Las Vegas - Traffic at Hulu, the video site joint venture between NBC Universal and News Corp., has tripled in the past 24 months, and surpassed its goals during its first month of public availability, according to comments from Hulu CEO Jason Kilar made at the NAB convention in Las Vegas, TVWeek.com reports. Kilar added that the library of content available through Hulu has quadrupled over the past four months.

Burbank, Calif. - NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) on Thursday announced the formation of its new Digital Studio, and said that Omnicom Media Group Digital has signed on as its first strategic partner. The new studio was formed to create original episodic programming for NBC Universal's digital properties, and the first productions coming this summer will include "Gemini Division" and "Woke Up Dead." The company said the studio, with partners like OMG Digital, will "offer advertisers full service solutions with access to top writers, producers and talent, high quality production expertise, consumer insights, measurements and analytics and scale to reach their target audiences."

Mumbai, India - News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) MySpace on Thursday officially launched its latest localized site in India, promoting the new service with a rock concert featuring local artists, and a developer platform workshop. The company also said it signed a deal with Star TV, India's largest television network, to create an original network television program, "Campus Star," that will be featured on Channel V. The new show, currently airing on television in India, is a nationwide college talent competition featuring celebrity judges and the voting MySpace audience.

Santa Monica, Calif. - Activision (NASD: ATVI) announced on Thursday that rock band Def Leppard will include their new single "Nine Lives" as part of a three-track downloadable song pack add-on for its "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" game. The new single will be exclusively available through the downloadable song pack five days before the release of the band's new album, "Sons from the Sparkle Lounge."

Music Reports Inc is looking for a Project Manager to work with the Systems Development and IT team.

Los Angeles - News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) MySpace on Thursday announced the launch of its first original U.K. co-production with Hammer Films, "Beyond the Rave." The 20-episode series, which will air new 5-minute episodes twice weekly, is MySpace's first 18-plus rated content, requiring users to sign in before viewing. Featuring a cast that includes actors from films including "Marie Antoinette," "The Descent" and "Eastern Promises," the horror series follows a British soldier about to ship out to Iraq, on a search for his girlfriend at a rave that is not what is seems. The series will be offered in 19 countries with subtitles; the companies also plan to eventually offer the series on DVD.

Chicago - Microsoft has partnered with Genius Entertainment to offer a limited edition Zune digital media player that will feature classic artwork from legendary U.K. band Joy Division's album "Unknown Pleasures," Pitchfork reported. The occasion for the promotion is the June 10 DVD release of "Control," a documentary about the band by Grant Gee to be released by Genius Entertainment.

Berkeley, Calif. - MAPLight.org, a California-based nonprofit that maintains a database of campaign contributions and legislative outcomes to determine links between money and politics, has named Stanford law professor and Creative Commons founder Lawrence Lessig to its board of directors. Lessig, known for his groundbreaking work in the fields of intellectual property and the law of cyberspace, recently launched a grassroots organization called "Change Congress," which aims to "end corruption" on Capitol Hill.

London - The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has cancelled its annual video game industry awards for this year, citing a scheduling error that put the event too close to the holidays to draw enough quality submissions from developers, MCV UK reported.

Mesa, Ariz. - FireSky, a newly established video game publisher, said on Thursday that has signed a deal to publish "Stargate Worlds," a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game based on the sci-fi franchise owned by MGM. The company, which currently has four studios working on a variety of titles, says it will focus on "SNAP" (Social Networks at Play) games -- "a unified theory of online gaming that combines social interactive, economies and game play across a variety of titles."

San Bruno, Calif. - Google's (NASD: GOOG) YouTube has paid out more than $1 million in total revenue to members of its Partner Program, which shares ad revenue with "the most popular and prolific original content creators" on the site.

Los Angeles - Nokia (NYSE: NOK) is reportedly paying Universal Music Group $35 per device for the rights to pre-load music from the label's artists on the devices it sells as part of its new "Comes With Music" offering in Europe, according to The Hollywood Reporter, which cited "a well-informed mobile industry executive."

London - ERA Digital, an offshoot of the U.K. trade group the Entertainment Retailers Association that includes HMV.com, Play.com, 7digital.com, Orange and Playlouder MSP, has released a five-point plan of reforms its says are "essential to maintain growth in the market."

San Francisco - The confidence of Silicon Valley venture capitalists sunk to a new four-year low during the first quarter, according to a new survey of 32 Bay Area investors by Mark Cannice, a professor at the University of San Francisco School of Business and Management.

Sunnyvale, Calif. - Following what is said to have been a successful week-long test, Yahoo (NASD: YHOO) is now seeking to partner with Google (NASD: GOOG) to provide ads alongside its search results, the Wall Street Journal reported. The tie-up with Google would be a key element to a prospective deal where Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) would merge with Yahoo, and take a stake in the company, according to Reuters.

Redwood City, Calif. - Electronic Arts (NASD: ERTS) announced on Thursday that it has received a second request for information from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) related to its proposed acquisition of fellow game publisher Take-Two Interactive (NASD: TTWO).

Los Angeles - Confirming earlier reports, Universal Music Group announced on Thursday that it has made an equity investment in Buzznet, the music-focused social media site, and will share revenue with and be directly involved in developing editorial programming for the site. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

Maynard, Mass. - Generate Inc., a developer of business intelligence software, has been acquired by News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) Dow Jones & Co., the New York-based provider of global business news and information services.

Santa Monica, Calif. - Eqal, the production company that created the Internet show "Lonelygirl15," has raised $5 million in its first round of financing, led by Spark Capital.