Washington - The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) on Thursday said it has reached an agreement with SoundExchange, an entity set up by record labels to collect and distribute digital royalties, on the rates and terms that public radio stations will pay to stream music online. [more..]

Washington - U.S. House Democrats have proposed adding $650 million to the federal program doling out coupons consumers can use to purchase digital TV adapters in advance of the Feb. 17 switch to digital-only broadcasting, Reuters reported. [more..]

Boston - A federal judge has agreed to allow the copyright infringement trial of a college student sued by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for illegal file-sharing to be webcast live on the Internet. [more..]

McLean, Va. - Hoping to avoid the prospect of further layoffs, Gannett, the publisher of USA Today and 84 other daily newspapers, said that it will require most of its employees to take a week off without pay during the first quarter. [more..]

San Francisco - PlanetOut, a media firm focused on the LGBT community, has laid off at least a third of its staff, CNET News.com reported, citing a PlanetOut contractor and a former employee. [more..]

Los Angeles - News Corp.'s MySpace online social network announced on Thursday the addition of a number of independent music distributors to its nascent MySpace Music service. [more..]

London - U.K. media retailer HMV has purchased a 50% stake in MAMA Group, a live event venue owner, for about $26.7 million, Times Online reported. [more..]

New York - Motionbox, a provider of video hosting and sharing services, announced on Thursday that it has closed a $6 million third round of financing, led by Constellation Ventures. [more..]

Honolulu - eBay founder Pierre Omidyar has co-founded a new venture, a twitter client called Ginx, and raised around $2 million in financing for the company, PEHub.com reported, citing a regulatory filing. [more..]

From the positive reactions that the appointment has received from all quarters, the choice would seem to be a great one. But, in looking at some of the reactions, you have to question whether everyone has to be reading what they want to see into the new Commission, blogs David Oxenford. [more..]

Washington - Current Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin will resign and rejoin the nonprofit Aspen Institute, the Financial Times reported. [more..]

Los Angeles - Digg founder Kevin Rose and actor Ashton Kutcher have teamed up to co-host a Web-based reality show that will be shot on location at the Sundance Film Festival this month. [more..]

Los Angeles - "American Idol" licensor FremantleMedia Enterprises said on Thursday that it has signed a deal to create an Idol-branded virtual world within Habbo.com, an online virtual world for teens that claims 3 million U.S. members. [more..]

Burlingame, Calif. - Mig33, developer of a mobile social network with more than 18 million users, has named Steve Boom as its new CEO. [more..]