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DMW Daily, December 8, 2008

Top Stories
o Newspaper Publisher Tribune Files for Bankruptcy
o Report: Layoffs to Hit Yahoo on Wednesday
o Warner Music Involved in "Music Tax" Proposal for Universities
o Report: Apple to Sell iPhone at Wal-Mart; Price Tag in Question
o Survey: More Than Half of American Adults Play Video Games
o IAC Sells Stake in Jupiter Shop Channel for $493 Million
o Report: Holiday E-Commerce Sales Finally Match Last Year
o New York Times Co. to Borrow Up to $225M Against Building
o Disney Acquires Kids Programming Distributor Jetix Europe
Opinion & Analysis
o Buzz Watch: Katy Perry's ”I Kissed A Girl” My Pick For Viral Music Phenomenon of 2008
Briefly Noted
o Netflix Lays Off 50 Technical Specialists From Customer Service
o Walmart.com Makes "Tens of Thousands" of Wiis Available
o Playboy Chairman & CEO Christie Hefner Resigns
o "Rock Band" Game Hits 28 Million Song Downloads
o Fox Taps Motorola for Transition to All-HD TV Delivery
o Buzzwire Names Former Newsweek President Osberg as CEO
o VOD Service Jaman.com Adds 60Frames Content
 Top Stories
o Newspaper Publisher Tribune Files for Bankruptcy 
Chicago - Tribune, the publisher of eight major daily newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune, on Monday became the first major newspaper publisher to file for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection, the Associated Press reported. [more..]
o Report: Layoffs to Hit Yahoo on Wednesday 
New York - Amid a rash of layoffs at digital media firms precipitated by the economic downturn, Yahoo plans to begin laying off as many as 2,000 employees on Wednesday, All Things D reports. [more..]
o Warner Music Involved in "Music Tax" Proposal for Universities 
Los Angeles - Several universities have been approached by record labels to discuss a "voluntary blanket licensing" of music to college students, TechDirt reported. [more..]
o Report: Apple to Sell iPhone at Wal-Mart; Price Tag in Question 
New York - Apple plans to begin selling its iPhone at Wal-Mart stores as early as next week, Bloomberg reported, citing store employees at five locations in California. [more..]
o Survey: More Than Half of American Adults Play Video Games 
Washington - More than half (53%) of all American adults play video games, with younger adults playing the most and game play decreasing as age increases, according to a report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. [more..]
o IAC Sells Stake in Jupiter Shop Channel for $493 Million 
New York - IAC, the U.S. conglomerate that owns businesses including Ask.com, Evite, Citysearch and Home Shopping Network, announced on Monday that it has sold its 30% stake in Jupiter Shop Channel Co., a Japanese TV shopping company, to Sumitomo for $493 million. [more..]
o Report: Holiday E-Commerce Sales Finally Match Last Year 
Reston, Va. - Following a slow start to the online holiday shopping season, strong sales on both Black Friday and Cyber Monday have bumped e-commerce spending for the first 35 days of the season back up to last year's levels, according to new figures from market research firm comScore. [more..]
o New York Times Co. to Borrow Up to $225M Against Building 
New York - The New York Times Co. plans to borrow up to $225 million against its mid-Manhattan headquarters building, "to ease a potential cash flow squeeze as the company grapples with tighter credit and shrinking profits," the company announced on Monday. [more..]
o Disney Acquires Kids Programming Distributor Jetix Europe 
Burbank, Calif. - The Walt Disney Company announced on Monday that it will acquire the outstanding shares of pan-European kids entertainment company Jetix Europe that it does not already own, for about $14 per share. [more..]
 Opinion & Analysis
o Buzz Watch: Katy Perry's ”I Kissed A Girl” My Pick For Viral Music Phenomenon of 2008 
n/a
 Briefly Noted
o Netflix Lays Off 50 Technical Specialists From Customer Service 
Los Gatos, Calif. - Online DVD rental service Netflix plans to lay off 50 "technical specialist" employees in its customer service department, citing in part the fewer problems that customers are now experiencing with its streaming Web player. [more..]
o Walmart.com Makes "Tens of Thousands" of Wiis Available 
Brisbane, Calif. - Retail giant Walmart on Monday said it made "tens of thousands" of Nintendo Wii game consoles available for purchase online. [more..]
o Playboy Chairman & CEO Christie Hefner Resigns 
Chicago - Playboy Enterprises chairman and CEO Christie Hefner, daughter of founder Hugh Hefner, announced on Monday that she will step down from both positions. [more..]
o "Rock Band" Game Hits 28 Million Song Downloads 
Los Angeles - Viacom's Harmonix game studio, a unit of MTV Networks, disclosed recently in its Rock Band Community Zine that players have to date purchased over 28 million song download add-ons to the music game, Shacknews reported. [more..]
o Fox Taps Motorola for Transition to All-HD TV Delivery 
San Diego - Motorola announced on Monday that it has been selected by News Corp.'s Fox to provide the all of the equipment necessary to enable Fox to transition all its satellite program distribution to 100% high-definition delivery. [more..]
o Buzzwire Names Former Newsweek President Osberg as CEO 
Denver - Buzzwire, a provider of mobile Web and video services, said on Monday that it has named former Newsweek president and worldwide publisher Greg Osberg as its new chief executive. [more..]
o VOD Service Jaman.com Adds 60Frames Content 
San Mateo, Calif. - Online movie and video service Jaman.com on Monday added content from digital studio 60Frames to its ad-supported streaming offering. [more..]