Redmond, Wash. - Microsoft (NASD: MSFT) announced on Tuesday that it has added more than 800 downloadable TV show episodes from NBC Universal (NYSE: GE), Viacom (NYSE: VIA), Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), Liberty Media (NASD: LINTA) and other providers to the online store for its Zune portable media player. Notable in the deal is NBC Universal's inclusion, as the company's programs disappeared from Apple's iTunes Store in December following disputes over pricing and bundling. "Partnering with Zune will allow us to develop innovative content offerings for their customers, including flexible pricing and packaging options beginning this fall," said JB Perrette, president of NBC Universal Digital Distribution.

London - Google (NASD: GOOG) once again claimed the top spot in market research firm Millward Brown's annual list of the top 100 most powerful brands, beating out other leading brands like GE/NBC Universal (NYSE: GE), Apple (NASD: AAPL) and Microsoft (NASD: MSFT) for the honor for the third year in a row. The report estimated Google's value at $86 billion, up 30% on a year ago; second-place General Electric's brand value was estimated at $71.4 billion.

Las Vegas - Traffic at Hulu, the video site joint venture between NBC Universal and News Corp., has tripled in the past 24 months, and surpassed its goals during its first month of public availability, according to comments from Hulu CEO Jason Kilar made at the NAB convention in Las Vegas, TVWeek.com reports. Kilar added that the library of content available through Hulu has quadrupled over the past four months.

Burbank, Calif. - NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) on Thursday announced the formation of its new Digital Studio, and said that Omnicom Media Group Digital has signed on as its first strategic partner. The new studio was formed to create original episodic programming for NBC Universal's digital properties, and the first productions coming this summer will include "Gemini Division" and "Woke Up Dead." The company said the studio, with partners like OMG Digital, will "offer advertisers full service solutions with access to top writers, producers and talent, high quality production expertise, consumer insights, measurements and analytics and scale to reach their target audiences."

Cambridge, Mass. - JumpTap, a provider of mobile search and advertising services, announced on Tuesday deals with Fox Mobile Entertainment (NYSE: NWS) and NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) to provide mobile ad services across a range of sites. The company will sell available WAP ad inventory for mobile sites associated with Fox, FX, Speed, National Geographic Channel and Fox Reality Channel, in addition to NBC Entertainment, NBC Sports, Universal Pictures, USA Network, SCI FI Channel and Bravo.

New York - Hulu, the online video joint venture between NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) and News Corp. (NYSE: NWS), will officially launch on Wednesday, ending 18 weeks of an invitation-only beta test. In addition to content from NBC, Universal and Fox, the company has announced new content partnerships with Warner Bros. Television Group, Lionsgate, and sports leagues NBA, NHL and NCAA.

New York - NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) announced on Monday that it will launch a virtual women's network, featuring content from Bravo, Oxygen, iVillage and other NBC Universal assets, which it says "will enable advertisers to efficiently reach a prime, female demographic across multiple platforms with quality programming."

New York - NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) has announced plans to begin streaming episodes of vintage TV shows on its websites, including "A-Team," "Miami Vice," "Battlestar Galactica," "Simon & Simon" and "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour." The shows will be offered both through distributors of Hulu, the company's online video joint venture with News Corp., and on NBC Universal-owned sites including NBC.com, SCIFI.com, ChillerTV.com and SleuthChannel.com.

Los Angeles - NxTV, a provider of IP video-on-demand, IPTV and digital in-room entertainment to hotels, on Thursday announced a film and TV video-on-demand licensing agreement with NBC Universal. Los Angeles-based NxTV, which provides its services in hotels including Four Seasons, W Hotels, Mariott and Hyatt, said the deal includes Universal Pictures films in HD, and current TV content the day after it airs nationwide.

Las Vegas - NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) announced on Monday that it has teamed with Microsoft (NASD: MSFT) to create the website for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. NBCOlympics.com on MSN will feature thousands of hours of live and on-demand video, and utilize Microsoft's Silverlight video distribution platform.

Milpitas, Calif. - SanDisk (NASD: SNDK), a developer of portable audio and video players, said that NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) will make much of its programming available on the company's new Fanfare service, which lets users download video content from their PC for playback on their TV through a special video player. The programming includes current TV shows from NBC, USA Network, SCI FI Channel and Bravo, as well as a library of vintage shows.

Redmond, Wash. - Microsoft (NASD: MSFT) announced on Monday that it has signed an agreement with NBC Universal's (NYSE: GE) CNBC, to become the exclusive third-party provider of display and contextual ads on CNBC.com -- which counts more than 2.6 million monthly unique users. Microsoft will begin serving contextual text ads on CNBC.com later this month, and display ads in March 2008.

Los Angeles - Hulu, the online video distribution joint venture between NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) and News Corp. (NYSE: NWS), has begun to add HD videos to its offering, shortly following the release of Adobe's new Flash Player that supports HD streaming. The Hulu HD Gallery currently features a small selection of movie trailers in 1280 x 720 resolution, which require a 2.5 Mbps Internet connection or greater, in addition to other general system requirements for Windows, Mac and Linux users.

Los Angeles - NBC Universal's (NYSE: GE) Bravo cable TV network has ordered a pilot of "Hey Bitches," a "reality docusoap" that will feature 24-year-old YouTube personality William Sledd, whose "Ask a Gay Man" videos comment on fashion and pop culture, Variety reports. Sledd has already partnered with Bravo on a version of his YouTube video series for the network's OutzoneTV site.

Los Gatos, Calif. - Online DVD rental service Netflix (NASD: NFLX) announced on Thursday an agreement with NBC Universal Domestic Television Distribution, that will see episodes of NBC's primetime series "Heroes" made available for viewing online by Netflix subscribers they day after they first air on TV. Netflix also offers its subscribers prior season episodes of NBC's "30 Rock," "Friday Night Lights" and "The Office."

Alviso, Calif. - TiVo (NASD: TIVO) announced on Tuesday that NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) has signed a multi-year deal to offer its advertisers the ability to buy interactive TiVo ads in combination with other NBC products.

Sunnyvale, Calif. - Yahoo Telemundo, the co-branded Internet venture between NBC Universal's (NYSE: GE) Telemundo Spanish-language network and Yahoo (NASD: YHOO), has announced plans to stream Telemundo's primetime shows and telenovelas online, Variety reported.  Programming will be made available on Yahoo Telemundo on the morning following its broadcast debut.

Los Angeles - NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) is shutting down its DotComedy website, which has seen traffic plunge 30% in the last three months, after just over a year in business, Variety reported.

New York - Mobile advertising and search firm 4INFO announced on Wednesday that it has received an equity investment from Peacock Equity, GE/NBC Universal's (NYSE: GE) investment fund.