New York - Despite its much-publicized removal of its programs from Apple's (NASD: AAPL) iTunes Store in December, NBC (NYSE: GE) has begun offering streaming full-length episodes of shows including "The Office" and "30 Rock" for free on the iPhone, Silicon Alley Insider reports. The episodes, which are broken into four parts, included standard TV ads at the end of each segment.

Los Angeles - News Corp.'s MySpace (NYSE: NWS) and NBC (NYSE: GE) News on Tuesday launched Decision '08, a new section on MySpace's IMPACT Channel that will feature in-depth election-related news, analysis and discussion. The site offers news feeds and daily videos from NBC News and MSNBC.com, as well as user-generated content from MySpace.

New York - NBC (NYSE: GE) has announced plans to launch original webisodes in July for some of its most popular TV shows, including "Heroes," "The Office," "30 Rock" and "Chuck."

Los Angeles - "Quarterlife," an original Web series co-produced by MySpace (NYSE: NWS), pulled in dismal ratings in its debut as an hour-long TV series on NBC (NYSE: GE), according to The Hollywood Reporter, marking the network's "worst time-period performance in the 10 p.m. hour in at least 17 years." The show averaged a 1.3 rating and 4 share among viewers ages 18 to 49, and just 3.1 million viewers. "The Web site traffic went up a huge amount and we continue to try new things and new models," NBC co-chair Ben Silverman told THR. "It's very inexpensive but we hoped for higher ratings." THR reports that the series will continue its six-episode run on NBC before moving to NBC Universal's Bravo cable network.

Los Angeles - Creators of the Internet series "quarterlife," first shown on MySpace and soon to become an hour-long series on NBC (NYSE: GE), said on Monday that the series will also be made available for purchase from Apple's (NASD: AAPL) iTunes Store. The hour-long episodes will sell for $1.99 and be made available on the same day that they are broadcast on-air.

Los Angeles - NBC Universal's (NYSE: GE) Sci Fi Channel pay-TV network announced on Friday that it will bring its Web series "Sanctuary" to TV, adding that it will figure as the first TV series to use live-action actors against mostly virtual sets, similar to the process used in movies like "Sin City" and "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow." The series, created by Damian Kindler ("Stargate SG-1") and starring Amanda Tapping (also featured in Sci Fi's "Stargate" series), is slated to begin filming in March.

San Francisco - Loomia announced on Wednesday the launch of SeenThis?, an application that lets social network members see what their friends and group affiliations are reading and viewing on the sites of Loomia launch partners The Wall Street Journal (NYSE: NWS), NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) and CNET Networks (NASD: CNET). The application will allow Facebook members, for instance, to see which WSJ.com articles or streaming NBC TV episodes are currently popular among their Facebook friends, as well as among members of the various groups they belong to on Facebook, such as their university's.

New York - NBC Universal's (NYSE: GE) Local Media Division has acquired LX.TV, a producer of Web and HD video programming focused on lifestyle products and services for affluent consumers.

When David Letterman’s The Late Show returns to regular programming tonight with its writers in tow, the first guest in the post-strike era will be Robin Williams. Industry observers had questioned the caliber of guests that talk shows would receive, and it was believed that Donald Trump would be Letterman’s first guest. But the Screen Actors Guild said it supported the appearance of its members on shows like Letterman’s after the Writers Guild of America approved of the strike stoppage for Worldwide Pants writers, the production company for The Late Show and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

Beginning next Wednesday, January 2nd, writers for CBS’s Late Show with David Letterman and Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson will return to work after 8 weeks on strike, the AP writes. The Writers Guild of America came to an interim agreement with Worldwide Pants, the production company for both shows owned by Letterman. "I am grateful to the WGA for granting us this agreement," the AP quoted Letterman as saying.

Following the leads of Conan O’Brien, Jay Leno, Jimmy Kimmel, David Letterman, and Craig Ferguson, Jon Stewart, host of The Daily Show and Stephen Colbert, host of The Colbert Report, will resume their shows on January 7th, according to NoFactZone. The shows had been on hold since the WGA strike began on November 5th, and will return without their writers, who are expected to still be striking at that time. Comedy Central released the following statement:

Santa Monica, Calif. - Jacked, a developer of Web-based interactive TV software for the sports market, this week extended its deal with NBC, and will now power NBCSports.com's Play Action for "Sunday Night Football" broadcasts. Santa Monica, Calif.-based Jacked's Sportstop browser-based virtual desktop, which "analyzes live broadcasts to deliver contextually relevant content to online users in real-time," ha previously been used by NBC Sports for its Notre Dame football broadcasts.

We occasionally take for granted the source of news in this business, believing some to be above reporting rumors, speculation, and falsities. NBC, though likely guilty of reporting false facts before, is one such organization you might trust more than others. Such was the case yesterday when, in the hours leading up to baseball’s Mitchell Report, set for public scrutiny at 2pm EST, news sources jockeyed to release “leaked” information which amounted to nothing more than hot air. WNBC in New York reported the news as fact, citing “two separate sources.”

The Peacock is doing well enough, it seems, to reject seven-figure ad deals, as it did today by turning down an offer from conservative group Freedom’s Watch, the AP reports. It was not the ad, NBC said, that prompted the response, it was Freedom’s Watch’s website, which the network said was too political. Alan Wurtzel, head of NBC’s standards and practices, said the ad would have run if the group did not insist on including the website’s URL.

Los Angeles - NBC (NYSE: GE) has followed though on its threat to pull all of its TV shows from Apple's (NASD: AAPL) iTunes Store, after the companies were unable to negotiate a new contract and the current one expired over the weekend. The companies had been unable to reach an agreement on variable pricing for programs, and other issues.

Los Angeles - ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox will earn an estimated $120 million this year from advertisements that run alongside their free TV shows streams on the Internet, FT.com reported, citing a representative from media buying agency Starcom. The revenue estimate is newsworthy given the networks' reluctance to release such data, and their contention in ongoing negotiations with striking writers that Internet streaming is mainly a promotional vehicle.