New York - Media conglomerate Viacom announced on Monday that it has formed a joint venture to create a premium TV channel and video-on-demand service that will feature classic and new movies and TV shows from five studios. [more..]

London - Google once again claimed the top spot in market research firm Millward Brown's annual list of the top 100 most powerful brands, beating out other leading brands like GE/NBC Universal, Apple and Microsoft for the honor for the third year in a row. [more..]

Palo Alto, Calif. - Ning, a free service that lets users create their own online social networks, has raised a $60 million fourth round of venture capital financing from unnamed investors, PaidContent.org reported. [more..]

Los Angeles - Filmaka on Monday announced the launch of its new digital entertainment studio, which will fund feature films, documentaries, Web series and other content culled from a network of amateur filmmakers. [more..]

Redwood City, Calif. - Obopay, a provider of mobile payments technology, has raised $20 million in its fourth round of funding, GigaOM reported. [more..]

San Francisco - Six Apart, the company behind blog publishing services TypePad, Movable Type and Vox, announced on Monday that it has acquired Apperceptive, a New York-based provider of social media consulting and development services. [more..]

Arlington, Va. - Venture capitalists invested $7.1 billion in 922 deals during the first quarter, according to a report released on Monday by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). [more..]

Montreal - MediaScrape, an online broadcaster of repackaged video news from 28 global news agencies, has raised $3.16 million in a second round of venture capital financing from unnamed investors. [more..]

Los Angeles - Channel M, a provider of out-of-home video advertising services, announced on Monday that it has raised an undisclosed sum in its third round of funding, led by Intel Capital. [more..]

San Francisco - GoFish, an online youth entertainment and media network, said on Monday that it has raised $1.5 million through a private placement. [more..]

It seems that people read or hear about the news and then conduct a search which sends them to a retail site, rather than simply following links / adverts from a news page to a retailer, blogs Robin Goad. [more..]

In the long run, the only real way out for content owners is to forget about the exclusivity premium and to figure out how to leverage ubiquitous post-theatrical distribution for maximum profit dollars, blogs Paul Sweeting. [more..]

Paris - European retail chain Carrefour, the world's largest behind Wal-Mart, has announced plans to launch a movie and TV show download service in France, Spain, Belgium and Italy, according to The Hollywood Reporter. [more..]

New York - The video game industry's Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) announced on Monday that it partnered with the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) on a nationwide educational campaign that will see the distribution of a booklet explaining the ratings system to all 26,000 PTAs in the U.S. [more..]

New York - Digital marketing firm 24/7 Real Media, a unit of WPP, announced on Monday that it has partnered with four major publishers to launch an online B2B advertising network. [more..]

Los Angeles - RZA, a member of legendary hip-hop troupe Wu-Tang Clan, recently launched a website where like-minded chess players can congregate and play live online games, Billboard reports. [more..]

San Diego - A U.S. unit of Korea's LG Electronics on Monday announced the launch of LG: Rally for Music, an online social network for music fans and aspiring musicians. [more..]

McLean, Va. - USA Today said on Monday that it has formed a multi-platform editorial content and marketing alliance with New York-based Fantasy Sports Ventures (FSV), the developer of an online network of fantasy sports websites. [more..]

Chicago - Midway Games on Monday announced plans to publish "Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe," licensed through Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in the fall. [more..]

New York - Rockstar Games, a unit of Take-Two Interactive, said on Monday that it will ship "Midnight Club: Los Angeles" to retailers in North America on Sept. 9, and in Europe on Sept. 12. [more..]

Agoura Hills, Calif. - Video game publisher THQ on Monday shipped its "Battle of the Bands" exclusively for Nintendo Wii to retailers. [more..]