Los Angeles - "Quarterlife," an original Web series co-produced by MySpace (NYSE: NWS), pulled in dismal ratings in its debut as an hour-long TV series on NBC (NYSE: GE), according to The Hollywood Reporter, marking the network's "worst time-period performance in the 10 p.m. hour in at least 17 years." The show averaged a 1.3 rating and 4 share among viewers ages 18 to 49, and just 3.1 million viewers. "The Web site traffic went up a huge amount and we continue to try new things and new models," NBC co-chair Ben Silverman told THR. "It's very inexpensive but we hoped for higher ratings." THR reports that the series will continue its six-episode run on NBC before moving to NBC Universal's Bravo cable network.

New York - CBS's (NYSE: CBS) music discovery service Last.fm on Thursday announced the launch of a new section that showcases third-party applications designed to work with the service. The company estimated that activity around third-party applications on other websites added 19 million users to its service in January, in addition to the 21 million active users engaging with the Last.fm site itself. "We'll be moving into mobile, games consoles and partnering with other great media platforms to guarantee that Last.fm continues to drive the best music discovery and listening on the Web," said co-founder Richard Jones.

San Francisco - Blinkx, the developer of a video search engine, on Thursday announced content partnerships with the BBC, CBS and The Weather Channel. With the agreements, the site will further expand its programming, which already includes 18 million hours of indexed video and audio content from more than 220 partners.

Burbank, Calif. - Disney Interactive Studios (NYSE: DIS) on Thursday announced plans to publish "Ultimate Band," a music-focused game for the Nintendo Wii and DS that will utilize the Wii controller and DS stylus as musical instruments, a la the popular "Rock Band" (MTV/Harmonix) and "Guitar Hero" (Activision). Disney has partnered with London-based music consultants Radial Music to select music for the game, which is being developed by Fall Line Studios for release in the fall.

Shanghai - Following similar actions recently taken by major record labels, two groups representing Chinese musicians have filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Baidu, the country's most popular search engine, Reuters reported.

Palo Alto, Calif. - Hoping to capitalize on the success of rival MySpace, where a reported 7 million musical acts have set up shop, online social network Facebook on Thursday introduced a new music section, that allows bands to create profiles and post their songs, photos and music videos. Some 80 artists have already set up profiles, including Alicia Keys, Bruce Springsteen, Coldplay, Justin Timberlake and the Decemberists.

Cupertino, Calif. - Apple (NASD: AAPL) has announced plans to hold an event on March 6, to announce plans for releasing an anticipated software developers' tools for creating third-party applications for its iPhone and iPod Touch.

San Francisco - WideOrbit, a developer of software designed to help media companies simplify and automate the process of selling and billing advertising, said on Thursday that it has raised an undisclosed amount in a new round of funding from Khosla Ventures, Greycroft Partners and Hearst Ventures.

Los Angeles - Disney (NYSE: DIS) on Thursday announced the formation of a new digital production studio, Stage 9, which will develop original series for the Web and mobile devices. The unit's first production, a comedy series about window washers called "Squeegees," launched today on ABC.com and YouTube with Toyota as sponsor.

London - With an estimated nearly 500 online music services currently operating in over 40 countries, consolidation is inevitable and acquisitions of smaller firms by bigger providers will be seen over the next two years, according to a report from market research firm Point Topic.

Washington - As the company continues to wait for a decision from federal regulators concerning its proposed merger with rival Sirius (NASD: SIRI), XM Satellite Radio (NASD: XMSR) on Thursday said that it boosted its revenue and narrowed its net loss during the fourth quarter.

Greenbelt, Md. - Acuity Mobile, a developer of targeted mobile marketing technology, said that it has received a $50,000 investment from the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development (DBED).

New York - Dragonfly, a provider of Internet video distribution services, announced on Thursday that it has raised $3 million in funding from a group of strategic individual investors.

New York - Magnify.net, a community video platform where users can create embeddable video channels populated with clips from across the Web, has raised a $1 million first round of financing, TechCrunch reports.