News written by James Delahunty (November, 2009)

Italian police targeted a factory manufacturing counterfeit discs intended for export around Europe last week. The Italian Fiscal Police (GdF) raided the Bologna-based plant, which was producing unlicensed box sets that included music, films and TV programming. The raid followed an investigation into an unlicensed box set "Masterbox", which contained music by international artists such as Bob Dylan, Depeche Mode, Eminem, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and Tiziano Ferro.

Masterbox box sets had previously been manufactured in Poland, but the operation moved to Italy following raids by Polish police in February 2009. At that point, nine million copyright infringing albums in total were estimated to have been distributed around Europe, with an estimated trade value of around €19 million being put on the previous 15 editions of the box set series produced in the plant.

FPM worked with the Italian Fiscal Police to investigate the manufacturing plant that was producing new editions of the Masterbox series, while IFPI coordinated industry enquiries across Europe in support of the official investigation.

The New York Times is citing sources familiar with plans to bring about an "iTunes for magazines"; an online newsstand to be developed by Time Inc., Condo Nast and Heasrt. According to the "people with knowledge of the plans," the new venture may be announced in early December. The move is being made to counter continually declining print circulation for U.S. magazines.

The website would reportedly offer consumers the chance to buy print or electronic copies of their magazines. It would also develop software standards for viewing the content on iPhones, Blackberrys, eBook readers and other devices. According to the New York Observer, John Squires, a Time executive, would be the chief executive officer of the new online venture.

"The consortium provides one point of contact for the consumer," the Observer quoted an unidentified source as saying. "When you come to the main store, you can get the content any way you want." U.S. newspaper and magazine publishers have witnessed a steep decline in print advertising revenue as more of their readers turn to free content on the Internet to get their news.

Acer Inc., the world's second largest PC manufacturer, located in Taiwan, has revealed that the launch of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 7 operating system has been positive for year-end PC sales, with gains meeting expectations. Chairman & CEO of Acer Group Gianfranco Lanci said the company is keeping its quarterly revenue outlook and maintaining a 15 percent sales growth target for the coming year.

"When we saw the features of Windows 7, we already knew that it would be good for demand," Lanci told reporters on Thursday. "We have no plans to revise." Acer is the market leader in low-cost netbooks and laptop PCs. It expects sales to stay flat from the previous quarter and expects sales to rise 25 percent from the last year.

Acer's competitors, including Dell Inc and Hewlett-Packard, also experienced sales growth after the launch of Microsoft's latest operating system. Acer reported a quarterly net profit of $108 million last month, a rise of 14 percent from the previous year. It expects to ship 42 million units in the netbook market in 2010, which would represent a growth of 50 percent.

The Iraqi government has launched its own YouTube channel aimed at countering the "lies" from the media and to show off the government's "successes". Nuri al-Maliki, Shi'ite Prime Minister, said that the channel will help the government to dispel the "lies and misleading information in the news." He is seeking re-election early next year.

Several moves made recently in Iraq have sparked fears that the government may be trying to crack down on the media, which has had unprecedented freedom since Saddam Hussein was ousted. Several local and foreign lawsuits were filed against media outlets that were critical of Maliki or of his government. Additionally, new regulations for broadcasters and moves to censor books and the Internet were made.

It is unknown how much effect the YouTube channel could really have in Iraq, where only a small few actually have Internet access at home. Even in those cases, they rely on low bandwidth connections that would be unsuitable for video streaming. Of course, the YouTube channel does not allow users to leave any comments.

Sony Executive Deputy President Hiroshi Yoshioka has predicated by the year ending March 2013, between a third and half of all Sony Corp. television sets sold will include 3D features. Yoshioka also acknowledged that a key issue contributing to the company's losses in the TV business is its reliance on a third party for panels. Sony buys panels from South Korean giant Samsung Electronics Co., which use LED-lacklight technology.

He said that the joint venture with Samsung has produced difficulties as well as having many positive effects too on Sony's products. "They were a competitor," he said, without giving any details on when Sony might be planning on producing its own displays of this type. While LED-backlit TVs have proven to be a success for Samsung, Sony may try to fight back by focusing on producing larger organic light-emitting diode (OLED) televisions.

OLED's produce light on the display's surface and therefore lack the need for any illumination from behind. The company already produces 11-inch OLED TVs, but Yoshioka admitted Sony engineers are experiencing hurdles while trying to produce larger panels. Until Sony can offer a full sized OLED television, the company will look for opportunities with 3D.

According to AFP sources, Comcast might seal a deal to buy a controlling stake in NBC Universal from General Electric next week. General Electric owns 80 percent of NBC Universal, with Vivendi owning the remaining 20 percent stake. In order for any deal to go ahead between GE and Comcast, GE will have to get a green light from Vivendi. The AFP source said that GE chief executive Jeffrey Immelt flew to Paris to discuss the proposed deal with Vivendi.

The Wall Street Journal has reported that the deal would value NBC Universal at about $30 billion. NBC Universal holdings include the NBC network, one of the four major U.S. television networks (along with ABC, Fox and CBS), Universal Pictures, finance channel CNBC and news network MSNBC.

"It is possible that Mr. Immelt's conversations with Vivendi chief executive Jean-Bernard Levy will lead to a general agreement on a sale Wednesday or in coming days, although there would likely still be some details to hammer out," the Journal reported.