Things are off and running at this mornings opening discussion at OMMA Publish. Peter Kafka, Senior Editor, All Things Digital is on stage talking with James Pitaro, VP and Head of Media at Yahoo. When the topic turned to Associated Content, the content farm Yahoo recently acquired, Kafka simply intoned in a low voice, "Ninety million dollars." Pitaro immediately cut him off, saying he can't comment on price. Kafka shrugged as if to say, Who said anything about price? I was just saying ninety million dollars. It's a nice round number. Rolls off the tongue. The bigger …

Former Omnicom Media Group Entertainment & Sports CEO Steve Grubbs has joined out-of-home TV developer Automated Media Services as an adviser. AMS describes itself as "a platform that extends television into the store aisle providing advertisers the ability to reach shoppers as they make purchase decisions." Grubbs joins AMS' existing advisory team, which includes former Madison Avenue colleague Larry Blasius. Grubbs served as CEO of Omnicom Group's sports and entertainment division until 2009. Prior to that, he had been North American CEO at PHD and earlier, was U.S. CEO at OMD. Previously, he led national broadcast buying at BBDO. …

That's the way OMMA Publish programming chair Steve Smith kicked things off in New York this morning, citing the multitude of online publishing related conferences that all seem consumed with "wringing their hands over the decline and fall of media." They all seem to be focused on a single theme, Smith said, "Whether people will pay or will not pay. Whether people will or will not pay. And just to freshen things up, whether people will or will not pay."

Dove Men+Care has enlisted Major League Baseball personalities for online videos and a sweepstakes to promote the men’s skincare line from Unilever. The video series, themed “Journey to Comfort,” can be viewed online at www.dovemencare.com. The first 90-second video is from St. Louis Cardinals’ Albert Pujols and premiered June 15. It will be followed on July 9 with an effort from New York Yankees’ Andy Pettitte. Coach Joe Girardi's video will launch July 15. Fans can view longer form versions of all three videos and special behind-the-scenes footage of …

Las Vegas, NV – Facebook forces up a lot of privacy issues questions these days – both good and bad for some users. At the Nielsen's Consumer 360 conference here, one question arose from a executive who said a high school football team's coach was using Facebook to identify-- and punish – players who were found to be drinking during the season, players who would post pictures of themselves in the act on the social networking area. Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer, of Facebook, said: "At every point in history, technology changes the social mores." Sandberg believes years …

During the brand panel at OMMA video, Steve Capone, Digital Media Strategy Manager, at Nokia, admitted the cell phone giant isn't actually doing so much in the way of mobile video advertising yet. But the company is big on online video advertising to showcase new devices, services and content, including the ever-popular Fart Machine app and New York Times app in its Ovi Store. He said Nokia is looking forward to when entertainment studios start to create "big feature content" for mobile devices, which in turn will help generate increased mobile video advertising.

Consumers worldwide will be looking toward digital technology – particularly those that use the Internet – to serve their entertainment and media needs, proving once again the future is indeed digital. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers' most recent Global Entertainment and Media Outlook, global entertainment and media expenditures are expected to increase to $1.7 trillion from by 2014 (from $1.3 trillion), with a compound annual growth rate of 5%. In the U.S., such expenditures will increase about 4% annually to $517 billion by 2014 (from $425 billion). Furthermore, by 2014, digital entertainment will expected to account for 26% of that spending, up …

The United Football League, in its second season, has tapped BBDO New York as its marketing and advertising partner for a new campaign. The company is launching the first phase this month with local radio, newspaper and direct mail in Hartford, Las Vegas, Omaha, Orlando, and Sacramento – the league's five markets. The League says a second phase launches in September with national television ads, tune-in messages and radio, magazine and in-stadium signage to help drive viewership of televised games.

Social media is addicting – and can get even burglars confused about their original goal. One Philadelphia thief was in the process of robbing a home, grabbing some diamond rings, but he saw a desktop computer in the home – and got distracted. He decided to logged on to Facebook to check things out. That was a easy way for cops to track and apprehend the crook. "One word of advice," said a joking Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook, in speaking at the Nielsen 360 conference in Las Vegas. "There's a mobile application." Facebook …

Using social media to encourage sharing of "virtual" products or branded promotional applications is almost de rigueur these days. But Alacer Corp., makers of fizzy vitamin drink Emergen-C, is going one better by enabling social media fans to gift friends with free, mail-delivered sample packets, as well as the virtual type.