archives

o Jupiter Lowers Revenue Forecast for Online Music Market
o Interactive Ad Bureau Sets New Guidelines for Impressions, Site Visitors
o Terra Lycos Signs Multimillion-Dollar Marketing Deal with FoxSports.com
o Hacker Magazine 2600 Asks for Reversal of DeCSS Ruling
o 3-D TV Technology Developer DDD Group Raises $10 Million
o Digital TV Technology Firm Fortel DTV Raises $1 Million
o Briefly Noted: Digital Entertainment Network (DEN), Philips -
copy-protected CDs, Avid Technology - Compaq, Ebrary - university presses,
Speakeasy - Rhapsody, Versaly Games - War's Lee Oskar, Arush
Entertainment, Quiksilver - TVN, American Film Institute - online DV
course, Bill Gates - assassination movie
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o Jupiter Lowers Revenue Forecast for Online Music Market

New York -- Internet analyst and measurement firm Jupiter Media Metrix has
lowered its revenue forecast for the online music market, citing the
recent downturn of overall music sales and the delayed launches of
subscription services. The firm lowered its original prediction for a $6.2
billion online music market by 2006 down to $5.5 billion. Sales of
subscriptions and single digital downloads are expected to generate $1.6
billion in 2006, with 63 percent of this revenue generated from
subscriptions to services like Pressplay, MusicNet, Rhapsody or Napster.
"Digital music subscriptions have the potential to revive the flagging
music industry," said Aram Sinnreich, Jupiter senior analyst. "The key to
unlocking this market will be remixing the distribution chain -- taking
advantage of digital media's fluidity to allow labels, music sellers and
technology companies to focus on what they do best." Jupiter predicts that
one-third of all U.S. music sales will come from online music sales by
2006.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020115/nytu019_1.html
http://www.jupiterresearch.com
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o Interactive Ad Bureau Sets New Guidelines for Impressions, Site Visitors

New York -- The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), an association of
companies that sell online advertising, on Tuesday released new guidelines
for tallying "impressions," or the number of times an ad is viewed by
users, and also for counting website visitors. The new impression
guidelines favor advertisers, as they recommend that ads be counted as
having been "viewed" later in the process of delivery, helping to
eliminate cases where publishers charge advertisers for ads that are never
viewed. The new guidelines for counting site visitors recommends that
website "hits" that are generated when Web-trolling spiders and bots land
on a site be eliminated from the tally. The new guidelines are voluntary,
but the IAB represents a group of advertisers that account for 70 percent
of all online ads, including AOL, CNET, MSN, Yahoo and DoubleClick.
http://www.iab.net/news/content/01_15_02.html
http://www.iab.net/admeasurementguidelines/register.htm
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-8484171.html?tag=mn_hd
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o Terra Lycos Signs Multimillion-Dollar Marketing Deal with FoxSports.com

Waltham, Mass. -- Global Internet network Terra Lycos announced on Tuesday
that it has formed a multi-year, multimillion-dollar content, sales and
marketing alliance with FoxSports.com. Under the terms of the deal, Fox
Sports will be able to market its TV sports coverage to worldwide users of
the Lycos Network, while Lycos will get promotional consideration on the
Fox Sports TV networks. FoxSports.com will also feature links to Lycos
content on every page, in addition to newly integrated Lycos technology
including search, chat and My Lycos functions. Both companies will also
have access to tennis star and Lycos spokeswoman Anna Kournikova for
promotions.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020115/152020_1.html
http://www.foxsports.com
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o Hacker Magazine 2600 Asks for Reversal of DeCSS Ruling

New York -- 2600 Magazine, a publication that covers the international
hacker community, has asked the full 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in
New York to reverse its ruling that said the magazine could not post the
source code or provide links to download DeCSS, a software code that can
crack the security on DVD discs. "By permitting publication of code in an
online magazine, the Second Circuit would recognize that Internet speech
is fully protected by the First Amendment as established by the U.S.
Supreme Court in ACLU v. Reno," said Cindy Cohn, legal director of the
Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is handling 2600's defense. "The
most egregious part of the previous decision prevented even linking, the
lifeblood of the Internet." A three-judge panel from the 2nd Circuit Court
previously ruled against 2600; the appeal is for an "en banc" hearing
featuring all of the judges from the 2nd Circuit. A decision on whether or
not an en banc hearing will be held is not expected until the spring.
http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/MPAA_DVD_cases/20020114_ny_eff_pr.html
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/173635.html
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o 3-D TV Technology Developer DDD Group Raises $10 Million

