Main Stories
o Dow Jones Acquires Financial News Site MarketWatch for $528 Million
o Tech Firms, Public Interest Groups File Amicus Brief in MGM v. Grokster
o Report: U.S. Surfers Can't Differentiate Search Results From Sponsored Ads
o "Grand Theft Auto" Game Developer Take-Two Gets Exclusive Deal With MLB
o Microsoft Won't Appeal Media Player Bundling Ruling by European Union
o Interscope Head Jimmy Iovine to Consult for Sirius Satellite Radio
o Indie Music Distributor The Orchard Licenses 8 Mobile Music Services

o Briefly Noted: Apple - 250M iTunes downloads, Twentieth Television - Verizon Wireless, Sorrent - Twentieth Century Fox, iBiquity Digital - Philips, EMI - Chemical Brothers - Sky ITV ad, LucasArts - "Star Wars: Empire at War," Sony Online Entertainment - "Champions: Return to Arms," Webzen - Los Angeles, Mforma Group - WPT Enterprises, Nokia, Bluestreak Technology - Frima Studio, U.K. - text-messages, Napster - video downloads?
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New York -- Dow Jones & Company, publisher of The Wall Street Journal, announced on Monday that it has acquired financial news site MarketWatch for $528 million. The deal ends a bidding war for MarketWatch that included The New York Times Company, the Gannett Company and Viacom. Dow Jones, whose WSJ.com is the largest paid subscription site on the Internet, said MarketWatch will no longer carry the CBS branding, and will retain its best-known columnists and reporters, in addition to its online radio network. "Together, The Wall Street Journal network of sites and MarketWatch attract close to 9 million unduplicated unique visitors per month," said Richard F. Zannino, chief operating officer and executive vice president of Dow Jones. "With a nearly tripling of the reach of our online network, we will take even greater advantage of continued strong growth in both online usage and advertising."
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/050124/245275_1.html
http://tech.nytimes.com/2005/01/24/technology/24marketwatch.html "
http://www.dowjones.com 
http://www.marketwatch.com 
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o Tech Firms, Public Interest Groups File Amicus Brief in MGM v. Grokster

Washington -- A coalition of technology firms and public interest groups on Monday filed a "friend of the court" brief with the U.S. Supreme Court, which will hear an appeal next month in the recording industry's copyright infringement lawsuit against peer-to-peer file-sharing firms, MGM v. Grokster. Groups including The Digital Media Association (DiMA), which represents webcasters; the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), which lobbies on behalf of 380 tech firms; and public interest groups NetCoalition and the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) urged the Supreme Court to reaffirm its 1984 "Sony Betamax" decision, which found that VCRs were not tools of piracy because of their "substantial non-infringing uses." The brief further suggests the Supreme Court remand the Grokster case back to the lower court, to determine if peer-to-peer firms' conduct construed "bad behavior" that would merit charges of contributory copyright infringement. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals earlier found, in a landmark decision, that file-sharing software providers are not liable for copyright infringement committed by individual file-swappers. "By affirming its 1984 Sony standard, the Court can remind lower courts of the legal distinctions that permit innovators to flourish and those whose conduct violates the law to be held liable," said DiMA executive director Jon Potter. "But the Ninth Circuit was confused about its ability to take an independent look at bad behavior by defendants engaged in knowingly, actively encouraging copyright infringement by the misuse of their technology," added ITAA president Harris Miller.
http://www.itaa.org/news/docs/grokster.pdf 
http://www.digmedia.org 
http://www.netcoalition.com 
http://www.cdt.com 
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o Report: U.S. Surfers Can't Differentiate Search Results From Sponsored Ads

New York -- Only 18% -- or about one in six -- of adult U.S. Internet users can tell the difference between actual search results and paid ads on search engines, according to a survey conducted by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Such paid, or "sponsored," search results, which appear on Google, Yahoo, MSN and other engines, are typically delineated from actual search results by being placed above or to the right of results, often in a different-colored box. Forty-five percent of those surveyed said they would stop using search engines if they thought they weren't being clear about offering some results for pay. "We're still in the infancy of the internet," study author Deborah Fallows told the Associated Press. "People are still kind of so pleased that they can go there, ask for something and get an answer that it's kind of not on their radar screen to look in a very scrutinizing way to see what's in the background there." Overall, the Pew survey found that 38 million Americans use a search engine each day, more than half of the U.S. Internet population. The average user spends a total of 43 minutes a month conducting some 34 searches.
http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/146/report_display.asp
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,66374,00.html 
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o "Grand Theft Auto" Game Developer Take-Two Gets Exclusive Deal With MLB

