France

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

The hot rumor for the biggest announcement of Apple's final MacWorld Expo today says DRM protection will be dropped from iTunes Store music downloads.

—Departing Time exec's online/offline disappointment: Ed McCarrick, who leaves Time magazine after 35 years this week to go to Omnicom barter unit Icon International, tells AdAge's Nat Ives that one of his biggest disappointments was not being able to change advertisers' habits about selling beyond the paid subscription.

The British music industry had always eschewed American cousins' penchant for suing illegal downloaders. Now America's RIAA music org has come around to a European way of thinking. It's giving up suing the downloaders and will instead enlist ISPs to send warning letters to transgressors.

After years of engaging in a largely futile campaign of lawsuits against illegal file-sharers, the Recording Industry Association of America is giving up that tactic. Instead, the RIAA hopes to enlist the help of broadband ISPs to stop music pirates from giving away copyrighted material, WSJ reported. The record label organ has crafted initial agreements with the major internet providers, though the companies weren't specifically identified.

Friend Eric Scherer recounts the drama when GoogleNews’ Josh Cohen met with a hostile crowd of French news publishers. I’ll get to the details of it in a moment. But to set the stage, let’s start here:
Imagine if Google and GoogleNews simply stopped linking to news publishers and avoided them entirely, since they complain so [...]

What does Facebook want for Christmas?

Japanese electronics giant Sony (NYSE: SNE) has announced plans for a global retreat in its electronics division, with 8,000 jobs cuts from its existing 160,000 staff by September 2009 and a 30 percent reduction in technology investments designed to save 100 billion yen ($1 billion) by March 2010. Things must be really bad: the company will reduce its 57 manufacturing plants worldwide by ten percent by March 2010.

Big Four ad agency Publicis is now buying in to Latin American digital advertising, acquiring Sao Paulo-based Tribal to add to its Digitas online ad group. Digitas CEO Laura Lang said Tribal is "fundamental" to expanding in the growing region. Publicis bought Digitas back in 2006 and has grafted on various international digital acquisitions in the UK, India, Singapore, China and its native France, so this will be a foothold across the Atlantic.

The latest NBA expansion covers two growth areas for the league: international and broadband. NBA League Pass Broadband International is now available in 19 countries. The subscription includes access to 40-plus live games a week with play-by-play in English and VOD for 24 hours after they air. Some live games will be blacked out. Pay options include full season ($85 through Nov. 11; $100 after), monthly and daily. The international version follows