MAJOR PAPERS:

• Private equity firm Corsair Capital and several of the banks bigger shareholders are expected to inject over $6B into Cleveland regional bank National City Corporation (NYSE: NCC), the Wall Street Journal reported.
• According to sources, the Financial Times reported that Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) is planning to sell a portion of its 9% stake in China Construction Bank in order to raise capital. However, Bank of America will offset some of the share sales by exercising options it holds to buy additional stakes in the bank at levels that are now well below market rates.

OTHER PAPERS:

• The UK Times said The Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc (NYSE: RBS) confirmed that it is considering a rights issue that is expected to raise up to GBP10B for the British bank.
• The UK Telegraph reported that the BBC is talking to private equity firms to join in a bid for Virgin Media Inc's (NASDAQ: VMED) Virgin Media Television, which owns a percentage of the UKTV content business that the BBC doesn't already own.

Late Friday, YouTube announced a partnership with BBC. According to the press release, the partnership will "create branded BBC 'Channels' on YouTube operating under separate BBC and BBC Worldwide agreements." The three channels would be the BBC, the BBC Worldwide, and the BBC World. This partnership allows BBC to "bring new audiences to the proposed BBC iPlayer service, and to secure commercial revenue via BBC Worldwide," according to the release on YouTube's website.

This partnership is important because it shows that YouTube is continually interested in working with content-owners to keep interesting material on YouTube. These partnerships are typically the result of discussions between companies and YouTube due to the copyright disputes with which YouTube must frequently deal. Companies (rightfully so, in my opinion) are cracking down on YouTube for allowing users to post copyrighted material on the website. YouTube is dealing with this problem the right way -- by creating solutions that make sense for both YouTube and the content-owning company.

While Viacom, Inc. (NYSE:VIA) pitched a fit over the presence of its content on YouTube, the BBC will be putting promotional trailers for its new shows on YouTube. According to the Financial Times, " From the BBC itself there will be content based on current hits such as Life on Mars and Doctor Who, while from BBC Worldwide there will be clips from old favourites such as Spooks and Top Gear, which are sold globally."

The BBC is attempting to reach new audiences, and this looks like a brilliant way to do it. In my opinion the BBC produces some of the best content in the world, but most young people don't watch it. sites like YouTube may be a great way to reach them.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reported that Kohl's Corp (NYSE: KSS) may form a multi-year deal with Elle for an exclusive line of clothing.
• The Journal also reported that Comcast Corp (NASDAQ: CMCSA) is expected to announce an online video deal with Facebook.
• The Barron's Online (subscription required) "Weekday Trader" column highlighted Citrix Systems Inc (NASDAQ: CTXS), which it said could rise to $40 a share or more from its current $31. The company is a play on the success of Microsoft Corporation's (NASDAQ: MSFT) Vista Operating System.

OTHER PAPERS:

• According to the BBC News, Vodafone Group ADR (NYSE: VOD) is offering News Corporation's (NYSE: NWS) MySpace in the UK through its subscribers' mobile phones.
• The Economic Times wrote that EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) has bought India's privately-held enterprise data security company Valyd Software for an undisclosed sum.
• The Chicago Tribune reported that Chicago real estate magnate Sam Zell has entered the bidding for the Tribune Company (NYSE: TRB).

Apple ended up at $57.0015, down .9485 cents. Today saw the successor to the eMac rolled out, but some others things are swirling around the company. iPodNN has a look at a new report on the global market for portable media, and it calls for people to begin integrating cellphones and music players.

As a result the headline for this story is going to be 'will cellphones eliminate iPods?' My guess is that Apple is already anticipating this, which is why the ill fated Rockr came out not so long ago. This Macsimumnews story looks at some Apple iPod patents, including a very phone-like looking device. Consumer preference for phone/player combination does not sound a death knell for Apple just yet.

Meanwhile, the BBC is running a story passing on advice from security experts encouraging people to switch to Apple products to the lower security risks involved with the platform. Increasing awareness of the software's robustness can't hurt as people deal more and more frequently with malicious code on their personal computers.

[Disclosure: I own Apple stock at the date of this post]

According to this article at ThisIsMoney.co.uk, when the BBC starts paying attention to you, perhaps things are going well for what you are doing. With both AOL and Google in the cross hairs of the BBC (British Broadcasting Company), perhaps Europe is paying more attention to Internet firms that are in the midst of changing the world? I would say so. But how does the BBC plan on challenging Google and AOL -- and in what ways with what tools?

Without mentioning specifics, perhaps this is just brand double-speak by the BBC chief. He is correct in that the BBC brand is probably the only legitimate challenger to most of the American-based firms that are shaping and morphing the way people and businesses communicate in milliseconds across the globe. But with established brands such as Google and AOL, the fight to capture pieces of the business both companies now enjoy will be far from an easy affair, even for a large conglomerate like the BBC.

Another nice piece of data here -- the BBC receives government subsidies that help it compete -- unfairly in many eyes -- with private companies. Even with that assistance, I highly doubt the BBC can easily challenge entrenched, global Internet companies like AOL and Google.