New York -- The Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA), the union that represents the rights of professional ballplayers, announced on Monday that it has signed an agreement with "Grand Theft Auto" video game publisher Take-Two Interactive, giving it the exclusive rights among third-party publishers to develop game titles featuring official players' names, uniforms and stadiums. Financial details of the deal, which takes effect in 2006, were not disclosed. Unlike rival Electronic Arts' recent signing of an exclusive deal with the NFL, Take-Two's agreement with the baseball union will allow companies that create video game consoles, like Sony, to continue to develop official baseball games for their own consoles -- effectively safeguarding Sony's "MVP Baseball" game franchise. New York-based Take-Two said developers Visual Concepts and Kush will now be devoted to the creation of baseball games for all viable platforms. The company has co-developed its "ESPN MLB 2K" franchise for several years with Sega's Visual Concepts studio, but will lose the rights to include ESPN branding as a result of an exclusive 15-year deal reached between ESPN and Take-Two rival Electronic Arts.
http://tinyurl.com/5wc2z 
http://www.take2games.com 
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o Microsoft Won't Appeal Media Player Bundling Ruling by European Union

Brussels -- Microsoft announced on Monday that it has decided not to appeal an interim European Union ruling that it immediately implement antitrust sanctions imposed in March. In a statement, Microsoft said it had decided to "forego its right to appeal" the European Court of First Instance's ruling on Dec. 22, 2004, meaning that the company must now offer a version of its Windows operating systems without its Media Player music and video software. What's more, Microsoft now must share a number of specifications with its rivals. "Rather than seeking to suspend the Commission's remedies, Microsoft's focus now is on working constructively with the Commission on their full and prompt implementation," the company said. Microsoft also announced that the first versions of Windows without Media Player would hit European retailers within the next few weeks.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?V677157E8 
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o Interscope Head Jimmy Iovine to Consult for Sirius Satellite Radio

New York -- Sirius Satellite Radio, a provider of satellite-delivered digital radio programming, announced on Monday that it has formed an alliance with Interscope Geffen A&M Records, and its chairman, Jimmy Iovine. Sirius and Interscope recently partnered on Shade 45, a hip-hop channel on Sirius that will be co-executive produced by Interscope artist Eminem. In addition to serving as executive producer for Shade 45, Interscope's Iovine will also act as creative advisor and consultant to Sirius on new programming opportunities, and offer promotional opportunities with Interscope artists.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050124/nym041_1.html 
http://www.siriusradio.com 
http://www.interscope.com 
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o Indie Music Distributor The Orchard Licenses 8 Mobile Music Services

New York -- The Orchard, a large distributor of independent music owned by Dimensional Associates, announced on Monday that it has licensed portions of its 300,000-song catalog to eight mobile services, which will in turn offer them as master ringtones to their customers. The deal will license The Orchard's content to Dwango Wireless, Zingy, 9 Squared, HIFI Ringtones, IAM Mobile, Securycast, Arvato Mobile and Hudson Soft. In addition to tracks from artists ranging from Beck and Coldplay to Ravi Shankar, the agreement includes comedy tracks from Jerry Seinfeld and George Carlin. Additionally, New York-based Dimensional Associates announced the formation of Dimensional Mobile Entertainment (DME), a new unit that will focus on mobile media through development and acquisitions. DME plans later this year to launch an eMusic Mobile service, offering a single subscription to its eMusic catalog for both PC and mobile usage.
http://www.theorchard.com 

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>Billboard Music & Money Symposium - March 3, 2005

The 4th annual Music & Money Symposium will take place Thursday, March 3, at The St. Regis Hotel in the heart of midtown Manhattan. As in past years, The Symposium will attract thought leaders from the music, legal, management and Wall Street communities for a thorough examination of trends and opportunities in music and digital entertainment.

This year's Symposium will include a candid, one-on-one discussion between Loeb & Loeb co-chairman John Frankenheimer and Sony BMG Music Entertainment CEO Andrew Lack. These two giants of the biz will explore the challenge of merging Sony and BMG, while providing an aerial view of music's future. Additionally, the event will feature all-star panel discussions that will explore a host of crucial topics and networking opportunities such as a breakfast, lunch and cocktail hour.

For more information and to register online, please visit: www.billboardevents.com or contact Kelly at kpeppers@billboard.com or (646) 654-4643.

Attendees of the Digital Music Forum will receive 25% off the registration rate for the Billboard Music & Money Symposium.
 

(Cupertino, Calif.) Apple announced on Monday that its iTunes Music Store has surpassed 250 million song downloads sold, and now averages about 1.25 million daily sales. Since launching in the U.S. in April 2003, Apple has opened iTunes Music Store websites in a total of 15 countries, and is estimated to sell around 70% of all music downloads purchased by consumers.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050124/sfm059_1.html

(Los Angeles) Twentieth Television, a TV show production company owned by News Corp., announced on Monday that it has signed an agreement with mobile operator Verizon Wireless, to produce two series of one-minute programs designed for delivery to multimedia cell phones. Under the terms, Twentieth Television will produce 26 live-action "mobisodes" each for "Love and Hate" and "The Sunset Hotel" for broadcast on V CAST, the new 3G multimedia service from Verizon and Vodafone.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050124/nym147_1.html
http://www.newscorp.com/management/20tv.html

