archives

o AOL Time Warner, Bertelsmann Confirm Talks on Subscription Music Service
o Entertainment Site Gamers.com Lays Off Over 50 Employees
o RealNetworks Exchanges Stock Options in Effort to Retain Employees
o Briefly Noted: LEGO Media International - Warner Bros. Consumer
Products, On2.com - CountingDown.com, ETC Music - Winter X Games, "Who's
Afraid of E-Books," Local News Sites - MP3
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> Digital Media Wire Panel: "Interactive Gaming on the Internet"

Interactive gaming is a $6.5 billion market with sales rivaling those of
the motion picture box offices. Forrester Research forecasts that
interactive gaming will be a $26 billion market by 2005. Which
technologies and business models will drive this expanding market? Will
entertainment companies profit from gaming on the Internet? Digital Media
Wire will hold a dinner and panel discussion: "Interactive Gaming on the
Internet: Recent Developments and New Opportunities" on Thursday, February
15, 2001 at the Argyle Hotel in Los Angeles. Moderator: Victor Hwang, COO,
larta. Confirmed panelists: George Alexander, VP Media & Entertainment,
CAP Gemini Ernst & Young; Jim Charne, Attorney and former President,
Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences; Brian Dearth, CEO, Hollywood
Stock Exchange; Chris Kantrowitz, CEO, The Groove Alliance; Mark
Kapczynski, Principal Consultant, Microsoft Media & Entertainment Group.

For more information and to register:
http://www.digitalmediawire.com/panel1.html
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> Job Postings: VP Biz Dev/Sales, Senior Web Designer, Tech Writer, Account
Exec./Sr. Account Exec.

> Events: "Digital Media Outlook"

Full Job/Event descriptions listed below "Briefly Noted" section or at
http://www.digitalmediawire.com/postings.html

To Post a Job: http://www.digitalmediawire.com/jobs.html
To Post an Event: http://www.digitalmediawire.com/events.html
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o AOL Time Warner, Bertelsmann Confirm Talks on Subscription Music Service

Los Angeles -- An AOL Time Warner spokesman confirmed that the company has
been in talks with Bertelsmann AG about the subscription service for music
file-sharing the company is building with Napster, Reuters reported.
However, the company has not been shown a legal model that it sees as able
to turn a profit yet. "Bertelsmann said they were making a legal service,"
said AOL Time Warner co-chief operating officer Richard Parsons. "We have
had discussions with them, but we haven't seen a business model that puts
reality around that." Napster CEO Hank Barry has said that a paid service
will cost about $5 per month, but many analysts have replied that that
price is not enough to both compensate copyright holders and turn a
profit. Bertelsmann CEO Thomas Middlehoff said this week that the
companies would launch their paid Napster service in June or July. AOL
Time Warner indicated that when and if it did participate in the
Bertelsmann/Napster subscription service, it would also use other
services, including its own subscription service. "To the extent that BMG
develops (Napster) into a legal platform and generates revenue, it would
be one of any number of approaches we would take to make music available
to consumers," said Parsons.
http://www0.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/internet/docs/809819l.htm
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o Entertainment Site Gamers.com Lays Off Over 50 Employees

Los Angeles -- Gamers.com, a video game entertainment and information
site, has laid off over 50 employees -- downsizing its staff to about 30
employees -- VentureWire reported on Friday. Most of the layoffs occurred
in the company's website division; Gamers.com CEO Geoffrey Mulligan said
he soon plans to cut some additional senior management positions. The Los
Angeles-based company raised $11 million in November 1999 from CMGI
@Ventures.
http://www.gamers.com
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o RealNetworks Exchanges Stock Options in Effort to Retain Employees

Seattle -- Streaming media firm RealNetworks announced on Friday a
voluntary stock option exchange for its employees, in an attempt to retain
employees and battle the devaluation of stock options due to the current
downturn in the market. Seattle-based RealNetworks currently has
approximately 24 million options held by employees with an exercise price
in excess of $10 per share. Under the terms of the offer, employees may
cancel outstanding stock options previously granted to them in exchange
for an equal number of new options to be granted at a future date. The
exercise price of these new options will be equal to the value of the
company's stock at the end of August 2001. "Retaining and motivating our
employees is absolutely critical to our continued success and our ability
to build long-term shareholder value," said RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser.
"This program balances our need to address the impact of the current
market environment on our employees and our obligation to be responsible
to all our shareholders." The company's stock closed at about 9 on Friday,
down considerably from its 52-week high of 96.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010202/wa_realnet.html
http://www.realnetworks.com
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o Briefly Noted:

