Santa Clara, Calif. - Macrovision, a provider of copy-protection technology and media databases, announced on Thursday an agreement to sell its TV Guide Network to Allen Shapiro and One Equity Partners, for $225 million. [more..]

Seattle - IMDB, the movie credits and informational database owned by Amazon.com, has acquired Box Office Mojo, a website that tracks how much money movies make at the box office. [more..]

Hertfordshire, England - Apple has acquired a 3.6% stake in mobile graphics chip designer Imagination Technologies Group for about $5 million. [more..]

Los Angeles - Following charges of securities fraud filed by the SEC this week against the company and its chief executive, National Lampoon announced on Thursday that president and CEO Daniel Laikin has resigned. [more..]

Los Angeles - The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has filed suit against three sites that provide links to other sites that offer its copyrighted films for download, Wired.com reported.
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Los Angeles - Mixwit, a site that let users create and share song playlists, has announced that it will shut its service down before the end of the year. [more..]

Los Angeles - Demand for music among U.S. Internet users fell 2% in the third quarter of 2008, a figure that includes CDs, purchased downloads, songs downloaded via file-sharing networks, and borrowing CDs to rip to computers, according to a report from market research firm NPD Group. [more..]

Milpitas, Calif. - Sigma Designs, a maker of digital media processors for consumer electronics, said on Thursday that it has acquired Zensys, a developer of wireless technology for the automation and remote control markets. [more..]

Rochester, N.Y. - Harris Interactive, a provider of custom market research for interactive media channels, announced that it has reduced its workforce by 51 people, or about 8% of its total workforce [more..]

New York - StockTwits, the operator of a website that organizes stock- and finance-related Twitter conversations, has raised $800,000 in its first round of venture capital, led by IA Capital Partners, Silicon Alley Insider reported. [more..]

The popular handheld is now the second most searched-for console in the UK, accounting for more than one in every four games consoles searches, blogs Robin Goad. [more..]

While mobile phones continue to be the most searched-for product in the UK, they have seen a 23% decrease in searches since October as consumers turn their attention to Christmas gifts such as toys, video games and games consoles, blogs Robin Goad. [more..]

New York - EchoStar's Sling Media plans to release a public beta version of its SlingPlayer Mobile for BlackBerry on Dec. 30. [more..]

Washington - Kenneth Paulson, the editor and senior vice president of news of USA Today, will leave the McLean-based newspaper early next year to become the president and COO of Washington, DC's Newseum and its primary backer, the Freedom Forum. [more..]

New York - Video game publisher Take-Two Interactive announced that it has signed new employment agreements with the senior creative talent at its Rockstar Games label, which develops the top-selling "Grand Theft Auto" franchise. [more..]