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News Corp. Mulls Google News Exit for WSJ, Other Papers

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 9, 2009 - 10:09am.
New York - News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) chairman Rupert Murdoch is considering blocking newspaper content from The Wall Street Journal and his company's other papers from appearing in Google's (NASD: GOOG) news index, The Guardian reported, citing an interview with Sky News Australia. Murdoch added that such a move wouldn't happen until his plan to begin charging users for access to more of News Corp.'s newspaper content online moves forward.
tags: Advertising | Google | Newspapers | News Corp. | Publishing | Rupert Murdoch | Google News | The Wall Street Journal |

WSJ: Comcast, GE Agree on $30 Billion NBCU Valuation

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 9, 2009 - 8:55am.
New York - Comcast (NASD: CMCSA), the nation's largest cable TV provider, has agreed with General Electric (NYSE: GE) on a valuation of $30 billion for NBC Universal, the film and television company it is seeking to acquire, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The sources told The Journal that the two companies "are now ironing out the final details of an agreement...which could come as early as the end of this week."
tags: Deals | TV | Movies | Comcast | Acquisitions | NBC Universal | Vivendi | GE |

Electronic Arts Buys Social Games Firm Playfish for $400M

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 9, 2009 - 8:41am.
Redwood City, Calif. - Video game developer and publisher Electronic Arts (NASD: ERTS) announced on Monday that it has acquired Playfish, a creator of social network games, for about $275 million in cash, with an additional $25 million in equity retention arrangements. The sellers are also entitled to another $100 million in performance-based consideration on milestones achieved through the end of 2011. Founded in 2007, London-based Playfish's social network games, which include "Pet Society" and "Who Has the Biggest Brain," have been installed more than 150 million times.
tags: Games | Deals | Social Networking | Acquisitions | Electronic Arts | Playfish |

Google Acquires Mobile Ad Firm AdMob for $750 Million

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 9, 2009 - 8:30am.
Mountain View, Calif. - Google (NASD: GOOG) announced on Monday that it has signed a deal to acquire mobile display advertising provider AdMob, for $750 million in stock. Founded in 2006, San Mateo, Calif.-based AdMob offers advertisers self-service tools to target their mobile ads, and has developer mobile ad platforms for the iPhone and more recently, Google's own Android operating system for mobile phones.
tags: Deals | Mobile | Advertising | Acquisitions | Google | iPhone | AdMob | Android |

Report: Video Game Software Sales Down 6% in Q3

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 6, 2009 - 10:18am.
New York - Video game software sales across the U.S., Europe and Japan fell 6% during the third quarter of 2009, according to a report combining sales data from NPD Group, GfK Chart-Track Limited and Enterbrain. While Japan actually saw video game software unit sales increase by 15% in the third quarter -- compared with the 20% decline seen in the same period last year -- year-to-date sales in the country are down 9%, according to Enterbrain.
tags: Games | Reports | Retail | Research | Enterbrain | NPD Group | GfK Chart-Track Limited |

Skype Litigation Settled; Sale by eBay to Investors to Proceed

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 6, 2009 - 8:35am.
San Jose, Calif. - Skype parent company eBay (NASD: EBAY) announced on Friday that litigation between an investor group looking to acquire Skype and the creators of the Internet telephone service has been settled, and that its sale of a majority stake in Skype will now proceed. As a result of the settlement, the acquisition deal has been restructured, and Skype creators Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis will now join the investor group, led by Silver Lake, and make a "significant capital investment" in exchange for a 14% stake in Skype.
tags: Deals | Law | Lawsuits | eBay | Acquisitions | Skype | Joost | Mike Volpi | Silver Lake Partners | Andreessen Horowitz | Janus Friis | Niklas Zennstrom |

E.U. to Allow "3-Strikes" Laws in New Telecoms Regulation

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 5, 2009 - 12:35pm.
Brussels - The European Union has dropped language from proposed telecoms regulation that would have established Internet access as a "fundamental right," providing new leeway for countries like France and Great Britain that have enacted or are considering "three-strikes" laws that suspend repeat copyright infringers' Internet connections, according to published reports. The issue had been a sticking point holding up the telecoms regulation, and the new version represents a compromise between copyright and consumer interests.
tags: Video | Law | Policy | Music | Copyright | European Union | Three-Strikes | La Quad | Viviane Reding |

No Doubt Sues Activision Over Avatars in "Band Hero"

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 5, 2009 - 11:13am.
Los Angeles - The rock band No Doubt has filed a lawsuit against "Band Hero" video game publisher Activision (NASD: ATVI), alleging the company overstepped the permission granted by the band to include their likenesses within the game, Reuters reported. According to the lawsuit, the band did authorize its likenesses to be used to create avatars to perform its own songs within the game, but did not authorize the No Doubt avatars to perform songs by other bands.
tags: Games | Law | Lawsuits | Music | Activision | Band Hero | No Doubt |

