2008 05-08 MediaBytes: MICROSOFT - FACEBOOK - YAHOO - GOOGLE - TORRENT SPY - MPAA - VERIZON - FCC - CABLEVISION - SUNDANCE

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MICROSOFT informally approached FACEBOOK about a possible merger. A meeting with the social networking site comes just days after Microsoft backed away from its bid to secure YAHOO. Like the failed Yahoo bid, a merger with Facebook would seriously improve Microsoft’s presence online.

GOOGLE is skeptical about a search ads deal with YAHOO. After effectively breaking up the MICROSOFT takeover by providing Yahoo reason to be mildly optimistic, Google is apparently having second thoughts about the deal. The news is devastating to Yahoo and its shareholders, who were counting on the Google deal to help raise the company’s cash flow.

TORRENT SPY will be forced to pay the MPAA $111 million in copyright damages. The Motions Pictures Association of America charged the Bit Torrent tracking site with illegally providing 3,699 titles, assigning damages to the tune of $30,000 a film. The court order would serve as precedent regarding Bit Torrent file sharing in the US and will certainly scare similar sites.

VERIZON will honor GOOGLE’s open source condition. The pledge comes just days after Google applied pressure on the FCC regarding Verizon’s concept of “open source.” The provision will secure that Verizon, or any other license holder, “shall not deny, limit, or restrict their customers to use the devices or applications of their choice.”

CABLEVISION bought the SUNDANCE CHANNEL. Rainbow Media, a subsidiary of Cablevision, is purchasing the Sundance Channel for $496 million in cash and stock. Cablevision dispelled rumors that it would be merging Sundance with the IFC channel, which the company also owns. However, analysts still believe Cablevision will merge the two channels.