi-year licensing agreement with Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) MTV Networks, to create and distribute accessories for MTV-owned Harmonix Music Systems' "Rock Band" video game in North America and other territories. The music-based game features wired and wireless guitars, a drum percussion set and microphone accessories.

Los Angeles - Napster (NASD: NAPS) has increased the subscription fees for its digital music service by about 30%, from $9.95 per month to $12.95 per month, the company said in an e-mail to subscribers.

San Francisco - Microsoft (NASD: MSFT) sold 4.3 million Xbox 360 video game consoles during the fourth quarter of 2007, and has now sold a total of 17.7 million worldwide since the device's release in 2005, Reuters reported.

Los Angeles - Warner Bros. Entertainment (NYSE: TWX) announced on Friday that, "in response to consumer demand," it will now exclusively release its high-definition titles on Sony's (NYSE: SNE) Blu-ray disc format, ending its dual support for Toshiba's rival HD DVD format. "The window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger," said Warner Bros. chairman and CEO Barry Meyer.

New York - Major label Sony BMG (NYSE: SNE) is planning to start selling songs without digital rights management (DRM) software some time in the first quarter, making it the last major to begin in earnest to offer at least some of its catalog in the MP3 format, BusinessWeek.com reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Newton, Mass. - PeerApp, a provider of peer-to-peer (P2P) technology for Internet service providers, has raised $3 million of venture capital from a group including Pilot House Ventures, Evergreen and Cedar Fund, according to a report by PE Week Wire, which cited a regulatory filing.

Big news this morning: Sony BMG (NYSE: SNE), the company that became infamous for spearheading DRM music through installing software on consumers’ computers that made them vulnerable to viruses, is about to throw in the towel on DRM, according to Businessweek. It’s a small step for Sony BMG towards reconciliation with all the music consumers they have pissed off though the years. However, with all four big record labels now proclaiming that they are going DRM-free, it’s a giant leap towards building a new business that makes sense in a digital world.

New York - Sirius Satellite Radio (NASD: SIRI), whose proposed merger with rival XM (NASD: XMSR) is still being considered by the Justice Dept. and FCC, announced that it added 2.3 million net subscribers during 2007, and ended the year with a total of over 8.3 million subscribers.

San Francisco - U.S. venture capitalists ended 2007 on a high note, garnering nearly $16.2 billion in liquidity from the sale of 106 venture-backed companies and more than $2 billion from the initial public offerings of 26 others during the fourth quarter, according to a new report from Dow Jones VentureSource.

Silver Spring, Md. - Worldspace Satellite Radio, a provider of satellite radio service to international markets, said that it has landed a $40 million subordinated debt facility from a company controlled by its chairman and CEO, Noah Samara.

San Jose, Calif. - Pudding Media, a provider of contextual advertising placed on mobile, VoIP and Web voice applications, announced on Friday that it has raised $8 million in its first round of venture capital, led by Opus Capital and BRM Capital.

If you dig beneath the surface of the brouhaha over Robert Scoble getting his Facebook account suspended for testing a new Plaxo Facebook app that mines user email addresses in violation of Facebook’s terms of service, you’ll find evidence of two increasingly apparent realities about the future of the web:

1. Data is POWER
2. A war will be fought over control of the data

• Sony BMG Lets the Music Play (Business Week)

• Ding, Dong, The Music DRM Witch Is Dead (TechCrunch)

• Parent of Dating Sites Looks for a Match (NYT)

• Details of T-Mobile's iPhone2 Plans in Germany Emerge (SVW)

• Apple Music Monopoly Lawsuit Seeks Class-Action Status (PC World)

• Wi-Fi Startup to Pick Up Where Google Left Off in SF (PC World)

• HP Goes High-Def With New Multimedia Notebook (PC World)

• Bebo named as best social networking site in survey (Guardian UK)

• Studios and directors begin informal contract talks (Reuters)

• Pudding Media Raises $8 Million To Serve Ads Against Phone Conversations (TechCrunch)

More than two months after the departure of Gary Forsee as its president and CEO, Reston-based Sprint Nextel late last month found a replacement in wireless industry veteran Daniel Hesse, most recently the chairman, president and CEO of Embarq. He succeeded Paul Saleh, the company's CFO, who served as interim CEO for two months. Hesse had been chairman and CEO since Embarq's inception in 2006, and previously served as the CEO of Sprint's Local Telecommunications Division. Earlier in his career, he spent 23 years at AT&T, serving as the president and CEO of AT&T Wireless Services from 1997-2000.

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