Conroy slashes commercial TV fees. Commercial television networks have received a $250 million-plus revenue boost after striking a lucrative deal with the federal government to have licence fees slashed by up to half. Communications Minister Stephen Conroy yesterday announced he would cut licence fees paid by the networks — calculated at 9 per cent of gross advertising revenues — to the government by 33 per cent for the 2010 financial year and 50 per cent for the 2011 financial year. — The Australian

Radio revenue on the up. The commercial radio industry has recorded the third consecutive month of growth in advertising revenue, up nearly four per cent to $43.61m during January. The figures complied by Deloitte for industry body Commercial Radio Australia showed growth of 3.69 per cent in the five metropolitan markets to a total of $43.61m. The strongest rise came from Brisbane, up 7.2 per cent to $7.12m. — mUmBRELLA

The NSA — Google’s bodyguard. The world’s largest Internet search company and the world’s most powerful electronic surveillance organization are teaming up in the name of cybersecurity.  Under an agreement that is still being finalized, the National Security Agency would help Google analyse a major corporate espionage attack that the firm said originated in China and targeted its computer networks, according to cybersecurity experts familiar with the matter. The objective is to better defend Google — and its users — from future attack. — The Washington Post

UK internet-policing bill looks shaky. Opposition to the government’s digital economy bill has increased sharply, with strong criticism in the House of Lords for its failure to offer “due judicial process” to people accused of illicit filesharing under the proposed “three strikes” rules of the bill. Outside parliament, hotels and educators have complained that the bill also endangers their businesses and provision of the internet to the public because of its insistence that organisations providing net access should be liable for the actions of their customers. — The Guardian

Pepsi strategy rebrands marketing. Pepsi’s Refresh Project, a first-of-its-kind experiment in social media that invests the brand in community-building projects, won’t simply leave a legacy for the recipients of its financial grants. It’s also a pivotal test case for other brands trying to navigate an ad-cluttered, cynic-rich marketing landscape. — Advertising Age

Humans; the next stage in search-engine evolution. A report this week laying out a strategy for social search has been getting a good deal of attention in tech circles. The paper, Anatomy of a Large Scale Social Search Engine, was written by Damon Horowitz and Sepandar Kamvar of Aardvark, one of several companies working on creating social search engines. – The NY Times

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