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DMW Daily, July 25, 2008

Top Stories
o Clear Channel Shareholders OK $17.9B Private Equity Buyout
o AOL to Shutter Several Underperforming Services
o Facing Lawsuit, Redlasso Suspends Web Video Clip Service
o Report: MPAA Sought Info on The Pirate Bay From Hacker
o EFF Says Yahoo Should Replace Users' DRM-Locked Music
o Studios Developing Legal Online Movie Search Engine
o Social Media Currency Exchange Tradual Raises $2.4 Million
Briefly Noted
o Rolling Stones Leave EMI, Sign with Universal Music Group
o Report: Amazon Likely to Power MySpace Music Service
o Joost, TOM to Launch Local TV Streaming Service in China
o Jon Heder to Star in Webisode Series "Woke Up Dead"
o Nickelodeon to Launch Multiplayer Game for "The Last Airbender"
 Top Stories
o Clear Channel Shareholders OK $17.9B Private Equity Buyout 
San Antonio, Texas - Radio giant Clear Channel announced on Friday that its shareholders have approved its $17.9 billion sale to private equity firms Bain Capital Partners and Thomas H. Lee Partners, with approximately 97% of shares voted cast in favor of the deal. [more..]
o AOL to Shutter Several Underperforming Services 
New York - Unable to find its niche in the personal media space, AOL plans to shutter its Bluestring media sharing, Xdrive online storage and AOL Pictures photo services, TechCrunch reported, citing an internal company e-mail. [more..]
o Facing Lawsuit, Redlasso Suspends Web Video Clip Service 
King of Prussia, Pa. - Days after being served a copyright infringement lawsuit by broadcasters NBC and Fox News, Web video clipping service Redlasso announced on Friday that it will suspend access to its clipping service. [more..]
o Report: MPAA Sought Info on The Pirate Bay From Hacker 
San Francisco - According to court documents from the studios' copyright case against file-sharing site TorrentSpy, the Motion Picture Association of America sought information from a hacker on Sweden-based file-sharing hub The Pirate Bay, CNET News.com reported. [more..]
o EFF Says Yahoo Should Replace Users' DRM-Locked Music 
San Francisco - Yahoo is taking some criticism for following a move Microsoft was compelled to backtrack on, namely discontinuing a digital rights management-laden music service in a way that will make some songs purchased by consumers unplayable. [more..]
o Studios Developing Legal Online Movie Search Engine 
Los Angeles - The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is working on a website and search feature that would direct users looking for movies online to legal outlets, including theater ticketing services, online DVD rental and retail services, and legal download services, Variety reports. [more..]
o Social Media Currency Exchange Tradual Raises $2.4 Million 
Boston - Tradual, a Boston-based social media company focusing on foreign currency exchange, has raised $2.4 million in its first round of venture capital, according to a report by PEHub, which cited a regulatory filing. [more..]
 Briefly Noted
o Rolling Stones Leave EMI, Sign with Universal Music Group 
London - Vivendi's Universal Music Group announced that it has signed a long-term contract with the Rolling Stones, ending a long relationship with EMI and disappointing concert promotion giant Live Nation, which was also reportedly seeking a deal with the band. [more..]
o Report: Amazon Likely to Power MySpace Music Service 
San Francisco - The forthcoming MySpace Music joint venture service with the major labels is "likely" to partner with Amazon to power its e-commerce sales of digital music, although Apple and Rhapsody are also in the running, TechCrunch reported, citing an anonymous source. [more..]
o Joost, TOM to Launch Local TV Streaming Service in China 
Beijing - Internet TV service Joost has partnered with Hong Kong's TOM Group to launch a localized version of its service in China with 16,000 hours of content, Variety reported. [more..]
o Jon Heder to Star in Webisode Series "Woke Up Dead" 
Los Angeles - "Napoleon Dynamite" star Jon Heder will serve as a producer on and star in a new scripted online series from Electric Farm Entertainment, according to The Hollywood Reporter. [more..]
o Nickelodeon to Launch Multiplayer Game for "The Last Airbender" 
New York - Viacom's Nickelodeon on Friday announced plans to launch a massively multiplayer online game for its "Avatar: The Last Airbender" series, which is also being developed into a feature film directed by M. Night Shyamalan set for release in July 2010. [more..]