This is the last in a series of posts that highlighted key people, companies and trends to watch in 2012 in the sectors we cover most, from publishing to legal, and from mobile to advertising. Not too long ago, TV Everywhere was a bold concept being evangelized by Time Warner…

Now it’s Verizon’s turn in the government spotlight. The U.S. Department of Justice plans to look into the recent deals that the wireless company has cut with several cable companies in order to obtain wireless spectrum, according to a report.

Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud of Saudi Arabia, an investor in media titans News Corp. (NSDQ: NWS) and Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), is turning his attention now to social media: he and his investment group, Kingdom Holding Company, today became the latest investors in Twitter, putting up $300…

Last week, Verizon announced a $3.6 billion deal to buy wireless spectrum from cable operators and resell their pay-TV services. This week, Lowell McAdam, Verizon’s CEO, started to lay out how that deal will impact other services operated and sold by the carrier: it looks like it will not continue…

Consumers are increasingly using Facebook for video - but, despite studios and broadcasters hosting more of their content on the social network, it remains mostly a gateway to video hosted elsewhere.

A big move for Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ) today, and something of a seismic shift for the cable industry as it moves away from its fixation on offering its own wireless services to complement their broadband, TV and phone offerings: Verizon has agreed on a deal to pay $3.6 billion…

Consumer Reports, which named the iPad the top tablet earlier this year, is now adding subscriptions and free access for print subscribers to its iPad app. As part of its ongoing strategy to reach younger readers, it is also releasing seven new smartphone apps, including one that scans barcodes for…

Magazine and news publishers who have not yet joined iOS Newsstand have lost out to the system’s early adopters, according to research data.

Next Issue Media, the digitized magazine and newspaper newsstand, has added several more titles from company backers Hearst and Time Inc. (NYSE: TWX) to its preview edition and struck new distribution agreements with several mobile device makers. However, as it prepares for its full-feature product release for some time in…

Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) and Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) have sent out so many press releases about their respective upcoming tablets this week that I have begun to imagine both devices snapping back and forth at each other like squabbling children. In the latest round of this, Amazon is launching…

If you think Android is a fragmented marketplace, take a look at mobile advertising: while there are clearly a few very big players like Google (NSDQ: GOOG) and Apple (NSDQ: AAPL), there are dozens of independents, offering slightly different twists on the business model, that are continuing to see big…

Another day, another patent suit is hitting the courts. Today the Canada-based patent holder WiLAN has filed a suit in a U.S. court against a host of big-name tech companies, including Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) and HTC, alleging patent infringements related to WiLAN patents in WiFi, LTE, CDMA and HSPA technologies.…

Hulu’s first offering outside the U.S. is live: Hulu Japan, a subscription service with “hundreds” of films and thousands of hours of TV. For ¥1,480 a month or roughly $18.50, Japanese subscribers can watch across an array of devices just like U.S. subscribers of Hulu Plus with one exception—Hulu Japan…

Time Inc. (NYSE: TWX) is expanding its magazines’ presence on the Nook Newsstand. Starting today, print subscribers to Fortune, People, Sports Illustrated, and Time will be able to read the Nook editions of those magazines for free (as they can on the iPad and other tablets). Time Inc. plans to…

Watching movies on Facebook isn’t new—Warner Bros. (NYSE: TWX), Paramount and Universal each are trying variations on the theme. But today, paidContent can report, Miramax is launching the largest-scale Facebook streaming movie venture yet, the latest in a series of moves to mine the most ore possible from its rich…

When Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) released its quarterly earnings last week, the company boasted that its HBO app, HBO Go, was pulling in the crowds as a very healthy rate: four million downloads since launching in May, with 85 percent of those users now watching more HBO than before and…

E-singles are one of the hottest new publishing trends—with everyone from David Baldacci and Jodi Picoult to Byliner and Slate testing them out. These bite-sized e-books, priced accordingly, could be a panacea for authors and publishers seeking new revenue streams. E-singles are a much more effective way to tackle newsy…

Time magazine is rolling out an “all access” subscription plan that gives current print subscribers complete use of the title’s content across all its digital versions, including its apps on the iPad, HP (NYSE: HPQ) Touchpad and Samsung Galaxy Tab. The move reflects the unwillingness of most readers to pay…

More and more companies are starting to think of the mobile screen as an adjunct to the big screen, but only as long as you are still paying for cable. Time (NYSE: TWX) Warner’s new iPad streaming service allows mobile users to see the same content they’d see on the…