Alviso, Calif. - TiVo said on Thursday that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has upheld its claim that rival EchoStar, operator of the DISH Network satellite TV service, was infringing on one of its digital video recorder patents, and must pay $74 million in damages, now $94 million with accrued interest. [more..]

Seattle - Online retail giant Amazon.com announced on Thursday that it will acquire Audible.com, a distributor of audiobooks and other spoken word audio content, for $300 million. [more..]

Washington - Over one-third (36%) of U.S. television households are unaware of the looming switchover to digital television broadcasting set to take effect just over a year from now, while "major confusion" exists among the remaining consumers who are aware of the transition, according to a new survey from Consumer Reports National Research Center. [more..]

Los Gatos, Calif. - Shares of Netflix rose sharply on Thursday after the online DVD rental service said that it would buy back up to $100 million of its stock through the end of 2008. [more..]

Los Angeles - CBS's Showtime Networks pay-TV unit announced on Thursday that it has partnered with Internet TV distributor Brightcove, on an eco-friendly plan to offer Primetime Emmy Awards voters the option to watch full seasons of its original series online, instead of receiving the usual bulky DVD mailings. [more..]

Madrid - A new study from a Spanish authors' and publishers' society claims the country is Europe's worst offender when it comes to illegal music downloading, its citizens having grabbed over 1.2 billion tracks last year, Billboard reported. [more..]

New York - DirecTV, the nation's largest satellite TV service with over 16.6 million customers, announced on Thursday that it has partnered with audience measurement firm TNS Media Research, to develop what they say will be the largest U.S. national TV audience measurement panel ever created. [more..]

San Francisco - Widgetbox, a provider of Web-based widget application development and distribution tools, has raised $8 million in its second round of venture capital financing, led by Northgate Capital, TechCrunch reported. [more..]

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Alviso, Calif. - CBS, announced on Thursday that it has entered into a research partnership with TiVo, and will subscribe to the company's StopWatch DVR ratings service, which provides second-by-second measurement of program and specific commercial ratings for both live and time-shifted viewing. [more..]

New York - The Weinstein Company has partnered with News Corp.'s MySpace on a contest that asks users to submit an original horror short film for potential inclusion on the DVD release of George Romero's "Diary of the Dead." [more..]

Los Angeles - Former Random House editor in chief Daniel Menaker has launched a new Web video series that will feature roundtable interviews with a group of writers, Variety reports. [more..]

Santa Monica, Calif. - GSN, a cable TV network joint venture between Sony Pictures Entertainment and Liberty Media, on Thursday announced plans for "Bingo America," a new interactive TV trivia and game show slated to premiere on March 31. [more..]

New York - TitanTV, a provider of online TV program listings, on Thursday announced the launch of a new syndication program for TV affiliate websites, which will allow them to attract viewers with programming like "Jury Duty" and "Animal Rescue" via a customized, branded video player. [more..]

New York - Sony on Thursday launched eStories, a new section of its eBook Store that will feature more than 1,000 short stories from American authors, including Philip K. Dick, Mike Resnick and R.L. Stine. [more..]

Draper, Utah - Sequoia Media Group, whose aVinci Experience product line allows consumers to create slideshows, DVDs and other media from their personal photos and videos, has signed deals that will enable customers to include music from Warner Music, EMI, Sony BMG, Rhino, Walt Disney Records and others. [more..]

New York - Univision Online, the interactive subsidiary of Univision Communications, and the National Football League (NFL) announced on Thursday that they will jointly manage and operate NFLatino, the official U.S. Spanish-language website of the NFL. [more..]

New York - A&E Television Networks, which is jointly owned by ABC, Hearst Corp. and NBC Universal, announced on Thursday that it has tapped Crisp Wireless to produce and manage mobile websites for its A&E Network, History Channel and BIO properties. [more..]

New York - The New York Times News Service has signed a deal to provide content to V-me, a new national, Spanish-language network that is partnered with public TV. [more..]