Broadband Content Bits: Viadeo, ITN/YouTube, MuZu/Merlin, NetPlayTV/STV, STV Player

Viadeo: France-based personal network site Viadeo has landed $5 million in funding from AGF, Ventech and others to fund international growth. It’s now raised $23 million, TechCrunch says. The site has 8.5 million members – bigger than Xing and smaller than LinkedIn.

ITN Books: ITN’s prolific On multimedia division is launching Beyond Books, a YouTube video channel with author interviews. It’s working with publishers like Penguin and Random House on content.

MuZu: The Ireland-based music video site now has a licence from Merlin, the body representing most of the world’s indie labels, after signing its fourth major, WMG, in May. Merlin tells Reuters MuZu will let it both showcase and make money from artists’ videos.

NetPlay/STV: Interactive TV gaming supplier NetPlay will launch Scotland’s first Freeview TV casino with STV next month. Release.

STV Player: The broadcaster has also overhauled its web VOD offer, making STV Player to catch up on shows for up to 30 days after TX, plus some archive shows. Via allmediascotland.