Verizon acquires Yahoo for $4.8 billion. By combining Yahoo with its current online property AOL, Verizon has the potential to become a large scale programmatic advertising platform. It is hoped that the acquisition will also boost revenue to offset the loss of 41,000 subscribers from Verizon’s FiOS TV service in the second quarter.
Twitter has signed a deal with MLB and the NHL to live stream free once-a-week baseball and hockey games. It’s part of an effort to remake social media as a place where fans watch live sports on the same screen where they talk about them. However, exclusive rights agreements already in place in Canada, most notably with Rogers, will prohibit Twitter from streaming NHL games and Blue Jays games north of the 49th.
Canadian and international music companies have settled their lawsuit with isoHunt Web Technologies Inc. and founder Gary Fung. isoHunt was one of the largest unauthorized BitTorrent sites in the world, offering access to music and films for instant download. Fung and isoHunt agreed not to be associated with any service that makes the to be associated with any service that makes the music companies’ recordings available without authorization.
