Daily Marauder

BROADCAST/CABLE

Time Warner’s New Line Cinema is being sued for $150 million by relatives of the late “Lord of the Rings” author J.R.R. Tolkien, who say they haven’t received any money from movies based on the books. Family members are trying to stop New Line from making a movie of “The Hobbit.” (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=atNpwWIe8rfM  2/11)

Barry Diller’s IAC is seeing improvement at home-shopping network HSN, which could make it easier to negotiate a deal in which John Malone’s Liberty Media would take control of the channel and possibly another asset in return for giving up its majority voting stake in the company. (http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB120277756721760771.html  2/12)

Rupert Murdoch is reshuffling his family’s stake in News Corp., offloading close to $10 million worth of shares. The share sale doesn’t weaken Murdoch’s grip on the media conglomerate, but it is fueling questions about the motives behind the dealings and where the money may be going. (http://business.smh.com.au/murdoch-disposes-of-11m-shares-in-wealth-reshuffle/20080212-1rtr.html  2/13)

A&E has advanced the Benjamin Bratt-starring “Cleaner” from pilot to series, marking the channel’s first original scripted show in about six years. A&E is looking to premiere “Cleaner” sometime this summer. (Broadcasting & Cable 2/11)

Denise Richards, the ex-wife of actor Charlie Sheen, is getting her own reality TV show, and it will be produced for E! Entertainment Television by Ryan Seacrest. The show, as yet untitled, will focus on Richards as a single mother and is expected to launch this summer. (Variety 2/11)

Smithsonian Channel has put together carriage deals with Charter and Verizon that will make the four-month-plus-old channel available to about 22 million homes. The deal with Charter represents the channel’s first carriage agreement with a cable company. (Broadcasting & Cable 2/11)

Comcast said it would challenge in court a rule adopted by the FCC in December, but just made official, that no cabler can serve more than 30% of all U.S. subscribers. (TVWeek.com 2/11,  Broadcasting & Cable 2/11,  Multichannel News 2/11)

Cablevision has struck a deal with Discovery that will bulk up the cable company’s video-on-demand menu by more than 100 titles. The Discovery shows, which will be offered for free, include Discovery Channel’s “Man Vs. Wild,” TLC’s “Trading Spaces” and Animal Planet’s “Orangutan Island.” (Multichannel News 2/11)

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA

Yahoo is rejecting Microsoft’s $44.6 billion takeover bid, saying the offer “substantially undervalues” the company. The move could force Microsoft to instigate a shareholder revolt to get its prize. The software giant says that it “reserves the right to pursue all necessary steps.” (http://bigtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/02/11/yahoos-forcing-microsoft-to-play-hardball  2/11)

Yahoo is announcing a takeover of its own: Maven Networks, a major player in the burgeoning online video marketplace. Maven distributes online video content from more than 30 major media companies, including Fox News, Sony BMG, CBS Sports, Hearst, Gannett, and Scripps. (http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=76328  2/12)

Yahoo is premiering an online tech show, “Tech Ticker,” covering Silicon Valley business — including its own saga involving Microsoft’s takeover bid. “Tech Ticker” is hosted by BusinessWeek “Valley Girl” columnist Sarah Lacy and former TheStreet.com reporter Aaron Task. (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/11/BU53V028M.DTL  2/11)

Google lost ground in the U.S. Internet advertising market for the first time in two years during 2007 due to slower growth in the fourth quarter, according to IDC. The decline, despite continued strong growth in Internet advertising, could spell opportunity for rivals such as Microsoft. (http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/02/12/Google-ad-share-drops-for-first-time-in-two-years_1.html  2/12)

Few big media companies are signing syndication deals with YouTube. But some analysts believe the media giants may one day be forced to sing another tune. Says JupiterResearch analyst Bobby Tulsiani: “The premium content guys need YouTube more than YouTube needs them.” (http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/interactive/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003708935  2/11)

Actress/author Jenny McCarthy is joining Leah Remini and Chelsea Handler for the second season of the Web comedy series “In the Motherhood.” The show, conceived by Sprint, Suave and MindShare Entertainment, is set to return to MSN later this month. (http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Entertainment/2008/02/11/jenny_mccarthy_to_co-star_in_web_series/4785  2/11)

Any web series prominently displaying branded logos usually sponsors acid reflux, but I must admit, this one is pretty funny.

Facing competition from other e-commerce sites and a revolt from its top sellers, eBay is lowering listing fees on media sold on its site, including books, music, movies and video games. Now, rather than paying 60 cents to list a media item costing $10 to $25, sellers will pay 35 cents. (http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-ebay12feb12,1,3475636.story  2/12)

(Below) Don’t they have three strikes rules for drug offenders?  I’m against media piracy as much as the next girl, but this seems a bit. . .intense.

U.K. citizens who go online and illegally download music and films may have their Internet access cut under plans the government is considering. Under a “three strikes” rule they would receive an e-mail warning, suspension, and then termination of their service. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7240234.stm  2/12)

Newser.com, the online news aggregator launched in October by Vanity Fair media columnist Michael Wolff, is “completely on plan,” he says. The site’s new user-created threads let surfers build a clip file on any subject. Newser’s goal is to be “among top news sites in 24 months.” (http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/mixed-media/2008/02/12/wolff-on-newser-launch-completely-on-plan  2/12)

San Francisco based HotOrNot, founded by James Hong and Jim Young in October 2000, has been acquired, we’ve heard from multiple sources.   The buyers are investors connected with Avid Life Media, and paid somewhere around $20 million for the site. Hong and and Young have been taking money out of the very profitable business all along the way - which we reported was another $20 million or in May 2007. HotOrNot never raised outside funding. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/11/hotornot-apparently-very-hot-acquired-for-20-million  2/11)

WIRELESS

When media services go mobile, they will drain some or all of the associated revenue from older, fixed-line services, according to Nokia exec Pertti Kasanen, speaking at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Also: Mobile phones continue to face many obstacles as an advertising medium. (http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206401777  2/11,   http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB120276808818360241.html  2/12)

Zeemote has introduced a Bluetooth joystick designed to enhance the experience of playing games on mobile phones. The Zemote JS1 is a thumb-operated analog stick that can be held in one hand while the other hand holds the phone. (Yahoo!/PCWorld/IDG News Service 2/11)

GAMING

Still number one social networking destination MySpace has entered the casual flash games market with games.myspace.com. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/11/myspace-quietly-launches-games-site  2/11)

Peter Moore is leading his team at Electronic Arts to increase the company’s sports business after several years of little growth. Moore plans to announce a deal today that makes EA the exclusive maker of NFL games through 2012, has entered a partnership with the New York sports-management firm that represents Tiger Woods to put the EA brand on a variety of consumer products and services and plans to add an array of simpler sports games to attract more players to EA. (The Wall Street Journal 2/12)

Apple’s application to extend its trademark into stand-alone video game machines has prompted speculation about whether it intends to expand in the gaming market. The company has remained mute on what the application means, but experts say it would have to let go of some control of hardware to boost Macintosh’s performance as a competitive gaming platform. (Yahoo!/TechWeb/InformationWeek 2/11)

Amazon.com has matched Bestbuy.com’s $119.99 price for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 HD DVD player after restocking the item Monday. Both outlets are selling the unit for $10 below the suggested retail price, and Amazon is also offering aggressive discounts on HD DVD items, selling nearly 150 titles for 50% off full retail. (Punch Jump 2/11)