In This Update:
• MySpace Signs Content Deal with Sony BMG
• Vimeo to Add High-Def Capability
• Viacom: Google Suit Still On
• Major Labels Sue Usenet for Copyright Infringement
• Samsung to Launch its First-Ever GPS Phone
• Google Building AdSense for Facebook
• Silicon Valley Start-Ups Awash in Dollars, Again
• Motricity Finalizes $135mm Deal To Buy Infospace Mobile
• Next New Networks Acquires Obama Girl Site BarelyPolitical.com
• Report: More US Consumers are Watching TV Online
• House Backs 4-yr Extension of Internet Tax Ban

MySpace Signs Content Deal with Sony BMG
REUTERS via YAHOO
MySpace, the world’s largest social networking site, said on Tuesday it has signed a music video licensing deal with Sony BMG Music Entertainment supported by sharing advertising revenue. News Corp unit MySpace said the deal will enable its 70 million U.S. monthly active users to experience music videos and select audio material from Sony BMG artists. Sony BMG is the world’s second-largest music company and its roster of artists includes Britney Spears, Beyonce Knowles and Bruce Springsteen. The companies said the content will be made available on the artists’ MySpace profile pages.
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Vimeo to Add High-Def Capability
NEW YORK POST
Vimeo, a nascent video-sharing Web site owned by Barry Diller’s IAC, is expected to announce this week that it will begin distributing videos with a resolution of 1280 pixels by 720 pixels, the standard for high-definition. That’s four times the typical resolution of 320×240 used by YouTube and most other video-sharing Web sites. While movie trailers and certain other professionally-produced videos can be viewed online in high-definition, Vimeo is the first Web site to make HD available for user-generated videos. According to founder Jakob Lodwick, the investment in HD was made worthwhile because Vimeo’s user base is made up largely of amateur filmmakers, as opposed to casual fans who rip content from other sources and simply post it online.
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Viacom: Google Suit Still On
MEDIAPOST
Now that Google has unveiled technology to prevent the illicit access of copyrighted video on YouTube, what impact will it have on the Viacom copyright infringement lawsuit? ‘None at all,’ Viacom said this week. “It doesn’t have any impact,” said Viacom spokesman Jeremy Zweig. “Or at least it’s very premature to try and figure out the impact it could have on the litigation.” Upon its launch, the content-fingerprinting technology would resolve the entire copyright issue, Google attorney Philip Beck said at the end of July.
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Major Labels Sue Usenet for Copyright Infringement
MASHABLE
Several major record companies have filed a suit against Usenet.com, a file-sharing network, for copyright infringement. What else? Labels like Arista, Sony BMG, Capitol Records, Elektra Entertainment, Interscope, LaFace and more, are alleging at Usenet is enabling the anonymous replication and distribution of copyrighted content. Through usenet’s newsgroups, messages and files that are uploaded and hosted on usenet’s servers can be accessed by others, which can then download music files. The suit specifically states that these online newsgroups are used especially for copyright infringement, as the newsgroups are moved from the usenet network to its servers, whereupon access is sold to the newsgroups for hosting purposes.
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Samsung to Launch its First-Ever GPS Phone
REUTERS via YAHOO
Mobile phone maker Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005030.KS) said on Tuesday it would launch its first-ever phone incorporating a Global Positioning System (GPS). The phone — called the i550 — will use the operating software of Britain’s Symbian and be available in Europe from November this year. The two companies also launched a music-dedicated smartphone called the Samsung i450, available from October. Symbian — 47.9 percent owned by Nokia (NOK1V.HE) — is the market leader in the provision of software to smartphones, advanced versions of mobile phones with many of the attributes of a computer.
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Google Building AdSense for Facebook
VENTUREBEAT
Google is actively recruiting third-party developers with applications on Facebook to run Adsense ads within applications pages, VentureBeat has learned. These aren’t just any old Adsense ads- developers have been inserting plain-vanilla Adsense into Facebook applications since the developer platform launched in May. Now, Google is specifically building this network for advertisers who want to be on Facebook, and will let advertisers run their ads across all Facebook apps that sign up for it. Facebook has been clear about letting third-party developers sell ads on their own “canvas” pages on the site and keep all the revenue – a loophole that the Google seems to fit through just fine.
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Silicon Valley Start-Ups Awash in Dollars, Again
NEW YORK TIMES
Silicon Valley’s math is getting fuzzy again. Internet companies with funny names, little revenue and few customers are commanding high prices. And investors, having seemingly forgotten the pain of the first dot-com bust, are displaying symptoms of the disorder known as irrational exuberance. More broadly, Internet start-ups are drawing investment based on their ability to build an audience, not bring in revenue – the very alchemy that many say led to the inflation and bursting of the dot-com bubble.
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Motricity Finalizes $135mm Deal To Buy Infospace Mobile
ALARM:CLOCK
Motricity has closed its long rumored buyout of the mobile unit owned by InfoSpace. Motricity will pay $135M in cash. This is a huge deal for a private company, even though Motricity has raised more than $180M from Carl Icahn, Technology Crossover Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, and others. CEO Ryan Wuerch said that the company is in the process of raising a round worth about $185M to finance the InfoSpace deal.
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Next New Networks Acquires Obama Girl Site BarelyPolitical.com
NEWTEEVEE
Next New Networks has acquired BarelyPolitical.com for an undisclosed sum, adding the creator of viral video phenomenon Obama Girl to its growing array of niche channels. BarelyPolitical, founded in June by Ben Relles, will serve regular political comedy as a branded micro-network on NNN’s distribution network. While continuing to produce the sexy and slick musical spectacles that brought Obama Girl international attention, the network will also provide more frequent reports from its correspondents and videobloggers.
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Report: More US Consumers are Watching TV Online
BROADBAND TV NEWS
Close to 16% of US households who use the internet watch television broadcasts online, according to a report from The Conference Board and TNS reported. The number of consumers viewing entire episodes or shows on the internet has doubled from a year ago. Online viewers cite personal convenience and avoiding commercials as their top two reasons for watching TV broadcasts on the internet. Four out of every five online viewers say that watching these programs online has not changed their television viewing habits, but a small percentage claim that their traditional television viewing has decreased.
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House Backs 4-yr Extension of Internet Tax Ban
REUTERS
The U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation on Tuesday to extend a moratorium on state Internet access taxes for four years, brushing aside calls by some lawmakers for a permanent ban. The House voted 405-2 to continue the ban, which is scheduled to expire on November 1. Attention now shifts to the Senate, where similar legislation has been stalled in the Senate Energy and Commerce Committee over a dispute on whether to extend the ban temporarily or permanently. The House vote provoked criticism from some lawmakers, including many Republicans, who said a permanent ban on Internet taxes is needed to spur more investment by broadband service providers.
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