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NEW YORK (Reuters) - MTV Networks is expected to announce on Thursday a deal to use songs by The Beatles in its popular "Rock Band" video game series, marking the band's first major plunge into the digital music world.
The Beatles' Apple Corps Ltd and Viacom Inc's MTV Networks have been in talks for months. They issued media invitations to a teleconference on "a global music project" on Thursday, but did not give more details.
The Wall Street Journal reported that The Beatles have licensed their songs to "Rock Band," citing people familiar with the matter.
The deal would be a major win for "Rock Band" -- which is developed by MTV's Harmonix and published by Electronic Arts Inc -- against Activision Blizzard Inc's rival "Guitar Hero" video game. Both franchises let fans play plastic guitars along with music on television screens.
Pop music fans consider The Beatles, who broke up in 1970, one of the greatest rock bands of all time. Surviving members of the group as well as its representatives have jealously guarded the distribution of their music online.
For example, Beatles songs are not available on Apple Inc's iTunes over concerns by the band members and others close to them that the songs could be easily pirated.
Other bands that have licensed their music to "Guitar Hero" or "Rock Band" include classic rock veterans Aerosmith, The Rolling Stones, AC/DC and others.
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