Google May Walk Away From Yahoo Deal: MediaBytes with Shelly Palmer October 31, 2008

Google may back out of its proposed search ads deal with Yahoo. The deal, which has been held up in regulatory scrutiny for months, has faced increasing objections from the DoJ during its negotiations. If the deal doesn't go down it will be another failed deal for Yahoo in 2008.

Sprint announced that it has failed to find a buyer for its struggling Nextel unit. Sprint, the third largest cellphone network, will instead hold onto Nextel and seek a new long term partnership. Sprint Nextel, who merged in 2005, have had very little success and Sprint lost 901,000 customers in the second quarter.

Barack Obama's segment on the Daily Show Wednesday night helped the show score its highest ratings ever. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart took in 3.6 million viewers, besting its previous high of 3.0 million viewers when Michelle Obama visited October 8th. The ratings boost also helped the Colbert Report attract its largest ratings ever.

Silicon Valley Insider came out with its Silicon Alley 100 and Union Square Ventures founder Fred Wilson topped the list. Wilson, an influential blogger, as well as VC man, has made choice investments early on in web companies like Feedburner and Twitter. His blog has become a sort of "Silicon Alley Bible."

Estelle Reiner, Carl Reiner's wife and Rob Reiner's mother, passed away earlier this week. Estelle, a jazz singer, is most known for a single line in Rob Reiner's When Harry Met Sally, where she responds to Meg Ryan's infamous Deli orgasm by saying "I'll have what she's having."

Plus, today's consulting question, "EA cut its forecast, don't people play more games when times are tough?" Shelly has the answer on today's MediaBytes.

Shelly Palmer is a consultant and the host of MediaBytes 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 (2008, York House Press). Shelly is also President of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, NY (the organization that bestows the coveted Emmy® Awards). You can join the MediaBytes mailing list here. Shelly can be reached at [e-mail]