Cambridge, Mass. – Harvard University ranks No. 1 in
StudentAdvisor.com’s newly released list of the Top 100 Social Media Colleges
— perhaps not surprisingly, as it where Facebook’s creators developed the
service while attending as undergraduates. The site bases its monthly rankings
on "how active and effective each school is at engaging their audiences on
Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other social media tools, such as iTunes and
podcasts."

Related Links:
http://www.studentadvisor.com/top-100-social-media-colleges

Los Angeles – A consortium of media firms that includes
Advance Publications, the Associated Press, Dow Jones, Gannett, McClatchy,
Scripps and Time has issued a cease-and-desist warning to Zite, an iPad app
that aggregates news stories from various sources, Wired.com reported.

Zite
culls articles based on a user’s activity on Twitter and Google Reader, and lets users fine-tune their feed of content with ratings.

"By
systematically reformatting, republishing, and redistributing our original
content on a mass commercial scale without our permission in your iPad
application, Zite directly and adversely impacts our businesses," the
letter from the publishers reads.

Zite responded in a blog post by saying that it would alter its
application settings for the affected publishers from "reading mode"
to "web view mode."

Related Links:
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/03/media-heavies-zite-cease/

New York – Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) has removed channels from News
Corp. (NYSE: NWS), Viacom (NYSE: VIA) and Discovery (NASD: DISCA) from the offering at its new iPad live streaming
application, after threats of lawsuits. "We believe we have every right to
carry the Fox Cable Networks, Viacom and Discovery programming on the iPad
app," the company said in a statement.

"But, for the time being, we
have decided to focus our iPad efforts on those enlightened programmers who
understand the benefit and importance of allowing our subscribers — and their
viewers — to watch their programming on any screen in their homes.

"In the
meantime, we will pursue all of our legal rights against the programmers who
don’t share our vision."

The dozen channels removed include MTV, Comedy
Central, FX and National Geographic.

Meanwhile, on Friday, TWC announced that it has added
16 new channels to its iPad live video app, including Disney, Bravo, CNN, AMC,
C-SPAN, E, MSNBC and ESPNews.

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/43b2a5p

http://tinyurl.com/3qvagqc
(DMW previous coverage)

Arlington, Va. – In-Q-Tel (IQT), the venture fund backed by
the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), said it has invested in Belleview,
Wash.-based Visible Technologies as part of the social media monitoring
company’s new $6 million round of funding.

Other previous backers, including
Investor Growth Capital, Joe Grano, Ignition Partners and WPP, also participated
in the round, which boasted the company’s total backing to $45 million.

Founded
in 2005, Visible is a developer of services designed to help clients build and
manage their online reputations, as well as track and participate in social
media conversations.

In-Q-Tel first invested in the firm in 2009.

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/3hz3l7n

Dallas – Bankrupt video rental store chain Blockbuster has
received bids from satellite TV provider DISH Network (NASD: DISH) and billionaire investor
Carl Icahn, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources.

A group of hedge
funds led by Monarch Alternative Capital already made a "stalking
horse" bid of about $290 million for Blockbuster.

Also weighing a bid
reportedly is South Korea’s SK Telecom.

The Journal speculated that DISH, Icahn
and other bidders likely pledged minimum offers initially, to qualify for the
bankruptcy auction scheduled on Monday.

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/3hrnlej
(WSJ)

Grapevine, Texas – Video game retail store chain GameStop
announced that it has acquired streaming technology firm Spawn Labs, and plans
to acquire Stardock Systems’ Impulse subsidiary, a provider of digital
distribution services.

Financial terms of the transactions were not disclosed.

Texas-based
GameStop said it plans to use Spawn’s technology to offer consumers a wide
selection of high-definition video games on-demand, via any Internet-enabled
device.

Impulse will provide a digital platform that consumers can use to download
titles from a library of more than 1,100 games.

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/4myxhxg

http://www.gamestop.com

http://www.spawnlabs.com

http://www.impulsedriven.com

Singapore – Bubble Motion, the developer of a voice-based,
mobile social networking platform, announced that it has raised $10 million in
new funding, led by SingTel Innov8.

Infocomm Investments, Sequoia Capital,
Palomar Ventures and NGC also participated in the investment round.

Singapore-based Bubble Motion’s Bubbly voice-based social networking service
currently counts over 7 million users across India, Indonesia, Japan and the
Philippines, and has delivered more than 250 million "bubble
messages" through its service.

The company will use the funds to expand
its service into new countries while scaling its platform.

Related Links:
http://www.bubblemotion.com

San Diego – Verimatrix, a provider of content security and
monetization for digital TV services, announced that it has acquired
Comvenient, a Germany-based developer of digital video conditional access
technology.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in
2003, Comvenient now supplies it systems to more than 100 digital TV operators.

San Diego-based Verimatrix said the combined company will use Comvenient’s headquarters
in Munich as its security development and support center.

Related Links:
http://www.verimatrix.com

Littleton, Mass. – Movik Networks, a developer of wireless
networking technology that supports radio access networks, has raised $25
million in its third round of venture capital, which was led by Oak Investment
Partners.

A radio access network is part of a mobile telecommunication system
that sits between a mobile phone and the core network.

Founded in 2006, Littleton,
Mass.-based Movik offers technology that helps customers scale content
distribution, establish policies and procedures based on network conditions,
and implements traffic management techniques to make the most efficient use of
the existing network infrastructure.

Other investors in the company’s new round
of venture capital include Highland Capital Partners and Northbridge Venture
Partners.

Related Links:
http://www.movik.com