The digital media industry has made it to the end of 2009 battered but alive, and execs will be hoping 2010 can bring far more in terms of VC spend. According to the stories in our VC channel, in 2008 we covered 92 deals totalling £366.5 million, compared to £543.1 million in 2009—that’s a 32.52 percent drop year on year. Is this further evidence that the freezing of liquidity in credit markets and the caution of banks in the recession has hamstrung digital innovation in the UK by depriving new businesses of cash? Or, does it merely show that, as…

You could shut down all the P2P BitTorrent trackers in the world but web pirates would still find other ways to share files directly with each other. At least, that’s the warning from the British Phonographic Industry which, in a survey conducted by Harris Interactive, found that, while P2P BitTorrent sharing in the UK is stabilising, the use of direct transfer sites and message boards is on the rise.

Update: INM says in a statement to the stock market that it’s “entered into an exclusive - but non-binding” agreement with Alexander Lebedev to discuss the “future ownership” of the Indy titles. A deadline of February 15 has been set for any deal to be done—the statement is keen to make clear talks are preliminary and there is “no certainty” it will lead to a deal. Keen to stamp out all these leaks, both sides have signed a non-disclosure agreement. Original: Don’t bet your mortgage on it. We’ve been down this road several times, and yet again reports from Guardian.co.uk…

Big league advertisers and agencies are banking on the football World Cup in South Africa next summer—and the Olympics in 2012—to give a welcome boost to revenues. But increasingly brands are using social networking sites and one-to-one fan engagement, instead of big TV and billboard campaigns, to get their message across. The idea is, why broadcast to millions of fans when you can engage with them directly one-by-one?

Online and print news clippings service Meltwater says it has referred the Newspaper Licensing Agency to the UK’s Copyright Tribunal over its new rules, coming January 1, that would compel online news monitoring agencies to pay thousands of pounds for providing links to newspaper stories. Meltwater says in a statment on Thursday that the expanded NLA licence is a “link tax” and it’s challenging the entire basis of the NLA’s position on web licensing.

Guidebook business Lonely Planet has named Douglas Schatz as its new MD for EMEA, in charge of the division’s print and online expansion in the region. He joins the BBC Worldwide-owned business from independent UK book retailer and map data provider Stanfords. He’s been involved in digital publishing from an early stage on the Bookseller’s Association’s digital committee and through launching Stanfords’ own online operation—experience that will come in handy as LP looks to increase its mobile apps, digitial editions and online forum engagement. Meanwhile, the company’s online innovation ecosystem manager Matt Cashmore is leaving its Melbourne HQ to return…

The battle of the browser is over, at least for a while… The European Commission’s anti-trust department said on Wednesday that it has accepted Microsoft’s commitment to allow Windows users in 30 European countries to choose which web browser to use on new PCs via a “choice screen”, in a legally binding agreement five-year agreement. The company must also allow users to turn access to Internet Explorer off altogether and it must no longer insist that PC manufacturers install IE as standard. Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) has to report to the EC to show how well it’s doing in six months…

UK social mobile recommendation start-up Rummble has bought London-based wifi tracker Total Hotspots. The amount isn’t disclosed but Total Hotspots MD Alex Housley, who founded the business in 2004, joins Rummble as VP for business. The release (pdf) says Total Hotspots—whose corporate clients include Yell and Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT)—is profitable, but doesn’t give a figure. Rummble, similar to US rival Foursquare, encourages users to use their mobiles to leave comments on pubs and restaurants and share recommendations with friends—so it’s a natural fit with Total Hotspots, which operates a wifi locator iPhone app. The two companies partnered in January to…

—Trinity Mirror: The Daily Mirror publisher is releasing two paid-for iPhone apps in January for its standalone gossip site 3am.co.uk and MirrorFootball.co.uk. At the same time, the company is working free apps for Mirror.co.uk and DailyRecord.co.uk, followed by yet more unspecified Trinity apps in 2010. —Vodafone-Nokia: Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) will be the first UK operator to offer the Nokia N900 smartphone, which uses the Linux-based Maemo OS. Pre-registration is open now and it should be available in January. —Nokia The world’s biggest mobile handset maker, is still down-sizing and shedding staff as its prepares for a leaner 2010. Up to…

—YouTube: Google’s video giant says Susan Boyle’s rendition of I Dreamed a Dream on Britain’s Got Talent was by far the site’s most-watched clip of 2009 with a massive 120 million views globally so far The closest competitor, “David After Dentist”, could only manage 37 million views. —New Zealand piracy: Emboldened by France’s success in passing tough anti-piracy laws and the UK’s on-going attempts to introduce a disconnection law, New Zealand has announced its own “three strikes” plan: rightsholders will be able to ask ISPs to give copyright offenders two warnings before cutting off their connection and/or imposing a NZ$15,000…

