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DMW Daily, April 30, 2009

Top Stories
o Report: Facebook in Talks on Funding; Seeks $5-$6B Valuation
o Disney Takes Equity Stake in Hulu; Adds ABC Full Episodes
o U.S. Adds Canada to Piracy "Priority Watch List"
o AOL Names Former Google Executive as New Head of Ad Sales
o Sirius XM to Adopt 'Poison Pill' Stockholder Rights Plan
o Discovery to Launch New Network with Hasbro
o Web Video Ad Platform FreeWheel Secures $12 Million
o Booyah Gets $4.5 Million From iFund for iPhone Games
o Twitter Aggregation Firm Sawhorse Lands Seed Funding
Briefly Noted
o Poll: Sweden's Pirate Party Will Win EU Parliament Seat
o Microsoft Windows 7 to Allow Remote PC Music Streaming
o Rhapsody Inks Promotion Deal for New Green Day Album
o The Filter Adds Personalized Recommendations to DVDPost
 Top Stories
o Report: Facebook in Talks on Funding; Seeks $5-$6B Valuation 
New York - Facebook has held "valuation discussions" with a range of potential investors, including Providence Equity Partners, General Atlantic, Bain Capital and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, The New York Post reported, citing "multiple sources close to or involved in the situation." [more..]
o Disney Takes Equity Stake in Hulu; Adds ABC Full Episodes 
Los Angeles - Confirming earlier reports, Disney announced on Thursday that it has signed a deal to take an equity stake in, and provide full-length TV episodes to Hulu, the video website joint venture between News Corp. and NBC Universal. [more..]
o U.S. Adds Canada to Piracy "Priority Watch List" 
Washington - The U.S. Trade Representative on Thursday placed Canada, Algeria and Indonesia on its Priority Watch List of nations seen as havens for piracy. [more..]
o AOL Names Former Google Executive as New Head of Ad Sales 
Dulles, Va. - Just weeks after taking the reigns at AOL, Tim Armstrong on Thursday named a former colleague at Google as the unit's new head of advertising. [more..]
o Sirius XM to Adopt 'Poison Pill' Stockholder Rights Plan 
New York - Sirius XM Radio said on Thursday that its board has approved a "poison pill" plan that would complicate any potential hostile takeover bids for the company. [more..]
o Discovery to Launch New Network with Hasbro 
Silver Spring, Md. - Discovery Communications, the owner of more than 100 cable TV networks, including the Discovery Channel, TLC and Animal Planet, said on Thursday that it has formed a joint venture with toy maker Hasbro for a new TV network and website devoted to children's entertainment. [more..]
o Web Video Ad Platform FreeWheel Secures $12 Million 
San Mateo, Calif. - FreeWheel, the provider of a Web video advertising platform, announced on Thursday that it has raised $12 million in its third round of funding, led by Foundation Capital and Battery Ventures. [more..]
o Booyah Gets $4.5 Million From iFund for iPhone Games 
Palo Alto, Calif. - Booyah, a developer of social mobile games, said on Thursday that it has raised $4.5 million in its first round of financing from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, as part of the firm's iFund -- which invests in developers of games for Apple's iPhone and iPod touch. [more..]
o Twitter Aggregation Firm Sawhorse Lands Seed Funding 
Los Angeles - Sawhorse Media, a developer of sites that focused on the Twitter microblogging service, has raised an undisclosed sum of seed funding, from investors including Fred Seibert and Marta Wohrle, PaidContent reported. [more..]
 Briefly Noted
o Poll: Sweden's Pirate Party Will Win EU Parliament Seat 
Stockholm, Sweden - Sweden's Pirate Party, formed in the wake of law enforcement actions against file-sharing networks there, is expected to garner 5.1% of votes in the upcoming European Union election, according to a poll conducted by a Swedish newspaper, TorrentFreak reported. [more..]
o Microsoft Windows 7 to Allow Remote PC Music Streaming 
Redmond, Wash. - Microsoft will include a feature in its forthcoming Windows 7 operation system that lets users access the music libraries on their home PCs remotely over the Internet from another computer, CNET News.com reported [more..]
o Rhapsody Inks Promotion Deal for New Green Day Album 
Seattle - RealNetworks said on Thursday that its Rhapsody digital music service has partnered with rock band Green Day to promote its upcoming album, "21st Century Breakdown." [more..]
o The Filter Adds Personalized Recommendations to DVDPost 
Bath, England - The Filter, the personalized recommendation engine firm founded by musician Peter Gabriel, said on Thursday that it has partnered with Belgian online DVD rental service DVDPost. [more..]