New York - Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) MTV Games and Harmonix studio said on Monday that "Rock Band 2," the sequel to their 15 million unit-selling music game with vocal, guitar and drum accessories, will be released to retailers in September. The game will initially be exclusive to the Xbox 360, but then launch on other platforms before the end of the year.

Seattle - RealNetworks (NASD: RNWK) on Monday unveiled a "Music Without Limits" initiative, which includes the launch of a new DRM-free Rhapsody MP3 store and 100,000 album giveaway, full-song streaming and MP3 sales partnerships with iLike, MTV (NYSE: VIA) and Yahoo (NASD: YHOO), and an unlimited mobile subscription service deal with Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ). The Rhapsody MP3 catalog will include more than 5 million songs from all four major labels, available both for purchase and as full-song samples (25 songs per person per month) -- a feature not available at Apple's iTunes Store.

Philadelphia - Comcast (NASD: CMCSA) announced on Monday that it has added full-length streaming episodes of Viacom-owned programs including "South Park," "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" to the offering at its Fancast.com service. As part of the deal, Comcast's video-on-demand service will also expand carriage of standard and HD content from MTV and BET.

New York - Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA) today reported that its quarterly net profit rose 33 percent, beating Wall Street forecasts, on strong sales of the "Rock Band" video game and higher advertising revenue at its cable networks, including MTV Networks. The company said that revenue for the period rose 15%, to $3.12 billion, from $2.72 billion in the first quarter of 2007.

Basking Ridge, N.J. - Verizon Wireless announced on Friday that Viacom's MTV Tr3s and Disney's ESPN Radio have launched mobile TV channels exclusively for its V CAST Mobile TV service. The company also launched MySpace Mobile, and mobile sites for Viacom's MTV, VH1, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and CMT for subscribers to its "Mobile Web 2.0" service.

Cambridge, Mass. - Harmonix, the video game studio unit of Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) MTV Networks that created the "Rock Band" music game, announced on Thursday that more than 6 million song downloads have been purchased for the game since its launch just over three months ago. Over 70 songs are currently available for purchase and download for the game, priced at $0.99 to $2.99 per track, with the vast majority selling for $1.99. "The success of Rock Band downloadable content to date firmly reinforces our vision and its potential as a platform for music discovery," said Paul DeGooyer, SVP DVD, Gaming and Audio, MTV.

New York - Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) MTV and Dickhouse Productions on Wednesday announced the official launch of JackassWorld.com, a site devoted to the MTV hit show "Jackass" and its spin-offs. The daily-updated site will feature original programming, unreleased footage and will eventually host Big Brother, the skate culture magazine that was the inspiration for Jackass. MTV said JackassWorld.com has generated over 2.6 million streams of "Jackass 2.5," an hour-long collection of clips, since the site launched in beta just over two months ago.

New York - Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) MTV said this week that it will send a team of citizen journalists to cover elections in Super Tuesday primary states, who will stream live video broadcasts throughout the day via mobile phones to its MTVNews.com and ChooseorLose.com sites. The citizen journalists will be equipped with Nokia N95 mobile devices, which will capture video that will then be streamed live onto the Web using technology from Flixwagon.

Foster City, Calif. - Sony Computer Entertainment America this week began offering MTV programming on the UMD format for its PSP handheld game device. An initial slate of UMD videos, priced at $14.99 each, will contain episodes of shows including "Beavis & Butt-head," "Jackass" and "Aeon Flux." Sony has sold more than 10 million PSP units in North America.

New York - Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) MTV Networks on Wednesday announced a talent and development deal with video game journalist Geoff Keighley, the host of Spike TV's "Game Head," which launches its fifth season this week under the new title, "GameTrailers TV with Geoff Keighley." Keighly was named executive producer of the new show, and also entered into a development deal with Spike TV to create additional on-air programming, host a number of specials, and consult on its annual awards show.

Until another internet video site challenges YouTube’s throne, the Google-owned network continues to be a barometer for all things viral on the web. Today Reuters points out that Barely Political’s “Obama Girl” and Chris Crocker’s tearful tirade against Britney Spears haters are the Most Popular YouTube clips of 2007.

New York - Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) MTV on Thursday announced that it has recruited 51 citizen journalists to cover the 2008 elections from a youth perspective, and tailor their reports for mobile devices. Members will contribute weekly, multimedia reports in the form of video clips, blogs, animation, photos and podcasts, which will be distributed via a soon-to-launch WAP site, MTV Mobile, Think.MTV.com and to the more than 1,800 sites in the Associated Press Online Video Network.

Jamie Lynn Spears, sister of Britney, has confirmed to OK! Magazine that she’s pregnant.  The 16-year-old star of Nickelodeon’s Zoey 101 is planning to keep the baby, and the network released the following statement: "We respect Jamie Lynn's decision to take responsibility in this sensitive and personal situation. We know this is a very difficult time for her and her family, and our primary concern right now is for Jamie Lynn's well being."

If a studio is going to experiment with the launch of a major motion picture on the internet, the Jackass franchise is probably a smart bet. The Hollywood Reporter said today that Paramount Digital Entertainment and MTV New Media, co-producers on Jackass 2.5, will release the film at blockbuster.jackass.com, skipping theaters entirely in a rare move for a franchise that has already had two box office hits.

Nausea overcomes me heading into the season finale of The Hills. Today I read that Lauren Conrad doesn’t understand the popularity of the show, telling Entertainment Weekly, “People are just obsessed with other people’s lives. I don’t know whether it’s kind of a way to escape their own, or something to follow.” And here we are, the Royal We, preparing to review the show’s Season Three finale. What has MTV scripted for us tonight?

MTV will launch the “Britney Spears Wants a Piece of You” contest on Monday, asking fans to create a new video for her single “Piece of Me” from the album Blackout. Using MTV’s Video Remixer, the network will release footage of Spears “including interviews, red-carpet appearances and performances.”

Troubled UK singer Amy Winehouse, who began her recent tour to boos, has officially cancelled the remaining shows, The Sun reports. According to the article, Winehouse issued a statement yesterday. The main motivation for the tour’s cancellation appears to be legal troubles of her husband, Blake Fielder-Civil. He has been incarcerated while awaiting trial for the obstruction of justice.