Washington - National Public Radio (NPR) announced that it has acquired Public Interactive, the public media Web services company owned by Public Radio International (PRI), for an undisclosed sum.

Arlington, Va. - PBS said that it has launched its new presidential election site, called Vote 2008. The site features a variety of news stories, video, online tools and user comments from public television and public radio sites across the nation. It also includes several social media widgets, a video player, a blog and an interactive election map produced in conjunction with National Public Radio (NPR).

Washington - National Public Radio (NPR) announced on Friday that CEO Ken Stern will leave the network by "mutual agreement," abruptly ending his 10-year stint as a top executive at NPR.

Washington - The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has released a briefing schedule for the appeal of webcasting royalty rates filed by various webcasters, which will begin in February but is not likely to be resolved until sometime in 2009, according to the Broadcast Law blog.

Washington - NPR on Monday announced the launch of a new NPR Music multimedia site, which features on-air and online content -- such as interviews, reviews, blogs and live performances -- aggregated from NPR and 12 NPR member stations. Initial participants include KEXP and KPLU (Seattle); WFUV an WNYC (New York); KUT (Austin); and American Public Media/Minnesota Public Radio. NPR.org also launched a media player that lets users create playlists of NPR audio and video content available on the site, and makes recommendations based on a user's selections.

New York - Some involved in the prickly royalty negotiations between music webcasters and the major record labels believe that issues could be resolved as early as the end of September, the Associated Press reported.

Washington - A group of large and small webcasters, including NPR and those represented by the Digital Media Association (DiMA), on Wednesday asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to suspend the date on which new, higher webcasting royalty rates are due to take effect, until the court hears the webcasters' appeal of those rates.

Washington - A bipartisan pair of lawmakers on Thursday introduced the Internet Radio Equality Act, a bill intended to nullify the effects of new, higher royalty rates recently set by the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) that many music webcasters say will put them out of business.

Washington - The Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) on Monday issued a ruling denying motions submitted by various webcasters asking the judges to reconsider new, higher royalty rates for streaming music online.

Washington - The Washington Business Journal reported on Friday that National Public Radio is looking for 400,000 square feet of space to consolidate its offices and "make room for digital media programs proposed for the future." The article said NPR could likely sell its existing headquarters in downtown DC near Union Station for around $115 million. "We have outgrown our space," Emily Lenzner, a spokeswoman for NPR, was quoted as saying in the article. "Our existing building needs significant reinvestment. And even with that, it would be too small to satisfy our current and future initiatives."

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NPR has named Ellen Weiss as VP,News. Ellen will supervise NPR's worldwide journalism operation that includes 18 U.S. and 18 foreign bureaus, 400 staff members and more than 50 hours of weekly news programming.
www.npr.org

Washington - National Public Radio (NPR) on Monday submitted a memorandum to the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB), which again stated its request for a public rehearing of the CRB's recent ruling on royalties webcasters must pay to stream music online.

Washington - SoundExchange, the independent entity set up by the major labels to collect and distribute digital music royalties, responded to criticisms from small and large webcasters alike that the royalty rates recently announced by the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) are too high by calling the decision-making process "fair."

*A correction was made to the original version of this story.

Washington - The U.S. Copyright Royalty Board announced on Tuesday that it will consider requests from groups including the Digital Media Association, National Public Radio, Clear Channel Communications and SoundExchange for a rehearing of its recently announced ruling on digital music webcasting royalty rates.

Washington - National Public Radio (NPR) plans to file a "petition for reconsideration" of the new royalty rates for webcasting set forth earlier this month by the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB).

Washington - NPR announced that it has added a new slate of podcasts to its 390-title directory, including a full podcast for its "Fresh Air" program from WHYY Philadelphia; its first video podcast, for KCRW's "Morning Becomes Eclectic"; "Car Talk Call of the Week"; and a new podcast from "Day to Day" contributor Xeni Jardin. In addition, the company said that it has upgraded the audio fidelity for its music-related podcasts, from 64K mono to 128K stereo. NPR said its podcasts have to date been downloaded more than 80 million times.