John Malone’s Liberty Media said yesterday it acquired 78.3 million shares of DirecTV to boost its stake in the largest U.S. satellite-television service to 48%. Liberty said it borrowed $1.98 billion for the stock acquisition. — Danny King
Social-networking Web site MySpace will partner with Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony BMG on a music site that will include both free streaming and digital-download sales, the Wall Street Journal reports. MySpace will spend as much as…
Time Warner Cable’s New York-area customers will have an additional 20 high-definition channels by the end of the month, Multichannel News reports. CNN, Food Network and Travel Channel are among the HD additions on Time Warner Cable, Multichannel News says….
CBS Entertainment’s Jodi Roth was promoted to the network’s senior vice president of specials, putting her in charge of events such as the Grammys and the Kennedy Center Honors, Daily Variety reports. Ms. Roth, who had been with Nickelodeon before…
The CW ordered makeover-reality show “StyleDome” from Gail Berman and Lloyd Braun, Daily Variety reports. The show will feature three contestants getting makeovers, with the studio audience deciding the winner, the newspaper says. — Danny King
IFC renewed the comedy “The Whitest Kids U Know” for a third season while ordering 10 episodes of new rock-music semi-scripted comedy “Z Rock,” the Hollywood Reporter says. Dave Navarro, Joan Rivers and Blues Traveler’s John Popper are among guest…
iTunes has displaced Wal-Mart as the top music retailer in the U.S., according to Digital Media Wire. The Apple service outsold Amazon.com and Best Buy in 2007 to take second place, and is now in first with more than 4…
Not so long ago, it would have been hard to imagine a show named “Assy McGee” getting on the air, much less with a major advertiser as a sponsor. And yet, “Assy McGee,” the AdultSwim animated series that follows the…
For flat-panel television buyers, size matters, but price matters more. Price was the most important factor among recent flat-screen TV buyers, and it played a bigger role among TV buyers than among consumers of other consumer electronics products such as…
Last year, almost 30 million North American consumers ponied up the $1,000 or more for a new high-definition television set. But that extra $10 a month for the HD subscription service? Not so fast. While about two in five U.S….