News Corp.'s Internet Chief Ross Levinsohn confirmed the media conglomerate's interest in Internet search, saying it will either acquire a search company or partner with one. Among other possibilities is Quigo, Inc., which is currently negotiating with News Corp. Levinsohn also outlined other aspects of the company's Internet strategy, including Web-only episodes of Fox's hit show "The Family Guy," which will be promoted on recent acquisition IGN, an online gaming site. News Corp may sell ads on the Webisodes. Meanwhile, Levinsohn said the company has no plans to regulate the content on MySpace.com, whose unrestrictive culture he says has been …

A new study shows that young people greatly prefer Internet radio and their iPods to terrestrial radio. The Bridge Ratings study, which asked 2,000 people aged 12 to 24 about their music preference, found that 54 percent prefer Internet radio to broadcast radio, while 85 percent would rather listen to their mp3 players than radio. Moreover, 72 percent of those sampled said they hear new music on the Internet, while just 31 percent said they are exposed to new music on the radio. What's more, 54 percent said they couldn't name one radio station in their area that plays their …

On the day of Howard Stern's last broadcast for Infinity Broadcasting, the self-proclaimed King of All Media is talking about a dramatic PR stunt in which Yahoo! would carry live video stream of Stern walking from Infinity Broadcasting's WXRK studios to his new home at Sirius Satellite Radio. To date, Stern' show has only been Webcast by San Diego station 91X, in an unauthorized and short-lived stint on the Web. Details of the Yahoo! deal have yet to surface--in fact, it's unclear whether Stern's claims are material or not. There is still no word regarding Webcasts of Stern's show once …

Executives in the B-to-B sphere weigh in on what's hot and what's not in 2006. Among the hot items are Internet video, RSS, blogs and podcasts, but not advertising via these formats--particularly RSS and podcasts, which may have been pushed too hard too fast, and when there's currently very little opportunity for ads, some said. Consumers will grow their usage of these media forms but the business prospects for them remain small, executives said. B-to-B media revenues, however, are expected to grow more than 20 percent next year.

In a bid to become, leaner, meaner and more responsive to the fast-paced world of the Internet, a few big media firms have resorted to breaking apart so they can better compete. Sumner Redstone is splitting Viacom, Inc into two, Carl Icahn is threatening the Time Warner board into dividing the company into four, and there have been suggestions that large shareholders would like to see a similar slimming-down at News Corp. However, Diane Mermigas of The Hollywood Reporter suggests that the ability of a large corporation to bravely enter new territory has less to do with size than it …

Google's latest AdSense feature is drawing the ire of certain publishers in its network, according to MarketingVox. The search network provider last month began placing an "Advertise on this site" link next to all of its placements on sites using AdSense, which many publishers complain is actually taking business away from them. The program actually brings potential advertisers away from the site they wanted to buy advertising from and into AdWords, where they're presented with a list of sites the program says are relevant based on keywords they enter. A second problem, publishers say, is that Google's link makes it …

Cingular Wireless has begun offering customers in 16 U.S. cities high-speed Internet access through its cellular network. The company claims the new third-generation network service, BroadbandConnect, is as fast as a digital subscriber line (DSL) connection. However, it comes at a hefty price: a two-year subscription costs $60 per month. Cell network operators are trying to compete with Wi-Fi technology, which enables laptop users to access high-speed Internet connections via a wireless signal. Whereas Wi-Fi networks only extend over small areas, Cingular says the BroadbandConnect service pervades an entire city. The service is initially available in Boston, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, …

It's been a really bad year for Gap, Inc. So much so, in fact, even Internet sales, which have tended upward for most retailers, have fallen--though not by as much as analysts predicted. In the third quarter, Gap's online sales fell 10 percent to $134 million from $148 million last year. This amounted to 4 percent of total sales. Internet Retailer says the poor third quarter performance is due to the technical problems the company experienced in redesigning its three Web sites, costing them tens of millions of dollars. According to a New York Times report, sales are slumping at …

We're used to hearing that Internet users think tracking cookies are an invasion of their privacy, but conventional Web wisdom has always said that most people don't really understand the benefits. Well, a new study from Blue Lithium, an ad network, could dispel that notion: 83 percent of respondents claim familiarity with cookies, and they still don't like them. In an admittedly small survey of 150 Web users, 83 percent of respondents said they understand what cookies are, while 64 percent said cookies invade their privacy. Cookies, used by publishers to save user settings and by advertisers to target ads, …

In a press conference given in Los Angeles yesterday, Time Warner Chief Richard Parsons confirmed speculation that its America Online unit will not be sold. However, he did say that the company is continuing negotiations with Microsoft and Google over a possible partnership. Meanwhile, Google, which provides AOL with search technology and advertising revenue, warned investors that a loss of AOL's business due to a new partnership with Microsoft would negatively impact earnings and future growth. AOL represents about 10 percent of Google's revenue.