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Tampa Tribune

Published: December 19, 2007

NET

Viacom Dumps DoubleClick

Media company Viacom is ditching DoubleClick as the primary provider of online advertising to its Web sites, replacing it with a rival platform owned by Microsoft. The move away from DoubleClick, which Google intends to buy, gives Microsoft a major win in its drive into the highly lucrative online advertising business. The advertising pact is part of a larger five-year agreement in which Microsoft will also license video clips and other programming from Viacom's entertainment outlets, including MTV, Paramount Pictures and Comedy Central for use on its online network MSN as well as the Xbox video game console. Financial terms were not disclosed.

E-Mail Is Passe For Teens

Teenagers still value phone calls and face-to-face meetings with friends even as they use Facebook and MySpace, a new study finds. Nearly 40 percent of teens say they talk to friends on a wired phone every day, and 35 percent say they do so on cell phones, the Pew Internet and American Life Project said Wednesday, analyzing its phone surveys from late 2006. Thirty-one percent of teens say they spend time in person with friends every day.

Fewer teens say they communicate daily using instant messaging, text messages or internal messaging systems at Facebook or MySpace. E-mail also has lost favor among teens. It ranked at the bottom - used daily by only 14 percent of teens to keep in touch with friends.

Gambling Case Is Settled

The three largest Internet companies will pay a combined $31.5 million to settle federal civil allegations that they took ads for illegal gambling. Microsoft, Yahoo and Google also will stop accepting ads for sports wagering and other online gambling, Catherine Hanaway,U.S. attorney for eastern Missouri, said Wednesday. All three companies said they stopped taking the ads years ago.

NATION

Rating Hits Muni Bonds

A major bond insurer was downgraded to "junk" status Wednesday, a move that could potentially cost banks and local governments billions of dollars. Credit rating agency Standard & Poor's slashed its credit rating for ACA Financial Guaranty Corp. to noninvestment grade "CCC" from investment grade "A." S&P cited concerns about increasing claims from defaults on mortgage-backed bonds, and the risk that those claims could drain bond insurers of needed capital. ACA's downgrade led S&P to cut ratings on nearly 3,000 municipal bonds, which could spark a municipal borrowing crisis, said Peter Schiff of Euro Pacific Capital.

A staff and wire report

Watch the Tribune's Business report at 5, 6 and 11 a.m. Tuesday-Friday and 9 a.m. Saturdays on WFLA-TV.

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