Mountain View, Calif. - Google has asserted that media conglomerate Viacom's $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit against the company "threatens the way hundreds of millions of people legitimately exchange information, news, entertainment and political and artistic expression," according to claims made by the company's lawyers in federal court in Manhattan, the Associated Press reported. [more..]

New York - Some ten million U.S. households are "completely unready" for the upcoming transition to digital television next year, and nearly 25 million homes will have at least one TV that will stop functioning, The New York Times reported, citing data from a new report by Nielsen Media Research. [more..]

Ann Arbor, Mich. - Borders Group, which operates a chain of 1,100 stores that sell books, music and movies, announced on Tuesday that it has re-launched its own new e-commerce site, after severing a seven-year relationship with rival Amazon.com. [more..]

Washington - XM Satellite Radio, the satellite radio provider awaiting government approval to merge with rival Sirius, disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it must come up with $120 million in financial commitments to avoid an "adverse effect" on its financial position.
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San Francisco - Ecast, a maker of broadband digital jukeboxes found in bars and restaurants, has secured $12.3 million of an $18.64 million fourth round of venture capital financing, PEHub.com reported, citing a regulatory filing. [more..]

Seattle - Pelago, the developer of a mobile social networking application called Whrrl, has raised $15 million in new financing from new investors T-Mobile Venture Fund and Reliance Technology Ventures, along with previous backers DAG Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Trilogy Equity Partners and Bezos Expeditions. [more..]

Los Angeles - Uber.com, a social media publishing platform headed by former Friendster CEO Scott Sassa, has received a new investment from Discovery Communications, the Los Angeles Times reports, as part of a $7.6 million round that also included participation from Universal Music Group and Sterling Stamos Co-Investors Fund, according to a regulatory filing. [more..]

San Mateo, Calif. - RockYou, a developer of social applications and widgets that enable photo slideshows, glitter text, voicemail and other features, has raised $1 million in new financing from Doll Capital Management (DCM), VentureBeat reported. [more..]

The real trick for rights owners is not monetizing content through direct payments but figuring out how to capture the value that others create by using the content, blogs Paul Sweeting. [more..]

Rohit Bhargava: Recently I got yet another top list of marketing blogs sent to me and realized that this tactic is likely to get more and more popular as companies continually try to find ways to connect with prominent bloggers. [more..]

New York - Verizon announced on Tuesday a multi-year deal to offer Starz Play, a broadband video service from the Liberty Media unit, to its 8.5 million broadband subscribers. [more..]

Redmond, Wash. - Microsoft plans to release a new social bookmarking service this week, Mashable reported, citing Microsoft evangelist John Martin. [more..]

London - U.K. retail chain Woolworths plans to discontinue sales of CD singles, and has re-launched its own download store -- Woolworths Download -- which will be powered by RealNetworks and offer video programming, games and mobile content in addition to digital music. [more..]

New York - Performing rights organization ASCAP said on Tuesday that it has signed a two-year deal to offer Nimbit's direct-to-fan sales and catalog management online tools as part of the basic membership package for than 320,000 ASCAP songwriters and composers. [more..]

Los Angeles - Comedy purveyors National Lampoon on Tuesday announced the launch of a new audio label, National Lampoon Records, that aims to release at least twelve titles per year, including at least six original and up to six acquired titles. [more..]

Tokyo - Japanese media firm Kadokawa Group has partnered with YouTube to legitimize the user-posted cartoons on the site, and will now split ad revenue from the pages with YouTube and the poster of its content, Variety reports. [more..]

Durham, N.C. - Video game publisher Funcom announced on Tuesday that its "Age of Conan" has become one of the fastest-selling PC games of all time, as more than 400,000 players have entered the multiplayer online game in the ten days since it went on sale. [more..]