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DMW Daily, July 16, 2008

Top Stories
o Report: AOL Possibly on Verge of Sale to Yahoo or Microsoft
o Sony Introduces PlayStation Video Service, 80GB PlayStation 3
o Publisher Gannett Sees 36% Drop in Profits; Stock Tumbles
o Europe Approves EU-Wide License for Digital Music Services
o India's Valuable Group Acquires Moviebeam VOD Service
o MTV's "Soundtrack" Site Lists All Songs Heard on the Network
o Women's Blog Network BlogHer Lands $5 Million, NBCU Deal
o OGPlanet Gets Funding for Imported Korean Online Games
o In-Game Commerce Firm PlaySpan Acquires PayByCash
Opinion & Analysis
o Buzz Watch: Sony Launches 256 Player Online Shooter Game at E3
o Analysis: Twitter UK Traffic Up 485% This Year, 70% Higher Than USA
Briefly Noted
o Apple Nixes iTunes U.K. Price Cuts, Citing New Exchange Rates
o imeem Offering Streaming Previews of U2 Album Reissues
o Billboard to Chart Album Sales on TuneCore
o Mobile Distributor SendMe Inks Deal with Warner Music
o GET Interactive Gets $200,000 Investment from SC Launch
 Top Stories
o Report: AOL Possibly on Verge of Sale to Yahoo or Microsoft 
Dulles, Va. - Media giant Time Warner may be on the verge of a deal to sell AOL to either Yahoo or Microsoft, Reuters reported on Wednesday. [more..]
o Sony Introduces PlayStation Video Service, 80GB PlayStation 3 
Los Angeles - Sony Computer Entertainment America on Wednesday announced the launch of its long-awaited movie and TV download service for the PlayStation 3 and PSP handheld in the U.S., which will initially offer around 300 films and 1,200 TV episodes in both standard and high-definition from partners including Sony Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Lionsgate, MGM, Paramount, Warner Bros. and Disney. [more..]
o Publisher Gannett Sees 36% Drop in Profits; Stock Tumbles 
McLean, Va. - Shares of Gannett dropped more than 7% by midday Wednesday after the publisher of USA Today and 84 other daily papers said that its second-quarter profit dropped 36%. [more..]
o Europe Approves EU-Wide License for Digital Music Services 
Brussels - The European Union has done away with the byzantine music royalty collection scheme that forced digital music services to acquire licenses to operate in each individual country, opting to instill a Europe-wide license for such services. [more..]
o India's Valuable Group Acquires Moviebeam VOD Service 
Mumbai, India - The Valuable Group, an India-based media and technology firm, announced on Wednesday that it has completed its purchase of the assets of video-on-demand service Moviebeam from from Dar Capital Limited. [more..]
o MTV's "Soundtrack" Site Lists All Songs Heard on the Network 
New York - Viacom's MTV on Wednesday introduced a website that will allow viewers to identify the roughly 1,500 music cues -- outside of music videos or performances -- that are integrated into its programming each week. [more..]
o Women's Blog Network BlogHer Lands $5 Million, NBCU Deal 
New York - BlogHer, an ad network and community of over 2,200 women's blogs, announced on Wednesday that it has received a $5 million second round investment from NBC Universal-affiliated Peacock Equity and Venrock. [more..]
o OGPlanet Gets Funding for Imported Korean Online Games 
El Segundo, Calif. - OGPlanet, a publisher of multiplayer online games, announced on Wednesday that it has received an undisclosed sum of new funding from DFJ Athena, which the company said will be used for continued growth. [more..]
o In-Game Commerce Firm PlaySpan Acquires PayByCash 
Santa Clara, Calif. - PlaySpan, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based developer of in-game search, commerce and micropayment technologies, said on Wednesday that it has acquired PayByCash, a Virginia-based developer of an alternative payment system for online games, virtual worlds and social networks. [more..]
 Opinion & Analysis
o Buzz Watch: Sony Launches 256 Player Online Shooter Game at E3 
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o Analysis: Twitter UK Traffic Up 485% This Year, 70% Higher Than USA 
Twitter is more popular with Brits than Americans: last week the site’s share of UK Internet visits was 70% higher its share of visits in America, blogs Robin Goad. [more..]
 Briefly Noted
o Apple Nixes iTunes U.K. Price Cuts, Citing New Exchange Rates 
London - Apple will not reduce the cost of music downloads at its U.K. iTunes Store, as it has said it would do in January, to bring parity to the cost of downloads between the U.K. store and other iTunes Stores in Europe, Billboard reports. [more..]
o imeem Offering Streaming Previews of U2 Album Reissues 
San Francisco - Social music network imeem has announced that it will offer streaming previews of the forthcoming reissues of Universal Music Group act U2's early albums "Boy," "October" and "War." [more..]
o Billboard to Chart Album Sales on TuneCore 
New York - Music industry trade publication Billboard announced that it will now publish a chart of the top 25 revenue-generating albums and songs on TuneCore, a service that offers artists 100% of royalties and cheap distribution of their works via iTunes, Amazon and other digital retail platforms. [more..]
o Mobile Distributor SendMe Inks Deal with Warner Music 
San Francisco - Mobile media distributor SendMe Mobile on Wednesday announced a deal with Warner Music Group, to offer content from Warner artists such as ringtones on its various portal sites. [more..]
o GET Interactive Gets $200,000 Investment from SC Launch 
Campobello, S.C. - SC Launch, a provider of investment and support to entrepreneurial start-up companies in the Southeast U.S., has invested $200,000 in GET Interactive, a provider of technology for delivering online entertainment content. [more..]