Los Angeles - The American Federation of Television & Radio Artists (AFTRA), one of Hollywood's large performers' unions, on Wednesday announced that it has reached a tentative new three-year labor agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). [more..]

Washington - The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal in a case involving the rights of consumers to "unlock" mobile phones from a particular network, meaning a lawsuit charging AT&T and T-Mobile with unfair business practices will now proceed to trial, Wired.com reported. [more..]

Washington - Sony Electronics and six major U.S. cable TV providers have announced an agreement that will enable Sony to develop and sell televisions able to connect directly to cable TV services without the need of a set-top box. [more..]

Los Angeles - Amazon.com plans to launch a streaming video service in the next few weeks, according to remarks made by chief executive Jeff Bezos at The Wall Street Journal's D: All Things Digital conference on Wednesday, Reuters reported. [more..]

Palo Alto, Calif. - Online social network Facebook has confirmed plans to launch an open source project for its developer platform, according to reports. [more..]

Alviso, Calif. - TiVo announced on Wednesday that it will make Disney movies available for download to broadband-connected TiVo digital video recorders directly through the television. [more..]

Hong Kong - Chinese ringtone retailer A8.com has filed for an initial public offering on the Hong Kong stock exchange, and aims to raise up to $28 million, China Web2.0 Review reports. [more..]

Mountain View, Calif. - Skyfire, the developer of a mobile Web browser, announced on Wednesday a new $13 million second round of venture capital, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. [more..]

Helsinki, Finland - Xtract, a Finland-based provider of mobile and online advertising technology, announced on Wednesday that it has raised $5.5 million in new financing, from Creandum and previous backer Eqvitec. [more..]

Los Angeles - Sweden-based wireless carrier TeliaSonera announced on Wednesday that it has signed a deal with Apple to market the iPhone in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark, as well as the Baltic nations of Lithuania, Lavtia and Estonia later this year. [more..]

Los Angeles - Longtime digital holdouts Metallica, who famously led the artist-based charge against the original Napster, have announced a new promotion for their upcoming album that will provide behind-the-scenes coverage of its recording, and a fan club whose members will be able to download it in the unprotected MP3 format upon its release [more..]

Los Angeles - Amazon's recently introduced Kindle electronic e-book reader device now accounts for 6% of titles sold through the site -- or an estimated 125,000 units, chief executive Jeff Bezos said on Wednesday at the All Things D conference, PaidContent reported. [more..]

Los Angeles - Lala.com, an online music firm that operates an online CD-trading service, and has also offered free, unlimited song streaming, has now begun testing a new model that will see users pay 10 cents per song for unlimited streaming, according to a post on MP3.com founder Michael Robertson's blog. [more..]

Madison, Wisc. - Musicnotes, the creator of the first licensed site offering free guitar and other instrument tablature, on Wednesday announced new deals with Sony/ATV, EMI Christian Music Group, Alfred Publishing and several others to bring their repertoire to its MXTabs.net site. [more..]

San Diego - Mexican wireless carrier Iusacell on Wednesday introduced its mobile music rental service for the Mexican market, which features tracks from labels including Sony BMG and Warner Bros. that can be played an unlimited number of times while a user is subscribed to the service. [more..]

Emeryville, Calif. - Alibris, the operator of an online marketplace for new and second-hand books, said on Wednesday that it has developed an online marketplace for Borders.com. [more..]

El Segundo, Calif. - A number of game industry veterans on Wednesday announced the launch of Music Video Games (MvG), a new music-focused game company based in El Segundo, Calif. [more..]