—Spain’s three strikes: The Cabinet has approved an anti-piracy law that offers a graduated response to sites that engage in illegal file sharing. First warnings, then an appearance before a panel of experts, who decide whether to then refer the case to a judge. via CNBC —Omnifone and Gracenote: The…

var MP7477 = new ARMP();MP7477.id = 7477;MP7477.render(); —Absolute Radio: In a bid for affiliate income, the broadcaster is taking advantage of a new iPod nano FM radio feature that lets listeners buy tracks heard on-air via iTunes Store. Built with UBC Media. More info. —EastEnders: The BBC will show a…

It’s not just the UK or the U.S. where news sites and blogs start-ups struggle to steal market share from mainstream print-subsidized newspaper websites. Gumersindo Lafuente, founder of 22-month-old Spanish news site Soitu.es told readers in a statement on Tuesday titled “Hasta la vista y gracias” that the periódico digital…

As its hype curve rises and grows around the world, music service Spotify is locking out eager, enterprising users from outside the six countries in which it has launched so far. The service is only supposed to be available in Sweden, the UK, France, Spain, Finland and Norway, but users…

—Motive TV signs DTT deal AIM-listed Motive Television has signed a deal with Barcelona-based broadcast-technology firm Adecq Digital SL to distribute its BesTV digital terrestrial TV technology worldwide, except in Spain where it is already popular and Italy, where it launches this autumn. The BesTV set-top box acts as a…

Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) isn’t alone in wanting to prise away O2’s exclusive rights to distribute the iPhone in the UK—but it is shouting the loudest about it. The company’s CFO Andy Holford said today on the release of its Q109 results on Friday (via Guardian.co.uk): “It’s a good product and…

MySpace is tapping its Spain and Portgual GM Christopher Moser as its new UK MD, replacing Anthony Lukom, MediaWeek says. The company says it is unable to comment. It’s thought Lukom is no longer with the company. Moser will preside over a much smaller MySpace - the company is shedding…

So how will MySpace manage all of its international operations after slicing non-U.S. staff by some 65 percent? Short answer: it won’t. The social network is outsourcing its sites in Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Italy, Poland, Mexico, and Turkey to News Corp (NYSE: NWS). sibling Fox International Channels (FIC). MySpace CEO…

—Glubble: Family-focused social network Glubble has raised $1 million (£607,000) in second round from (unidentified) European investors taking its total capital raised to date to $4 million (£2.42 million). The San Francisco-based site—founded in Amsterdam—provides with shared picture galleries and calendars and emphasises its safety benefits for young children. More…

—Trinity Mirror: The publisher has announced that five newspaper offices and 11 jobs at its weekly Scottish newspaper division are under threat as part of a restructure. As it has done at flagship centres in Birmingham, Liverpool, Newcastle and Glasgow, Trinity wants to modernise operations at Scottish and Universal Newspapers,…

An intellectual property thinktank reckons between 44 and 79 percent of global internet traffic is file-sharing, with the problem worse in eastern Europe than the USA. The Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property‘s (SABIP) Copycats? paper warns: “The scale of the problem is huge and growing.” But it says the…

Perhaps it’s no coincidence that one of the sectors that’s still attracting healthy VC investment is one that helps people save money on consumer goods. Shopping clubs organise shoppers in to social groups, then give them big discounts off products obtained direct from manufacturers. In recent months, we’ve seen Germany’s…

After their attempts to shut down The Pirate Bay in Sweden, Europe’s entertainment companies have a new target: Pablo Soto, a 30-year-old man behind three P2P file-sharing protocols, MP2P, Piolet and Blubster. On Thursday, he goes before a Madrid court charged with creating unfair competition for music companies—the Promusicae association…

Yell Group’s online advertising is growing at a good pace but it’s still not enough to offset the losses from its printed Yellow Pages classified directory books. For the year to March 31, the group made online revenues 38 percent higher year-on-year, meaning online now accounts for 15 percent of…

—Playstation-VidZone: Sony (NYSE: SNE) Computer Entertainment Europe is launching a free, ad-supported music video service for UK Playstation 3 and PSP users this summer, run by London-based video aggregator VidZone Digital Media, which has distribution agreements with the “big four” music labels and more than 7,500 indie labels. The streamed…

Entertainment companies in Spain have a novel idea for recouping revenue lost to piracy: get ISPs to impose a surcharge on customers’ accounts. The Coalition of Creators, an umbrella group supported by the General Society of Authors and Publishers (SGAE), argues it’s ISPs’ “civic duty” to help cover its members’…

—The Filter: Peter Gabriel-backed music recommendation technology developer The Filter is moving into the DVD market. The company has signed up to provide Belgian online DVD home rental service DVDPost with its own movie recommendation widget. DVDPost has been running in France and the Benelux countries since 2002 and has…

France Telecom (NYSE: FTE), owners of the Orange carrier brand, reported first quarter profits fell, as the company invested in TV programming for its new service in France. Earnings before interest, tax, and depreciation dropped 4.4 percent to 4.3 billion euros (£3.9 billion) from 4.63 billion euros (£4.15 billion) a…

Yes, we’re still in that recession. London-listed advertising giant WPP on Tuesday reported worse than expected Q109 earnings, but CEO Sir Martin Sorrell is sticking to his prediction that H209 will be better than H1 and that some recovery will take place in the advertising economy next year. “Reportable” revenues…