Mountain View, Calif. - Google announced on Tuesday that it has received approval from the European Commission for its $3.1 billion acquisition of online advertising giant DoubleClick, and completed the transaction. [more..]

New York - Hulu, the online video joint venture between NBC Universal and News Corp., will officially launch on Wednesday, ending 18 weeks of an invitation-only beta test. [more..]

Morristown, N.J. - Access Integrated Technologies (Access IT), a provider of digital cinema projection systems for movie theaters, announced on Tuesday a massive deal with four major movies studios, to provide movies to up to 10,000 digital cinema systems in the U.S. and Canada. [more..]

London - Major record label EMI, whose new private equity owners had threatened to leave the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) trade group over costs associated with membership and the group's anti-piracy efforts, has decided to stick with the organization after a cost-saving plan was agreed upon. [more..]

London - The new album from U.K. rock band the Charlatans has been downloaded for free more than 60,000 times since it was made available through the website of radio station XFM on March 3. [more..]

Winter Park, Fla. - Highwinds Network Group, a provider of content delivery network services for IPTV and other applications, announced on Tuesday that it has closed a $55 million round of financing, led by General Catalyst Partners and Alta Communications. [more..]

Seattle - GridNetworks, a provider of managed Internet TV delivery services, said on Tuesday that it has received an investment from Cisco Systems that will round out its first round of financing, led by Panorama Capital and announced in October, at $9.5 million. [more..]

New York, N.Y. - TargetSpot, a New York-based advertising marketplace specifically designed for streaming audio, has raised $8.6 million in its second round of venture capital, led by Bain Capital Ventures. [more..]

Manhattan Beach, Calif. - MaxxAthlete, an online social network and Internet broadcast network for youth sports, has raised $3 million of a $5 million first round of venture capital financing, from unnamed investors, VentureWire reports. [more..]

Tiburon, Calif. - Big Bear Entertainment, a creator of animated music videos -- also known as "Video Mods" -- has raised $550,000 in a first round of funding, PEHub.com reported, citing a regulatory filing. [more..]

Fareham, England - 3Bill, a unit of Web and mobile software developer Symbios Solutions, announced on Tuesday that it has acquired social network platform Faces for an undisclosed sum. [more..]

Through this steady stream of updates, at an event like SXSW, you can watch the live pulse of the event and what people think about it real time. So, without further ado, here are the reasons why Twitter rocks and sucks simultaneously at SXSW, blogs Rohit Bhargava. [more..]

Even in the U.S., some small publishers fear the high costs of Blu-ray could make releasing their titles in high-def unprofitable. That could, in fact, leave the door open for alternatives, if not HD VMD than something else (WMV HD, anyone?), blogs Paul Sweeting. [more..]

Dulles, Va. - AOL has named Lynda Clarizio, who four years ago helped lead the company's $435 million acquisition of Advertising.com, as the new president of its Platform-A advertising arm. [more..]

London - U.K. rock band Marillion has raised $725,000 from fans to record their forthcoming fifteenth studio album, Billboard reports. [more..]

Toronto - Digital music service provider Puretracks announced on Tuesday that it has developed a new DRM-free mobile music store and service for BlackBerry smartphones. [more..]

New York - The Orchard, a digital distributor of independent music and video, on Tuesday announced the launch of a toolset for artist and label clients. [more..]

Milpitas, Calif. - SanDisk on Tuesday introduced its Sansa Fuze MP3 player, a 1.9-inch color-screen model that will come in 2GB ($79), 4GB ($99) and 8GB ($129) capacities. [more..]

Austin - SongNumbers.com on Tuesday introduced its service that lets bands set up a phone number that anyone with a cell phone can call and preview and purchase music. A live demo of the service is available at 515-862-1000. [more..]