Belmont, Calif. - Sezmi, the Belmont-based developer of a hybrid television platform that the company calls an alterative to satellite and cable, said that it will begin testing its service in unspecified pilot markets.

Mountain View, CA - CNET reports that Google (NASD: GOOG) announced on its AdWords blog that Google TV Ads, a program that has been in beta since June 2007, is now available to all U.S.-based advertisers. The program allows advertisers to reach over 13 million households nationwide on 94 channels. Like with Google’s AdWords service, which places ads on its Internet search pages, advertisers using Google TV Ads will bid for placement using an online tool that shows estimated costs to run a particular campaign and allows advertisers to increase or decrease their bids before placing them.

DMW’s CEO & Publisher provides a wrap-up of the top stories of the week. Who’s hot, who’s not and what’s the industry buzz?

The Microsoft - Google battle was back in the headlines this week with both companies announcing acquisitions in the online advertising space and increased speculation about the future of Yahoo. On the acquisition front, Google (NASD: GOOG) announced on Tuesday that it has received approval from the European Commission for its $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick, the final step to completing the transaction. Google chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt applauded the announcement noting that "with DoubleClick, Google now has the leading display ad platform.”

Los Angeles, CA - Digital Media Wire is pleased to announce agenda and speakers for the upcoming Future of Television (www.televisionconference.com/west) to be held at the Hollywood Roosevelt in Los Angeles, CA on Monday, March 24 and Tuesday, March 25, 2008.

While the WGA strike is now a memory, the immediate future of the television industry remains anything but clear. Uncertainty about the viability of online platforms as strong business models, questions about content on mobile platforms, and the increasing penetration of entertainment alternatives like video games and social media are only some of the issues. At the 2008 Future of Television Conference in Los Angeles on March 24-25, an extraordinary group of speakers will gather to evaluate the state of the industry, and discuss what lies ahead.

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:

The answer to that question, my American Idol-loving friends, is that Drew has been asked to appear in court on Sierra’s behalf by her lawyer, says TMZ.  The former Idol star is facing two misdemeanor charges – disorderly intoxication and obstructing justice – and two felonies – cocaine possession and felony battery.

As inevitable as the Mitchell Report response was, how long will it be before we get the headline: "Popeye denies he knew spinach was a performance enhancing drug". "I had no idea. I was just eating my vegetables. It was supposed to make me stronger. It was what, 30 or more years ago ? How much did we really know about the properties of spinach back then ? Why is the media making such a big deal out of this ? I didn't know then and I am paying the price today.

Miley Cyrus’s “Best of Both Worlds” tour, one of the best selling ever, has added 14 dates in January. The 15-year-old star of Disney’s TV hit Hannah Montana will begin selling tickets to the new shows on Saturday. Detroit will host the first show on January 11th and Miami will host the last on January 31st.

The FCC has released its agenda for its December 18 meeting - and it promises to be one of the most important,and potentially most contentious, in recent memory. On the agenda is the Commission's long awaited decision on the Chairman's broadcast multiple ownership plan relaxing broadcast-newspaper cross-ownership rules (see our summary here).

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?

The misfortunes of Jessica Sierra, former American Idol finalist, continue.  Or, perhaps, her fortunes have improved.  It seems a mandatory addition to any wannabe celebrity’s portfolio is a sex tape, and today it has been announced that Sierra finally has hers (see Kim Kardashian, Paris Hilton, Pam Anderson, et al, ad nauseum for more examples).