MediaBytes

GOOGLE will be selling 5% of Clear Channel’s ad inventory, continuing its march into offline advertising. On Friday, Google purchased DoubleClick. Rivals are describing that deal as “anti-competitive.” ADOBE and MICROSOFT will become rivals on two new fronts. Microsoft’s is launching Silverlight, a Flash competitor. Adobe has announced Adobe Media Player, which offers functionality similar Continue Reading →

CBS is preparing to announce a huge web distribution initiative. The network will provide television programming to several web outlets, including MSN, AOL, Joost, and the forthcoming NBC Universal-News Corp. video service. VONAGE CEO Michael Snyder has left the beleaguered company. A patent infringement lawsuit from Verizon has the company in “crisis mode.” MGM will Continue Reading →

MySpace is currently blocking Photobucket Videos from user profiles. Photobucket has posted a response on its blog, asking users to submit complaints to MySpace. TuneCore has found a niche in the new digital media marketplace. The company handles digital distribution for independent musicians. For a small annual fee, Tunecore will distribute albums to online retailers Continue Reading →

Nielsen/NetRatings announced the top 30 news sites for February. NYTimes.com took the #1 spot, both in visitors and time spent on the site. The average NYTimes.com visitor stays for 37 minutes. Warner Music Group has signed a deal with Joost. Warner will provide Joost with video content, and the companies will share revenue from advertisements. Continue Reading →

Apple announced the sale of the 100 millionth iPod and released current sales figures for the iTunes Music Store. iTunes has sold 2.5 Billion songs, 50 Million TV shows, and 1.3 Million movies. Yahoo! announced a new media device. The device can play Yahoo Music files, connect to the web via WiFi, and sync with Continue Reading →

Yahoo has launched Yahoo Alpha, a new search engine that mirrors Google’s minimalist design. Today’s Wall Street Journal discusses the challenge that hotel television is facing in the new media environment. Portable DVD players, iPods with video, and laptops with Internet connections are eating into profits for in-room TV services. Blyk is launching a free Continue Reading →

MySpace will hold an online Presidential Primary vote next January. Most major candidates have created profiles on the social networking site. Barak Obama has the most MySpace “friends” by a very large margin. The FCC issued a statement, saying they would not reconsider the current ban on in-flight cell phone use. Notably, a soon to-be-released Continue Reading →

Google will begin selling television ads for EchoStar’s satellite television service.  Spots will be awarded to winners of online auctions, with Google taking a commission on each ad sale. Lost Remote ran an “over the top” experiment.  Blogger Cory Bergman attempted to spend one week watching only content purchased from the iTunes  store.  It cost Continue Reading →

EMI will begin selling DRM-free music via online music retailers.  On iTunes, higher-quality DRM-free tracks will cost $1.29.  iTunes will continue to sell DRM-ed songs for $.99 cents, at the current (lower) bitrate. Viacom has been drawing some heat for linking to YouTube videos from Viacom-controlled blogs.  The company has sued YouTube for $1 Billion, Continue Reading →

Microsoft is reportedly seeking to buy DoubleClick, to bolster its online advertising business.  The Wall Street Journal reports a price in the range of $2 Billion. LG has announced a deal with Google, that will bring the search giant’s software to mobile phones.  Services will include mobile versions of Blogger, Google Maps, and Gmail.  This Continue Reading →