YouTube

Online news startup ProgressIllinois.com is gearing up to go to court in a dispute with Fox News about YouTube clips. The startup, which had all of its clips taken down from YouTube after Fox complained about alleged copyright infringement, says its use of Fox video excerpts was lawful. "We are responsible YouTube users who utilize the site as a journalistic tool," Progress Illinois editor and publisher Josh Kalven wrote in a letter sent to Fox this week. "We are not teenagers attempting to pirate material unlawfully."

Discovery (NSDQ: DISAB) Communications (NSDQ: DISCA) gobbled up online reference site HowStuffWorks for $250 million back in late 2007, and network brass

Here are two related items from the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) about efforts to offer greater connection between the web and the living room:

JP Morgan may be forecasting slower growth for online video ads, but it looks like VCs are still feeling good about the format ... One True Media, the CA-based firm behind the self-serve SpotMixer video ad platform, has picked up $9 million in a second round of funding.

—Peer39's semantic ad net bites the dust: Peer39 has decided to close its "Semantic Ad Network" and laid off its four-person sales staff as it hopes to focus more on the technology side of its business.

—Roku player gets Amazon VOD: Owners of the Roku "Netflix (NSDQ: NFLX) Player" will soon also be able to download content from Amazon's VOD service. The deal adds more than 40,000 movies and TV shows to the library currently available via Netflix—though Amazon's content is on a pay-per-view model as opposed to Netflix' subscription.

The way people use Facebook is changing. What's more, something very significant is happening in the way people are communicating through social media in general. More and more, folks are sharing videos as a means of personal communication. What this means is that video is coming to Facebook in a big way, but it will not look like the video we have seen on such social media platforms as YouTube and MySpace

—Tanking job market a boon for LinkedIn : While LinkedIn laid off some 10 percent of its staff in November, the financial crisis hasn't been all bad for the business-focused social network, USA Today reports.

It's not surprising that during a downturn, the clear metrics and ROI offered by performance based ads are looking more attractive. But in his wide-ranging '09 outlook, JP Morgan analyst Imran Khans expects marketers to treasure performance-based ads even when the larger economy begins to grow again. So the market share gains performance ad have achieved over the CPM-based look pretty durable and mean continued struggles for display ads.

-The futureheads in the electronics business say 3-D is going to be the next big thing in television. Just imagine watching Kath & Kim in three dimensions. Mind-blowing. [WSJ]

-For people who work in book publishing, Town Cars, off-sites and lunch at the Four Seasons are out; Metrocards, webcam conferences and pizza are in. [NYT]