Seattle - RealNetworks (NASD: RNWK) announced on Thursday that it will spin off its casual games business, and distribute shares in the newly created company to its shareholders.

New York - A federal judge in New York has created a formula for calculating the royalties that large webcasters AOL (NYSE: TWX), RealNetworks (NASD: RNWK) and Yahoo (NASD: YHOO) must pay songwriters and music publishers for streaming their songs between 2002 and 2009, which could provide just one performing rights organization, ASCAP, as much as $100 million in payments. U.S. District Judge William Conner's ruling stipulates that the webcasters must pay 2.5% of music-related revenue to ASCAP's 320,000 members; by that math, for 2006, AOL owes $5.95 million, and Yahoo owes $6.76 million.

Herndon, Va. - Cable TV and broadband provider Cox Communications on Thursday announced the launch of the Cox Rhapsody digital music service with customers in Northern Virginia. Developed with partner RealNetworks, the service offers unlimited on-demand access to Rhapsody's entire catalog for $12.99 per month; for $14.99 per month, users can also transfer songs to supported portable players.

Seattle - RealNetworks (NASD: RNWK) announced on Friday that it has acquired Trymedia Systems, a provider of digital distribution services for casual games, from Macrovision (NASD: MVSN) for $4 million.

Amsterdam - Nearly 90% of respondents in a recent survey of casual gamers on RealNetworks' (NASD: RNWK) RealGames service said they will watch in-game streaming video ads in return for free game play.

Sunnyvale, Calif. - Yahoo (NASD: YHOO) announced on Monday that it will dump its Yahoo Music Unlimited digital music service, and replace it with Rhapsody, the competing on-demand streaming service offered by Rhapsody America, a joint venture between RealNetworks (NASD: RNWK) and Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) MTV Networks. Yahoo and Rhapsody also intend to collaborate on other digital music services, such as music downloads.

Seattle - RealNetworks (NASD: RNWK) has launched a beta test of a new Facebook application that will bring full-song streams from its Rhapsody service to Facebook users, Billboard reported. While existing Rhapsody subscribers will be able to stream unlimited full songs on Facebook, non-subscribers will be limited to 25 songs per month -- in line with the company's free, ad-supported service.

Seattle - RealNetworks (NASD: RNWK), a provider of media delivery technology and services, last week laid off about 100 employees, the Seattle P-I reported.

Washington - Large Internet radio purveyors AOL (NYSE: TWX), Yahoo (NASD: YHOO), RealNetworks (NASD: RNWK), Pandora and Live365 earlier this week sent a letter to key lawmakers in Washington, asking them to consider performance royalty parity for broadcast, satellite, cable and Internet radio. The letter was addressed to U.S. House Intellectual Property Subcommittee Chairman Howard Berman (D-Calif.) and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), whose committees are currently re-evaluating the broadcast radio industry's royalty rate exemption.

New York - Consumer electronics maker Haier America on Tuesday introduced the Ibiza Rhapsody, a Wi-Fi-enabled portable media player that connects directly to RealNetworks' (NASD: RNWK) Rhapsody digital music service. In addition to Rhapsody, the Ibiza will also allow users to stream on-demand, user-generated videos from AOL Video. A 30GB model is available now for $329, while Haier said 8GB ($249) and 4GB ($229) models will be available for the holiday shopping season.

Seattle - RealNetworks (NASD: RNWK) on Thursday announced the release of its new RealPlayer, following a five-month public beta, and introduced a new feature for the premium version of the player that lets users transfer downloaded video content to the Apple iPod nano, iPod Classic and iPod Video. Available for a one-time fee of $39.95, the RealPlayer Plus lets users move the non-DRM protected videos they have download from websites using the software onto an iPod.

New York - RealNetworks' (NASD: RNWK) Rhapsody digital music service has announced a promotional partnership with fast food restaurant chain Wendy's, that will give away up to 100 million songs through unique codes on combo meals. The companies said the Wendy's/Rhapsody song download giveaway will be supported by a comprehensive marketing campaign including broadcast and online media.

New York - Rolling Stone magazine has posted a digital version of the entire last issue of its 40th Anniversary series online, complete with links inside the editorial content to RealNetworks' (NASD: RNWK) Rhapsody digital music service. The full-issue digital version is a first for the magazine, and will remain available for the next two weeks.

Seattle - RealNetworks (NASD: RNWK) this week reported revenue gains at its music and games subscription services, as well as record overall revenue of $145.1 million for its fiscal third quarter, an increase of 55% over the same period a year ago.

San Francisco - RealNetworks, a provider of media delivery technology and content subscription services, on Tuesday announced the launch of a new 3G mobile feature, Multimedia Ringback Services, which lets users incorporate audio, images and video into what callers experience before they are connected. The service has already been deployed in Korea on SK Telecom's 3G network. Real said its mobile services are currently available through 77 carriers in 37 countries.

Alviso, Calif. - TiVo announced on Tuesday that it has partnered with RealNetworks to make the company's Rhapsody digital music service available to TiVo owners who have connected their set-tops to a broadband home network. The service will allow TiVo users to search Rhapsody's 4 million-song catalog from their TV, as well as rate music using the Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down buttons on their TiVo remotes. The Rhapsody on TiVo service will cost $12.99 for TiVo subscribers, and be available at no additional cost to existing Rhapsody subscribers with broadband-connected TiVo boxes.

Seattle - Digital entertainment services firm RealNetworks announced on Thursday that it will acquire Game Trust, a developer of casual online game infrastructure technology.

New York - The former drummer of legendary punk band the Ramones has filed suit against his music publisher, as well as online retailers iTunes, Wal-Mart and RealNetworks, over the alleged unauthorized distribution of six Ramones songs he wrote between 1983 and 1987, Billboard reported.

New York - RealNetworks said on Wednesday that versions of its popular online casual game title, "Super Collapse 3," will be released for the Sony PSP, Nintendo DS, and mobile phones. Developer MumboJumbo is collaborating with RealNetworks on the titles, which will cost $19.99 (PSP) and $29.99 (DS); the former is available today while the latter will be released in the fall.

Seattle - RealNetworks and Warner Bros. Digital Distribution on Monday announced the debut of "On Set, On Edge," a 20-episode original online reality series that follows filmmaker Vanessa Parise ("Kiss the Bride") during the production of her second film, "Jack and Jill vs. The World." The series will be available on RealNetworks' Film.com site, as well as to subscribers of its SuperPass broadband entertainment service.