Numbers out this morning from the Office of National Statistics in the UK give us the most up-to-date picture yet of the growing role mobile is playing in the digital divide: 45 percent of the country’s Internet-using population have taken to mobile devices to go online in the past year.…

Playboy Enterprises (NYSE: PLA) is forming a new video game label this year as part of a wider digital strategy to make its brand more mainstream, Paul H. Lee, the company’s managing director for new digital ventures, told paidContent. The company hasn’t decided on a name yet, but it already…

The online porn business - long regarded as one of the few publishing sectors to successfully charge for web content - is now suffering from free competitors, just like other parts of the industry… Digital revenue at Daily Sport publisher Sport Media Group (SMG) fell 42 percent to £5.4 million…

A second bidder has emerged in the battle to take over Playboy (NYSE: PLA). The LA Times and Reuters both report that a group led by former Playboy Entertainment chief James Griffiths and PE firm Golden Gate Capital is in discussions to buy the company for around $300 million. This…

Playboy (NYSE: PLA) is in discussions with Iconix Brand Group to sell itself, Bloomberg News reports, citing unnamed sources. The report is short on details but says that Iconix—which owns brands including London Fog and Starter—has looked at Playboy’s books. Considering that almost all of Iconix’s holdings are in apparel,…

—Russia vs Microsoft: Russia’s anti-trust authority has launched an investigation after alleging that Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) has cut its supply of Windows XP software while promoting the newer Vista OS in the country. The anti-monopoly agency says: “The transfer to the new Windows Vista operating system is occurring while demand…

While a number of PE firms have reportedly balked at Playboy (NYSE: PLA) Enterprises’ $300 million asking price, actual billionaire playboy Richard Branson’s name has been increasingly mentioned as a prospective buyer. The Chicago Tribune, picking up a piece from the UK’s Daily Mail, says the Virgin Group chairman could…

E! has got the Girls Next Door, but Irish video-game firm Jolt Online Gaming is making the *Playboy* Playmate experience even more interactive. It plans to launch Playboy Manager, a massively multiplayer online (MMO) casual game that lets players live out the fantasy of managing a group of Playboy (NYSE:…

—Channel 4: While it negotiates with BBC Worldwide and Lord Carter on its future, Channel 4 is still innovating commercially: the broadcaster is to sell ads for its online content distributed to third party sites like Bebo and YouTube as part of a shake-up of its digital ad sales department.…

Barcelona-based multimedia adult content producer Private Media Group (PMG) is extending its global empire, buying US adult VOD portal GameLink for 8.5 million PMG shares, plus a further 4.6 million based on earn-out targets. The deal gives the company a bigger foothold on content production and digital distribution in both…

Daily Sport publisher Sport Media Group, which also operates several of websites and mobile adult content offerings but yesterday admitted breaching its bank loan covenants, promised a number of projects are underway to monetise SundaySport.com, as it seeks urgent new funding by March 6. The group scored seven percent better…

Sport Media Group, the company that last year took over ownership of the Daily Sport, Sunday Sport and their online and mobile counterparts, today announced it has breached one of its banking covenants. SMG says its bank has provided a two month extension on its current lending facility to see…

UK pay TV giant Sky is readying plans to offer Sky Bet as a mobile service, which will be an extension of the companies existing online, interactive TV and telephone betting services. The service is set to launch later this month. BSkyB (NYSE: BSY) (which owns Sky and Sky Bet)…

Spanish adult content provider Private Media Group has taken a 17.2 percent stake in Swedish company Horse Creek Entertainment, a content aggregator and creator of a broadband VOD platform. Horse Creek has done two private share offerings ahead of a planned IPO on the Stockholm Stock Exchange, with Private Media…

Mobile adult content group Interactive World has closed a deal to buy tabloid paper group Sport Media Group in a deal worth about 50 million pounds (US$100 million). Interactive World is funding the deal through a conditional placing of around 58.27 million shares at 75p each, raising 43.7 million pounds…

Some British tabloids are in the process of being sold to a mobile content and services company, which would result on them being listed on the stockmarket. Interactive World—which is listed on the AIM and had its shares suspended from trading yesterday because of the deal—is in talks to acquire…

UK operators T-Mobile and 3 will launch a live multiplayer poker service by teaming up with gambling site Bwin. Bwin’s PokerRoom.com has 11 million customers, and site can be accessed via WAP now, but the new service has been customised for mobiles by Cellectivity, reports The Independent. The mobile service…

Cometa Wireless Gaming Systems (previously Cometa Games) has closed its first round of funding, bringing in one million pounds (US$1.98 million) in a round led by Mfusion. The funding values the company at 2 million pounds. Cometa Wireless is projecting revenues rising from 250,000 pounds in 2007 to 6.8 million…

Reuters reports a group of 23 mobile operators, content providers and organizations (including Vodafone, Orange, Telecom Italia, Deutsche Telekom and TeliaSonera) have pledged to support the European Commission in its efforts to protect children from harmful mobile Internet content. The companies have signed the European Framework for Safer Mobile Use…