Sunnyvale, Calif. - Shares of Yahoo plunged 10% on Thursday after the company announced that its acquisition talks with Microsoft have concluded without a deal. [more..]

Washington - A federal court has asked video game publisher Take-Two Interactive to explain why it has so far refused to comply with a subpoena from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), requesting more information from the company as part of its review of a takeover bid from rival Electronic Arts, The Wall Street Journal reported. [more..]

San Francisco - A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by major label Universal Music Group against a California man who sold promotional CDs from the label on eBay. U.S. District Court Judge S. James Otero ruled that the promo CDs are gifts distributed by UMG, as they are mailed free and unsolicited to thousands of people -- including music journalists and radio stations -- without any expectation or intention of their return. [more..]

New York - Top executives at concert promoter Live Nation (NYSE: LYV) have been fiercely at odds over the company's moves to sign an increasing number of multi-million dollar "360 deals" with artists such as Madonna and Jay-Z, The Wall Street Journal reports. [more..]

New York - After receiving scant support from cable TV networks, eBay has shut down its Web-based TV exchange after just over a year in operation, Adweek reports. [more..]

Los Angeles - The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has recently begun increasing its settlement amount offers to students who refuse to immediately settle and instead file motions or take the RIAA to court to challenge charges they illegally shared music online, Ars Technica reported. [more..]

Silver Spring, Md. - Broadband Internet speeds are seen as more important to consumers than HDTV and other new services, according to a new survey by Pike & Fischer. [more..]

Seattle - Mpire, the parent company of WidgetBucks, a online ad network of retail and shopping widgets for online publishers, announced on Thursday that it has raised a $10 million second round of financing, led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson. [more..]

San Francisco - Zoosk, an online social dating network, announced on Thursday that it has closed a $4.1 million second round of venture capital financing, led by Canaan Partners with participation from previous backer ATA Ventures. [more..]

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The iPlayer site has benefited significantly from The Apprentice, which was the highest ranked BBC programme site sending traffic its way yesterday, blogs Robin Goad. [more..]

Burbank, Calif. - Warner Bros. Television Group announced on Thursday that it has signed deals to syndicate content from its new ad-supported TheWB.com and KidsWB.com broadband sites through video distributors Dailymotion, Joost, Sling Media, TiVo and Veoh. [more..]

Los Angeles - Metallica have blamed their management company Q Prime for asking bloggers to take down their reviews of rough mixes of the band's new album -- bloggers who were invited to a listening party to hear said tracks, according to a post on Metallica.com. [more..]

Los Angeles - Mobile video developers Flixwagon and Qik are separately working on applications that will stream video from an iPhone, according to various reports. [more..]

Culver City, Calif. - Emmy-winning actor Brad Garrett ("Everybody Loves Raymond," "'Til Death") will star in an online reality dating series hosted on Sony's Crackle video site, the company said. [more..]

Paris - French wireless carrier Orange on Thursday debuted Musique Max, an unlimited PC and mobile full-track download service. [more..]

San Francisco - Seventeen-year-old YouTube bedroom songwriter Bo Burnham is set to release his first six-song EP on Comedy Central Records next week, Wired.com reports. [more..]

Washington - Persian American Media (PAM), a provider of online television and radio programming that runs Pam TV, said that it will sell a majority interest in the company to Los Angeles-based Zcom Networks, a provider of telecommunication products and services. [more..]