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Discusses the copyright issues in the United States regarding the use of Sherlock Holmes, and how the changes in copyright law over the years have played a part.

US Supreme Court decides that corporate ownership/finance of online political content should be no different than if it was written by a person -- leading to changes in rules for corporate/union finance of political campaigns.

What impact does media consolidation have on creative programming? This blog post explores the impact of media ownership on programming and creative labor, with quotes from WGA President John Wells.

"Gawker Media, the eight-year-old online publishing heavyweight founded by Nick Denton, announced its first acquisition on Monday: the New York boldface name guide CityFile."

Article discussing Shaw Communications acquisition of Canwest Global Media's television assets. Article discusses legal and economic aspects of the acquisition.

"Although Apple won plaudits from the book publishing industry for offering it more control over pricing and a richer split of sales - publishers retain 70 per cent of sales and have control over the customer pricing of books - the revenue sharing plan makes less sense for recurring charges such as subscriptions, publishers said. The concept of giving away close to a third of subscription sales over an indefinite period was difficult to accept, publishers said. "Thirty per cent forever changes the economics," one media executive in discussions with Apple said. "You can imagine we feel less good about it. Should (subscriptions) be treated differently than single item sales?""

"Mr Jobs articulated his belief that a "functioning media" is vital to a "functioning democracy" and how his "gorgeous" device would help safeguard that role...The question haunting publishers is whether they will suffer the same fate as the music industry, which was hit by Apple's 2003 deal to unbundle the album format by offering downloads of individual songs via iTunes."

Marvel is suing Jack Kirby's heirs, who are trying to terminate Marvel's copyright to many of their most important characters

A retrospective on the AOL Time Warner merger, and the subsequent disaster that resulted from it.

"A marvel of passionate succinctness, Robert Kane Pappas' docu critically examines the Fourth Estate, once the bastion of American democracy. Docu asks, "Could a media system, controlled by a few global corporations with the ability to overwhelm all competing voices, be able to turn lies into truth?"

"A marvel of passionate succinctness, Robert Kane Pappas' docu critically examines the Fourth Estate, once the bastion of American democracy. Docu asks, "Could a media system, controlled by a few global corporations with the ability to overwhelm all competing voices, be able to turn lies into truth?"

"Filmmaker Robert Kane Pappas's long-winded yet terrifyingly bleak Orwell Rolls In His Grave argues that the mainstream American media are no longer the voice of American freedom. Instead, they're part of a repressive political power structure that has uncanny parallels with the dystopian world of George Orwell's novel 1984..."

"Explores the impact of media consolidation on news content and youth as both media producers and consumers. (10 minute version.)"

Disney is looking to sell off what remain of Miramax and its film library, with a price in the range of over $700 million. There is somewhere around seven to ten interested buyers, including Summit Entertainment

"Topics under consideration for the report include the state of TV, radio, newspaper and Internet news and information services; the effectiveness and nature of public interest obligations in a digital era; and the role of public media and private sector foundations, among others. As part of the broad initiative, the FCC launched a Web site for public discussion."

"They have the chutzpah to say that the new venture will boost quantity, quality, diversity and "local focus." I would think that "surely they jest" but, indeed, they are serious. They have filed with both the Justice Department, as well as the FCC. The $30 billion deal will also be examined on Capitol Hill in hearings beginning next week."

The Official Twitter Page of the US Federal Communications Commission