Ryan Nakashima

Google wants to know where you go so badly that it records your movements even when you explicitly tell it not to. Many Google services on Android devices and iPhones store your location data even if you’ve used a privacy setting that says it will prevent Google from doing so. For the most part, Google is upfront about asking permission to use your location information. An app like Google Maps will remind you to allow access to location if you use it for navigating.

In a move that aims to counter consolidation among TV distributors like Comcast-Time Warner Cable and AT&T-DirecTV, Rupert Murdoch's Fox has made an unsolicited takeover offer for rival media giant Time Warner for about $76 billion in cash and stock.

The more must-have channels like HBO and Fox News Channel are assembled under one company, the stronger that company's bargaining position in demanding licensing fees from the TV distributors, no matter how big they get. Time Warner rejected the bid, but an analyst called it just a first attempt in a courtship that would make the combined company as large as Disney in market value.

YouTube will launch a new subscription music service, the company acknowledged after being dragged into a public dispute over royalties that will result in the blockade of some independent artists' music videos.

The Google-owned video site said that it is "adding subscription-based features for music on YouTube" and that "hundreds of major label and independent artists" have signed on. The paid service -- to be launched soon -- will likely allow playback of videos without ads and allow for offline playback on mobile devices.

The people familiar with the matter also confirmed that a small number of independent artists who had not agreed to new deal terms will have their videos blocked in some countries starting in a few days, even on the free version of YouTube.

YouTube will block the music videos so users of the test version won't be confused about which content they can access for free and which features require payment, the people said. Allowing free streams of music by certain artists while not offering them on the paid service would erode the value of the paid plan, one person said.

The move also adds pressure on those labels to sign, because not being on YouTube altogether will result in less advertising revenue and exposure.

Movie and music piracy thrives online in part because crafty website operators receive advertising dollars from major companies like Comcast, Ford and McDonald's.

That's the conclusion of several recent reports that shed light on Internet piracy's funding sources.

Content thieves attract visitors with the promise of free downloads and streams of the latest hit movies, TV shows and songs. Then they profit by pulling in advertising from around the Internet, often concealing their illicit activities so advertising brands remain unaware. Pirate websites run ads that are sometimes covered up by other graphics. They automatically launch legitimate-looking websites as pop-up windows that advertisers don't realize are associated with piracy.

At the end of the day, the pirate website operators still receive a check for serving up a number of views and clicks. The illicit activity is estimated to generate millions of dollars annually. That's only a small portion of the roughly $40 billion of online ad spending every year. Yet it is helping to feed the creation of millions of copyright-infringing websites that provide stolen content to a growing global audience.

Once again, media company CEOs are among the highest paid executives in the nation, occupying six of the top 10 earning spots according to an Associated Press/Equilar study.

Compensation experts say a variety of factors are at play, including the gain in media stocks, the intangible value of talent in a hit-or-miss business, the control of shareholder power in very few hands, and the decline of the financial sector.

1. Stock Outperformers: Outsized stock growth boosts the value of stock and option grants. Media companies' shares have rebounded strongly since the 2008 recession, mainly because advertising spending grows in tandem with a growing economy. That means higher-priced ads and higher-priced execs.
2. Talent Quotient: Making it big in media means generating hits. And while top executives may not be hands-on with every decision, they are where the buck stops.
3. Voting Power: Control of voting power by a single shareholder can dilute the impact of "say on pay" advisory votes, experts say. A major shareholder can override other shareholders' concerns.
4. Other Industries' Decline: Lists in previous decades might have had more financial and banking executives. Since the Great Recession punished those companies with government bailouts, bank collapses, accounting revisions and writedowns, they have dropped in the pay rankings.
5. All Boats Rise: When one company boosts pay, others compensate to remain competitive.

Antitrust experts say AT&T's bid for DirecTV could reap immediate regulatory rewards. Coming so quickly on the heels of a rival cable company merger -- the pairing of Comcast and Time Warner Cable -- makes it easier for regulators to approve both transactions because they create two counterbalanced giants in pay TV.

Experts say the potential benefits of bigger scale, cost savings and promised reinvestment in networks to create speedier connections could be seen to outweigh the damage done to consumers by a reduction in the number of competitors.

"The antitrust regulators might be thinking about Comcast-Time Warner Cable becoming a Goliath with lots of small Davids," said Amanda Wait, a former antitrust attorney with the Federal Trade Commission and partner at Hunton & WiIliams LLP in New York. "What the AT&T deal does -- if it gets approved -- is it creates another strong competitor that looks more like a Goliath than a David. It levels the playing field a little bit," she said.

Although each deal will be examined on its own by the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice, regulators look at the current and future marketplace, according to Justice Department spokeswoman Gina Talamona. "We consider the market as it exists today and where the market may be heading with any pending or proposed deals," she said.