Get used to headlines like this: Disney is buying up comic powerhouse Marvel for $4 billion. The cash and stock deal values Marvel at $50 a share, up almost 30 percent from its Friday close.

We’ll get more details during a conference call later this morning, but if you want to kill time until then, you can play amateur M&A guy and draw up your own list of big media companies that will be buying or selling in the next year or so.

Read More »

Did a federal court just give underemployed M&A guys a boost? Could be: The United States Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., has overturned a longstanding cap on cable-system ownership.

If the decision holds up, it could well start another round of dealmaking similar to the one we saw at the beginning of this decade in which the industry consolidated to about half a dozen major players.

Read More »

In order to move from money pit to profit center, YouTube has to spend less, which is hard for the site to talk about. And it needs to sell more ads on more videos–which YouTube is happy to talk about. Hence, yesterday’s news that YouTube would start selling against “viral videos.”

Read More »

Another feather for the “we’ve got real stuff” cap that YouTube is showing off these days: Google’s video site has hammered out a deal with Time Warner to show clips from the media conglomerate’s cable networks, TV shows and movies. But you won’t be seeing full-length shows or movies from Time Warner on the world’s biggest video site–it’s saving those for cable companies that play along with its “TV Everywhere” plan.

Read More »

Got a couple hours to kill? Want to enjoy a pleasant blast from the past? Head over to YouTube and check out “Ghostbusters,” which is running at its full length on Google’s video site and is prominently displayed on its homepage. YouTube’s not-so-subtle message: We’re more than just skateboarding cat videos!

Read More »

Another big player has signed onto Comcast’s Web TV trial: Discovery Communication is handing over a few of its shows for the cable provider’s program, which gives subscribers online access to (some) of the shows they get on TV. Discovery joins other big names like CBS and HBO in Comcast’s “On Demand Online,” which launched last month in a few thousand homes.

Read More »

Yet another sign that revenue-free start-ups can still attract investors, given the right pitch: Boxee, the software company that makes it easy to get Web video onto your TV, has raised a $6 million B round led by General Catalyst. I’m told the new round pegs the company’s value in the $25 million to $30 million range. What’s the appeal? The chance that the company could play a role in the disruption of the $70 billion TV business.

Read More »

As predicted, TV ad sales are down. And as predicted, TV networks are hoping they come back sometime in the next year, along with the economy. In the meantime, what do cheap TV ad prices do for Web video sales?

Read More »

Remember last week, when President Barack Obama threw out the first pitch at baseball’s All-Star Game? And remember the ensuing fuss about his form? And remember how Jon Stewart sliced through all of the crap with his typically incisive wit?

Alas, you’ve got no choice but to remember that last part. It has disappeared from the Web, apparently at the behest of Major League Baseball.

Read More »

The New York Times is getting out of the radio business. Did you know the New York Times was in the radio business? Exactly. Anyway, now it’s not. The cash-strapped publisher has sold WQXR-FM for $45 million, carving up the asset into two packages for different buyers–local NPR affiliate WNYC and Spanish-language broadcaster Univision Radio. The money will go to paying down the paper’s debt: Not much, but more than the company may get for the Boston Globe.

Read More »

Yet another addition to the growing list of programmers signing on to Comcast’s “On Demand Online”: CBS will join the cable provider’s trial program, which will allow subscribers to get Web access to shows they get on TV.

CBS will join previously announced partners Time Warner, which is offering up programming from its Turner channels and HBO; Liberty Media’s Starz, and smaller players like Scripps, Rainbow and A&E. The twist is that CBS is the only broadcaster to sign up for the trial.

Read More »

Now that Joost has given up the ghost and bailed out of the Web video portal business, who’s next? A good bet: Veoh, one of the best-funded would-be YouTubes. Multiple sources tell me the company is aggressively marketing itself to would-be buyers, and it’s asking for less than the $70 million investors like Michael Eisner have plowed into the company. Meanwhile, rival MetaCafe is looking for a “strategic investor.”

Read More »

We’ve previously noted that the Web is great at transmitting information quickly, though not always accurately. Same goes, apparently, for stories about the Web’s ability to transmit information quickly. Those reports you read last week about the Internet buckling under the weight of Michael Jackson traffic? Greatly exaggerated, says the analytics company cited most often in those reports.

Read More »

Hulu and other purveyors of Web TV are going to see a rush of ad dollars over the next few years. But compared to the ad money going to conventional TV, that won’t mean much. A cautionary tale.

Read More »

Comcast was mum about other cable networks it has persuaded to join its “OnDemand Online” program, which will offer TV shows over the Web to its customers. But word is getting out anyway. The people who bring you Food Network and AMC, for instance, have signed on.

Read More »