Los Angeles - Universal and Paramount have become the last of the major Hollywood movie studios to pledge support for Sony's Blu-ray next-generation DVD format, after Toshiba decided earlier this week to abandon its rival HD DVD format, ending a costly battle between the two companies to establish their respective format as the standard. [more..]

Mountain View, Calif. - Google on Thursday launched a beta test of AdSense for Video, the anticipated addition to its online advertising platform that will allow advertisers to insert ads into videos seen on a range of partner sites. [more..]

London - Publisher Reed Elsevier has announced plans to sell off its Reed Business Information (RBI) unit, whose holdings include Variety, New Scientist, Publishers Weekly and Broadcasting & Cable. " [more..]

Brussels - The European Union has invested $20.5 million in a research project that is exploring the use of peer-to-peer technology for Internet television delivery across Europe. [more..]

Los Angeles - Musicbrigade, a Sweden-based distributor of music video content, has ceased operations and gone into administration, according to a note on the company's website. [more..]

San Francisco - Video game publisher and developer Valve's "Portal" took home the title of Game of the Year last night at the Game Developers Choice Awards, held during the annual Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. [more..]

Los Angeles - Veteran media executive Dean Valentine on Thursday announced that he has raised an undisclosed sum of funding from Walden VC to launch his new venture, Comedy.com. [more..]

Chicago - Wilco announced on Thursday that it will offer a live webcast of tonight's final performance of its five-night residency at Chicago's Riviera Theatre. [more..]

San Francisco - Microsoft announced that it will make games for its Xbox 360 console developed by aspiring creators available for download via its Xbox Live service. [more..]

New York - CBS Interactive announced on Thursday that it will begin offering free streaming episodes of classic TV shows online, including "Star Trek," "The Twilight Zone" and "Melrose Place," via its CBS Audience Network. [more..]

New York - Universal Music Group's Island Def Jam Music Group announced on Thursday that it partnered with mobile content firm Flycell to create its own mobile content distribution service. [more..]

San Francisco - A group of hardware and software creators, game developers and publishers on Thursday announced the formation of the PC Gaming Alliance, a non-profit whose stated purposed is to advance the PC as a worldwide gaming platform. [more..]

San Francisco - Mobile media distributor SendMe announced on Thursday that digital music distributor IODA has signed on to offer its entire mobile catalog of independent music as ringtones through SendMeMobile.com. [more..]

San Francisco - Microsoft announced on Thursday that Epic Games will release "Gears of War 2," the follow-up to the 4.5 million-selling title for the Xbox 360, in November. [more..]