Viacom has been ordered to pay Rock Band creators Harmonix Music Systems $383 million. This is a bit over half of the money that is being sought by former shareholders in Harmonix. Last year, former Harmonix CEO/co-founder Alex Rigopulos and co-founder Eran Egozy sued Viacom over unpaid bonuses. The bonuses are based on Rock Band sales goals that were met. In 2007, most of the payments were made but they stopped coming in 2008. According to arbitration accountants, Harmonix shareholders are owed $383 million as part of the 2006 acquisition. [Kotaku]

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report are returning to Hulu.com through a broad content agreement with Viacom. Each of the shows will be available on Hulu.com the morning after they air. Hulu will also offer episodes of Jersey Shore, The Hills, Chappelle’s Show, Reno 911, Teen Mom 2, and Tosh.0 21 days after the on-air premiere. “Welcome to Hulu Plus, Snooki,” wrote CEO Jason Kilar on the Hulu blog.

Viacom, Inc. (NYSE:VIA.B) has sold Rock Band franchise company Harmonix for $200 million to Columbus Nova. Analysts of Viacom’s business strategy have questioned why a company known for cable networks is involved in the video game industry.

Viacom is appealing their lawsuit against YouTube. A federal court had ruled in favor of YouTube when Viacom sued them for copyright infringement. In a 72-page filing by Viacom, the company is arguing that if the lower ruling stands, it will “radically transform the functioning of the copyright system and severely impair, if not completely destroy, the value of many copyrighted creations.”

This sounds like YouTube all over again. Viacom is refusing to join Google TV. This means Comedy Central, MTV, Paramount, Dreamworks, Spike, CMT, Xfire, Go Fish Pictures, and VH1 will not be appearing on Google TV. Other major networks that are blocking Google TV include ABC, NBC, and CBS. Viacom is blocking full episodes on the Logitech Revue and Sony Internet TVs too. [Engadget]

Viacom, the parent company of MT V announced today that they are in talks to sell off Harmonix. Harmonix is a Massachusetts based subsidiary that developed the popular music video game Rock Band. Viacom had recorded $260 million in write-offs on the value of Harmonix for the third quarter.

Today a judge threw out a $1 billion copyright lawsuit filed by Viacom against YouTube. This lawsuit has been dragging out ever since Google bought YouTube. YouTube is now protected by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Essentially Viacom could not prove that YouTube failed to remove video clips after being notified about copyright infringement.

MTV is on the hunt to hire a social media expert for a position called Twitter Jockey.  The Twitter Jockey will interact with MTV fans constantly.  Currently MTV has 18 potential candidates, but is looking to hire two more.