(Slough, England) LEGO Media International announced on Friday that it has
partnered with Warner Bros. Consumer Products to publish two children's
software titles based on the popular J.K Rowling Harry Potter character.
Warner Bros. recently acquired the rights to the Harry Potter character
for other media. The first CD-ROM title will be released in the fall and
will be based on the first book of the series, "Harry Potter and the
Sorcerer's Stone."
http://www.lego.co.uk
http://www.warnerbros.com

(New York) Streaming video firm On2.com announced on Friday that it has
partnered with entertainment site CountingDown.com to launch Fusion, a
site that will stream 5 new short films each week from the Quickband and
CountingDown.com film libraries. The site, set to launch February 15, will
deliver the films in New York-based On2.com's proprietary VP3 format,
which it says gives TV-quality pictures at full-screen settings.
Glendale-based CountingDown.com was acquired by the now-defunct Pop.com in
June of 2000, and will soon become home to some of the creations intended
for Pop, including two Flash-animated series created by Steven Spielberg
and Ron Howard.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/010202/ny_on2_com.html
http://www.on2.com
http://www.countingdown.com

(Mt. Snow, Vt.) ETC Music has announced that visitors to the Winter
X-Games in Vermont will be able to download songs to their MP3 players
using one of its Musicteller digital music kiosks, located on the grounds
of the extreme sports event. The kiosk will be located in an installation
for Nike, which recently debuted its own MP3 player line. Those who buy a
Nike MP3 player at the event will receive six free songs from the ETC
Music Musicteller.
http://musicteller.com
http://expn.go.com/

(New York) Fortune.com is running a feature entitled "Who's Afraid of
E-Books," which explores the market for e-books among educational
publishers. Printers of college textbooks -- a $3.3 billion industry --
foresee a bright future for e-books that will benefit students who will
dump heavy textbooks in favor of a single e-book reader device, and
chapter-by-chapter publishing.
http://www.fortune.com/fortune/2001/02/05/ebo.html

(San Francisco) CNET reported on Friday on the trend of local news sites
offering MP3 libraries from local musicians. Washingtonpost.com this week
announced that it would offer local bands the ability to post their music
to a special section of the news site. Other news sites such as the Boston
Globe's Boston.com and a website for The Arizona Republic offer similar
services.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-4698616.html?tag=mn_hd
http://washingtonpost.com/mp3/

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Job Postings:
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To Post Jobs: http://www.digitalmediawire.com/jobs.html

> Sonata, Director/VP Biz. Dev./Sales - Wireless Internet - New York City

Venture-backed wireless company specializing in the next generation of
location-based applications and wireless advertising seeks executive to
initiate, negotiate and close deals. Cultivation of business contacts,
structuring deals, negotiation of contracts and being part of an effective
business development team will be essential. Familiarity with advertising,
high-tech software or Internet products. Must have a passion for
emergingtechnology. Send resumes to hr@sonatainc.com.
http://www.sonata.com
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> Lucid Designs, Senior Web Designer - Los Angeles

This is an opportunity to join a young, growing company with established
high-profile clients. Should have a minimum of two years design
experience, and a thorough knowledge of web standard design software such
as Photoshop, Illustrator and Flash. Experience with Dreamweaver, DHTML,
CD-ROM or print production are pluses, but not required. Position includes
benefits and generous salary. Send resumes and examples of on-line work to
jobs@luciddesigns.com
http://www.luciddesigns.com
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> Static, Tech Writer - Los Angeles

Software company that transforms the desktop into a peer-to-peer
distributed network for businesses and consumers seeks writer to document
cool software. Needs to have moderate programming/coding skills
(especially C/C++), as well as clear, concise and creative writing skills.
Experience with some sort of document layout software is needed. Send
resumes and tech-writing samples to cooljobs@static.com
http://www.static.com
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> Ruder Finn, TECHNOLOGY-Account Exec./Sr. Account Exec. - San Francisco

Global independent public relations agency seeks executives to help handle
explosive new business growth in dynamic and fast-moving office. Requires
excellent written/oral communication, organizational and problem-solving
skills, as well as a passion for client service. Sr. level positions
require strong program planning, client counseling and staff mentoring
skills. Great accounts, smart programs, competitive compensation and
benefits. Send resumes to careers@ruderfinn.com
http://www.ruderfinn.com

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Event Postings:
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To Post Events: http://www.digitalmediawire.com/events.html

> Digital Media Outlook, April 2, 2001 -- New York City

Don't miss a beat. In a world of limited bandwidth, companies are
pushing technology and services that mesh data with formats like MP3
and MPEG while employing edge serving and IP multicasting to clear
a path to the audience. At Digital Media Outlook, learn where
the future lies for rich media services and infrastructure companies.
http://www.digitalmediaoutlook.com/home.html?e=DMO01Dwire
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