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DMW Daily, October 29, 2007

Top Stories
o News Corp., NBC Universal Debut Private Beta of Hulu
o Court-Appointed Expert to Select File-Sharing Copyright Filter
o Sony: Games Unit Losses Expected to Double
o Chinese E-Commerce Portal Alibaba.com Raises $1.5B in IPO
o MTV Taps Gracenote to Incorporate Song Lyrics on Websites
o Gannett Launches Metromix Joint Venture with Tribune
o Walgreens to Add DVD-Burning Kiosks Next Year
o Skinkers Raises $16 Million for Branded Newsreaders, P2P TV Service
o Personalized TV Developer Imagine Communications Gets $15 Million
o Social Media Video Firm Vitrue Raises $10 Million
o Mobile Marketer The Hyperfactory Raises Funds
o EveryScape Introduces Virtual Search of Real-World Cities
Opinion & Analysis
o Review: A First Look at NBC & News Corp’s Hulu Dance
o Spice v. Cheetah - Who's Going To Win Dancing with the Stars?
o The Evolution of Tila Tequila
o Buzz Watch: The Internet Stars Are Viral
o Mark Cuban: Is it Time for YouTube to Reform?
o Politician tries to Stop New Nas Album Title
Briefly Noted
o Major Labels Pleased With Initial Sales of iTunes Album Cards
o Shuttered OiNK File-Sharing Hub to Relaunch as BOiNK
o The Who to Launch $50/Year Subscription Service for Fans
o Social Network imeem Licenses EMI Songs, Music Videos
o Nokia Launches Free Indie Music Download Service in Asia
o SinglePoint to Develop Mobile Content for NBC Universal
 Top Stories
o News Corp., NBC Universal Debut Private Beta of Hulu 
Los Angeles - News Corp. and NBC Universal on Monday announced a private beta launch of Hulu, their video distribution joint venture that offers streaming programming on a free, ad-supported basis. [more..]
o Court-Appointed Expert to Select File-Sharing Copyright Filter 
Los Angeles - A federal judge last week ordered that a court-appointed expert be put in place to determine the best means for StreamCast Networks, operator of the Morpheus file-sharing service, to block unauthorized downloads on its network. [more..]
o Sony: Games Unit Losses Expected to Double 
Tokyo - Sony expects losses for the current fiscal year at its video game unit, Sony Computer Entertainment, will exceed $876 million -- more than double what the company had initially forecast, Reuters reported. [more..]
o Chinese E-Commerce Portal Alibaba.com Raises $1.5B in IPO 
Hong Kong - Chinese e-commerce portal Alibaba.com has raised $1.5 billion in its initial public offering (IPO) over the weekend, The Wall Street Journal reported. [more..]
o MTV Taps Gracenote to Incorporate Song Lyrics on Websites 
New York - Viacom's MTV Networks announced on Monday that it has partnered with Gracenote to incorporate music lyrics into its on-air, online and mobile platforms. [more..]
o Gannett Launches Metromix Joint Venture with Tribune 
McLean, Va. - Gannett, the publisher of USA Today and 84 other daily newspapers, said on Monday that it has formed a joint venture with Chicago-based Tribune Interactive to expand a national network of local entertainment websites under the Metromix brand. [more..]
o Walgreens to Add DVD-Burning Kiosks Next Year 
Los Angeles - Walgreens, the nation's largest drug store chain with 6,000 stores, plans to add DVD-burning kiosks to its offering next year, Reuters reported. [more..]
o Skinkers Raises $16 Million for Branded Newsreaders, P2P TV Service 
London - Skinkers, a developer of branded desktop applications, such as news readers, has raised $16 million in its second round of venture capital financing, led by Acacia Capital Partners. [more..]
o Personalized TV Developer Imagine Communications Gets $15 Million 
Cardiff by the Sea, Calif. - Imagine Communications, the developer of a personalized TV platform for broadband operators, has raised $15 million in its second round of funding, led by Court Square Ventures, Israel's Globes Online reported. [more..]
o Social Media Video Firm Vitrue Raises $10 Million 
Atlanta - Vitrue, a developer of social media video platforms for companies, announced on Monday that it has raised $10 million in its second round of venture capital financing, led by Dace Ventures. [more..]
o Mobile Marketer The Hyperfactory Raises Funds 
Los Angeles - The Hyperfactory, a mobile marketing agency, announced on Monday that it has raised an undisclosed sum of new funding, from investors including Rich Frank, former chairman of talent agency The Firm; Paul Frank, head of Firm TV; and two executives from 42 Below vodka. [more..]
o EveryScape Introduces Virtual Search of Real-World Cities 
Waltham, Mass. - EveryScape, a developer of interactive, local search using 3D mapping and digital photography, on Monday announced the launch of "The Real World Online," which allows users to explore recreations of cities created using stitched-together digital photos. [more..]
 Opinion & Analysis
o Review: A First Look at NBC & News Corp’s Hulu Dance 
There’s a comfortable familiarity to Hulu, because it’s really no different than watching TV.  You have sitcoms and dramas, full length movies like Sideways (with “limited commercial interruption”) and Weekend at Bernie’s, late night talk shows and sports. [more..]
o Spice v. Cheetah - Who's Going To Win Dancing with the Stars? 
It's that time of year again, Dancing with the Stars (Season 5) is in full swing, which means it's time to take a look at the latest search term data to gauge contestant popularity and viewer mindset, blogs Bill Tancer.
[more..]
o The Evolution of Tila Tequila 
o Buzz Watch: The Internet Stars Are Viral 
n/a
o Mark Cuban: Is it Time for YouTube to Reform? 
Youtube has a huge problem and they have dug a hole so deep they are never going to be able to fix it unless they change their approach to copyright, blogs Mark Cuban.
[more..]
o Politician tries to Stop New Nas Album Title 