(San Mateo, Calif.) Mobile entertainment publisher Sorrent announced on Monday that it has signed an exclusive agreement with Twentieth Century Fox, to develop mobile entertainment content based on Fox filmed entertainment. The first film that Sorrent will develop for under the two-year deal is Fox's animated feature "Robots," followed by Fox productions including "Kingdom of Heaven," "Mr. and Mrs. Smith," and "Ice Age 2: The Meltdown." Sorrent also has an agreement to develop mobile games for News Corp.'s Fox Sports Network.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/050124/245443_1.html 
http://www.sorrent.com

(Columbia, Md.) IBiquity Digital, the developer of technology that allows radio stations to broadcast a digital signal alongside their traditional analog signals, announced on Monday that it has signed a new agreement with Holland-based Royal Philips Electronics' semiconductor division. Under the terms, the companies will jointly devlop a successor to the current generation of Philips HD Radio on the market. Through deals with broadcasters including Clear Channel, Maryland-based iBiquity's HD Radio is expected to serve 90% of the U.S. by the end of 2007.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050124/dcm014_1.html 
http://www.ibiquity.com 
http://www.philips.com

(London) Major record label EMI announced that it will promote the release of electronic artists The Chemical Brothers through an interactive TV campaign airing on the U.K.'s Sky Active satellite TV service. The dedicated Chemical Brothers area will let viewers preview five tracks from the group's new album, "Push the Button," in addition to offering interviews and live footage.
http://www.skyactive.tv 
http://www.thechemicalbrothers.com

(San Rafael, Calif.) Video game developer LucasArts announced that it will release a new "Star Wars" PC game, "Star Wars: Empire at War," in the fall of 2005. Set a few years before the events of "Episode IV A New Hope," the game features a new game engine created by Las Vegas-based developer Petroglyph.
http://www.lucasarts.com/press/releases/96.html 
http://www.petroglyphgames.com

(San Diego) Online game developer Sony Online Entertainment announced on Monday that "Champions: Return to Arms," the sequel to its "Champions of Norrath" online roleplaying game for PlayStation 2, has gone gold and will ship to retailers on Feb. 7. San Diego-based SOE once again partnered with Bellevue, Wash.-based Snowblind Studios on development of the sequel.
http://www.snowblindstudios.com 
http://www.championsrta.com

(Los Angeles) Korean online game developer Webzen announced on Monday that it has formed a U.S. subsidiary in Los Angeles that will be a full-scale developer, publisher and distributor of online games. The company plans to offer several online game titles in the U.S. this year, including its upcoming "Sun," and some developed specifically for American gamers. Webzen, which claims 56 million users and 500,000 concurrent users of its online games, also operates publishing arms in China, Taiwan and Japan.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/050124/245161_1.html 
http://www.webzen.co.kr

(Los Angeles) Mobile game publisher Mforma Group on Monday announced the release of "World Poker Tour Texas Hold 'Em," a multiplayer mobile title developed in conjunction with WPT Enterprises, licensor of the World Poker Tour brand. The title will be distributed beginning next month in North America, Europe and Asia.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/050124/245042_2.html 
http://www.mforma.com 
http://www.worldpokertour.com

(Espoo, Finland) Cell phone maker Nokia on Monday shipped its "SSX: Out of Bounds" title for its N-Gage hybrid cell phone/mobile game deck. Originally developed and published by Electronic Arts, the title will enable multiplayer gaming through the N-Gage's Bluetooth wireless connectivity.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050124/ukm012_1.html 
http://www.n-gage.com

(Dallas) Bluestreak Technology, a Dallas-based developer of middleware for interactive TV, said on Monday that it has signed an agreement with Quebec City-based interactive TV games developer Frima Studio. Under the terms, Frima's games will be offered on Bluestreak's BeanBag games packages for digital TV operators.
http://www.bluestreaknetwork.com 
http://www.frimastudio.com

(London) A new report by the Mobile Data Association cements the U.K.'s reputation as a country obsessed with text messages. The MDA found that more than 2.4 billion text messages were sent and received in the U.K. in December, a 26% increase compared to the year previous and the highest monthly total on record. The figures for December brought the total for the year to more than 26 billion messages, also a record. The MDA predicted that more than 30 billion messages would be sent and received this year in the U.K., where about 78 million texts are sent every day.
http://www.mda-mobiledata.org/mda

(Cannes) Digital music service Napster is considering adding movies to its downloadable subscription service, company CEO Chris Gorog told attendees at the Midem music industry conference in Cannes, FT.com reported. "We are currently considering moving into video, particularly to tap the younger video game generation," said Gorog. "I do think that while there are huge players in the delivery of movies like Sky, there could be a role for Napster."
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/3f30067a-6dae-11d9-ae0d-00000e2511c8.html
http://www.napster.com 
 
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