AEG to Refund $85 Million in Michael Jackson Tickets: MediaBytes with Shelly Palmer July 1, 2009

AEG will offer ticket holders for Michael Jackson's sold-out This Is It tour a full refund. The concert promoter was responsible for the 50 sold out shows Jackson was to perform at London's O2 Arena. While AEG sold approximately one million tickets, valued at a total of $85, it is giving ticketholders the option of receiving the physical tickets, designed by Jackson, rather than the refund.

The Pirate Bay torrent-sharing network has been acquired by Global Gaming Factory X for $7.8 million. The acquisition comes after the Pirate Bay's chief officers were ordered to pay a $3.6 million copyright violation. While Global Gaming Factory X noted that it will re-structure the file-sharing sites business plan, the Pirate Bay founders will probably use the buyout money to pay legal fee's and the RIAA.

The Sony Walkman turns 30 this year. Sony has sold over 385 million Walkman units since its introduction in 1979. It is responsible for introducing and defining the personal music space. However, in the last 8 years, Apple has sold over 210 million iPods, which pretty much tells the story. Sony has some serious reinventing to do.

The Chinese Government have pushed back the starting date of its new web filtering law. Many Chinese tech advocates gathered in Beijing to for what was supposed to be the beginning of a 24-hour Internet boycott, but it turned into a day-long, anti-censorship party. It is unclear when China will adopt the new censorship laws.

Joost, a streaming video service whose name you have probably forgotten, is cutting jobs, killing its consumer products and losing its chief executive. The company will now concentrate on white-label, business-to-business video distribution. The main reason for Joost's rapid decline has been Hulu, which has all but dominated the full-length, long form streaming content business.

Shelly Palmer is a consultant and the host of MediaBytes with Shelly Palmer a daily show featuring news you can use about technology, media & entertainment. He is Managing Director of Advanced Media Ventures Group LLC and the author of Television Disrupted: The Transition from Network to Networked TV. Shelly is also President of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. You can join the MediaBytes mailing list here. Shelly can be reached at [e-mail] For information about Get Digital Classes, visit www.shellypalmer.com/seminars

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