groups

As part of a comeback attempt by the WB Network, Warner Bros. Television Group has cut deals to distribute TV shows to TiVo, Veoh Networks, and other Web video sites.

The WB is the network made famous by such teen fare as Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Gilmore Girls. The network shut down in 2006, when Warner Bros. partnered with CBS to launch the CW Television Network.

Warner Bros. said in April that it would relaunch the network as an online-only play. The company said in a statement on Thursday that in September, Dailymotion, Joost, Sling Media, TiVo, and Veoh … Read more

A secretive Washington, D.C., group linked to an anti-Google letter signed by corn farmers says cable providers, which have retained it as a client, have nothing to do with its attempts to convince Congress to hold hearings critical of the search company.

Guillermo Meneses, previously a press secretary for the Democratic National Committee, is now a senior vice president at the LawMedia Group. He said that he was "unaware" of any communications between the American Corn Growers Association--which has no history of being interested in the antitrust implications of online advertising--and the National Cable and Telecommunications Association. … Read more

IM aggregator and chat room service provider Meebo has reached what CEO Seth Sternberg thinks is the critical mass necessary to get into the consumer advertising business, and has launched its first serious advertising play. Meebo's SparkAds are text blurbs that run inside Meebo chat rooms. They're context-sensitive, aware of what people are talking about. But they're not so sensitive that the experience is different for all users. This is their strength.

If you're in a Meebo room and you see an ad for a product, Meebo has it set up so everyone sees the same … Read more

If you think there's something a little odd about a bunch of corn farmers lobbying Congress to hold hearings on the details of a Google-Yahoo advertising deal, you may be right.

A letter (PDF) that the American Corn Growers Association and other farmers' groups sent to the U.S. Congress on Monday appears to be linked to a Washington, D.C., lobby group that does work for cable providers, some of Google's most potent political adversaries.

The letter warned Senate and House committee chairmen that any such deal would "create a monopolistic concentration of power in the … Read more

EMI Group is the latest major music label to reach a settlement with XM Satellite Radio over the Pioneer Inno device, the companies announced Tuesday.

EMI, one of several music labels that filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against XM in May 2006, is withdrawing from the complaint. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

The initial lawsuit stems from XM's Pioneer Inno, which has the capability to record and store music delivered over satellite radio. EMI, along with other major music labels, had contended that the device could violate their copyrights.

With the settlement, EMI is joining Universal Music … Read more

At the many advertising conferences dotting Internet Week New York this week, speakers and panelists have been exhorting the ad industry to start thinking more creatively when it comes to tackling digital media--even creating elaborate branded series in lieu of traditional commercials.

They weren't the only ones who got that memo. Record label Universal Music Group's Universal Music U.K. announced Monday that it's partnered with social network Bebo to broadcast a series called The Secret World of Sam King: one part video blog, one part Choose Your Own Adventure, and one part Universal advertorial. It's … Read more

UPDATE:To include CBS statement.

Warner Music Group has pulled its entire catalog from Last.fm, a company spokeswoman confirmed Friday.

Warner Music would not comment on the reason for leaving Last.fm, but the label's departure is certainly a setback for the social-networking site. Warner was the first of the major labels to do a deal with Last.fm.

Last.fm offers an on-demand streaming service that's free to members but has been seriously hamstrung by limits placed on song playback. The site allows users to listen three times to a song. At rival Imeem, users can … Read more

Microsoft's Research group announced an Internet Explorer 7 plug-in called SearchTogether on Wednesday that turns Web searches into a group activity.

The plug-in lets people set up what amounts to search chat rooms, in which a group of people can jointly peruse search results. Users can chat, annotate specific results with comments, ratings, and recommendations. Members of a group also can return later to view the annotated search session.

It also lets people perform a "split search," in which results are divided among different users in separate browser tabs. Many hands make light work, as the saying … Read more

Qtrax, the free music site with the questionable history of signing labels, has cut a licensing agreement with EMI Music, the company announced Tuesday.

"EMI's music will be available free to registered Qtrax users for unlimited streaming or downloading to a PC," the companies said in a statement. "(Users) can also load downloaded tracks on up to three portable devices and play them while their membership remains active."

Here's the rub: users must sync their portable device every two months so the number of plays can be counted so that artists are accurately compensated. … Read more