European media commissioner Viviane Reding has set out her vision for a “Digital Europe”, with four key points including a plea to resolve the legislative impasse caused by opposition to “three strikes” plans… —Digital dividend must be quicker: “The United States as a whole switched to digital TV last month.…

Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs is back at work, but the company still can’t shake questions about whether it may have misled investors about the status of his health. Seven months after the SEC began an investigation into Apple Inc.‘s public comments on Jobs’s medical condition, the inquiry continues,…

Despite the rhetoric, Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) and the European Commission may actually be on speaking terms. The two parties are in early talks to settle both the Commission’s investigation into whether the company has stifled competition by bundling Internet Explorer and Windows together, as well as a second investigation looking…

The Department of Justice has started reviewing the practices of mobile carriers in the U.S., including AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ), to determine if they have abused their power in recent years, reports the WSJ, which quotes unnamed people familiar with the situation. At this point, it’s…

»  The Economist attempts to lure back UK readers with a new cinema ad, trying to recreate the cool aura it has in U.S. [WSJ] The ad below: »  Allen & Co. media mogulfest is next week, y’all. Deals, perhaps, maybe. [THR] »  This year at the Allen & Co…

After a few months of informal moves on it, the U.S. Justice Dept is now investigating an anti-trust inquiry into Google’s book settlement with the authors and publishers over its online book scanning and repository project. The agreement, which was reached last year, has been criticized by some authors and…

Already ringtones are more expensive than a full-length song—and pay a higher royalty to the artist than a normal track—but the music industry is trying to make them even more profitable by arguing that someone should pay even more when the 30-second snippet plays in public.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau is gearing up with another campaign designed to keep the online ad industry’s “self-policing” regime in place as Congressional scrutiny intensifies, USA Today reports. The proposed guidelines say that IAB members should give users the choice of “opting-out” of ad targeting programs that use cookies to…

Julius Genachowski started work as the head of the Federal Communications Commission this week and quickly named his key staff. Appointments include litigator and former prosecutor Ed Lazarus as chief of staff, and, from the digital side, Sherrese Smith, most recently VP and general counsel of Washington Post (NYSE: WPO)…

Almost lost in the news overload: the U.S. Senate confirmed President Obama’s choice of Julius Genachowski to head the Federal Communications Commission, finally moving with speed after several delays since the March nomination. The confirmations of Genachowski and Republican Robert McDowell, nominated for his first full term, were unanimous consent…

Julius Genachowski is closer to heading the Federal Communications Commission following approval Wednesday by the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee. Robert McDowell, currently the lone Republican FCC commissioner, also was approved for a second term. Both nominations now go to the full Senate for a vote; no sense of timing yet.…

New legislation on behavioral-ad targeting is starting to look more and more likely for later this year—at least that was the strong suggestion during opening statements at this morning’s congressional hearings. Members of the House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet for the most part said they…

The long-delayed digital translation finally is here—but the Obama Federal Communications Commission isn’t. Team Obama pushed to have the analog-to-digital switch moved to June 12—as in this Friday—to avoid as many last-minute glitches as possible, but it hasn’t been able to get its FCC nominees confirmed, starting with Julius Genachowski…

The Interactive Advertising Bureau has been ramping up its lobbying effort to get Congress and regulators to let the ad industry police itself with behavioral targeting. Now it’s trying pound home its message with some numbers. The IAB claims in a new study that it commissioned that online spending in…

A union pension fund manager has emerged as the first public suitor for the Boston Globe. Boston-based Intercontinental Real Estate Corp. confirmed its interest to the Boston Herald, saying the Globe fits its investment profile and that is has been pursuing a purchase for about 10 weeks. The company, which…

The New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT) has hired Goldman Sachs to manage a possible sale of the Boston Globe, according to the paper. The investment bank already reps the company in its efforts to sell its 17.75 percent stake in New England Sports Ventures, LLC, the company that owns…

The New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT) said Tuesday that it will keep the Boston Globe open despite the Boston Newspaper Guild’s narrow vote against va concession package. We reported last night that the company had no plans to file the 60-day warning notice that would have to precede closing…

Since the start of the year, two senior Google (NSDQ: GOOG) executives have joined the Obama administration—and CEO Eric Schmidt has been appointed to the president’s advisory board on science and technology. Concerned in part over the company’s growing influence, two consumer groups are publicly opposing the appointment of a…

The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether big tech firms, including Google, Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO), and Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) broke antitrust law by possibly colluding on hiring policies, according to a report in the Washington Post. Apparently the companies may have agreed not to actively recruit employees away from…