Companies selling online content in the European Union know that separate licensing agreements must be negotiated for different countries. These circumstances could change soon, however, as the European Commission finalized its “Creative Content Online in the Single Market” paper Thursday, and will make proposals for instituting digital content regulations for the European Union by the middle of 2008.

The plan would create a single European market for online music, films and video games, and is pushing for one interoperable, consumer-friendly DRM (digital rights management) system.

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Carole Leigh Hutton, former editor-in-chief of the San Jose Mercury News, ended her editorship Thursday after less than a year. She told Editor & Publisher Friday that she left the position on her own.

“I left and I am going to do something else,” she told Editor & Publisher Friday. “I think it is trying to figure out the right next step. My next step probably has nothing to do with the business.”

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Sling Media Inc. announced Friday the launch of two new place-shifting products that stream live television to BlackBerry smartphones and stream high-definition video to broadband-connected computers.

The digital lifestyle products company will debut its SlingPlayer Mobile software running on RIM BlackBerry handhelds and the SlingBox PRO-HD set-top box at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Monday through Thursday.

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U.S. Internet advertising revenue will exceed US $35 billion by 2011, from US $12.5 billion in 2005, with a continuous two-digit annual growth, according to the research firm MultiMedia Intelligence.

Online ad revenue in the United States grew aggressively in 2005 and 2006, with a more than 30 percent annual growth rate. It slowed down in 2007 to 22 percent, and is expected to slide to around 13 and 17 percent throughout 2011.

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The telecom watchdog in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will issue licenses for mobile digital TV service in the country by mid-2008, local paper Khaleej Times reported Thursday.

The paper stated that the UAE Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TRA) has appointed a consultant to give advise on licensing issues and procedures.

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This year, Sweden is expected to become the first country in the world in which more will be spent on Internet ads than television ads. Meanwhile, the same is predicted to happen in the United Kingdom in 2009, according to data from one of the country's leading media buying agencies.

The media planning and buying group, owned by Sir Martin Sorrell's WPP group, also predicts that by the end of 2008, the Internet will account for 24.8 percent of UK media spend, just behind the 26 percent that goes to TV. By 2009, UK online ad spend will need to grow 6 percent to pass the TV sector, MediaGuardian reported Thursday.

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