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Fox to Stream "Fringe," "Sarah Connor" Debuts on Campuses

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 25, 2008 - 12:33pm.

Los Angeles - News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) Fox television network plans to stream the premiere of its new series "Fringe," as well as the second season premiere episode of "The Sarah Connor Chronicles" to college campuses at the same time as their network debuts, Variety reports. The streams will only be available to computers originating from a .edu domain, and will be accompanied by behind-the-scenes footage and music videos.

tags: Video | Marketing | TV | Fox | News Corp. |

C-SPAN Launches Online Political Convention Hubs

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 25, 2008 - 12:32pm.

Washington - C-SPAN, the non-profit cable network dedicated to Capitol Hill politics and public policy, has launched a pair of new web sites designed to track coverage of the political blogosphere and social media during the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. The sites, available at the links below, incorporate user-generated content from sources such as YouTube, Twitter and blogs, and also feature C-SPAN convention video that users can embed onto their own sites. The Democratic Convention is taking place this week in Denver, while the Republican Convention will kick off next week in Minneapolis.

tags: Video | TV | Politics | C-SPAN |

Oosah Offers 1 Terabyte of Free Storage, Streaming to iPhone

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 25, 2008 - 12:30pm.

Los Angeles - Oosah has released a new iPhone application that allows users to store up to 1 terabyte of media data on its servers and stream the music, photos or other content to the device. The service does not support streaming of DRM-wrapped songs, and relies on the stability of the network connection, but far eclipses the top iPhone on-board memory capacity of 16GB.

MTV Networks Series to Sell on DVD via Amazon's CreateSpace

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 25, 2008 - 12:29pm.

New York - Media conglomerate Viacom (NYSE: VIA) on Monday announced deals with Amazon's (NASD: AMZN) CreateSpace, to offer a number of series on its MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and VH1 networks for the first time on DVD through the on-demand publishing service. Series to be initially available exclusively on Amazon.com through the service include "Celebrity Rehab," "Drake & Josh" and "My Super Sweet 16."

Prizemo Launches Interactive TV Game

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 25, 2008 - 12:28pm.

New York - Prizemo, a developer of interactive entertainment for online, mobile and TV audiences, announced on Monday its official launch, and the debut of its first game show, "Show You the Money." New York-based Prizemo was founded by CEO Jakob Kuznicki, former vice president of licensing at Jamba; and Anthony Rodol, former director of new media and mobile at Warner Music Group. "Show You the Money" is an interactive TV game show where viewers are encouraged to text answers to trivia questions for the chance to win free ringtones and other mobile content.

Amazon Offers Guaranteed Release-Date Delivery of Games

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 25, 2008 - 12:26pm.

Seattle - Online retail giant Amazon.com (NASD: AMZN) announced on Monday that it will begin offering guaranteed release-date delivery on a number of video game titles, for an additional $5.98 in shipping charges. The initial slate of game titles for which the service will be offered includes "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09," "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed," "Fable 2" and "Gears of War 2."

tags: Games | Retail | Amazon.com |

Report: MMOG "Gold Farming" a $500 Million Industry

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 25, 2008 - 11:59am.

London - Some half a million people in developing nations are working at least part time as "gold farmers," spending hours tediously accruing online currency within video games and then selling it to time-strapped players in an estimated $500 million virtual industry, the BBC reported, citing a study by University of Manchester professor Richard Heeks.

Mattel Gets "Scrabulous" Pulled From Facebook Overseas

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 25, 2008 - 11:50am.

New York - Following legal actions taken by toymaker Hasbro (NYSE: HAS) to get "Scrabulous," a Web knock-off version of its "Scrabble" removed from the Facebook social network in the U.S., Mattel (NYSE: MAT) -- which owns the rights to Scrabble outside of North America -- has compelled Facebook to take Scrabulous down in most of the rest of the world, the Associated Press reports. The one region where Scrabulous remains available in India, where developers Rajat and Jayant Agarwalla reside -- but Mattel has filed suit against the brothers there as well.

Microsoft Invests in Video Delivery Firm Move Networks

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 25, 2008 - 11:38am.

American Fork, Utah - Move Networks, a provider of Internet TV distribution technology, announced that Microsoft (NASD: MSFT) has paid an undisclosed sum for a stake in the company.

T-Mobile: 120,000 iPhone 3Gs Sold So Far

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 25, 2008 - 11:19am.

Frankfurt, Germany - German wireless carrier T-Mobile said it has sold over 120,000 Apple iPhone 3G units across Germany, Austria and the Netherlands since it began offering the device on July 11, Reuters reported, citing the German magazine Focus.

Virgin Mobile Completes Acquisition of Helio for $38 Million

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 25, 2008 - 11:05am.

Warren, N.J. - Virgin Mobile USA has completed its acquisition of Helio, a cellular carrier owned by EarthLink Inc. and SK Telecom, for $38 million.

China Edges U.S. in Visits to Official Olympics Web Site

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 25, 2008 - 10:07am.

Reston, Va. - While the U.S. may have edged China for the most medals at the recently completely Summer Olympics in Beijing, those roles were reversed when it came to visits to the official Olympics website, according to comScore.

Broadcom Buys AMD's Digital TV Business for $192.8 Million

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 25, 2008 - 8:26am.

Irvine, Calif. - Chipmaker Broadcom (NASD: BRCM) announced on Monday that it will acquire fellow chipmaker AMD's (NYSE: AMD) digital TV business for about $192.8 million in cash.

tags: Deals | TV | Acquisitions | AMD | Broadcom |

Secondary Ticket Marketplace LiveStub.com Lands Funding

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 25, 2008 - 8:15am.

Chicago - LiveStub.com, a secondary ticket marketplace, announced on Monday that it has received an angel investment from Morten Lund, an early backer of VoIP service Skype.

Live Media Broadcasting Platform Conviva Secures $20 Million

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 25, 2008 - 7:44am.

San Mateo, Calif. - Conviva, the provider of a live media platform that allows companies to broadcast secure live video, announced on Monday that it has secured $20 million in its second round of funding, led by UV Partners.

Buzz Watch: An Insider's Guide To Marketing On Flickr

Authored by Rohit Bhargava on August 25, 2008 - 7:37am.
Now that I am getting back on the grid after three weeks in Asia, I thought a good follow up post to my time covering the Olympics in Beijing would be sharing some tips on one site that I ended up very actively using throughout the Olympics: Flickr. I have had a Flickr account for several years now, but always looked at the examples of Brian Solis and Josh Hallet (among others) and felt I wasn't quite the super user of Flickr that I aspired to be. While I'm not as profilic in capturing the people from all the events I attend as those two, I do consider myself an enthusiastic amateur photographer and at one point even considered doing it professionally.

Dizzywood Lands $1 Million for Virtual World for Kids

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 25, 2008 - 7:27am.

San Francisco - Rocket Paper Scissors, a developer of entertainment websites aimed at kids, has raised $1 million in new financing, PEHub.com reported, citing a regulatory filing.