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DMW Daily, October 23, 2008

Top Stories
o Ticketmaster Buys Azoff's Front Line for $123M; Layoffs Loom
o MySpace Music Adds IODA Indie Catalog of 1 Million Songs
o Getty Images Acquires Jupiterimages for $96 Million
o Business Social Network LinkedIn Gets Another $22.7 Million
o CD Baby Founder Sivers Made $22 Million on Sale to Disc Makers
o Video Entertainment Site Break.com Cuts 11 Employees
o Bankrupt Worldspace to Get $2M in Debtor-in-Possession Funding
o CEA Inducts 12 into Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame
o Italy's Neomobile Acquires Spain-based Arena Mobile
Opinion & Analysis
o Analysis: Bad Omen for Blu-ray
o Buzz Watch: Ariana Huffington Shares 4 Secrets Of Creating A Successful Blog
Briefly Noted
o Dr. Pepper Follows Through on "Chinese Democracy" Free Sodas
o E for All Event in Question, After Expanded E3 Announcement
o Netflix to Stream Instant Movies, TV to Samsung Blu-ray Players
o PDP Issues Recall for Wii Wireless Guitars Over Burn Risk
o Dell, Universal Music Offer Pre-loaded PC MP3 Bundles
o TiVo Adds Foreign, Indie Film Downloads From Jaman.com
o THQ Acquires Publishing Rights to 50 Cent Game Sequel
o Disney Online Launches "Pixie Hollow" Virtual World for Kids
 Top Stories
o Ticketmaster Buys Azoff's Front Line for $123M; Layoffs Loom 
Los Angeles - Ticketmaster announced on Thursday that it will acquire a controlling equity interest in Front Line Management, the large artist management firm run by Irving Azoff, from Warner Music Group for about $123 million in cash. [more..]
o MySpace Music Adds IODA Indie Catalog of 1 Million Songs 
Los Angeles - MySpace Music, the joint venture between the News Corp.-owned social network and the major record labels, announced on Thursday that it has signed a deal with IODA to bring the independent digital music distributor's catalog of more than one million tracks from over 50,000 artists to the service. [more..]
o Getty Images Acquires Jupiterimages for $96 Million 
Seattle - Getty Images, a provider of celebrity and stock photography, footage and multimedia products, announced on Thursday its acquisition of Jupiterimages, a unit of Jupitermedia, for $96 million in cash. [more..]
o Business Social Network LinkedIn Gets Another $22.7 Million 
Mountain View, Calif. - LinkedIn, an online social network for business professionals, announced on Thursday that it has landed a new $22.7 million financing round, from investors including Goldman Sachs, The McGraw-Hill Companies, SAP Ventures and previous backer Bessemer Venture Partners.
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o CD Baby Founder Sivers Made $22 Million on Sale to Disc Makers 
Los Angeles - Derek Sivers, the founder of online independent music store CD Baby, made $22 million this summer from the sale of his company to Disc Makers, according to Venture Voice. [more..]
o Video Entertainment Site Break.com Cuts 11 Employees 
Beverly Hills, Calif. - Male-focused video entertainment site Break.com has laid off about 11 employees from its staff of 80, CEO Keith Richman told CNET News.com. [more..]
o Bankrupt Worldspace to Get $2M in Debtor-in-Possession Funding 
Silver Spring, Md. - Less than a week after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Worldspace, a provider of satellite radio services to foreign markets, said that it has received court approval to receive up to $2 million in debtor-in-possession financing. [more..]
o CEA Inducts 12 into Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame 
Las Vegas - Martin Cooper and Donald Linder, developers of the world's first cell phone, were among 12 prominent industry leaders who have been inducted into the Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame, the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) announced. [more..]
o Italy's Neomobile Acquires Spain-based Arena Mobile 
Rome - Neomobile, an Italy-based mobile entertainment distributor, announced on Thursday that it has acquired Arena Mobile, a Spain-based mobile content provider. [more..]
 Opinion & Analysis
o Analysis: Bad Omen for Blu-ray 
The format's best hope at this point, ironically enough, may be an influx of low-end, Chinese-made players from the likes of Olevia and Memorex--precisely the scenario Blu-ray's earliest backers set out to avoid, blogs Paul Sweeting. [more..]
o Buzz Watch: Ariana Huffington Shares 4 Secrets Of Creating A Successful Blog 
Rohit Bhargava: Yesterday at the MarketingProfs event, Ariana Huffington took the stage for a keynote presentation sharing some lessons she has learned about building a successful blog network with the Huffington Post [more..]
 Briefly Noted
o Dr. Pepper Follows Through on "Chinese Democracy" Free Sodas 
Plano, Texas - Staying true to its promise from a marketing stunt, soft drink maker Dr. Pepper said it will offer a free soda coupon to every American when Guns N' Roses releases its 17 years-in-the-making album "Chinese Democracy" on Nov. 23. [more..]
o E for All Event in Question, After Expanded E3 Announcement 
Los Angeles - With the Entertainment Software Association's (ESA) announcement this week that it will bring an expanded E3 event to downtown Los Angeles next year, the future of partner IDG World Expo's consumer-friendly E for All event could be in doubt, GameDaily reported. [more..]
o Netflix to Stream Instant Movies, TV to Samsung Blu-ray Players 
Los Gatos, Calif. - Online DVD rental service Netflix announced on Thursday that it has partnered with Samsung to offer subscribers the ability to instantly stream movies and TV episodes from its website to Samsung BD-P2500 and BD-P2550 Blu-ray disc players. [more..]
o PDP Issues Recall for Wii Wireless Guitars Over Burn Risk 
Los Angeles - A wireless guitar accessory for Nintendo's Wii console has been recalled after a report that a defective circuit board can cause AA batteries used in the guitar to leak, in turn creating a risk of chemical burns, GamesIndustry.biz reports. [more..]
o Dell, Universal Music Offer Pre-loaded PC MP3 Bundles 
Round Rock, Texas - PC maker Dell on Thursday announced a deal with Universal Music Group, to offer pre-loaded MP3 bundles on select new purchases on Dell.com. [more..]
o TiVo Adds Foreign, Indie Film Downloads From Jaman.com 
Alviso, Calif. - TiVo announced on Thursday that it has added the ability for subscribers to download a range of foreign and independent films from Internet movie service Jaman.com. [more..]
o THQ Acquires Publishing Rights to 50 Cent Game Sequel 
Agoura Hills, Calif. - Video game publisher THQ announced on Thursday that it has acquired the publishing rights to "50 Cent: Blood on the Sand," the follow-up to the multi-million unit-selling game featuring hip-hop artist 50 Cent. [more..]
o Disney Online Launches "Pixie Hollow" Virtual World for Kids 
North Hollywood, Calif. - Disney Online on Thursday announced the launch of "Disney Fairies Pixie Hollow," a new online virtual world featuring the Tinker Bell character from "Peter Pan." [more..]