New York - On Saturday, Microsoft withdrew its bid to buy Yahoo after Yahoo turned down its offer to increase its price by $5 billion to $47.5 billion.

Cupertino, Calif. - Nine major Hollywood studios said that they will begin releasing their movies on Cupertino-based Apple's iTunes on the same day they're released on DVD.

Belmont, Calif. - Sezmi, the Belmont-based developer of a hybrid television platform that the company calls an alterative to satellite and cable, said that it will begin testing its service in unspecified pilot markets.

San Francisco - World Golf Tour, a San Francisco-based developer of photo-realistic online golf games, said on Friday that it has raised an undisclosed amount of funding in its second round, led by Menlo Park-based Panorama Capital.

Sunnyvale, Calif. - Hoping to avoid a messy proxy battle, Microsoft has increased its bid for Sunnyvale-based Yahoo by "several dollars," The New York Times reported on its web site late Friday. Specific financial terms being discussed have not been disclosed, though Microsoft reportedly has raised the possibility of increasing its current $29.30-per-share offer to as much as $33.

New York - Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA) today reported that its quarterly net profit rose 33 percent, beating Wall Street forecasts, on strong sales of the "Rock Band" video game and higher advertising revenue at its cable networks, including MTV Networks. The company said that revenue for the period rose 15%, to $3.12 billion, from $2.72 billion in the first quarter of 2007.

New York - RightsFlow, LLC, a private New York-based company, announced the launch of its outsourced music publishing licensing and royalty systems for record labels, distributors, online music retailers, and others engaged in distribution and sale of recorded music.

Mountain View, CA - CNET reports that Google (NASD: GOOG) announced on its AdWords blog that Google TV Ads, a program that has been in beta since June 2007, is now available to all U.S.-based advertisers. The program allows advertisers to reach over 13 million households nationwide on 94 channels. Like with Google’s AdWords service, which places ads on its Internet search pages, advertisers using Google TV Ads will bid for placement using an online tool that shows estimated costs to run a particular campaign and allows advertisers to increase or decrease their bids before placing them.

DMW’s CEO & Publisher provides a wrap-up of the top stories of the week. Who’s hot, who’s not and what’s the industry buzz?

I spent the past week at our Digital Music Forum in New York City with 500 senior industry insiders immersed in two days of high level discussions about the future of the music industry. I don’t often toot our own horn, but this was one heck of a great event.

DMW’s CEO & Publisher provides a wrap-up of the top stories of the week. Who’s hot, who’s not and what’s the industry buzz?

The week started with a bang on news that Yahoo Inc’s (NSDQ: YHOO) board rejected Microsoft Corp.’s (NSDQ: MSFT) unsolicited $44.6 billion offer for the company.

DMW’s CEO & Publisher provides a wrap-up of the top stories of the week. Who’s hot, who’s not and what’s the industry buzz?

In the days following Microsoft’s (NASD: MSFT) announcement of its unsolicited $44.6 billion takeover bid for Yahoo (NASD: YHOO), much of the news focused on the battle between Google and Microsoft to color the other’s motives as anti-competitive. As reports surfaced that Yahoo may try to avoid being acquired by Microsoft by giving control of its search advertising to Google in exchange for a large revenue share (although nothing has made public by either Google or Yahoo on this), Microsoft reportedly began lobbying government officials to block any such deal between the two on antitrust grounds setting the stage for what is likely to be a long and public battle between Google and Microsoft over control of the Internet.

DMW’s CEO & Publisher provides a wrap-up of the top stories of the week. Who’s hot, who’s not and what’s the industry buzz?

In my column last week, I predicted that there may be a silver lining in Yahoo’s recent troubles and low share price in the form of a possible takeover bid from rival Microsoft. Voilà! In a bold move that sent ripples through Silicon Valley before sunrise on Friday, Microsoft (NASD: MSFT) announced that it has made an unsolicited $44.6 billion takeover bid

DMW’s CEO & Publisher provides a wrap-up of the top stories of the week. Who’s hot, who’s not and what’s the industry buzz?

There was no shortage of news for the week of Jan. 21-25. The biggest story: The Federal Reserve lowered the benchmark federal funds rate by three-quarters of a percentage point to 3.5%, its lowest level since September 2005, but the Fed’s actions couldn’t stop an already shaky stock market from continuing its downward spiral. After a sharp mid-week increase on news of the rate cut, the DMW100 ended slightly lower on the week.

CES 2008 - We've set up shop at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show and will be bringing you coverage from Las Vegas this week. If you're in town for the show, make sure to stop by and see us at our booth in the Content Zone in Central Hall 11760O and don't miss our Digital Media Insider event on Tuesday night. Enjoy the show!