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DMW Daily, July 7, 2008

Top Stories
o NBC Universal, PE Firms to Acquire The Weather Channel
o EMI Music Names Elio Leoni-Sceti as New CEO
o France Floats "Three Strikes" File-Sharing Law for All of Europe
o EMI Settles Ringtone Litigation With InfoSpace
o Venture-Backed Companies Fail to Complete IPO in Q2
o ZVUE in Deal to Stall Payments to Senior Lender YA Global
o German Online Skill Games Firm GameDuell Gets $17 Million
o Game Developer XPD Media Lands $2 Million
o Social Search Developer Searchles Lands New Angel Round
o IDG Ventures Invests in Indian Online Ad Network Ozone Media
Opinion & Analysis
o Buzz Watch: The Muppets Are Set For A (New Media) Come-Back?
o Good Summary of Potential Video Game Monetization Methods
o Buzz Watch: The Pirate's Dilemma on Screen
Briefly Noted
o Wilco, Bright Eyes Contribute to 'Net Neutrality Benefit Album
o 7digital.com: Sales Up 300% After MP3 Catalog Expansion
o Former Live Nation Exec Named Head of NBA Digital
o AT&T "Team USA" Olympics Soundtrack to Benefit Athletes
o Warner Bros. Backs Web Series for "Dark Knight" Promotion
o Electronic Arts to Launch Official "Scrabble" Game on Facebook
o China's The9 Forms Joint Venture With "Audition" Developer T3
 Top Stories
o NBC Universal, PE Firms to Acquire The Weather Channel 
New York - Landmark Communications announced that it has agreed to sell The Weather Channel to a group made up of NBC Universal and the private equity firms of The Blackstone Group and Bain Capital. [more..]
o EMI Music Names Elio Leoni-Sceti as New CEO 
London - Major record label EMI announced on Monday that it has named Elio Leoni-Sceti, former executive vice president of Europe for consumer brand company Reckitt Benckiser, as its new chief executive of EMI Music. [more..]
o France Floats "Three Strikes" File-Sharing Law for All of Europe 
Paris - The French government, which is preparing a law that would compel Internet service providers there to disconnect customers who repeatedly download music or other media on illicit file-sharing networks, has proposed a similar "three strikes" law for all of Europe, The Register reports. [more..]
o EMI Settles Ringtone Litigation With InfoSpace 
New York - Major label EMI has settled the ringtone royalty lawsuit it filed in January against mobile content distributor InfoSpace, MocoNews reported, citing an InfoSpace regulatory filing. [more..]
o Venture-Backed Companies Fail to Complete IPO in Q2 
Arlington, Va. - For the first time since 1978, there were no venture-backed initial public offerings (IPOs) during the second quarter, according to a new report from the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). [more..]
o ZVUE in Deal to Stall Payments to Senior Lender YA Global 
San Francisco - ZVUE Corporation, a digital entertainment company whose assets include video site eBaum's World and portable media player maker HandHeld Entertainment, announced on Monday that it has reached an agreement with lender YA Global Investments, to which it owes $1.25 million plus interest. [more..]
o German Online Skill Games Firm GameDuell Gets $17 Million 
Berlin - GameDuell, an online skill games community in Germany that claims over 10 million members, announced that it has received a $17 million investment from Wellington Partners. [more..]
o Game Developer XPD Media Lands $2 Million 
Los Angeles - XPD Media, a start-up that is developing video games for multiple platforms, has raised over $2 million in its first round of financing, PEHub.com reported, citing a regulatory filing. [more..]
o Social Search Developer Searchles Lands New Angel Round 
Washington - Searchles, the developer of a social search platform, said that it has landed a new round of angel funding to increase its total backing to nearly $2 million. [more..]
o IDG Ventures Invests in Indian Online Ad Network Ozone Media 
Mumbai, India - Ozone Media, an online advertising network in India, announced that it has received an undisclosed sum of first round funding from IDG Ventures India. [more..]
 Opinion & Analysis
o Buzz Watch: The Muppets Are Set For A (New Media) Come-Back? 
n/a
o Good Summary of Potential Video Game Monetization Methods 
David Perry, Chief Creative Officer of Acclaim Games, has identified 29 possible ways to monetize video games in a recent CNET-article. [more..]
o Buzz Watch: The Pirate's Dilemma on Screen 
n/a
 Briefly Noted
o Wilco, Bright Eyes Contribute to 'Net Neutrality Benefit Album 
Washington - The Future of Music Coalition, a non-profit established to represent the rights of artists on digital music issues, has recruited artists including Wilco, Bright Eyes, DJ Spooky and Aimee Mann to contribute to "Rock the Net," a compilation album whose proceeds will go to support its lobbying efforts on Network Neutrality. [more..]
o 7digital.com: Sales Up 300% After MP3 Catalog Expansion 
London - Independent digital music retailer 7digital.com said on Monday that it has seen sales for the first half of 2008 increase 300% from a year ago, driven by the new availability of DRM-free MP3 tracks from Warner Music, EMI and others. [more..]
o Former Live Nation Exec Named Head of NBA Digital 
Atlanta - NBA Digital, a partnership between the pro basketball league and Turner Broadasting, said on Monday that it has named Bryan Perez as senior vice president and general manager. [more..]
o AT&T "Team USA" Olympics Soundtrack to Benefit Athletes 
San Antonio, Texas - AT&T announced on Monday that a number of top-selling artists will record exclusive tracks for a "Team USA" soundtrack for the U.S. Olympic Team, with proceeds from music downloads and ringtone sales to benefit the team. [more..]
o Warner Bros. Backs Web Series for "Dark Knight" Promotion 
New York - To promote its upcoming Batman sequel "Dark Knight," Warner Bros. has sponsored the production of a Web series based in a comic book store, Silicon Alley Insider reported. [more..]
o Electronic Arts to Launch Official "Scrabble" Game on Facebook 
Redwood City, Calif. - Electronic Arts said on Monday that it has partnered with toymaker Hasbro to launch a version of "Scrabble" for the Facebook social network and Pogo.com. [more..]
o China's The9 Forms Joint Venture With "Audition" Developer T3 
Shanghai, China - Chinese online game operator The9 Limited announced on Monday that it will establish a joint venture with Korean game developer T3 Entertainment -- creators of the "Audition" massively multiplayer online game -- to further strengthen their partnerships in the areas of game development and publishing. [more..]