Today's best video clips -- 15 May 2008

CBS Digs Deep To Snap Up CNet
CBS announced on Thursday that it has agreed to acquire CNET Networks, a technology publishing company that operates sites including News.com, ZDNet, GameSpot, TV.com and MP3.com, in a deal valued at $1.8 billion. CBS will pay $11.50 per share, an impressive 45% premium over CNET's share price at closing on Wednesday; CNET's board has unanimously approved the deal.

Samsung, LG get green light on mobile TV standard
The Open Mobile Video Coalition (OVMC), an organization of 850 local broadcasters, today submitted its viability report findings giving Samsung and LG the stamp of approval to pursue mobile TV based on the best of both manufacturers’ competing standards.

Dell and Ericsson ink mobile-broadband deal
Dell is to start incorporating Ericsson's mobile-broadband modules into some of its laptops. The deal, announced on Tuesday, will see Ericsson's HSPA (high-speed packet access) modules used in Dell machines, as of this quarter. However, just a month and a half ago Dell said it would be using Qualcomm's Gobi chipset for its embedded mobile broadband. This raises the possibility that Dell will be using different modules for different classes of device, but the company has refused to comment on the matter.

BT Vision gains 94,000 new customers
BT Group Plc gained 94,000 new subscribers to its BT Vision IPTV service during the first quarter of 2008. The company now has 214,000 BT Vision customers who, on average, accessed video on demand services 29 times per month. BT Vision offers both Freeview channels via digital terrestrial and video on demand over a DSL

Cox Caught Blocking BitTorrent
Comcast isn’t the only U.S. ISP with anti-P2P network management in place. Fellow cable provider Cox was also caught interrupting its subscribers’ BitTorrent uploads.

Photo-music video creator Animoto raises round from Amazon
Animoto, a company that lets you create music videos out of your photos albums, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Amazon.com.
New York-based Animoto offers a way to create a more advanced version of the sorts slideshow widgets you see on MySpace, made by companies like RockYou and Slide. Animoto launched last year with a stand-alone site where users could create 30-second videos by uploading photo albums, choosing a song, and letting the company turn it into a sequence of flashing lights, your pictures, and the song you choose.

Despite the Ramp of Blu-ray Drives, DVD Burners Will Continue to Be the Leading Volume Product Until
Overall PC market growth, driven by portable PCs, will give the worldwide CD/DVD market a moderately positive outlook in 2008 and lead to increased demand for slim drives. Despite the ramp of Blu-ray drives, DVD burners will continue to be the leading volume product until 2012. However, as the PC market's adoption of DVD burners becomes saturated and increasingly commoditized, Blu-ray adoption will accelerate in 2009 and Blu-ray drives will become the majority of the total market value in 2012. "DVD burners will remain the bread-and-butter business for ODD vendors," said Wolfgang Schlichting, research director, Removable Storage at IDC. "Despite Blu-ray's win over HDD in the format war, Blu-ray drive adoption will be limited in 2008 because of their high price and only moderate consumer interest."

Program-Starved Web Streamer Shuts Down
A Chicago-area company that sought to provide cable television channels over the Internet has suspended service in part because it never got a ruling from the Federal Communications Commission on its legal right to obtain programming controlled by established cable operators.

That's it folks