MySpace (NYSE: NWS) pulled up the curtain a little this week, letting in some light on a makeover still very much in progress and marking a debut of sorts for Co-Presidents Mike Jones and Jason Hirschhorn as a team. By walking reporters through their road map, the two hope to…

At the opening speech of the first Abu Dhabi Media Summit, Rupert Murdoch is exhorting Arab nations to open up and let creative talents flow. Of course, he has his own agenda: open it up to our content as well. This is the show-me-the-money quote: “When we look to the…

It’s not the end of online access to Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert but next week tracking them down may be a little less convenient for those used to watching on Hulu. Viacom (NYSE: VIA) is removing Comedy Central from the ad-supported video portal at 11:59 p.m. March 9 after…

In a speech before the Real Estate Board of New York, Rupert Murdoch finally acknowledged that WSJ will launch its special New York metro edition in April. The other part everyone already knew—but has gone otherwise unsaid, publicly at least—is that the section is being aimed at challenging the NYT’s…

As expected, Dow Jones (NYSE: NWS) has bought the remaining 50 percent stake in personal finance mag SmartMoney from Hearst. The financial terms weren’t disclosed. In addition to the magazine, Dow Jones will own 100 percent of the related website along with the SmartMoney Custom Solutions unit. In a statement,…

The WSJ has been targeting the NYT’s luxury retail advertisers for over a year, but with the expected debut of the News Corp-owned paper’s NYC metro section in April, the ad war will officially begin, AdAge reports. While the NYT has expressed confidence in its ability to maintain its long-standing…

Dow Jones (NYSE: NWS) wants to buy the 50 percent stake it doesn’t currently have in personal finance mag SmartMoney from Hearst, the WSJ reports, citing unidentified sources. No word on what price DJ is offering for the magazine, though a deal could be hammered out by next week. The…

Updated: News Corporation (NYSE: NWS) today confirmed that it has reached an agreement to buy a 9.09 percent stake in Rotana Group, the pan-Middle East media group. News Corporation is acquiring newly-issued shares in Rotana for $70 million and has an option to increase its stake to 18.18 percent in…

While others are trying to figure out how to charge for their content, Dow Jones’ financial news site MarketWatch is plowing ahead with plans for several new pay-to-subscribe newsletters. On Monday, MarketWatch will unveil Revolution Investing, a premium newsletter aimed at traders for an annual fee of $199; the early-bird…

Is Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) turning to “research” in its pitch to paywall-happy news publishers? MSN UK content manager Alastair Bruce has published a 60-slide personal presentation on the topic (via J.co.uk) that nicely surveys 30 paid content sites - and then concludes: our search engine will protect your upcoming charging…

It took a couple of months from announcement to action but Google (NSDQ: GOOG) will start pulling in real-time search results from MySpace (NYSE: NWS) into Google search today. That means publicly available MySpace updates and other data should show up in Google real-time search results, as is already the…

Telegraph.co.uk’s sources have been promising the paper Hulu’s imminent UK launch for so long now that, now it’s reporting “further delays” to the U.S. VOD site’s ambitions here, we’re barely inclined to mention it - but anyway… Despite claiming in August that Hulu was in “most advanced discussions” to land…

While Murdoch’s footsoldiers rush to charge for consumer news like WSJ.com does for biz content, and while WSJ.com itself continues its European expansion, one part of the pie is often overlooked… Financial News, DJ’s subscription site covering the London securities market, has redesigned and maintained its place in the Wall…

MTV Networks (NYSE: VIA) CEO Judy McGrath says the Viacom unit’s organic growth is “great,” despite its continued signs of weakness as detailed last week in parent company Viacom’s Q4 earnings. The company was hit by the soft ad market as well as lower sales of Rock Band bundles. In…

A major shake up at MySpace, where Owen Van Natta is out after less than a year. Stepping up to run the social network are the other two members of the troika brought in by Jon Miller, chairman and CEO of Digital Media for News Corp. (NYSE: NWS), last April…

Update: Dow Jones has issued a release saying it is forming a joint venture with CME Group to operate a global financial index services business. The business is valued at $607.5 million. The new joint venture will also raise roughly $613 million in third-party debt which will be used to…

MySpace has begun rolling out 30-second audio ads, as the News Corp (NYSE: NWS). site continues its shift from a general social network to an entertainment showcase. The ads are being powered by CBS-backed TargetSpot. A rep for TargetSpot told paidContent that MySpace Music will place the audio ads alongside…

News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) received $12.5 million in Flixster stock when it sold its Rotten Tomatoes movie reviews site to the startup last month, according to an SEC filing. We first reported about it on Twitter this morning, though the filing wasn’t clear enough on the mix of stock and…

Mike Lang, the EVP of biz dev and strategy at Fox, and one of the key forces behind putting the Hulu deal together, is leaving the company after six years, paidContent has learned and confirmed. His last day is tomorrow, and he is leaving to “look for new entrepreneurial opportunities,”…