The National Hockey League has launched the next phase of its long-term strategy of taking hockey beyond the NHL.com hub to social-media and complementary sites. The League has begun using new Facebook tools that the league hopes will make NHL fans advocates and promulgators of league content and opinions. As of this week, visitors to the NHL.com site can sign into NHL.com with their Facebook login and access a number of plug-ins that carry NHL content to the people friended by the social site's members who express their opinion, share or comment on NHL. The new program is …

Google is no stranger to rivalries and potential competition, but Fortune suggests that the search giant may have finally met its match with Facebook. Indeed, new features from the social network “may lay the groundwork for reorganizing the Internet according to the relationships between people instead of pages -- with massive implications for both search and advertising,â€� it writes. In particular, Facebook’s new “likeâ€� button is being positioned to create “an expanding map of the preferences people express across the the [sic] entire Internet.â€� More broadly, “As [Facebook] launches more features outside the Facebook site, the company’s strategy is …

Blogger Robert Scoble -- who knows a thing or two about ambitious tech giants -- is trying to wrap his head around Facebook’s grand strategy, and, well, he’s freakin’ out a bit. “Facebook wants to own your digital fingerprints,â€� according to Scoble. Regarding the social network’s new sharing tools, he predicts: “I’d expect to see Facebook’s new social features to show up on at least 30% of the web’s most popular sites within a month.â€� As a result, “Facebook gets to study everything we touch now and will bring a much more complete stream back to the mother ship.â€� …

Location-based social network Foursquare has added a link to every page representing an unclaimed business venue, which asks: “Are you the manager of this business?â€� The link takes presumed managers to a page asking them for proof that they are in fact a business’s manager, and an open-offer to discuss various marketing opportunities with a member of Foursquare’s sales team. As TechCrunch explains, “If Foursquare is ever going to be worth more than $100 million to Yahoo or anyone, it will have to add not just a hell of a lot more users, but also a hell of a …

Apple’s iPhone business now represents a whopping 40% of the company’s revenue, according to Business Insider’s “chart of the day.â€� Remarkably, that’s a share of the business that didn’t exist three years ago. Now, for three quarters and counting, the iPhone is Apple’s biggest revenue generator. During the March quarter, iPhone revenue grew 124% year-over-year to $5.4 billion -- or 40% of Apple’s $13.5 billion in total revenue. “Because of high profit margins on the iPhone, it’s likely Apple’s biggest profit contributor, too,â€� suggests Business Insider. “But that’s another chart. Apple’s second-biggest business is its Mac computer division, which …

Turner and CBS will share the NCAA basketball tournament under a new rights deal that has TBS airing the Final Four in alternate years starting in 2016. Overall, Turner will begin covering tourney games next year on three networks, along with CBS. Next year, the NCAA tournament looks to be expanded to 68 teams (from 65), not the 96 some feared would dilute its appeal. The Turner-CBS agreement is valued at $10.8 billion and runs through 2024, meaning TBS will get four Final Fours and CBS, which has had those games since 1982, will have nine. CBS will …

Turner Sports, which operates TNT and TBS, will begin carrying NCAA tourney games next year along with CBS, which has done so since 1982. USA Today is reporting the two programmers have a joint 14-year, multi-billion-dollar rights deal to carry the tournament, which will have more than the current 65 games. The NCAA has exercised a right to opt out of an exclusive deal with CBS and ink the new one. It's unclear how Turner and CBS will split the games, and what networks Turner will use on its end.

Station groups have been touting a possible flood of political dollars this year from corporations after the Supreme Court ruled they can spend as much as they want to influence elections. But a station executive said last week he is not expecting the bounty, largely because corporations and interest groups for years have found ways to spend through other channels. Even with some primaries looming, a Bloomberg BusinessWeek report quoted a prominent Washington attorney this week saying so far not one large company "has made a palpable move to take advantage of (the ruling).â€� With President Obama and …

When Roger Goodell's legacy is written, two items may occupy the first paragraph: avid discipliner of players, and willing to take gambles to make the NFL on TV even more popular. The first has been well-chronicled this week with the suspension of Pittsburgh QB Ben Roethlisberger. The second takes center stage tonight with the NFL Draft on ESPN and the NFL Network going against CBS drama hits and more ratings winners. Last year, Goodell -- the NFL commissioner since 2006 -- made the striking decision to move the increasingly popular Draft to the most coveted real estate in television: …

When Roger Goodell's legacy is written, two items may occupy the first paragraph: avid discipliner of players, and willing to take gambles to make the NFL on TV even more popular. The first has been well-chronicled this week with the suspension of Pittsburgh QB Ben Roethlisberger. The second takes center stage tonight with the NFL Draft on ESPN and the NFL Network challenging a CBS drama hit and more ratings winners . Last year, Goodell -- the NFL commissioner since 2006 -- made the striking decision to move the increasingly popular Draft to the most coveted real estate in …