Brooklyn assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries is demanding that the New York Comptroller withdraw an $84 million state pension fund invested in Universal Music Group and parent company Vivendi unless rap star Nas changes the title of his new album, Nigger, according to Rolling Stone. 

[more..]
 Briefly Noted
o Major Labels Pleased With Initial Sales of iTunes Album Cards 
New York - At least one major record label that partnered with Starbucks and other retailers to sell iTunes digital album download cards is happy with initial sales of the product, as Sony BMG said 6% (5,720 units) of all copies of Eddie Vedder's soundtrack to "Into the Wild" sold thus far were digital cards, Billboard reported. [more..]
o Shuttered OiNK File-Sharing Hub to Relaunch as BOiNK 
San Francisco - Coders with The Pirate Bay, the notorious Sweden-based file-sharing network, are now at work developing a new service based on OiNK, the private file-sharing hub that was shut down last week by British and Dutch police, TorrentFreak.com reported. [more..]
o The Who to Launch $50/Year Subscription Service for Fans 
San Francisco - Next month, The Who plan to launch a subscription service for their fans that will charge $50 a year for access to band blogs and message boards, all music videos, an exclusive 2-CD live album, advance ticket sales, and a 25% discount on other Who merchandise, Wired reported, citing an article in Harp Magazine. [more..]
o Social Network imeem Licenses EMI Songs, Music Videos 
San Francisco - Music-focused online social network imeem announced on Monday that it has signed a licensing deal with major label EMI Music, which will give users free, on-demand access to EMI's music and videos. [more..]
o Nokia Launches Free Indie Music Download Service in Asia 
Espoo, Finland - Nokia recently launched a mobile service in Asia that allows mobile users to download free MP3 tracks from independent artists, CNET's Crave blog reported. [more..]
o SinglePoint to Develop Mobile Content for NBC Universal 
Bellevue, Wash. - SinglePoint, a provider of mobile and interactive TV marketing services, announced on Monday that it has partnered with NBC Universal to manage multiple media campaigns for NBC Universal properties. [more..]