New York - Liberty Media's cable TV venture Starz Media said on Monday that it has licensed 40 hours of popular Japanese manga content for distribution on its soon-to-relaunch Manga.com, as well as to independent site Heavy.com. The deal includes popular franchises "Ghost in the Shell," "Astro Boy" and "Ninja Scroll."

New York - Entertainment website Heavy.com on Monday announced the public beta launch of a new premium video ad network, which the company says will allow bloggers and publishers to monetize their videos. The Husky Network will wrap any video player, such as those featured on YouTube, Revver and Google Video, with a video skin designed for brand advertisers. Heavy.com said that it has used video skins to success for more than three years.

New York - Warner Bros. Television Group will make its television programming available for the Joost online video service, the two companies announced on Monday. Warner Bros. will create sci-fi and "Before They Were Stars" branded channels on Joost to feature episodes of shows including "Babylon 5," "Growing Pains" and "Welcome Back, Kotter." New York-based Joost also on Monday announced a similar deal with broadband entertainment site Heavy.com, and recently signed agreements to add feature-length video content from Time Warner's Turner Broadcasting System, Sony, and Hasbro Inc. to its peer-to-peer-based, ad-supported streaming service.

New York - Broadband entertainment site Heavy.com announced on Monday that it has raised $20 million in a new round of financing, from Polaris Venture Partners.