Daily Marauder

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA

Carl Icahn and Yahoo have come to a settlement over control of Yahoo’s board. In return for three board seats, Icahn has agreed to withdraw his alternative slate of nominees and back down from a full-fledged proxy war. Icahn will be given a seat on the board, existing board member Robert Kotick (CEO of Activision) will step down, and the board will be expanded to 11 members from the current ten. The two resulting empty seats will be determined by vote, filled from Icahn’s alternate slate of directors and giving him three seats on the new board. Former AOL CEO Jonathan Miller will also be eligible to take one of the empty seats, and likely will. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/21/icahn-backs-down-from-yahoo-proxy-fight-in-return-for-three-yahoo-board-seats 7/21)

iLike, the music service with a massive following on Facebook and increasing popularity elsewhere, has introduced full-song playback on its flagship site, iLike.com. Through its partnership with music subscription service Rhapsody, the site will be offering over 5 million songs from all of the major labels and a variety of indie artists, too. In conjunction with the launch of full song playback, the site is also launching a new self-serve ad platform for concert promoters. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/20/ilike-launches-full-song-playback-and-ad-platform 7/20)

This is mad hott.

Watching full-length shows online won’t destroy television viewership, according to a study commissioned by CBS. The study of 50,000 people, conducted by Magid Media Labs, finds that 35% of online watchers say they are now more likely to watch CBS on TV after finding shows online. (Iwantmedia 7/21, http://blogs.reuters.com/mediafile/2008/07/21/online-viewing-wont-kill-tv-cbs 7/21)

Time Warner’s struggle to sell AOL is putting more pressure on the media company’s stock price as the advertising slowdown spreads to the Internet and the pool of potential buyers shrinks. According to one investor, AOL has “become yesterday’s story in the Internet world.” (Iwantmedia 7/21, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601204&sid=a7mbfoBX3u.c 7/21)

Facebook is unveiling a redesign to reflect changes in how its members communicate. Users now are apt to exchange just one-sentence, Twitter-style messages. (Iwantmedia 7/21, http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080721/ap_on_hi_te/facebook_facelift 7/21)

Napster, the Internet music pioneer whose shares have plunged 95% in six years, is seen as takeover bait for hedge funds zeroing in on a cash hoard exceeding the company’s market value. Napster controls half of all U.S. online-music subscriptions and is seen as “dirt cheap.” (Iwantmedia 7/21, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aoh.JuHEG690 7/18)

NBC will try out incoming “Late Night” host Jimmy Fallon in brief, 5- or 10-minute nightly segments on the Internet, starting this autumn, long before the young comedian replaces Conan O’Brien, who will leave the show to take over the “Tonight” show from Jay Leno next year. (Iwantmedia 7/21, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/21/arts/television/21fallon.html?_r=1&oref=slogin 7/21)

Viacom’s MTV is now airing clips it exclusively premieres at least a half-dozen times during a single three-hour weekday video block. MTV exec Brian Graden calls the strategy “hyper-saturation,” and views the move as a way to get ahead of online outlets like YouTube in influence. (Iwantmedia 7/21, http://www.nypost.com/seven/07202008/business/carpet_bombing_videos_120747.htm 7/20)

Google exec David Eun and Web pro Mark Cuban are to appear as panelists for a field hearing that the U.S. Federal Communications Commission is holding Monday to discuss “the future of digital media.” Another FCC panel will probe “the broadband of tomorrow.” (Iwantmedia 7/21, http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117989161.html?categoryid=1009&cs=1 7/21)

Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActiveCorp is signing agreements to raise almost $2 billion to finance the spinoffs of three divisions, part of a plan to break up the company. The deal will leave $1.3 billion to invest in its Ask.com search engine, acquisitions and emerging Web sites that IAC develops. (Iwantmedia 7/21, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601204&sid=apFvWJlZQbyc 7/18)