Viacom MTV Networks is buying RateMyProfessors.com for its 24-hour college net mtvU; no financial terms were disclosed for the deal expected to close this quarter. The full-time staff stays as does the site’s Baltimore office. The company claims adding this acquisition to mtvU and its recently acquired College Publisher network makes mtvU the second most visited set of general-interest college sites (based on comScore MediaMetrix numbers from October). The ratings site boasts 6.6 million user-gen ratings of over 900,000 college professors; MTVN says it’s the largest such site with a reach of about 10 million students a year. 
-- RateMyProfessors.com was founded by John Swapceinski in 1999; he sold the site to Baltimore Solutions in 2005.  Owners Patrick Nagle and Will DeSantis also founded SwitchTextbooks.com. The two will move to mtvU; SwitchTextbooks.com is not included.
-- As we’ve mentioned a few times, MTVN needs to show it has its digital act together and is making the most of its potential. Today’s press release includes a list of factoids about mtvU: distribution increased by 40-plus percent since launching in 2004, quintupled base, first full MTVN broadband net; College Publisher has shown double-digit growth. Take it for what it’s worth.
Update: Just heard back from mtvU PR—Nagle and DeSantis will continue to own the patent on Switchtextbooks.com, but the site is inactive and will remain that way.
Related:
-- MTVN Invests In TagWorld; Eager For Social Networking Tools
-- Viacom’s mtvU Acquires Online Campus Newspaper Network Y2M, For About $20M