Ending weeks of a bidding battle with Microsoft, Google reached an agreement to buy online advertising network DoubleClick for $3.1 billion in cash, the companies announced today.

Google has added its voice to those opposing the new Utah law that attempts to regulate keyword bidding.

CBS is about to make a major push to distribute TV shows online. The TV network said today it's forged deals with a host of companies including AOL, MSN, CNET Networks, Joost, Veoh, Brightcove and others to syndicate ad-supported shows on the Web.

Prime time for the television networks also is prime time for their Web sites, according to a new report by Nielsen//NetRatings.

Utah has quietly passed a new law that aims to regulate search advertising by prohibiting marketers from bidding to appear as sponsored links when people search for names of their rivals. For instance, the law would ban Dell Computer from bidding to appear as a paid search ad when search users query on the term IBM.

Fox TV Studios is working with Hearst to develop video clips for the Web sites of CosmoGIRL! and Popular Mechanics, the companies said this morning.

In a closely watched case, Google and Agence-France Presse have entered into a licensing agreement to settle a lawsuit brought by AFP. The settlement allows Google to link to AFP stories and display some of the wire service's content.

As major media companies continue to battle with YouTube, evidence is mounting that the video-sharing site is winning the fight for users' time -- with or without copyrighted clips.

U.S. customers spent $79 billion on online travel last year, according to a new report released today by eMarketer. The research firm predicts that spending in this category will grow at around 17% a year for the next five years, totaling $146 billion by 2010.

EMI Group said this week it will allow its music to be sold DRM-free on Apple's iTunes. The move marks the first time one of the four major record labels is allowing Apple to sell tracks free of software that limits people's ability to transfer them to other non-Apple devices.