It's no secret TV dollars are moving online: last year's television upfront garnered participating networks $9 billion in advertising commitments; this year, as marketers clip their TV budgets, the nascent broadband video market is expected do as much as $1 billion. The Hollywood Reporter's Diane Mermigas notes that TV executives would be "tickled" if the networks could come close to matching last year's numbers. Few will expect them to, especially as major marketers like Johnson & Johnson, with its estimated $500 million in network TV dollars, have pulled out of the upfront process. New media options abound; they're more measurable …

Adotas runs down the list of pending litigations facing Google over click fraud. There's the original case in Arkansas filed by Lane's Gifts, settled out of court for a paltry $90 million ($60 million after lawyers' fees) in AdWords credits. Next came the AIT case, filed in California. The most recent, again filed in Arkansas, is against the plaintiffs who filed the original suit, claiming the settlement was a bad deal that doesn't fairly represent Google's advertisers. Why was the original settlement so lopsided? Simply because a location clause forced Lane's Gifts' lawyers into a bad deal--Google's contract states that …

Eliot Spitzer, New York State's Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate, is pushing affordable broadband for New York State residents as part of his campaign to replace George Pataki in Albany. Since 2001, the U.S. has dropped from fourth to 12th in terms of household access to broadband Internet. Said Spitzer recently: "In the 21st century, Internet access is no longer a luxury, it's a necessity." If elected, Spitzer says he would partner with a private firm to bring high-speed access to New York residents at low rates. The company would pay for the infrastructure and agree to sell access at …

The Recording Industry Association of America has stopped suing kids, turning its attention instead to satellite radio provider XM, which is creating a satellite radio device with Pioneer that lets consumers store songs they hear on XM radio. The RIAA is suing for $150 K per song downloaded, charging XM with copyright infringement, unauthorized delivery, reproduction infringement and unfair competition. The outcome of this case will likely determine how storage works on digital media devices, which like everything else, are converging. Says the RIAA, "We're making clear that if you enter into the business of providing distribution, you've got to …

When AOL comes late to the party, it often brings along some solid products, but they don't tend to add anything new. Most recently, the Time Warner company has launched AIM Pages, which expands on AOL Instant Messenger, its 43 million-strong instant messaging network. This will directly compete with MySpace and its mammoth 70 million user base. Today the company is quietly unveiling a user-generated video service called UnCut, which takes a stab at YouTube and its 13 million user base. UnCut users will need an AOL or AIM screen name, but kids under 18 will not be invited …

After announcing it at its Press Day last week, Google has taken the cover off Google Notebook, a program that lets you bookmark Web pages and pieces of content from Web pages. As with Yahoo's Del.icio.us, you can add a note to and categorize each piece of content, then publish it to the Web. Multiple Notebooks can be created, and a search function lets you crawl your own and other public Notebooks. You can tag Google search results by clicking on the "note this" link at the bottom of each result or you can tag items on the open Web …

A few months ago, the National Assembly in France passed legislation that could force Apple Computer and other companies to make songs purchased on the Web downloadable on any MP3 device. While Apple considers shutting down all operations in France, a new movement riding on a similar tide of open-access-for-all is taking shape in the country: they're called "Audionautes," which sort of translates into "audio surfers," and they advocate criminal piracy, offering legal assistance to those accused of illegally downloading music. The group is headed by an 18-year-old high school student who many officials in France believe represents the new …

An analyst attending a recent meeting of eBay PowerSellers, a group of companies that raise 75 percent or more of their income from eBay, said revolution could be in the air for the online auctioneer. Increasingly, Google is moving in on eBay's territory and limiting its growth potential, and the PowerSellers are taking notice. Already, 50 percent of the conference's attendees reported listing products on Google Base, the search giant's free database of products and services. While Google Base has yet to become a significant driver of sales for ecommerce companies, its certainly represents a new opportunity, and one that …

The TV upfront, underway this week, is now joined by competing initiatives from heavily trafficked Web publishers like CNN, Yahoo and Heavy.com. TiVo, which makes digital video recorders that operate over a broadband connection, has now forged an upfront arrangement of its own with Interpublic Media, one of the world's largest agency holding companies. The multi-million dollar deal gives Interpublic preferred pricing and ad opportunities for its massive client base that includes the likes of Sony, Intel, Johnson & Johnson and Microsoft. But what does that mean? The article is unclear, and the Interpublic executives quoted were short on details. …

Media execs Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, and News Corp. President Peter Chernin, are "trawling Silicon Valley in person in search of the next hot start-ups," the Financial Times reports. Chernin, apparently, has taken to meeting with entrepreneurs personally and pursuing local VCs for leads and contacts. Why? In News Corp.'s case, anyway, fishing season turned out pretty good last year, when the conglomerate took over the social networking phenomenon MySpace and IGN.com, a video game news portal, for around $1.2 billion. MySpace, which cost less than IGN, was an absolute steal at $580 million. As one Valley exec said, …