The End User: The future of telecommunications may be 'comminfotainment'
Within five years or so, the familiar land-line "telco" and even the mobile operator will be replaced by broadband providers who will sell packages, bundles or channels of communications, information and entertainment, according to Olivier Baujard of Alcatel-Lucent.

Google Checkout makes inroads on PayPal's turf
Thanks to aggressive holiday promotion, Checkout's use with some merchants has already surpassed PayPal's.
- With NASA, Google hopes to create 'virtual flyovers' of the Moon and Mars

Publicis buys Digitas, an online marketer, for $1.3 million
The deal increases the presence of Publicis in some of the fastest-growing areas of marketing at a time when many clients are shifting their ad budgets onto digital media.

Ericsson to buy Redback Networks for $2.1 billion
Ericsson, the largest maker of wireless-network equipment in the world, has agreed to buy Redback Networks, a cellphone equipment maker, for $2.1 billion, entering into competition with Cisco Systems in the market for Internet routers.

SEC says Russian trader used stolen passwords
The trader used the Internet to steal passwords of account holders at online brokerage firms to 'pump' stock prices, then sell his holdings at a profit.

Briefing: Netherlands will drop fees on copyrights
Also: FCC splits on cable rules; Music site faces suit; Rocker loses song rights; VimpelCom signs deal; More.

eBay is expected to close its auction site in China
Acknowledging that the online auction market in China is enticingly fast- growing but difficult to crack, eBay will shut its main Web site in China and enter into a joint venture with a Chinese company instead, according to a person briefed on the companies' plans.

New head of AOL takes the long view
Randy Falco is repositioning AOL for the long term by focusing on attracting a bigger audience, selling more advertising and increasing the amount of time people spend on its services.

Briefing: Swisscom buys back stake in its mobile unit
Also: Valassis battle for Advo ends with a purchase; Former Medco employee charged in virus plot; SEC sues "pump and dump" hacker; Check Point raises offer for Swedish firm; ASML buys rival

Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons under fire for diamond trip
The dialogue surrounding the Warner Brothers film "Blood Diamond" and its implicit criticism of the diamond industry took a new turn this month, as the hip-hop producer and entertainment mogul Russell Simmons returned from an industry-paid trip to Africa and began vocally defending the diamond trade.

The decision comes a week after the largest consumer electronics and computer makers in Europe threatened to sue the Netherlands and three other European countries after the European Commission dropped plans to compel them to cut the copyright fees. (Reuters)

FCC splits on cable rules

A divided Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 along partisan lines to impose new measures meant to ensure that local governments do not block new competitors from entering the cable television market.

The FCC chairman, Kevin Martin, also released a new pricing report that showed rates for basic and expanded cable rose 93 percent over a 10- year period.

Telecommunications companies including Verizon Communications and AT&T have been lobbying aggressively to make it easier to obtain local franchises as each company sinks billions of dollars into its networks to deliver video programming. (AP)

Music site faces suit

WASHINGTON: Sony BMG Music Entertainment and the other three biggest record companies sued Allofmp3.com Wednesday for copyright infringement, asking a judge to order the Russian music Web site to stop distributing songs online.

Allofmp3.com's business "amounts to nothing more than a massive infringement," the labels said. The Recording Industry Association of America sued on behalf of record labels owned by Warner Music Group, Vivendi and EMI Group.

The groups quoted the U.S. trade representative as calling Allofmp3.com a "poster child for Internet music piracy." (Bloomberg)

Rocker loses song rights

PARIS:The French rocker Johnny Hallyday on Wednesday lost the last round of a two-year battle against his former record company for control of his back catalogue.

The ruling by the Cour de Cassation, the highest French court, is a boon for the music industry, which feared the case could set a precedent for granting artists more rights.

Hallyday, whose real name is Jean- Philippe Smet, lost the appeal against an April 2005 court decision that refused him control of his master tapes recorded from 1961 to 2004.

The ruling means Universal Music Group will retain the rights to Hallyday's more than 1,000 songs even though they stopped working together in 2004. (Reuters)

VimpelCom signs deal

MOSCOW: VimpelCom, the wireless operator that sponsored Madonna's first concert in Russia, signed an agreement with Universal Music Group to offer content like ring tones to subscribers in former Soviet countries.

The accord with Universal Music Russia, a unit of the world's largest music record company, comes as VimpelCom and its competitors, Mobile TeleSystems and MegaFon, look for new services in a saturated market.

VimpelCom also has an arrangement for content with Warner Music International. (Bloomberg)

Telekom Austria, the largest Austrian telephone operator, said it had agreed to acquire eTel, a phone company with operations in its home market and four East European countries, for €90 million, or $118 million, in cash. (Bloomberg)

Juniper Networks, a maker of equipment that directs internet traffic, said that it would record about $900 million in expenses dating to 1999 to reflect backdated stock options grants that were given to officials including the chief executive, Scott Kriens. (Bloomberg)