DirecTV, once the cornerstone of News Corporation's media strategy, no longer means what it once did to chairman Rupert Murdoch. Now, he's considering swapping his $9 billion stake in the satellite operator with rival John Malone. Liberty Media Chairman Malone actually owns a 19 percent voting stake in News Corp., 11 percent less than the Murdoch family. In 2004, Murdoch introduced a poison pill to curtail Malone from acquiring more shares. The result was that the Murdoch family could not increase their stake, either. Since then, the media moguls have gone back and forth as allies and enemies, but the …

A Belgian court found Google, Inc. in violation of the country's copyright laws and ordered the search giant to remove all links to French and German-language newspaper reports published in Belgium. The legal action, taken by a consortium of local publishers in Belgium, marks the latest attempt by the news media to challenge the growing power of Internet news portals run by large search engines. Publishers complain that Google News steals ad revenue from newspapers by publishing summaries of articles along with a link to the newspapers' Web sites. The consortium, called Copiepresse, argued that the Google News summaries keep …

Walt Disney Co. plans to introduce its own portable video and audio player aimed at kids between 9 and 13, known as tweens. The device plays music and movies stored on either its hard drive or a memory card. Disney Chief Bob Iger is expected to introduce the new device, called the "Mix Max," today in New York. Tweens covet adult gizmos, like iPods and cell phones, without being quite old enough to have them. So Disney, the undisputed king of the tween market, thinks there's a sizable untapped market there. They may be right. At $99, the Mix Max …

Video games are the latest medium for advocating social change. Wired previews two new online games dealing with the situation in Israel and Palestine, "Global Conflicts: Palestine" and "Peacemaker." In "Palestine," you play a New York Times Middle East correspondent, who starts out somewhere in Israel speaking with people on the streets. It's a choose-your-own-adventure-style game, in which you have the ability to talk to all sides--terrorists, soldiers, and people caught in the middle. The violence, poverty and death are all rendered in real-time 3-D. Advancement makes you a more respected journalist, and it also gains you the trust of …

In the latest sign of the mounting pressure facing music download sites, Napster owner Roxio is officially looking for a sale. The company hired UBS Investment Bank to explore its options, which could include a strategic buyer or a major strategic partner. Napster lags well behind Apple's iTunes, which has been bolstered by the widespread popularity of its iTunes media player and RealNetworks' Rhapsody music service. Microsoft is now entering the game with its own music player, called Zune, along with a download service that will debut later this year. Michael Gartenberg, an analyst with JupiterResearch, points out that Napster …

YouTube has now signed a definitive agreement with Warner Music Group that will make music from its artists' catalogue available legally on the site. The commercial partnership will result in artist channels like the one YouTube established with Paris Hilton a few months ago. The pact will help Warner distribute videos, behind-the-scenes footage, artist interviews, and original programming. But it will also enable YouTube users to incorporate music from Warner artists into the videos they upload. Music videos are regularly uploaded to YouTube, usually without permission from the copyright holders. The pact was signed over the weekend, and comes just …

Things are looking up slightly at AOL, since the Time Warner company decided to give email addresses away for free. The result: a stronger-than-expected response, giving former AOL pessimists some hope that it could lead to a growing online audience. A month ago, AOL started making its email and software available for free, basically encouraging its dial-up customers to leave its service for faster broadband connections with other providers. But apparently, paying someone else for service hasn't resulted in former subscribers leaving AOL. "Customers are using AOL just as they did before," says Jonathan Miller, CEO at AOL. "The fundamental …

It's almost unthinkable here in the U.S.--but in China, Google, Yahoo and the rest are getting clobbered in search by Baidu.com, the fourth-most trafficked Web site in the world, owing to China's massive Web population. Part of the secret of Baidu's success has been its ability to get support from the Chinese government, which imposes strict rules and censorship on companies operating in the country. But will Baidu be able to retain its lead? With a market cap of $3 billion, it's a minnow compared to Google and Yahoo, which have better technology and a more robust set of global …

It was a curious turn of events last week when Apple Computer pre-announced a wireless video streaming set-top box code named "iTV" that will enable consumers to watch video from the Web on TV. BBC News confirms that Google is now in talks with Apple to provide video content on the device, but neither company would offer any further information. What sets Apple's iTV device apart from similar offerings already out there? Not much, apart from the sleek design and user interface we've come to expect from Apple. Thus far, none of the Web to TV devices has caught on …

MTV's reality show "Laguna Beach: the Real OC" has been an interesting experiment in "scripted" reality television. Clever editing and a pushy production staff enable MTV to make the mundane lives of spoiled rich kids in Southern California look like glamorous soap operas. Perhaps that formula is losing steam after three seasons, as MTV is expected to launch an extension of its Laguna Beach brand this week to the virtual world of online avatars. "You can not only watch TV, but now you can actually live it," a peppy-sounding Van Toffler, the president of the MTV Networks Music, Film and …