Santa Monica, Calif. -- DDD Group, a developer of 3-D television
technology, announced on Tuesday that it has raised $10 million in a
financing round led by Schroder Investment Management and Merrill Lynch.
The company is now listed on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative
Investment Market [AIM: DDD]. Santa Monica-based DDD Group's technology
enables viewing of 3D images without special glasses. The company also
supplies 3D content through 2D to 3D conversion and 3D transmission over
existing networks. Their technology has been used in advertising,
entertainment, oil and gas exploration and military visualization
applications.
http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/f_headline.cgi?day0/220150180&ticker=ddd.l
http://www.ddd.com
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o Digital TV Technology Firm Fortel DTV Raises $1 Million

Duluth, Ga. -- Fortel DTV, a developer of video signal processing
technology for digital TV and video production, announced on Tuesday that
it raised an additional $1 million from angel investors in the fourth
quarter of 2001. Georgia-based Fortel claims that its products lets
broadcasters convert, encode, decode, synchronize and process video
signals with higher resolution and fewer artifacts than other techniques.
The company holds two patents that relate to improving long-standing
television image quality issues related to "luminance and chrominance
separation and resolution." U.S. TV networks ABC, CBS and NBC are among
Fortel's customers. The company will use the new funds to expand
operations following the launch of its second-generation product line.
http://www.forteldtv.com
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Larta Panel Session -- Jan. 24 @ USC
"Digital Cinema: Hollywood's Emerging Challenge"

Speakers for this discussion at The Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital
Arts at USC will include Dean Elizabeth Daley of the USC School of Cinema
and Television, Bob Dowling, Publisher of The Hollywood Reporter, Ken
Williams, President, Technicolor Digital Cinema, Michael Karagosian,
Digital Cinema Consultant and other leading executives.

For more information:
http://www.larta.org/Research/HollywoodUnstrung.asp

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o Briefly Noted:

(Los Angeles) The storied and now-defunct Digital Entertainment Network
(DEN) is attempting to pay back millions it owes creditors by selling its
library of content to television, according to a story in The Hollywood
Reporter. Former DEN head of programming Dean Georgopoulos is at Sundance
this week and will be at the National Association of Television Program
Executives (NATPE) convention next week hoping to sell DEN's library of
6,500 hours of content, 158 trademarks and an online ad technology patent
for around $30 million. "I'm sitting in Century City surrounded by
thousands of tapes that nobody knows about," Georgopoulos told THR.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/bpihw/20020114/en/bankrupt_den_peddling_library_1.html

(London) NewScientist.com recently featured an interview with Gary Wirtz,
general manager of the copyright office for Philips Electronics, a leading
consumer electronics manufacturer. In the interview, Wirtz says that
Philips is opposed to the recent release of copy-protected CDs into the
market by major record labels. Philips owns patents on the CD standard and
could potentially withhold licenses for copy-protected CDs, but Wirtz
believes no action is necessary as consumer complaints will likely stymie
copyproof CDs. "Any kind of legal action would take years and we don't
expect these [discs] to last that long," Wirtz told New Scientist. "At the
moment we are trying to reason with people rather than sue them."
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991783

(Tewksbury, Mass.) Avid Technology, a provider of multimedia production
technology, has reached a deal with Compaq Computer Corp. whereby Avid
will deliver its video editing technology on Compaq workstations. The deal
is expected to result in the global sale of more than 4,000 Compaq
workstations each year, with an estimated value of more than $17 million.
Massachusetts-based Avid's products are used to make television and news
shows, commercials, music videos and CDs, corporate/industrial productions
and major motion pictures.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020115/datu019_1.html
http://www.avid.com

