A consortium that includes RHJ International and India’s Videocon Industries emerged Fri. as the lead bidder for Daewoo Electronics, in a deal valued at about $700 million. Woori Bank, among Daewoo’s top creditors, named Videocon and RHJ -- the holding company for private equity firm Ripplewood and the majority owner of D&M Holdings -- as the preferred bidder, with private equity fund MBK Partners being held in reserve.

Protron is changing its CE brand to SpectronIQ to settle a trademark infringement suit by Proton. The settlement, made about a month ago, came after Protron was spurned in its offer to buy Proton, Vp Sales Gary Bennett told Consumer Electronics Daily.

The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued the final results of its countervailing (CV) duty administrative review of certain pasta from Turkey for the period of January 1, 2004 through December 31, 2004.

In its first week available, THQ’s Saints Row for Xbox 360 became the #2-rented videogame in the U.S., according to Rentrak’s preliminary Home Video Essentials data for the week ended Sept. 3. But the PS2 version of Madden NFL 07 from Electronic Arts (EA) remained the #1 title, in its 2nd week. The Xbox version of Madden was #4 (down 2) while the 360 version was #6 (down 3). EA had one more title in the top 10: The PS2 version of NCAA Football 07, at #5 again, in its 7th week… Saints Row was the #1-selling game in the U.K. during its first week there, according to the Entertainment & Leisure Software Publishers Assn.’s Chart Track data for the week ended Sept. 2. The only other new game in the top 10 was EA’s The Sims 2: Glamour Life Stuff for PC at #5. THQ’s Cars -- the previous week’s #1 game -- slipped to #2… For the 2nd week, Saints Row was again the #1-requested title for GameFly, the online service said data for the week ended Sept. 4 showed. Xbox 360 again dominated the top 10, with 7 titles for Microsoft’s console, including #2 Enchanted Arms from Ubisoft, up 4… Madden NFL 07 was the #1-selling PC game in the U.S. during the week ended Aug. 26, according to NPD Group.

With energy efficiency of CE products fast becoming a front-burner issue worldwide, CEA is spearheading adoption of a global industry position supporting “voluntary, market- oriented” programs and opposing govt. requirements, said Douglas Johnson, CEA senior dir.-technology policy: “We are monitoring and coordinating with our sister associations on energy efficiency activities around the world.”

The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued the final results of its antidumping (AD) duty administrative review of low enriched uranium from France for the period of February 1, 2004 through January 31, 2005.

The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued its preliminary results of the following antidumping (AD) and countervailing (CV) duty administrative reviews:

The Cal. legislature passed a video franchise reform bill to spur competition in the state’s $5.3 billion cable market by shifting video franchising from municipalities to the PUC. If Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) signs the bill as expected, Cal. will be the 8th state fundamentally reforming video franchising to facilitate competitive video entry. Those 8 states -- Cal., Ind., Kan., N.J., N.C., S.C., Tex. and Va. -- have 1/3 of the nation’s population.

In its first week available, the PS2 SKU of Madden NFL 2007 from Electronic Arts (EA) was the #1-rented videogame in the U.S., according to Rentrak’s preliminary Home Video Essentials data for the week ended Aug. 27. The Xbox and Xbox 360 versions were #2 and #3, respectively, also in their first week. No other new games made the top 10. EA’s NCAA Football 07 for PS2 -- the previous week’s #1 title -- dropped to #5.

The FCC and broadcasters agreed to an accelerated hearing schedule in an indecency case that the 2nd U.S. Appeals Court, N.Y.C., signaled Tues. in preliminary oral arguments it could hear on an expedited basis. A fast ruling in Fox v FCC would be a partial win for broadcasters complaining of increased FCC heavy-handedness toward racy programming.