This is turning out to be like waiting for the Christmas turkey: A deal between Alexander Lebedev and Independent News & Media is cooking—we can definitely smell it—but it’s not done yet. Today’s Times reports that that the Russian billionaire has now bought the Independent and Independent on Sunday papers,…

A little public glimpse today of the ongoing negotiations between Independent News & Media and Alexander Lebedev: the billionaire Russian is getting an extension on his exclusive negotiations to buy the Independent and Independent On Sunday newspapers, “to facilitate bringing these discussions to a successful conclusion”, INM told markets. Talks…

Truphone, a UK-based VoIP provider, will offer a competitively priced SIM-only mobile service for voice, texting and data—effectively becoming a virtual network operator. The company has signed deals with Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) in the UK and an unnamed U.S. operator. So far, Truphone’s business has been to offer a WiFi-based…

—PRS For Music: The royalty collector, which last year nearly halved its online streaming rate, has picked ex-Sony (NYSE: SNE) mobile SVP Robert Ashcroft to replace Steve Porter as CEO. Porter quit in July. PRS did deals with YouTube, Spotify, MySpace and Sky over the last year. —TalkTalk: John Allwood,…

By Mark Sweney: The Metro Herald, the daily Dublin newspaper created through the merger of Herald AM and Metro Ireland, launches today as a morning freesheet. The title is jointly owned by Associated Newspapers, the Daily Mail (LSE: DMGT) & General Trust subsidiary, the Irish Times and Independent News &…

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…

Independent News & Media is continuing its asset fire sale this week with the announcement of a €18.3 million (£16.5 million) sale of its 49 percent stake in German price comparison site Verivox to Oakley Capital Private Equity. The deal includes a €2.3 million (£2 million) loan repayment by Verivox…

—Exact Editions: The digital publishing business has launched the first local newspaper edition using its online page-viewing technology. The weekly Congelton Chronicle in Cheshire is available as an online replica for £25 a year (see the free preview)—that’s 48p a week, so it’s a discount on the 55p cover price.…

The Independent‘s digital editorial director Jimmy Leach is to re-join the government’s digital media operations as head of digital engagement at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. He joined the Indy in June 2008 having worked as head of digital comms for both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown at Downing Street.…

—O2 cuts: Telefonica-owned O2 aims to cut its marketing team of 220 by 10 percent by the end of the month, according to Marketing Week. —Publicis: Olivier Altmann has been appointed the ad group’s global creative director. He was previously the company’s Paris agency Publicis Conseil. Via Campaign. —Independent News…

—INM: The Indy publisher has appointed Vincent Crowley its new chief operating officer, following the promotion of Gavin O’Reilly to CEO in May. Crowley has been CEO of the company’s Irish division since 2002 and has carried out various roles for INM since 1990. As a result, the MD of…

—Independent News & Media: The Indy publisher has won backing from bondholders for its ambitious refinancing plan that will see them swap €123 million (£110.1 million) of debt for a 46 percent stake in the company in the form of 732 million newly issues shares. Shareholders vote on the deal…

When you’re trying to figure out the future of your entire business model, there’s one thing you could without: impatient creditors. Publishers are still dealing with vast debt piles accumulated before the recession, and are having to pull off some inventive deals and torturous negotiations with lenders and investors to…

Independent News & Media’s balance sheet is now looking a little less alarming than it has done during the recession. In an interim statement covering the the year to October 23, the Dublin-based group’s profits were down 37 percent from last year (no exact figure is given) - compared with…

If you receive legal threats from an an entire industry, you could just ask them to stop. At least, that’s what one news aggregator has done: in the face of a stern legal letter from all major national newspaper publishers, tailored newsfeed provider Newsnow has written an open letter (via…

—YouTube auctions: Google’s YouTube is introducing an auction-based video ad platform in the UK which encourages advertisers to bid for keywords to appear in a new Promoted Video section in search results. Currently, Sponsored Links and are promoted through Google (NSDQ: GOOG) AdSense. From NMA. —ITV.com: After the hullabaloo of…

Caught between an advertising recession, the changing news business and an ugly balance sheet, Independent News & Media has conjured an ambitious plan cut its debt by €350 million (£321.8 million) this year. INM is asking bondholders, who are owed €300 million (£275.8 million), to write off almost half that…

Independent News & Media and Bob Geldof’s multimedia production company Ten Alps want to jointly provide local online and TV news services in Northern Ireland through an independently-funded news consortium. Digital Britain suggested a system of commercial partnerships—partly funded from leftover BBC licence fee money—to replace ITV’s local TV news…

—OMD UK: Omnicom’s media shop is upping its digital strategy director Will Smyth, an I-Level alum, to digital head, replacing Martin Shaw, who relocated to OMD Beijing in March. Via MediaWeek. —PPA CEO: The Periodical Publishers’ Association has had its CEO Jonathan Shephard quit, one year in to the job,…