Palo Alto, Calif. - News Corp.'s MySpace has reached a preliminary deal to acquire the photo-sharing site Photobucket for $250 million in cash, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. [more..]

Washington - While 85% of Americans use the Internet or cell phones, and many also have broadband connections, digital cameras and video game systems, just 8% are creating user-generated content or participating in "Web 2.0" communities, according to a new report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project. [more..]

Los Angeles - Several copies of this weekend's title fight between Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr. that found their way onto Google's YouTube video-sharing site have been removed at the request of HBO, the Los Angeles Times reported. [more..]

Los Angeles - Comedy producer National Lampoon announced that it has acquired Drunk University, a college humor site that attracts 5 million monthly page views, for an undisclosed sum. [more..]

London - VideoJug, a site that hosts a variety of professionally-produced and user-generated how-to videos, has raised $30 million in new funding, Britain's Telegraph reported. [more..]

San Diego - Intercasting Corp., a provider of mobile social networking technology, announced on Tuesday that it has raised $12 million in its second round of venture capital financing, led by Venrock Associates. [more..]

Helsinki, Finland - Comeks, a Finland-based developer of tools for creating user-generated mobile content, announced that it has raised an undisclosed sum in its first round of funding, from Accel Partners. [more..]

New York - Cable TV provider Cox Communications has signed a deal with Disney to offer ABC and ESPN programming on-demand, but with the ability to skip past ads disabled for subscribers, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. Time Warner Cable also disables the fast-forward button on some of its on-demand programming. [more..]

New York - News Corporation and NBC Universal on Tuesday announced a multi-year deal with CNET Networks to provide content for their premium online video joint venture. CNET, which owns sites including TV.com, GameSpot and MP3.com, will provide thousands of clips to the service, as well as distribute the new site's library of licensed content to its 129 million unique monthly users. The News Corp./NBCU video site is set to launch later this summer on the sites of distribution partners including AOL, MSN, MySpace, Yahoo and Comcast. [more..]

Cambridge, Mass. - Video game developer Harmonix, creator of the "Guitar Hero" franchise and a unit of MTV Networks, on Tuesday announced that Fender Musical Instruments, the electric guitar and amplifier maker, will have its instruments exclusively featured in the upcoming Harmonix title, "Rock Band." In addition, Roland Corp. and BOSS have entered into agreements to have their brands featured within "Rock Band." The game is slated for release for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 system in the fall. [more..]

Oakland, Calif. - Major League Baseball's Oakland A's said on Tuesday that they will launch a new service next week that allows fans to have their tickets delivered to their cell phones through a text or picture message. The message will include a unique barcode, which will be scanned at the ballpark. The A's were the first professional sports team in the U.S. to test the technology -- developed by Costa Mesa, Calif.-based Tickets.com -- last October, and will be one of three Major League Baseball teams to use it this season. [more..]

Bryn Mawr, Pa. - ArkivMusic, an online retailer of classical music, announced on Tuesday that it has signed an agreement with EMI Classics, to offer out-of-print recordings as production-on-demand ArkivCDs. The company's ArkivCD program currently offers over 2,700 recordings rescued from the vaults of Sony BMG, the Universal labels Decca, Philips, and Deutsche Grammophon, and a number of independent labels. EMI Classics will initially offer over 200 ArkivCDs, including recordings from its Angel and Virgin Classics labels. [more..]

New York - Publisher Simon & Schuster announced on Tuesday that it partnered with Internet video distributor TurnHere to create a book-centric promotional video channel. Emeryville, Calif.-based TurnHere, which claims a network of 2,000 professional filmmakers, will initially produce videos for at least 40 authors, such as Sandra Brown, Mary Higgins Clark and Vince Flynn, featuring in-depth information on featured books and sneak previews of upcoming titles. The videos will be hosted at Bookvideos.tv, as well as on SimonSays.com. [more..]

Encino, Calif. - Bid4Spots, an online marketplace that features reverse auctions for radio advertising time, announced on Tuesday that it plans to launch a version of its service for the U.K. radio market. Encino, Calif.-based Bid4Spots' U.S. marketplace is used by more than 2,300 radio stations, 1,300 advertisers and 260 ad agencies. Set to debut in the third quarter of 2007, the company's U.K. site will be run by AuctionMedia. [more..]

San Mateo, Calif. - MixerCast, an online media network that lets allows mixing of user-generated content with professionally-produced content, announced on Tuesday that it has signed agreements with content providers including Muze, Pump Audio, National Geographic and Getty Images. The deals will give MixerCast users access to licensed audio and video clips for use in creating mash-ups that can then be posted on community sites like Flickr or YouTube. [more..]

Sacramento, Calif. - Digital Music Group Inc. (DMGI), a digital distributor of independently owned music, TV and film content, said on Tuesday that it will offer its film and TV programming through the Joost streaming TV service. DMGI controls the rights to more than 4,000 hours of video, including episodes of "Gumby," "I Spy" and "The Mr. Bill Show." [more..]

Agoura Hills, Calif. - THQ on Tuesday announced the roster of titles it plans to release this year based on its master license with children's programming network Nickelodeon. The games will include the debut of "El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera," as well as new installments in THQ's "SpongeBob SquarePants," "Avatar: The Last Airbender," "Nicktoons," "Zoey 101" and "Drake and Josh" franchises. THQ said that its Nickelodeon games have to date sold a combined more than 45 million units worldwide. [more..]

Rockville, Md. - Video game developer Bethesda Softworks said on Tuesday that it has signed actor Liam Neeson ("Schindler's List," "Batman Begins") to provide voice talent for "Fallout 3," a new title currently in development at Bethesda Game Studios. [more..]