The National Basketball Association (NBA) and American Express have signed a multi-year deal that makes Amex official partner of the NBA, USA Basketball, the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), and the NBA Development League (NBA D-League). American Express will use the partnership to give Cardmembers access to regular-season and playoff games, NBA All-Star, the NBA Draft, and NBA Games – London 2011, the league’s first-ever regular-season games in Europe. American Express also will serve as the presenting partner of the NBA All-Star Entertainment Series.

Everlast, a 100-year-old brand best known for its boxing prowess, has signed a long-term licensing deal with Sears Holdings, for apparel, footwear and accessories for men, women and kids. The Everlast line will be available in Sears, while Everlast Sport will be sold in the company's Kmart stores. (The brands will also be available online.) The lines are scheduled to go on sale next year, and be supported with national advertising, as well as social media and sports marketing efforts. The deal comes at a time when Everlast is expanding its reach in the U.S., Neil Morton, CEO, tells …

After announcing plans earlier this year to shutter its struggling FLO TV service, Qualcomm today said it would sell the wireless spectrum for its mobile television network to AT&T for $1.9 billion. Qualcomm had acquired the rights to use the 700 megahertz spectrum for $683 million in government auctions held between 2003 and 2008. AT&T, which last month was reported to be in discussions with Qualcomm regarding FLO TV spectrum, announced plans to use the 700 MHz licenses to help increase capacity for its 4G network, rolling out next year. The entire FLO TV footprint covers …

Underscoring General Motors' growing global reach, Joel Ewanick's new appointment will task him with unifying the company's marketing message for all brands, including Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Holden, Opel and Vauxhall, The Detroit News reports. He also will oversee auto show marketing globally and the company's participation in major events worldwide.

After several years of yanking on holiday heartstrings, the best retailing ads this season played it for laughs instead, with comical spots topping the National Retail Federation's list of favorite ads. "You can really feel the change of tone," Mike Gatti, executive director of the NRF's Retail Advertising and Marketing Association, tells Marketing Daily. "Last year was a difficult year, and so the ads were very nostalgic. This year, they are all a little more cheery. The stores are looking for a different way to tap into the consumer psyche." The trade association's survey, conducted by BIGresearch, included …

Music video site Vevo jumped a notch into third place behind Google and Yahoo in comScore's latest ranking of sites by video views. Vevo had 50 million unique visitors in November, putting just ahead of AOL and Viacom Digital, which had 47.6 milion and 47.2 million, respectively. YouTube-owner Google had a category-leading 146 million visitors and Yahoo, 61.8 million. Vevo was second only to Google in monthly minutes per viewer, at 85 to 271. Hulu was the top site in generating video ad impressions, with 1.1 billion of the 5.4 billion video ads viewed online last month. Video ads …

In the wake of Yahoo confirming its laying off about 4% of its workforce, or about 600 employees, this week, a report on Businesses Insider indicates the company is planning shutter or merge services including Delicious, Yahoo Buzz, Yahoo Events and others. The tip comes from a Twitter post by ex-Yahoo exec and Upcoming founder Andy Baio showing what looks like an internal Yahoo slide listing services the company's plans to “sunset,” “merge” or “make feature.” The last category includes Yahoo Deals, Yahoo Widgets, Yahoo Alerts and several other smaller-scale services on the Web portal. In …

The latest version of Conde Nast's popular Epicurious app for the iPhone released Tuesday includes a paid element for the first time. For a one-time fee of $1.99, users can sync their list of favorite recipes in the app with their own "recipe box" at Epicurious.com. The company says the feature was added in response to user requests. To date, the ad-supported Epicurious Recipes & Shopping List App, has had 3.5 million downloads. Based on 15 user reviews so far, the new version of the app has received a rating of 2.5 out of five stars in the iTunes …

Procrastination may be a recession-proof character trait, but this year, retailers seem to be working a little harder to woo those last-minute shoppers. Lands' End, for example, just launched a Procrastination Destination Hotline with personal shoppers, live video chat, and more gift-wrap options. Toys R Us announced it would stay open for 88 hours straight, beginning at 6 am Tuesday, Dec. 21 until 10 pm on Christmas Eve. And even 7-Eleven--the last refuge of foot-dragging men--is pushing its gift options, from gift cards and lottery tickets to videogames, DVDs and CDs, wine, candy and this year, Snuggies "and other As …

Myspace and Google said Thursday the companies have signed a multi-year agreement to renew and expand their search and advertising relationship. Under the terms of the new agreement, Google will continue to power Myspace search and search advertising and will also provide additional display advertising services to improve the experience on Myspace. The agreement includes Web search and search advertising, and display ad solutions including participating in the Google Display Network and DoubleClick Ad Exchange.