Cannes, France - News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) MySpace on Thursday announced a deal with ShineReveille International that will see its original content series distributed internationally through TV, DVD and merchandise. ShineReveille International distributes a broad array of programming from independent producers and U.S. networks to more than 150 territories worldwide.

Dulles, Va. - AOL (NYSE: TWX) on Thursday announced the launch of the AOL Technology Network, which will include technology-focused blogs including Engadget, Switched, TUAW (The Unofficial Apple Weblog), DownloadSquad, Engadget Mobile and Engadget HD. All the sites will feature tabs at the top linking to the other network sites, and AOL's advertising arm, Platform-A, also plans to sell ads across the entire network. Switched, now powered by Engadget, will serve as the network's central hub.

Seattle - Online retail giant Amazon.com (NASD: AMZN) has announced that it will offer any consumer who purchased an HD DVD player on its site a $50 store credit, following similar moves by retailers Best Buy and Wal-Mart. The deal is good through April 9 for anyone who purchased an HD DVD player before Feb. 23, the day that Toshiba said it would abandon the format and cede victory in the next-generation DVD "format war" to rival Sony's Blu-ray.

San Diego - MP3tunes, the online music locker service started by MP3.com founder Michael Robertson, on Thursday launched a new feature that lets users automatically move their digital music between their own computers. The AutoSync feature, now included with every MP3tunes Music Locker, will for instance let consumers buy MP3s from Amazon.com while at work, and have the new music available for listening on family computers when they get home. Major label EMI is currently suing MP3tunes, arguing it makes unauthorized copies of songs.

Los Angeles - Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI) is developing a set-top box that will deliver streaming films to consumers' televisions, and is expected to announce details on the plan sometime this month, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Sunnyvale, Calif. - Yahoo (NASD: YHOO) announced on Thursday a three-year video and advertising partnership with MLB Advanced Media, that will see out-of-market MLB games streamed live and on-demand on Yahoo Sports.

New York - Nielsen Business Media, the division of the ratings, publishing and events company that publishes titles including The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, Editor & Publisher, Mediaweek and Adweek, has laid off 40-50 staffers, according to reports on Fishbowl NY and Folio.com.

San Francisco - Gay media firm PlanetOut (NASD: LGBT) announced on Thursday that it will sell its publishing business -- which includes the magazines Out and The Advocate -- to fellow gay media firm here Networks for $6 million.

Pity the poor regulator who, someday soon, will be faced with evaluating some proposed combination of all or parts of Microsoft, Yahoo, AOL and/or News Corp. (is there anyone else left?). What yardstick would you even apply? Someday, they're all going to be in the same combination of the content creation/distribution business, online advertising, applications development and platforms and social networking anyway. It's really only a question of how they get there and when, not whether or even should they. Trying to come to grips with that through the keyhole of any one deal or company is probably not a formula for a coherent regulatory framework for the future of the digital media industry.

Indianapolis, Ind. - Angie's List, a site that offers user-generated ratings and reviews on local service providers, announced on Thursday that it has received a $35 million equity investment from Battery Ventures, which will take a minority stake in the company.

While US webcasters may think that they have legal issues - whether it be the Internet radio music royalties that have been such a concern (see our coverage, here) or the copyright and other liability issues that surround user-generated content on various websites (see our story here), they face nothing like new rules that were recently adopted for webcasters in China. The new rules require government permits from two separate Chinese government agencies before webcasting operations can begin. In addition, the rules appear to require ownership and control of webcasting operations by state-owned companies. A memo on these new rules, prepared by attorneys from Davis Wright Tremaine's Shanghai office, can be found here.

New York - News Corporation (NYSE: NWS) is in negotiations with Microsoft (NASD: MSFT) to join its hostile takeover bid for Yahoo (NASD: YHOO), while Yahoo, which has rebuffed Microsoft's advances, has itself been holding talks with AOL and News Corp., The New York Times reported on Thursday. Should News Corp. join Microsoft in its offer, Yahoo would likely see a higher bid made than Microsoft's current offer, in a deal that would combine Yahoo with Microsoft's MSN and News Corp.'s MySpace.

There is a dirty little secret in the cable industry. Its being kept secret not by the cable distributors, but by the big cable networks. End this practice and the United States goes from being 3rd world by international broadband standards, to top of the charts and exemplary. Make this change and Net Neutrality becomes a non issue. There is plenty of bandwidth for everyone. What is the dirty little secret? That your cable company still delivers basic cable networks in analog.

Los Angeles - Modelina, a stealth-mode site that will focus on supermodels, has received around $5 million in financing from Polaris Venture Partners, PaidContent.org reported.

Los Altos, Calif. - Ustream.TV, a provider of Internet video broadcasting services, announced on Thursday that it has raised $11.1 million in its first round of venture capital financing, from DCM, Labrador Ventures and The Band of Angels.

Palo Alto, Calif. - Jaxtr, a provider of Internet telephony services for social networks, blogs and other sites, has raised around $6.4 million in a second round of venture financing, PEHub.com reported, citing a regulatory filing.