(Mountain View, Calif.) Ebrary, a provider of online books, periodicals
and research materials to libraries, universities and other institutions,
said on Tuesday that it has negotiated deals with the university presses
at Harvard, Cornell and Indiana. Under the terms of the deal, Ebrary users
will be given access to full-text, copyright-protected titles from the
publishers' archives. The company additionally offers texts from The
McGraw-Hill Companies, Random House and Penguin Classics. Mountain
View-based Ebrary also launched version 2.0 of its software, with pilot
customers including the Stanford and Yale University libraries. Version
2.1 will become available in the first quarter of this year, where users
will begin paying an annual license fee for implementation, technology
license and maintenance.
http://www.ebrary.com/news/020115a.jsp
http://www.ebrary.com/news/020115b.jsp

(Seattle) Nationwide DSL Internet access provider Speakeasy is expected to
announce on Wednesday the availability of Listen.com's Rhapsody digital
music subscription service to its broadband customers. "Our broadband
services and Listen.com's music services are a natural fit and we're proud
to be the first distribution partner for Rhapsody," said Speakeasy music
channel manager Michael Wells. San Francisco-based Listen.com's Rhapsody
service offers on-demand streaming and online radio stations featuring
songs from three of the major labels, in addition to a number of indie
labels.
http://music.speakeasy.net

(Seattle) Versaly Games, a provider of mobile entertainment applications,
said on Tuesday that it has signed Lee Oskar, harmonica player for the
funk band War, to compose cell phone ringtones and other mobile music to
include in its service. "The current ringtones hurt my ears," said Oskar.
"My music is special to me and I feel Versaly will distribute it in a
manner consistent with my vision and creativity."
http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/f_headline.cgi?day0/220150227&ticker=
http://www.versalygames.com
http://www.leeoskar.com

(Scottsdale, Ariz.) Video game developer Arush Entertainment said on
Tuesday that all of its future games will be sold in retail stores, in
addition to the company's online distribution service. "Today, retail is
the most successful way to sell games," said Arush CEO Jim Perkins. "We
have successfully delivered games electronically to consumers and digital
distribution will remain a component of our business as that market
continues to emerge." Arizona-based Arush will distribute its "Duke Nukem:
Manhattan Project" title in stores this spring.
http://www.arushgames.com

(Huntington Beach, Calif.) Quiksilver, a retailer that specializes in
surfing and action sports apparel, announced on Tuesday that it has
partnered with Burbank-based TVN, a provider of video pay-per-view and
video-on-demand services, to create action sports and surfing TV
programming. The video-on-demand and subscription video-on-demand channels
will offer cable, satellite, wireless, and DSL providers selections from
Quiksilver's library of skate, surf and snowboarding video content, as
well as coverage from the many sporting events sponsored by the company.
Huntington Beach-based Quiksilver also plans to partner with other apparel
companies and video producers to produce a more robust offering.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020115/latu006_1.html
http://www.quicksilver.com
http://www.tvn.com

(Los Angeles) The American Film Institute (AFI), an organization dedicated
to advancing and preserving the art of film, television and other forms of
the moving image, announced on Tuesday that it has created an online
course to teach students how to shoot and edit using digital technologies.
Los Angeles-based AFI co-produced the lesson with Columbia Digital
Knowledge Ventures, a division of Columbia University. Online learning
firm Fathom will host what AFI plans to be a series of online courses.
"Digital Video: An Introduction with Michael Rubin" is available online
for $50 for six months access to the lesson.
http://www.fathom.com/afi
http://www.afi.com
http://www.columbiadkv.com

(Park City, Utah) Wired News reported from the Sundance Film Festival on
Tuesday about a film screening at the knock-off Slamdance festival, whose
subject matter is a fictional account of the assassination of Microsoft
chairman Bill Gates. The creators of "Nothing So Strange" have set up a
slew of related websites, including memorials to Bill Gates and conspiracy
theorist sites. "I still think most of Hollywood doesn't get the Web,
which has been relegated to marketing departments along with poster design
and television advertisements, said the film's producer, Brian Clark.
"[The studios] approach the Web as a way to promote product and end up
missing out on the incredible opportunities it provides for storytelling
and interacting with fans."
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,49678,00.html
http://www.nothingsostrange.com
http://www.billgatesisdead.com
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