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Hasbro Threatens Facebook's Scrabulous (Time)
After many months of doing virtually nothing, Hasbro, maker of the board game Scrabble, finally moved today to shut down a hugely popular, rogue Scrabble website. The giant game company filed suit against the creators of Scrabulous in federal court in New York City Thursday morning, asserting copyright infringement and demanding that the counterfeit game be immediately taken down. BusinessWeek: Facebook said in a statement that it forwarded the takedown notice to Scrabulous and "requested their appropriate response."

Microsoft Execs Say They've Given Up on Buying Yahoo (LAT)
Microsoft Corp. executives ruled out an acquisition of Yahoo Inc. on Thursday, even as they acknowledged that the Internet company would have provided a needed boost in online search, where the software giant trails leader Google Inc. Chief financial officer Chris Liddell told Microsoft investors that the odds of a takeover were "so small as to be essentially negligible." WSJ: Microsoft announces search deal with Facebook. NYT: The Facebook agreement augments an existing advertising deal that the companies struck in 2006 and later expanded globally. BusinessWeek: If Yahoo is no longer the remedy for Microsoft's ailing online operations, what is?

FCC: Agreement in Principle on XM-Sirius (B&C)
A spokesman for Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin confirmed that there is an agreement in principle to approve the XM Satellite Radio-Sirius Satellite Radio merger after Martin and swing vote Deborah Taylor Tate came to an agreement on terms essentially the same, with a few changes, as ones proposed by XM and Sirius in a letter to the FCC last month.

Obama Looked Good This Week -- Did the Press? (WaPo)
Howard Kurtz: An unspoken assumption is that Obama, who enjoys a slight lead in the polls, is the odds-on favorite to win. Some journalists defend the coverage as a matter of marketing: Obama is hot, McCain is not. By that standard, though, journalists can continue to lavish more coverage on Obama simply by declaring him a more fascinating guy.

Reporter Invokes Fifth Amendment, Then Is Celebrated by the Judge (NY Sun)
A reporter for the Washington Times, facing questioning about his confidential sources by a federal judge, refused to cooperate, invoking his Fifth Amendment rights -- and even was commended for his reporting from the same judge at a hearing yesterday. But the Justice Department now plans to subpoena William Gertz before a grand jury investigating leaks of classified information.

Media Donations Heavily Favor Democrats (IBD)
The amount of money journalists contributed so far this election cycle favors Democrats by a 15:1 ratio over Republicans, with $225,563 going to Democrats, only $16,298 to Republicans. Two-hundred thirty-five journalists donated to Democrats, just 20 gave to Republicans -- a margin greater than 10-to-1. An even greater disparity, 20-to-1, exists between the number of journalists who donated to Barack Obama and John McCain.

Judy Miller Calls for Reporter Shield Law (AFP)
Former New York Times reporter Judith Miller called on the US Congress to enact a federal shield law that would protect journalists from being forced to disclose their sources. The Pulitzer-winning journalist, who was jailed for 85 days in 2005 after refusing to tell prosecutors which of her sources had outed CIA agent Valerie Plame, said the US was now shrouded in secrecy in the post-9/11 era.

Men's Vogue Increases Rate Base (WWD)
While Men's Vogue earlier this week reported a 4 percent decline in ad pages through September compared with the first nine months of 2007, the Conde Nast title seems more confident in its circulation growth for next year. The three-year-old magazine will increase its rate base by 50,000 copies as of its February 2009 issue, to 400,000.

Newspapers Thriving in Many Developing Countries (Economist)
According to figures released from the World Association of Newspapers (WAN), newspaper sales in Brazil increased by some 12% last year. Over the past five years, circulation has gone up by more than 22%. In India, sales rose by 11%, bringing the five-year increase to more than 35%. Pakistan's newspaper market grew by almost as much in the same period. The trend is similar elsewhere in Asia and Latin America.

Report Names Top Newspapers in Web/Print Penetration (E&P)
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle in New York has the largest market reach when taking into account its print and online readership, according to new data from Scarborough Research. The Democrat and Chronicle reaches 81% of its designated market area (DMA). The Newspaper Penetration Report tracks newspapers' print, Web site, and integrated audience in 81 markets.

Copley Press Explores Sale of Union-Tribune (San Diego Union-Tribune)
The parent company of the San Diego Union-Tribune announced Thursday that it has hired an investment banker to look into the possible sale of the company. Copley Press engaged the New York-based investment banking firm Evercore Partners, which also represented the publishing company in the sale of newspapers it owned in Los Angeles and in the Midwest in 2006 and 2007.

While Major Labels Limp, Indies Selling Better Than Ever (BusinessWeek)
Jon Fine: This is how crazy the music business is right now. Certain veteran independent labels, which in some cases spent the 1990s alternating between slamming the majors and begging them for emergency funding, are starting to look as if they know what they're doing. Some smaller labels -- among them Sub Pop, Merge, and Matador -- have hit a pocket of relative prosperity. BusinessWeek: Sub Pop's Bruce Pavitt looks back.

Why Former Addicts Dread Addiction Memoirs (Mother Jones)
Maia Szalavitz: One would imagine that coming up on the 20th anniversary of my own decision to stop using cocaine and heroin that I would either be utterly bored by it or alternatively, entranced with a subject that touches on free will, morality, neuroscience, sociology, psychology, and endless politics. But when I read media portrayals of addiction, I cringe.

Kevin Hart to host BET's View (Variety)
Comedian Kevin Hart has been tapped as the new host of BET's Comic View and has also shot a reality pilot for the Viacom-owned cabler. In addition, Hart has joined the cast of Comedy Central's upcoming Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire. Hart joins Comic View as the long-running show undergoes a major makeover.

Why Wall Street Remains Bearish on Media Stocks (Marketwatch)
Jon Friedman: Wall Street will continue to shun media stocks as long as the industry fails to come up with a way to maximize profits from the Internet. Lehman Brothers analyst Anthony DiClemente frets about media companies, especially in the entertainment sphere. He worries that they just can't seem to make as much money in a digital world as in a traditional media environment.