Beatles to Release Re-mastered Catalog on $279 USB Drive

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 4, 2009 - 10:38am.
London - The Beatles' record label, Apple Corps, and EMI Music have announced plans to release a limited edition apple-shaped USB drive, containing the entire Beatles re-mastered catalog in FLAC and MP3 format. The 30,000 USB apples will become available on Dec. 7 in the U.K. and Dec. 8 in North America, with a price tag of $279.
tags: Law | Lawsuits | Music | Copyright | EMI | Apple Corps | The Beatles | BlueBeat | Hank Risan |

Report: Skype Creators, eBay, Investors Near Settlement

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 4, 2009 - 9:29am.
San Francisco - Litigation between the inventors and former owners of Internet phone service Skype, current owner eBay (NASD: EBAY), and an investor group looking to acquire Skype from eBay, could be nearing a settlement, The New York Times reported, citing several people who have been briefed on the situation. Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis -- the inventors of Skype and the peer-to-peer technology behind file-sharing service Kazaa and video portal Joost -- sued the investor group in a bid to block their acquisition of Skype from eBay.
tags: Law | Lawsuits | P2P | eBay | Skype | Joost | Mike Volpi | Janus Friis | Niklas Zennstrom |

Report: Doug Morris to Step Down as Universal Music CEO

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 3, 2009 - 8:02am.
New York - Universal Music Group chairman and chief executive Doug Morris intends to step down from his CEO role next summer, BusinessWeek reports. The company is reportedly grooming international CEO Lucian Grainge to replace Morris, 71, who is expected to remain chairman of the world's largest record label.
tags: Music | Moves | Universal Music | Doug Morris | Lucian Grainge |

Washington Times Fires Three Top Executives; Editor May Resign

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 9, 2009 - 9:49am.
Washington - In an unexpected development, The Washington Times on Monday fired Thomas McDevitt, its president and publisher, as well as CFO Keith Cooperrider and Chairman Dong Moon Joo.
tags: Moves | Newspapers | Publishing | The Washington Times |

Google Book Settlement Parties Ask Court for Extension

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 9, 2009 - 9:47am.
New York - Facing a deadline to submit a revised settlement agreement on Monday, attorneys hammering out a new deal between Google (NASD: GOOG) and authors and publishers over Google's massive book-scanning project have asked the judge for an extension until Friday, The New York Times reports.
tags: Law | Google | Copyright | E-Books | Publishing | Books | Authors Guild |

Report: Google Acquires VoIP Firm Gizmo5 for $30 Million

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 9, 2009 - 8:17am.
San Diego - Google (NASD: GOOG) has paid about $30 million in cash to acquire Gizmo5, a developer of Internet telephony technology, TechCrunch reported, citing multiple sources with knowledge of the deal.
tags: Deals | Acquisitions | Google | VOIP | Michael Robertson | Gizmo5 |

Norwegian Court: ISP Telenor Need Not Block The Pirate Bay

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 6, 2009 - 9:57am.
Oslo, Norway - International record label trade group IFPI has lost its court case that sought to compel Norwegian ISP Telenor to block its subscribers' access to file-sharing hub The Pirate Bay, TorrentFreak reported.
tags: Video | Law | Lawsuits | P2P | Music | Copyright | IFPI | The Pirate Bay | Telenor |

Korean Social Network Cyworld to Shutter U.S. Service

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 6, 2009 - 9:42am.
Los Angeles - Cyworld, a Korea-based online social network owned by SK Telecom, has decided to shutter its U.S. service three years after launch, having failed to attract a large audience.
tags: Social Networking | Korea | Cyworld | Closures |

Judge Orders Site Selling Beatles Tracks to Cease

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 6, 2009 - 9:04am.
Los Angeles - A federal judge has ordered BlueBeat, a company selling unauthorized Beatles recordings online, to immediately cease the practice.
tags: Law | Lawsuits | Music | Beatles | Copyright | BlueBeat | Hank Risan |

U.S. E-Commerce Spending Falls for Second Straight Quarter

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 6, 2009 - 8:46am.
Reston, Va. - For the first time on record, U.S. e-commerce spending has now seen negative growth for two straight quarters, according to new figures from comScore.
tags: Reports | Retail | comScore | Research |

Drop in MySpace Traffic to Cut $100M Off Google Ad Deal

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 5, 2009 - 1:00pm.
New York - News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) MySpace may lose out on at least $100 million of the $900 million it was contracted to receive from a search advertising agreement with Google (NASD: GOOG), due to lackluster traffic to the website, the Financial Times reported.
tags: Advertising | Social Networking | MySpace | Google | Facebook | News Corp. |

Offerpal Names New CEO in Wake of "Scam" Allegations

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 5, 2009 - 11:46am.
Fremont, Calif. - Offerpal Media, a provider of monetization services for online game and social application developers, announced that it has replaced its CEO, after a controversy erupted over the past week concerning whether some of its practices qualify as "scams."
tags: Games | Marketing | Advertising | Social Networking | MySpace | Moves | Offerpal Media | Anu Shukla | George Garrick |
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