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Sources say a deal between Disney and Hulu is “basically done.” If it happens, Disney will take a 30% share of Hulu for $50 million of marketing money. The deal would make Disney, NBCU and News Corp equal partners in the streaming video site.
Facebook CFO Gideon Yu has left the social network. Yu, who was with the company for nearly two years, was having trouble raising money for Facebook and was apparently not getting along with CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Yu is one of many executives to leave the social network this past year, many of which were not happy with the recent direction the company was taking.
A $350 million tax credit bill for film production is set to be signed by NY Governor David Paterson. New York’s tax credit for film and television production, which Gov. Paterson originally said he would not sign, will keep productions in the Empire State for at least another year. While the bill is essential to keeping film productions in the state, many television productions, unsure of whether or not tax credits will continue after 2009, are already leaving New York.
Comcast is looking to purchase the 50% share of the New England Cable Network it does not own from Hearst. The deal would give Hearst an increase in cash flow, which it needs to stave off loses from its newspaper divisions. NECN is the largest 24-hour regional news network in the nation and reaches 3.7 million cable subscribers in six states.
Hewlett-Packard is considering replacing Microsoft’s Windows operating system with software developed by Google in some mini-PCs called netbooks. Sources say it might be a version of Google’s Android software which was originally developed for cellphones.