Online media and technology, and marketing and interactive, were the two bright spots in the overall cloudy media M&A market for the first half this year, according to a review by Jordan Edmiston Group, Folio reported.

The number of M&A transactions in the media, information, marketing services and related industries reached 404 during the first six months of 2008, up 1.8 percent from 397 during the same period in 2007. However, deal values totalled US$23.2 billion, plummeting 64.8 percent from $65.8 billion last year.

More

According to a new study, "How People Use® the Video Marketplace," released by Knowledge Networks, the traditional forms of video, especially DVDs, still dominate the video rental market, Media Post reported.

"While consumers are indeed turning to new video technologies, such as online streaming and mobile video, most of their video-related spending continues to be on conventional sources such as DVD rentals and purchases," Knowledge Networks stated in the new report.

More

About three quarters of Canadians ages 16 and older went online for personal reasons during the 12 months ending in June 2008. These figures are up from just over two-thirds one year prior, according to the "Canadian Internet Use Survey," conducted by Statistics Canada, eMarketer reported.

Personal Web use in Canada rose five percent between 2005 and 2007.

More

The E.W. Scripps Co. on Tuesday officially divided into two companies, one company running newspapers local television stations and the other operating online businesses and cable TV channels, the New Mexico Business Weekly reported.

The online and cable unit is now known as Scripps Networks Interactive Inc., and the newspaper, local TV, licensing and syndication unit will continue under the E.W. Scripps name and its current stock symbol, SSP, on the New York Stock Exchange.

More

Two MPs have attacked Fairfax Media's plans to centralise part of its New Zealand newspaper sub-editing into hubs that would edit world, features and business pages, saying the move will devalue regional coverage, The Dominion Post reported Wednesday.

The hubs would be in Wellington and Christchurch, and would create as many as 40 redundancies, according to Fairfax's announcement Monday. Fairfax publishes The Dominion Post.

More

Star Tribune Co. has not made regular quarterly payments to some debt holders, and a quarterly interest payment due Monday on US$96 million in second-tier debt was not made, which puts the company in default on that debt, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

However, other debt was paid, with the company's chief executive stating in an interview with the Star Tribune that a lending group holding senior debt of almost $400 million was paid Monday, according to the newspaper's Monday report.

More