Apple reportedly ordered by judge to run "Samsung didn't copy the iPad" ads.

AT&T fires back at Verizon with shared-data plans.

Bank of America and Credit Suisse launch new cost cuts.

Capital One to pay $210 million in fines over deceptive credit practices.

Duke Energy pins CEO swap on handling of troubled Florida nuke plant.

Facebook to offer voter-registration platform in Washington state.

GM buyout plan poses deadline dilemma for retirees.

Hermes sales slowly rise.Continue reading...

BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion saw its shares slump today after warning Wall Street that it's forecasting an operating loss for the first quarter. With the company hiring bankers at JPMorgan and RBC to explore a sale, investors worried and layoffs looming, the Canadian government dismissed rumors of a possible takeover.

Other brand news:

Best Buy store closures spur Walmart ads.

NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg bans sale of large sodas and sugary drinks.

GM is shifting Chevrolet ad budget from Super Bowl to sponsoring the popular Manchester United soccer team.

Disney Channel joins the TV Everywhere brigade.

Exxon Mobil shareholders approve executive pay.Continue reading...

Big-time press conferences across the globe may need to make room for two more microphones soon. Disney is reportedly in talks to launch a 24-hour Spanish-language all-news channel later this spring with Univision, in a bid to create a cable news channel for English-speaking Latinos.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the Spanish TV giant and the Walt Disney Co., which owns ABC and a host of other cable networks including ESPN, are developing a 24-hour, all-news, English-language channel. Univision “could use the channel to reach more acculturated viewers that advertisers prefer: Latinos who predominately speak English,” the Times reports.

The move would bolster Disney's ABC News division, which has “struggled to be more competitive and has shed hundreds of staff members from its ABC News division because the network produces only a few newscasts.” It would also give a direct line to America's booming Latino population, with roughly 50 million Americans ticking the Hispanic or Latino census box in 2010, a 43% jump up from the 2000 Census. 

Disney is also looking for multicultural growth outside the U.S. Residents of India, prepare to encounter Aladdin at 3 a.m. on your TV.Continue reading...

Original episodes of Winx Club are launching on Nickelodeon on November 7th, marking the first major foreign property that the Viacom-owned kids programmer is remaking for the U.S.

It's based on the 2004 Italian animated TV series of the same name, created by Iginio Straffi and produced by Rainbow S.p.A., which follows Bloom and her six magical fairy friends as they journey between mystical Magix and Earth, all in training as modern fairies, witches and supernatural warriors from across the known universe to combat proverbial arch enemies.Continue reading...

Three years ago, Disney Channel was called "the greatest teen-star incubator since the NBA stopped drafting high schoolers."

But with Miley Cyrus moving on to Lindsay Lohan-land, the High School Musical stars now college-age, the Jonas Brothers morphing into the Jonas Men, and (most recently) Demi Lovato quitting, Disney Channel needs new stars.

Luckily, a Disney original movie about a fake band appears to have spawned the real deal.Continue reading...

Richard Branson plan to save the ring-tailed lemurs meets with some skepticism by scientists and environmentalists.

DirecTV's premium video-on-demand service ($29.99 for 48 hours) will launch Thursday, bringing movies to living rooms in about two months.

Disney Channel loses another star as Demi Lovato quits Sonny With a Chance.

IBM beats estimates and raises profit forecast as workers seek to organize global union.

Intel beats Wall Street forecasts, while Samsung boosts chip market share to close in on Intel.Continue reading...

Horizon Dairy is betting on the Disney Channel as a “smart move” in its foray into national television advertising, as seen in the above video.

The product being advertised is Horizon's Organic Milk Plus DHA Omega-3, and the spot conforms to Disney Channel's strict sponsorship policy, which limits ads to two per hour, 15 seconds in length, restricts overt product claims, and requires a voice-over sign-off that the product is a “proud sponsor of Disney Channel.”

The campaign, however, reaches across the Disney family of media brands.Continue reading...

Comcast's acquisition of NBC Universal is approved (with one FCC commissioner, Michael Copps, opposed). Conditions for the deal, expected to close by Feb. 1, include that Comcast must give up its management role at Hulu, and abide by anti-favoritism clause — a victory for Bloomberg TV and other networks that compete with Comcast and NBCU's channels. Comcast, separately, just invested $10M in Snagfilms, an ad-supported documentary site that owns INDIEwire, and led a $9M financing round in e-publishing consultancy Perfect Market.

Apple announces record quarterly earnings of $6B, with 7 million iPads sold during the Christmas quarter. The iPhone is now the UK's "most desirable" brand.

Citigroup "disappoints" despite quarterly profit of $1.3 billion.Continue reading...