Denver - National CineMedia, a distributor of pre-feature digital programming and advertising in movie theaters, on Thursday announced its initial public offering, which raised $798 million and saw shares rise as much as 26% in their first day of trading. [more..]

Washington - Seventy-three percent of U.S. companies plans to spend up to 20% of their advertising budgets on new media experimentation, and 12% said they'll spend as much as 40% of their ad budgets experimenting with ads on websites, blogs, video games, virtual worlds and other emerging sectors, according to a survey of nearly 1,000 ad executives conducted by the American Advertising Federation. [more..]

Washington - The paydays experienced by YouTube investors when the company was acquired for $1.65 billion last year by Google were fully detailed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday. [more..]

Beijing - Chinese officials have shuttered 205 websites in a crackdown on Internet piracy that came partly at the behest of U.S. entertainment interests, Reuters reported. [more..]

Sunnyvale, Calif. - Yahoo on Thursday debuted a new service designed to make it easier for users and developers to create "mashups," or applications created by combining different Web-based services. [more..]

New York - The total number of U.S. TV households is expected to grow 47% by the year 2050, from 111.4 million to 163.7 million, according to a projection in a report from Nielsen Media Research. [more..]

London - Richard Branson's Virgin Group on Thursday announced the launch of Virgin Media, which will offer bundled digital TV, broadband, home and mobile phone service across the U.K. [more..]

Bristol, Conn. - Disney's ESPN cable sports network announced on Thursday that it has signed a multi-year, exclusive agreement with Verizon Wireless to host its Mobile ESPN service. [more..]

Los Angeles - CBS Corporation, which yesterday announced the formation of a new wireless division, CBS Mobile, on Thursday launched three new mobile websites, including a mobile store that will sell games, video and ringtones. [more..]

London - European wireless carrier Vodafone announced that it has partnered with News Corp.'s MySpace online social network, to allow its U.K. subscribers to access the site from their mobile phones. [more..]

Shanghai, China - Shanda Interactive Entertainment, a provider of multiplayer, casual and PC games and other media content in China, announced on Thursday that it has sold part of its stake in Chinese Web portal SINA to Citigroup for about $129.6 million. [more..]

Menlo Park, Calif. - Promptu, a provider of voice-powered search and navigation services to mobile operators and their subscribers, said that it has raised $5.6 million in a new round of funding. [more..]

Washington - Searchles, a developer of a social search technology, said on Thursday that it has raised an undisclosed amount in its second round of angel funding. [more..]

Eindhoven, Netherlands - Polymer Vision, a spin-off of Philips, has announced the development of the world's first "rollable" display for mobile devices, which it plans to display at the 3GSM World Congress next week in Barcelona. While the device itself is smaller than a typical mobile phone, it features a display that can extend up to 5-inches, and then roll back and wrap itself around the outer shell of the device when not in use. Polymer Vision said it partnered with wireless carrier Telecom Italia to offer the first rollable display-enabled mobile device later this year. [more..]

Beaverton, Ore. - Digital watermarking developer Digimarc announced on Thursday that it has been awarded a new U.S. patent (No. 7,171,016), that describers technology it says can identify music, images or video on multiple Internet sites. Applications include providing reports to rights holders to enable reasonable accounting for the distributed content. "Much of the repurposed content on YouTube, for example, contains copyrighted entertainment," said Digimarc chairman and CEO Bruce Davis. "If social networking sites implemented software to check each stream, they could identify copyrighted subject matter, create a report, negotiate compensation for the value chain and sell targeted advertising for related goods and services." [more..]

Waltham, Mass. - Web portal Lycos on Thursday introduced Lycos MIX, a social networking application that lets groups of people pull video clips from a variety of sources and create shared playlists. The company said the application grew out of its Lycos Cinema feature, which lets users simultaneously watch and chat about video content in real-time. [more..]

New York - NBC Universal announced on Thursday that its USA Network has partnered with The Westminster Kennel Club, to enable dog enthusiasts to purchase and download individual judging videos for all 165 breeds from the 131st Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. As in previous years, users will still be able to watch free streaming video of the breed judging events within hours of the live telecasts next week; the downloadable videos will become available a week after the live telecast. [more..]

Espoo, Finland - Nokia said on Thursday that it has upgraded its Mobile Search application, so that users may now search for content stored on their mobile devices, like e-mails, text messages, calendar entries, videos and music files. The application is compatible with over a dozen Nokia devices, and is available as a free download. Separately, Nokia said it has made its Smart2o mobile map application, which covers over 150 countries, available as a free download. The company said it also plans to add support for platforms including PocketPC, Linux and Windows Mobile devices. [more..]

Englewood Cliffs, N.J. - Financial news cable network CNBC has announced the launch of its first CNBC.com Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge, a stock-picking contest where participants invest a virtual million dollars for the chance to win a $1 million grand prize. Players can use CNBC.com tools that screen stocks, funds and earnings to help pick which companies to invest in, and earn bonus money by answering questions based on on-air news and interviews. In addition to the $1 million for the top-performing portfolio, weekly winners will receive a $10,000 prize. [more..]

Paris - Telco equipment provider Alcatel-Lucent said on Thursday that it has partnered with wireless carrier Telefonica on a pilot project for mobile interactive multimedia services in Spain. Results from the six-month pilot of mobile TV, radio and music services, launched in October, are slated to be presented next week at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona. [more..]

Burbank, Calif. - Disney announced on Thursday that it has changed the name of its video game business unit from Buena Vista Games to Disney Interactive Studios. The company will continue to publish both Disney and non-Disney branded video games for all platforms. "This change reflects our focus on creativity, the weight of Disney content in our portfolio, and the enormous value consumers see in the Disney brand," said Graham Hopper, senior vice president and general manager, Disney Interactive Studios. [more..]