At a Paris press conference, YouTube unveiled localized versions for Brazil, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Holland, Poland, Spain and the UK (Germany is missing). Initially, the sites get translated homepages,…

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At Digital Hollywood, I did a short interview with Herve Payan, SVP of Content Services at Orange, the flagship brand of France Telecom, where he talked about how Orange looks…

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Digitas, now owned by Publicis, took another step in its global expansion plan, and is buying out French Web agency Business Interactif for about $182 million. The pending acquisition will…

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EMI has begun offering its expanded, DRM-free MP3 repertoire to some of the first retailers other than than Apple Store. 7Digital announced it would stock the entirety of EMI’s 320Kbps…

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Comments this week from a VC and two entrepreneurs highlight the European-Silicon Valley quandary for start-ups and investors: -- Departing Six Apart EMEA VP Loic Le Meur is leaving Paris…

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Nexway, a French company whose Softela and Telechargement.fr online properties allow software producers to make their wares available for download in return for online payment, has raised EUR 5 ($6.7)…

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France’s top soccer leagues and its tennis governing body are the latest to join a proposed class-action lawsuit against YouTube for alleged copyright infringement. The Ligue de Football Professionnel and…

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Vivendi plans to launch a multimedia website which will offer music, video, film and games content both from Vivendi and partners, reports Forbes quoting French daily Les Echos. It’s described…

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Vivendi (VIV.PA) reported Q1 earnings of $1.04 billion (771 million euros), a 22 percent increase over Q106. Revenue was $6.7 billion, up 5.3 percent over the same period last year.…

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In December, Paris-based advertising group Publicis Groupe [NYSE: PUB], the world’s fourth largest ad agency, acquired online ad network Digitas for $1.3 billion. Today it explained how the purchase would…

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Microsoft has finally acquired a mobile advertising service...last year it had extensive talks with U.S. mobile ad firm Third Screen Media, but nothing came out of it. (Now TSM is…

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Electronic Arts is expanding its casual gaming service Pogo in Europe, adding services in the UK and launching a German-language site. The company said a French-language site will be launched…

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An interesting acquisition by Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S (part of French media giant Lagardere): it has bought out Jumpstart Automotive Media, the SF-based vertical ad network focused on the auto…

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Our sources were right on this one: Tech professionals-focused news and info network Tom’s Hardware Guide (and its parent company TG Publishing) has merged with French B2B tech media company…

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France’s Le Monde Group expects to break even or make a profit this year thanks to digital revenue. Online director Bruno Patino told AP that, after recent losses, the company…

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One of the two competing hi-def DVD standards is finding more favor with European movie distributors than the other, FT reports. Some 35 titles are available in Toshiba’s HD-DVD format…

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Iminent, a French startup that provides video-add-on applications for instant messaging systems, has secured nearly $4 million from French-Italian investment group 360 Partners, AC reports. Iminent’s video system, which is…

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Paris-based video and IPTV service Ipercast has raised $3.3 million from OTC Asset Management and Siparex, according to French tech blog Altaide via Alarm: Clock Euro. The five-year-old company manages…

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Universal Music Group will become a strategic global investor in Alliance Trace Media, owner of Trace TV, a French TV network and digital platform that is aimed at the urban…

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Gilles Babinet, who founded Musiwave and most recently mobile video start-up Eyeka, has secured $6.5 million in funding for his new start-up MXP4, reports Mobile Entertainment. The funding was from…

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One of Europe’s most active social networking-type websites is a little-talked-about French blog platform. Skyblog, which is allied to the Skyrock youth radio station, numbers about 7.5 million bloggers (way…

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If you’re reporting in France, you’d better get yourself an official press pass. The French Constitutional Council has approved a law that makes it illegal to record acts of violence…

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Proving earlier predictions about a hot takeover market for online ad shops, this one involves two: Avenue A/Razorfish, a unit of online ad agency aQuantive, bought Paris-based interactive agency Duke.…

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CNET Networks, which announced its Q206 earnings today, also mentioned some new acquisitions it did in the last couple of quarters: -- First one is GameKult, a French online gaming…

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French conglomerate Lagardere will cut between 700- to 1,000 jobs from its media division as it attempts to adapt its magazine, radio and TV operations to the challenges and opportunities…

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