San Francisco - Activision Blizzard (NASD: ATVI), the company recently formed through the merger of Activision and Vivendi's games division, is considering launching an alternative digital music platform to compete with Apple's (NASD: AAPL) iTunes, company CEO Bobby Kotick said in an interview with the Financial Times. "I don't think there have been a lot of credible alternatives to iTunes but Guitar Hero certainly has that potential," Kotick told FT.

Santa Monica, Calif. - Activision Blizzard (NASD: ATVI), the company recently created through the merger of video game publisher Activision with Vivendi's games division, announced on Friday that it will effect a two-for-one stock split.

Santa Monica, Calif. - Video game publisher Activision (NASD: ATVI) has announced that its shareholders have approved its proposed $1.7 billion merger with Vivendi Games, with 92% voting in favor of the transaction.

Los Angeles - Video game publishers Activision (NASD: ATVI) and Vivendi Games have discontinued their memberships in the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) industry trade group, and will also not be attending this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) trade show, GameDaily reports.

New York - Video game publisher Activision (NASD: ATVI) has affirmed plans to extend its wildly popular "Guitar Hero" franchise beyond the guitar and bass to other instruments, a la rival music-based game "Rock Band," Activision CEO Bobby Kotick said in an interview with Portfolio.com. "We'll include a lot of other instruments [and] vocals," said Kotick, while refraining from giving any clues as to when these new elements might appear in the game franchise.

Los Angeles - Vivendi's Sierra Entertainment said on Thursday that rapper 50 Cent will reprise his starring role in a video game sequel, "50 Cent: Blood on the Sand," set for release on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in the fall. The console version of the follow-up to the multi-million unit-selling "50 Cent: Bulletproof" is being developed by Swordfish Studios. Vivendi Games Mobile will also release a mobile version.

Paris - Vivendi has launched a subscription-based mobile content service, Zaoza, that charges users about $4.42 per month for unlimited downloads of music, ringtones, games and videos, MocoNews reported. Content partners at launch include Sony BMG, THQ and Eidos. The site already claims 100,000 beta users in France. Vivendi hopes to grow this number to 500,000 by year's end, spurred by launches in Germany and the U.K. planned for later this year.

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?

There was no shortage of news for the week of Jan. 21-25. The biggest story: The Federal Reserve lowered the benchmark federal funds rate by three-quarters of a percentage point to 3.5%, its lowest level since September 2005, but the Fed’s actions couldn’t stop an already shaky stock market from continuing its downward spiral. After a sharp mid-week increase on news of the rate cut, the DMW100 ended slightly lower on the week.

Irvine, Calif. - Vivendi's Blizzard Entertainment game publisher unit announced on Tuesday that its "World of Warcraft" massively multiplayer online roleplaying game now counts more than 10 million subscribers. The game launched in November 2004, and now counts 2 million subscribers in Europe, 2.5 million in North America and 5.5 million in Asia.

Santa Monica, Calif. - French media conglomerate Vivendi announced on Monday a deal with video game publisher Activision (NASD: ATVI), to combine its Vivendi Games unit with Activision to form a new company called Activision Blizzard, in a deal valued at $18.9 billion. Following the completion of the deal, Vivendi will hold a 52% stake in the combined company.

Paris - The head of Universal Music Group parent company Vivendi has called the contract terms for Apple's iTunes Store "indecent," and echoed calls from other major labels for variable pricing of songs from the retailer, Reuters reported.

Lifetime Television has named Sandy Varo as Vice President, Reality Programming, it was announced today by Jessica Samet, Senior Vice President, Reality Programming, Lifetime Television, to whom Varo will report. Her appointment is effective immediately.

http://www.lifetimetv.com

Irvine, Calif. - Vivendi's Blizzard Entertainment games studio announced on Tuesday that its massively multiplayer online game "World of Warcraft" has now surpassed nine million paying subscribers worldwide. The company added that its expects an influx of new and returning subscribers when Chinese distribution partner The9 launches the game's first expansion, "World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade."

Paris - Media conglomerate Vivendi has formed a new unit called Vivendi Mobile Entertainment that plans to launch a paid content portal in the fall that will distribute entertainment to PCs, televisions and mobile phones, Reuters reported, citing an article in France's Les Echos.

Brussels - The European Commission has approved the $2.19 billion acquisition of BMG Music Publishing by Vivendi's Universal Music Group, Reuters reported.