When he’s not thinking about managing DVD distribution deals with movie studios, Netflix (NSDQ: NFLX) CEO Reed Hastings is thinking about math. Operating outside of his Netflix role, Hastings has acquired DreamBox Learning, which bills itself as an e-learning company. The acquisition was made in a partnership between Hastings and…

In addition to the ABC (NYSE: DIS) Player hitting the iPad App Store, its parent Disney has a number of special items for the iPad’s release on Saturday. Aimed at affluent, first-adopters with kids, Disney Publishing Worldwide has built two original Toy Story read-along apps for the iPad. These iPad…

Kid-friendly web browser KidZui—which claims “hundreds of thousands of users”—has added $4 million in additional funding. Kidzui’s browser lets kids navigate to more than two million pre-screened sites; parents get a weekly e-mail showing what their kids have looked at online. A basic version is free, although, for $39.95 a…

THQ has secured new licensing deals with DreamWorks Animation, giving the company the rights to develop and publish new games based on the studio’s films and TV series. Financial terms of the multi-year deal weren’t disclosed, but THQ (NSDQ: THQI) does get to create games for all three consoles, wireless…

Guess it’s a bit harder to launch the next Webkinz than the backers of web-based toy-maker Smith & Tinker thought. The company raised $29 million from VCs including Foundry Group, DCM and Alsop Louie Partners, and debuted its Nanovor online game in August. The accompanying toys, called Nanoscopes, started retailing…

Matt Freeman (pictured, left) is relinquishing his CEO post at OTCBB-traded kids/mom-focused ad network Betawave to take on the role of vice chairman instead. The company’s president, Tabreez Verjee, will become CEO on an interim basis while Betawave, which was rebranded from GoFish (OTCBB: GOFH) nearly a year ago, looks…

MyFit has raised $1 million in a round led by VC firm New Enterprise Associates. The site takes the information a student enters (like GPA or SAT scores) and returns a student’s chances of getting in—and fitting in—at various colleges (It cross references the data with information gathered from graduates…

MTV Networks’ Nickelodeon has acquired the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) franchise, for $60 million. The bulk of the payout goes to The Mirage Group—the company founded by the franchise’s creators, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird—but embattled media company 4Kids Entertainment will get roughly $11 million from the deal, in…

Young pop stars like Miley Cyrus (pictured) and Vanessa Hudgens are pushing the envelope when it comes to sexy clothes, videos and even MySpace pics, leaving some parents concerned about the influence these celebs have on their daughters. And with teen sites like CosmoGirl.com promoting them—and their fashions—it may seem…

Fox’s IGN Entertainment has acquired What They Play, a gaming info site geared toward bridging the gap between parents and their game-playing kids. Financial terms were not disclosed. Founded in 2007 by former Ziff Davis execs Ira Becker and John Davison, the site offers in-depth reviews of games that expand…

Seattle-based gaming company Smith & Tinker is hoping that it can turn a combination of an online battle game and related electronic toys into a franchise that’s just as lucrative as Webkinz (which is bringing in a reported $750 million per year, per SAI). The Seattle-based company recently launched Nanovor,…

Kid-friendly web browser KidZui is trying its hand at online video, launching ZuiTube, a YouTube-powered video site that aggregates clips that have been pre-screened by a panel of parents and teachers. The site currently has around 60,000 clips (including the JK Wedding sensation), as well as official music videos from…

4Kids Entertainment (NYSE: KDE), the NYC-based kids entertainment media firm, has put itself up for sale, paidContent has learned. The company is going through a selective bidding process, and speaking to a few interested parties, according to a source familiar with the situation. 4Kids, founded in 1970 as Leisure Concepts…

B&C has the latest—and one of the best—in a wave of interviews marking the first month of Julius Genachowski’s tenure as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Read the original for a good FCC road map. A few of the highlights: —Kids’ programming: For Genachowski, it’s the “right time to…

Glubble, an online community that lets families share photos, messages and status updates, has raised $1 million in funding from a group of private European investors. (This brings its total funding to about $3 million). The S.F.-based startup is also getting new leadership with the money: COO Alexander van Elsas…

—Duo hopes women get Obsessed with new show: Another day, another online video series ... though this one is aimed at a demo that doesn’t have a glut of original series to choose from: women aged 25 to 55. It’s called Obsessed, a talk show produced by web marketer Gary…

Magazines may have been weathering the economic downturn better than newspapers, but the current upheaval in the financial markets makes it only more likely that survival will be more difficult. And so, in advance of an increasingly pessimistic outlook, Hearst has decided to shutter CosmoGirl magazine, the second mag the…