London - Metallica's label Universal Music Group canceled an interview with the band scheduled with the Swedish newspaper Sydsvenskan, after the reporter wrote that he had downloaded an unofficial version of the album from notorious file-sharing hub The Pirate Bay, TorrentFreak reported. Reporter Jonn Jeppsson reviewed "Death Magnetic: Better, Shorter, Cut" for Sydsvenskan, concluding that the unauthorized edit -- which shortens the songs found on the official release -- was how the album should have sounded.

Washington - The Senate Commerce Committee has announced plans to hold an oversight hearing on the status of the digital TV transition on Sept. 23, Broadcasting & Cable reported. The hearing will assess the FCC and National Telecommunication Information Administration efforts to promote broadcaster and consumer preparedness, as well as the recent test pilot of a digital switchover in Wilmington, N.C. The House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold its own oversight hearing on the digital TV transition tomorrow.

Los Angeles - Giga Omni Media, a network of blogs covering information technology, has acquired TheAppleBlog, which covers the maker of iPods and Macs. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. GigaOmniMedia's Om Malik said in a blog post that the plan with TheAppleBlog, like its previous acquisition jkOnTheRun, will be "to have a very light touch and not muck around with the editorial."

New York - The Wall Street Journal (NYSE: NWS) plans to a launch social networking features for its paying subscribers, that will allow them to create profiles using their real names, comment on stories and connect with one another, the Associated Press reports. The Journal Community on WSJ.com is set to debut on Tuesday, alongside a new home page for non-subscribers that will showcase the free-to-read content on the site. "We believe that in the future, social networks are going to be an important means of distributing content and of spreading news, and we want to be a part of those networks," WSJ.com deputy managing editor Alan Murray told AP.

Los Angeles - Rainbow Media's (NYSE: CVC) newly-acquired Sundance Channel plans to launch a new video-on-demand service for cable and satellite systems that will offer some of the many films submitted and screened at the Sundance Film Festival that did not receive a theatrical release, the Los Angeles Times reports. Sundance Selects aims to offer 50 new titles a year, more than a third of which will be nonfiction; movies on the service are expected to cost $7 or $8 each. Rainbow also operates the independent film video-on-demand services IFC in Theaters and IFC Festival Direct. The company told the Times it currently has no plans to bring Sundance Selects online.

New York - Warner Music Group (NYSE: WMG)/Elektra Records band Third Eye Blind will solicit online collaboration with other musicians for their forthcoming album, releasing "stems" for each of the album's tracks onto the Internet through a partnership with Indaba Music. Indaba's network of over 75,000 musicians will be able to download and manipulate the tracks, and then resubmit them for consideration on both the actual album, and a companion digital release of remixes. A grand prize winner will also perform onstage with the band during their next tour.

New York - Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) MTV Networks on Monday announced the launch of Tribes, a series of demographic-focused vertical ad networks. The first such network, MTV Generation Tribe, launched today with Pepsi as its charter advertiser, and will include publishers focused on music, movies, teen sports, gaming and style. The company will also launch Tribes from CMT, Spike and VH1 this month, while a Comedy Central Tribe is set for the first quarter of 2009. Burst Media will serve ads and recruit and manage publishers for Tribes.

Seattle - Social music discovery service iLike said on Monday that Thievery Corporation will promote its fifth independent studio album, "Radio Retaliation," through an exclusive streaming preview via its iLike application on the Facebook social network. In addition to the album, Seattle-based iLike, which claims 30 million registered users, will distribute a series of video messages from the band about the album, and provide links to pre-order Radio Retaliation at iTunes.

San Francisco - LinkedIn, a social network targeting business professionals that counts 27 million users, on Monday launched its own online ad network, which will allow other sites to run ads placed on LinkedIn, TechCrunch reported. LinkedIn claims its average user is 41 years old, with an average household income of $110,000; 49% are "decision makers" where they work. The company partnered with Collective Media on the LinkedIn Audience Network, which will let partners target LinkedIn users when they visit partner sites.

Washington - The Slate Group, a Web publishing unit of The Washington Post that produces the online magazine Slate, said on Monday that it has launched a new business site called The Big Money. The company said that the site will cover the intersection of business and a variety of areas including technology, green initiatives, media, fashion and food. James Ledbetter Jr., the former deputy managing editor of CNN Money, will serve as the site's editor, with Elinor Shields, former managing editor of The Huffington Post, serving as deputy editor.

Los Gatos, Calif. - Online DVD rental service Netflix (NASD: NFLX) on Monday announced a $10,000 contest, hosted in a plexi-glass living room New York's Times Square, that will see eight contestants attempt to break the Guinness World Record for most consecutive hours spent watching movies. The "Netflix Movie Watching World Championship: The Quest for the Popcorn Bowl" will try to break the current record of 120 hours and 23 minutes, equivalent to about 56 feature-length films.

San Francisco - BitTorrent, Web distribution firm founded by the creator of the file-sharing software, said on Monday that Aeria Games and IAHGames will use the BitTorrent Delivery Network Accelerator service to provide distribution of their massively multiplayer online games and patches. The company said the service uses congestion control technology to eliminate any impact on game play, or other applications like VoIP, streaming media or Web browsing.

Los Angeles - News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) MySpace announced on Monday that McDonald's, Sony (NYSE: SNE) Pictures, State Farm, and Toyota have signed on as charter advertisers for its forthcoming MySpace Music service, and will sponsor free album downloads, playlists and other new features. The service is expected to offer MySpace's 120 million users unlimited music streaming, as well as the ability to add an entire playlist of songs to their profiles -- instead of the current single song -- and provide links to purchase DRM-free tracks from Amazon MP3.

Munich, Germany - A German court has ordered Dutch collecting society Buma/Stemra and digital music service Beatport to stop distributing tracks in Germany for which German collecting society GEMA claims the rights.

Paris - The World Association of Newspapers (WAN), an international trade group of 18,000 newpapers, announced on Monday that it has petitioned the U.S. Justice Department, European Commission and Competition Bureau of Canada to block Google's (NASD: GOOG) proposed deal to provide search advertising for Yahoo (NASD: YHOO).

Arlington, Va. - Just five months until the required transition of TV stations from analog to digital signals, the vast majority of U.S. consumers are now aware of the pending switch, according to new figures from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA).

Redwood City, Calif. - Video game publisher Electronic Arts (NASD: ERTS) announced on Sunday that it has terminated its discussions with "Grand Theft Auto" creators Take-Two Interactive (NASD: TTWO) on a possible $2 billion takeover of the company. Shares of Take-Two, which had repeatedly rejected EA's bid as undervaluing the company, were down nearly 22% on Monday afternoon from their closing price on Friday.

Minneapolis - Consumer electronics and media retail store chain Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) announced on Monday that it has agreed to acquire digital music service Napster (NASD: NAPS) for $121 million, or $2.65 per share -- nearly double the company's closing price on Friday. "We believe Best Buy will be an ideal partner for Napster and are very excited by the benefits that this transaction delivers to our shareholders, partners and employees," said Napster chairman and CEO Chris Gorog. "We are looking forward to combining our digital media capabilities with Best Buy's resources and global network to extend our digital content platforms."

Washington - Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the man credited as inventor of the World Wide Web, on Monday announced the launch of the World Wide Web Foundation, which aims to ensure and extend the Web's free and open benefits to all the world's people.

London - Zemanta, a provider of multimedia tools for bloggers, has raised $650,000 in seed funding from Union Square Ventures, TechCrunch reported.