Richard Rosenblatt, the chairman-CEO of Demand Media proclaims that MySpace would no longer exist if it hadn't been acquired by News Corporation in 2005. Presumably Rosenblatt, the former CEO of MySpace parent Intermix, would know. After all, he sold the company to Rupert Murdoch's media empire for $580 million. "MySpace was in an interesting stage of its development [when News Corp. acquired it]," he said at a conference last week. "It had a different type of capital structure, and we weren't able to make the type of investments for the infrastructure. Ultimately, if we hadn't sold to News Corp., …

The Barack Obama campaign this week seized a MySpace page belonging to an Obama supporter it was aligned with previously. Joe Anthony, a Los Angeles paralegal, created the MySpace profile for Barack Obama three years ago. The profile brought in some 160,000 friends for the Illinois Senator that were approved by Anthony to visit and post comments. Eventually, Anthony gave the Obama campaign access to update the page, but little by little, the campaign tried to exercise more control. Soon, negotiations broke down, and Anthony changed the site's password, requesting $39,000 for the page, as well as compensation …

If Microsoft acquires the ad network 24/7 Real Media, it could prove to be the savviest of its series of late entries. Sources say Microsoft is preparing a bid in the $1 billion range, nearly double the $600 million valuation analysts placed on the ad network. That means Microsoft would pay at least $150 million more for 24/7 than Yahoo paid for Right Media. It would also value the ad firm at a little more than one-third the price Google paid for DoubleClick. Microsoft is favored to win this bidding war because WPP, which has also expressed interest, …

Even as Yahoo and Microsoft (reportedly) make counter moves, there can be little doubt that DoubleClick, set to be acquired by Google for $3.1 billion pending federal objection, is the big kahuna of display delivery. For the first time since the landmark announcement, DoubleClick CEO David Rosenblatt spoke about the acquisition and the criticism surrounding it. Privacy advocates worry that together Google and DoubleClick would collect an unprecedented amount of information about Web users. The companies plan to combine DoubleClick's services with Google's platform, enabling them to target, serve and analyze all types of online ads. Rosenblatt, however, points …

Forget DoubleClick and Right Media. Blog maverick and media billionaire-eccentric Mark Cuban says Yahoo's partnership to sell display advertising and video ads for Comcast is the deal of the year. To be sure, Comcast.net is big and its inventory is lucrative, but Cuban says access to the Comcast network makes this deal really significant. He says that Yahoo's advertising platform, Panama, will be integrated into a video platform for the first time. For example, when Comcast serves video from Comcast.net to its high-speed Internet customers, these are private network subscribers, not regular Internet subscribers. Comcast controls its network in …

How hip is the National Basketball Association? After signing a deal with Google to host its highlights on YouTube, the NBA enlisted the services of virtual-world content creator Electric Sheep to build an NBA headquarters in Second Life. It's cool looking and interactive. Whereas Second Lifers might head over to the Reuters or CNET headquarters and then never return -- is there anything to actually do there? -- the NBA playground has games and features designed to bring people back. Electric Sheep, which has worked for several big brands in Second Life, created the HQ and its activities, …

Taking a cue from China's book, the U.S. Army has disallowed soldiers from posting anything from a blog entry to a resume to a personal email without first clearing the content with a supervising officer. Failure to comply could result in a court-martial, or "administrative, disciplinary, contractual, or criminal action." Hmmm, free speech, anybody? The April 19th directive marks the sharpest restriction on troops online activities since the start of the Iraq war. The official stance is that these postings could contain sensitive information. But the initiative could mean the end of blogging for soldiers. Aside from the …

The next Web bubble is coming, says Todd Dagres of the venture capital firm Spark Capital, but this one doesn't affect most of us. Private investors, especially those who've poured money into the overcrowding Web video space, should be forewarned. There isn't enough room out there for every "Next Big Thing" proposal that comes across their desks. According to a Dow Jones/Venture One report, the amount of U.S. venture capital going into video related-startups jumped by 95% last year to $682 million. However, not all are trying to be the next YouTube. Many are providers of networking or Web …

Never mind the ad-business (for now). The big Web opportunity is Web-based software and services, says Microsoft's chief software architect. Look no further than the recent action of Microsoft competitors like Adobe Systems, producer of Flash, Apple and even online auctioneer eBay. All are starting to build desktop services like gadgets and applets and browser plug-ins to complement Web services. Ozzie says the key to Microsoft's future lies in ad-supported programs like Silverlight Streaming, a service that lets users store and stream video clips into Web pages free. It's a tool for consumers and software developers alike: Net developers, …

For the first time in months, defendant Google has gone public about its pending $1 billion lawsuit against Viacom. Michael Kwun, Google's managing counsel for litigation, spoke with reporters after the lawsuit was officially filed Monday, insisting that the Web giant would not back down--meaning no out of court settlement. Google seeks to have the case dismissed on the grounds that YouTube, the Google company cited in the suit, hasn't broken any law. Google's defense relies heavily on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, which grants sites that allow users to post material immunity from copyright infringement, …