San Diego - Slacker, a digital music start-up whose products include a Web radio service and satellite- and Wi-Fi-enabled portable player, has raised $13.5 million in its first round of venture capital, from Sevin Rosen, Austin Ventures and Mission Ventures, VentureBeat reported. [more..]

Englewood Cliffs, N.J. - NBC Universal announced on Wednesday a deal with mobile TV delivery firm MobiTV, to make full-length, primetime, on-demand programming available over U.S. wireless networks for the first time. [more..]

Redmond, Wash. - Microsoft on Wednesday detailed its plans to merge online gaming between its existing Xbox Live service for the Xbox console, and games for Windows Vista-based PCs. [more..]

Port Washington, N.Y. - While legal download sales were the fastest growing digital music category in 2006, and user growth on illegitimate peer-to-peer services slowed, the total number of files downloaded on file-sharing networks was up 47% from 2005, according to a report from market research firm NPD Group. [more..]

Mountain View, Calif. - Software giant Microsoft said on Wednesday that it will acquire Tellme Networks, a provider of voice services based on speech recognition technology. [more..]

New York - A new study of brand awareness among fee-based digital music services found that Apple's iTunes gained significantly in 2006, along with MySpace and Yahoo Music, while Napster saw some erosion in the minds of consumers. [more..]

Purchase, N.Y. - MasterCard is launching a prepaid credit card in Canada together with MuchMusic, the Canadian music television network unit of CHUM that is broadcast throughout North America. [more..]

New York - NBC Universal's Bravo cable TV network has announced its first-ever media acquisition, with the purchase of TV junkie website TelevisionWithoutPity.com. [more..]

Mountain View, Calif. - Akamai Technologies, a provider of content delivery network services, said on Wednesday that it has completed its acquisition of Netli, a Mountain View, Calif.-based developer communications protocol technology. [more..]

London - Wippit, a U.K.-based digital download service, has secured the rights to offer a range of rare Beatles interviews and other news appearances on its service in all regions -- except North America, the BBC reported. Provided by ITN, Reuters and Pathe, the selections include footage of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's 1969 "bed-in," the band meeting Queen Elizabeth, and Lennon's comment about the Beatles being "more popular than Jesus." Wippit will offer individual clips for about 95 cents, or in bundles starting at about $9.67. [more..]

New York - Viacom's VH1 on Wednesday launched Acceptable.TV, the accompanying website for a new TV series of the same name that will feature user-generated TV pilot ideas voted on by Web users. Each TV episode will feature five new three-minute episodes; the two receiving the most votes will return with a new episode. Executive producers of Acceptable.TV, set to debut March 23 on VH1, include Jack Black, Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab, along with production firm Channel 101. [more..]

Park Ridge, N.J. - Movie exhibitor Muvico announced on Wednesday that it plans to build the first theater complex with Sony's 4K digital cinema projectors in all theaters, the initial step in converting the chain's 12 theaters to digital technology. The 18-screen facility is set to open in the Chicago area in August. [more..]

New York - Rockstar Games, a unit of Take-Two Interactive, said on Wednesday that it has partnered with hip-hop producer Timbaland on the development of "Beaterator," a new title for the Sony PSP slated to ship this summer. Rockstar launched a Web-based version of the game on its website two years ago; the PSP version will feature a music mixer with beat-making features, as well as a collection of original music and rhythm games. [more..]

San Francisco - Exent Technologies, a developer of technologies that help companies monetize PC and video games, said on Tuesday that it has relocated its North American headquarters from Bethesda to San Francisco. The company will base its sales, marketing and business development activities from the new office, which will be run by Alan Snodgrass, its newly appointed president. [more..]