Jerry Yang Will Resign From Yahoo: MediaBytes with Shelly Palmer November 18, 2008

Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang announced that he will resign from his position. The search engine founder, who has had a controversial run as CEO, will continue to hold the Chief position until a suitable replacement is found. Investors have been after Yang's head for turning down a Microsoft deal for $33/share. (Yahoo's stock at $10.63.) With Yang out there is alot of speculation as to the future of potential deals with AOL and even Microsoft. While Yang should have been ousted months ago, his recent failure to secure a search ads deal with Google may have been the final straw.

Mark Cuban, head of HDNet and the Dallas Maverick's, has been indicted on insider trading violations. The SEC claims Cuban sold stock in Mamma.com based on information not available to the public on a stock offering. The indictment claims that Cuban avoided losing $750,000 by selling his stock prior to the sale. Cuban, an active blogger, noted the charges on his blog "BlogMaverick.com", saying "I wish I could say more, but I will have to leave it to this, and let the judicial process do its job."

President-elect Barack Obama helped 60 Minutes score its highest overnight ratings in almost a decade. Obama's interview with Steve Kroft drew approximately 24.5 million viewers Sunday night. The show had more viewers than any prime-time show shown this season and the biggest audience for 60 Minutes since 1999.

Hollywood is getting ready for the summer of 2009 by releasing the full length trailers to two hotly anticipated films; Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Star Trek. Warner Brothers is hoping that the final installment of the Harry Potter series, scheduled for release in July, will be a Dark Knight-esque summer blockbuster. The JJ Abrams directed Star Trek is scheduled to premier in May.

Plus, today's consulting question, "Is it true that MLB.TV is walking away from Silverlight and going back to Flash?" 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]