Philadelphia - Comcast (NASD: CMCSA), the nation's largest cable TV service and a leading provider of broadband access, has signed a deal to acquire social networking service Plaxo, according to a post on the Plaxo blog. While financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, TechCrunch reports that the purchase price was around $175 million.

San Bruno, Calif. - Google's (NASD: GOOG) YouTube has introduced a new advertising product called "buzz targeting," which allows advertisers to target videos that are expected to "go viral." The company created an algorithm that "determines which YouTube partner videos are quickly becoming popular on the site and about to go viral. The algorithm looks at several factors, such as acceleration of views, favorites, and ratings activity, and then allows advertisers to target their ads specifically to these videos on YouTube."

Los Angeles - Charter Communications (NASD: CHTR), a provider of cable TV services that also counts 2.7 million high-speed Internet customers, plans to test a targeted advertising system that would track some of its subscribers' Web surfing in order to serve them more tailored ads, according to BroadbandReports. The company has partnered with NebuAD to build subscriber behavioral profiles and then sell them to third-party ad networks.

The launch of Freesat, the free satellite TV service provided by the BBC and ITV in the UK, proved popular with online consumers during its launch week. UK Internet traffic to www.freesat.co.uk, the service’s online homepage, increased by 627% between the weeks ending May 3rd and May 10th, while UK Internet searches for the term ‘freesat’ increased by 752% over the same period, making it the fastest moving search term in the UK last week.

San Antonio, Texas - Radio broadcaster Clear Channel (NYSE: CCU) has announced its sale to private equity firms Bain Capital Partners and Thomas H. Lee Partners, for $17.9 billion or $36 per share -- ending litigation between Clear Channel, the private equity firms and a consortium of banks funding the deal. The original value of the deal was $39.20 per share in October 2007, but the banks involved later got cold feet in light of the current credit climate, and the private equity firms sued to enforce the agreement.

London - U.K.-based major record label EMI, which under new owner, Guy Hands' Terra Firma, has already announced 1,500 to 2,000 layoffs at its recorded music division, now plans to eliminate an additional up to 1,000 positions, bringing the company's total headcount from around 4,500 to 2,000, The Telegraph reported, citing sources.

Cupertino, Calif. - Apple (NASD: AAPL) has signed deals with Singapore's Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) to launch the iPhone in Singapore, India, Philippines and Australia later this year. In related news, Apple said its online stores in the U.S. and U.K. are sold out of the iPhone -- although retail stores still hold stock -- likely an inventory sell-off making room for the expected launch of the next-generation iPhone.

London - In a sign that the companies may be resolving their dispute over TV show pricing at Apple's (NASD: AAPL) iTunes Store that led NBC (NYSE: GE) to remove its programs late last year, five NBC shows are now available for purchase from the U.K. version of the iTunes Store, Macworld.com reported. The series -- "Heroes," "House," "The Incredible Hulk," "Eureka" and "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" -- are all produced by Universal Media Studios, and notably feature variable pricing -- one of the sticking points in failed negotiations in the U.S.

Late last week I had the chance to participate as a faculty member at WOMM-U, an engaging event put on by the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (which my employer, Ogilvy PR, is a member of). My role was somewhat unique among other speaking events that I have done - along with Jason Anello from Yahoo!, I was meant to lead six half hour sessions on the topic of "speed trials" of tools in the WOM and social media space.

New York - Apple (NASD: AAPL) will soon announce a new deal with Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) HBO that will bring TV episodes to its iTunes Store under a new, separate pricing structure from other partners, Portfolio.com reported, citing HBO employees involved in executing the agreement.

Bethpage, N.Y. - Cablevision (NYSE: CVC), a provider of cable TV and broadband services in the New York area, announced on Monday that it will acquire a 97% stake in Newsday Media Group from media company Tribune (NYSE: TXA) for $650 million. Tribune will retain a 3% stake in the company. Cablevision's winning bid beat out other suitors that included News Corp. (NYSE: NWS), which withdrew its $580 million bid on Saturday, and New York Daily News owner Mort Zuckerman.

Speculation is rising around a potential acquisition of Blinkx, a video search engine by either Google or News Corp (and possibly Yahoo!). Traffic to Blinkx has increased steadily over the past year – the market share of visits for the week ending May 10, 2008 is 10x higher than the same week in 2007. Much of this growth is being driven by new users, since 62% of the traffic to Blinkx during the same timeframe had not visited the website in the past 30 days.

Last week we issued a news release titled Coldplay's Free Single Propels Website to #1 Online Among Bands and Artists. We found that U.S. visits to Coldplay.com increased 19 fold on the back of the band's new single, Violet Hill, being released for free online. On April 29, 2008, the day the single was released on Coldplay.com, the website ranked as the most visited website among the Bands and Artists category. A little more than 1 out of every 40 visits to Bands and Artists category went to Coldplay's website that day.