One thing newspaper and online B2B publisher DMGT wants for Christmas is iPhone apps, and lots of them. Richard Titus, former BBC mobile contoller turned Associated Northcliffe Digital CEO, tells the FT that he’ll launch 15 new apps in H110, in the quest to become: “the leading mobile publisher of applications in Europe”. Apps are planned early next year for Mail Online, Metro.co.uk some Northcliffe regional titles, as well as for DMGT properties such as Teletext Holidays, Findaproperty.com, Local People and Motors.co.uk. It’s tempting to ask why the would-be sector “leader” is leaving its entry into the market so late:…

—Swedish music revenues: It’s long been regarded the “home of illegal file-sharing” but the Swedish music industry has seen its revenues increase 35 percent since 2000 to SEK1 billion (£86.4 million) a year, according to a report from analysts Trend Maze and the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. From The Swedish Wire/Comtex. —Canal+: Vivendi’s French broadcaster Canal+ is making its 80-channel online VOD and live TV service CanalSat Web TV available as a €25 monthly subscription. The service is currently available as an extra to CanalSat digital TV subscriptions but is now generally available in France. From C21Media.net. —BT…

The newspaper industry is nearing victory in its fight to get commercial new aggregator services to hand over a share of revenues from selling newspaper article links… NewsNow, one of the aggregators that has yet to sign the Newspaper Licensing Agency‘s tougher new content-sharing license, has removed all links to stories by agency members from its paid subscription service, thereby avoiding both paying the 7.5p-a-link commanded by the NLA and the legal action it had threatened against non-compliant aggregators. The NLA hopes to make an extra £1 million by including online aggregators in its content licensing regime for the first…

Online TV business Ten Alps is reaping the rewards from building a diverse multimedia B2B and factual media model. Its profits rose 40 percent from last year to £1.4 million in the six months to 30 September. The company says it makes more than a third of its revenue from “online crossover activities”, but revenue dropped 4.6 percent to £35.4 million. The company, co-founded by Bob Geldof, runs a series of profession-based online VOD portals like Teachers’ TV and is bidding to run at least one of the government’s proposed Independently Funded News Consortia (IFNC) in the North East, in…

Here’s one safe bet for 2010: social media and online PR firms will continue to be involved in some big deals as companies scramble to “engage” with their customers through Facebook, Twitter and the rest. The latest evidence to support that theory is an announcement (pdf) from Digital Marketing Group—the self-styled “largest digital marketing agency” in the UK—that it has bought digital and mobile creative ad agency 20:20 London for £1.5 million in cash, rising to £2 million with DMG share options and earn-out clauses. The agency carries out work for BP, EA Sport and P&P, and had profits of…

—Seesaw: The forthcoming IPTV VOD service from Arqiva has appointed former Babelgum mobile editor Dan Watt-Smith as its managing editor, ahead of an expected launch “early” next year. He’ll be part of the service’s marketing and content team, reporting to platform controller John Keeling. Release. —Virgin Media: Andrew Barron has been promoted to be Virgin’s COO. He joined the company in March 2008 and has led a re-org of its networks and customer services operations. Release. —IP Office: The government’s Intellectual Property Office has made John Alty its new CEO and “comptroller-general”. He’s currently director general for fair markets in…

The media industry goes into 2010 with a sense of cautious optimism, but there’s no hiding the casualties that were left behind in 2009. According to PricewaterhouseCoopesr, there were 1,025 media and entertainment company insolvencies in the two years to the end of Q309. We’ve reported on a whole host of company collapses this year, from Setanta to Shiny Media and Borders, and some in the past few weeks. But the worst appears to be over…

Independent.co.uk has hopes to make online and mobile revenues in 2010 with a social events planner site, in partnership with Iome. The site allows users to plan out nights out using a Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Maps mashup, communicate plans with friends, book tables and—crucially—take up bar and restaurants’ special offers, which is how publishing partners like the Indy get a cut of revenue, on top of a share in sponsorship and advertising revenue.

Cambridge-based behavioural targeting ad firm Grapeshot has raised £1.5 million from Cambridge’s VC outfit IQ Capital and a group of angel investors. Joining the round as a private investor is Odeon Cinemas CEO and Emap board member Tim Schoonmaker, who joins the Grapeshot board. Grapeshot offers several online ad products—contextual, targeted display ads, behaviour-targeted e-commerce offers—but also a content recommendation service based on users’ past reading, not dissimilar from Phorm’s WebWise Discover platform. IBM, Citywire, Incisive Media and UBM’s PR Newswire are all clients.