Network-cable programming synergy -- it's possibly the only real marketing tool the broadcast networks have left. In that regard, NBCUniversal cable networks will air a late-night encore of the NBC Television Network's new show "Smash" -- a high profile, expensive, working place drama about the creation of a Broadway musical. Eight NBCUniversal cable networks will air the one-hour premiere of "Smash" (which originally aired on Monday night on NBC) at 12 a.m. ET on USA, Bravo, Style, Oxygen, G4, mun2, Universal HD, and Cloo. (E! will air the show at 12:30 a.m. ET.)

Google got top rankings by Greenpeace Wednesday in its latest Cool IT Leaderboard ranking of 21 IT companies on their clean energy roles, willingness to embrace clean energy solutions, and potential to influence energy decisions. Google topped the table for its U.S. clean energy policy, and strengthening of the EU's 20% greenhouse gas target of 30% by 2020. Apple and Facebook were omitted in this year's ranking. Apple was not included because its efforts do not meet the criteria. Interestingly, the energy used to power data centers like those operated by Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, and IBM that deliver online services …

Prominent Silicon Valley blog GigaOm said Wednesday it has acquired the assets from ContentNext Media, parent company of media-focused blog paidContent, from publisher Guardian News & Media. Financial terms were not disclosed. “With our shared commitment to journalistic ethics, GigaOM and paidContent are a natural fit,” said Paul Walborsky, CEO of GigaOM, in a statement. “paidContent is the leading voice covering the evolution of media, an area that is very important to us. Integrating our teams will enrich our editorial coverage and expand our footprint immediately in two markets that are critical to our growth – New York City and …

Sprint posted a loss in the fourth quarter, but the wireless operator said it sold 1.8 million iPhones in the last three months of 2011. And 40% of those sales were to new customers. Overall, Sprint added 1.6 million subscribers in the quarter, including 539,000 contract customers. It reported a loss of $1.3 billion, beating analyst estimates, but up from $929,000 a year ago. Revenue of $8.7 billion was up 5% from a year earlier and n line with analyst estimates. Sprint said it plans to begin rolling out its 4G LTE network by mid-year. Besides Houston, Dallas, San Antonio …

ABC has sold out the "The 84th Academy Awards" telecast to advertisers. This news comes from Bob Iger, president/chief executive officer of The Walt Disney Company, speaking during an quarterly earnings call on Tuesday. Media executives says pricing for the big film awards event is now $1.7 million for a thirty-second commercial, which is a 2% to 4% price rise over last year's event. "The Academy Awards" is typically the second highest rated TV show of the year. Last year, "The 83th Academy Awards" pulled in 37.9 million viewers and scored 11.8 rating/ 30 share among 18-49 viewers.

Reiterating his "we're on fire" observation, Rentrak CEO Bill Livek added that the deal just disclosed with Interpublic's Mediabrands division is " a big deal," because Interpublic says it will be "using Rentrak as a trading currency."

In a quarterly earnings call with investors and analysts, Rentrak CEO Bill Livek said "we're actually on fire," and disclosed that the TV audience measurement firm has signed Ion Television and News Corp.'s Star TV as new TV network ratings clients.

Interpublic's Mediabrands unit, including Universal McCann, Initiative and Magna Global, has licensed a new "movie-goer" segmentation database, as part of the holding company's subscriptions with TV audience ratings supplier Rentrak.

Dear Fellow Shareholders: I write today to update you on the actions the Yahoo! board has taken, and the actions it is pursuing, to increase shareholder value and position the Company for growth. These actions result from a process I initiated about six months ago in a special meeting of the independent directors in which we analyzed the reasons why Yahoo! was not meeting either our own expectations or those of our shareholders.

Social mobile video startup Viddy has raised $6 million in a first-round funding led by Battery Ventures and including Greycroft Ventures and Qualcomm. That brings the company’s total capital raised so to date to $8.2 million. Viddy’s iOS app for sharing and editing mobile 15-second videos has attracted celebrity users like Snoop Dogg, Linkin Park and Incubus. Its audience has grown well beyond rap stars and musicians, with more than a million users and 40 million video views in January after launching last April. Besides user-created clips, Viddy also features premium branded content tie-ins, allowing fans to download custom video …