archives

o Animation Site Icebox.com to Shut Down
o CNET to Lay Off 10% of its 1900 Employees
o RealNetworks, Wavefly Form Alliance to Bring Streaming into Living Rooms
o Amazon.com to Charge Publishers for Email Recommendations
o MP3.com and Qualcomm to Develop Wireless Music Applications
o SunnComm CD Copy-Protection to be Tested on Country Release
o Briefly Noted: MTVi Group - Universal Music Group, Intertainer - Warner
Music Group, Interplay Entertainment Corp. - Warner Bros. Consumer
Products, Wink Communications - Bell ExpressVu, "TV-Distributed Web to be
PG-13," Stephen King, Andreas Schmidt
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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: "The DIY Convention," "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 Animation Site Icebox.com to Shut Down

San Francisco -- Having failed to close on a $10 million round of funding,
animation site Icebox.com will shut down by the end of this week, CNET
reported on Wednesday. The company is reportedly negotiating to sell some
or all of its assets, should it not receive emergency funding before
Friday. Icebox.com is funded by investors that include incubator
ECompanies, which had previously said that it would support the company
until it secured additional funding The company laid off 50 of its
employees in November, and last week company president Gary Levine
resigned to take a position at cable network Showtime. Los Angeles-based
Icebox.com offers animation on its site, and has licensed several of its
cartoons for television. The company's staff includes former writers for
Fox's "The Simpsons" and the South Park movie.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-4744306.html?tag=mn_hd
http://www.icebox.com
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o CNET to Lay Off 10% of its 1900 Employees

San Francisco -- Technology and commerce-related information provider CNET
Networks has announced that it will lay off 10 percent of its 1900
employees in an effort to eliminate duplicate jobs and shut down
unprofitable businesses. The company did not say in which divisions the
layoffs will fall, or which businesses will be discontinued. CNET
Networks' revenues for 2000 were in line with analysts' estimates, but the
company has reduced its revenue projections for 2001. "Because of the
current slowdown affecting the economy and particularly the technology
market, we have limited visibility and thus have lowered our 2001 revenue
guidance by 17 to 20 percent," said Shelby Bonnie, chairman and CEO of
CNET Networks. The company's share price fell nearly 8 percent on
Wednesday following the announcement. San Francisco-based CNET Networks'
assets include technology information site CNET.com, News.com, technology
publisher ZDNet and comparison-shopping site mySimon.com.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010206/ca_cnet_ea.html
http://www.cnet.com
http://www.news.com
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o RealNetworks, Wavefly Form Alliance to Bring Streaming into Living Rooms

Seattle -- Streaming media company RealNetworks on Wednesday announced an
alliance with Wavefly, a distributor of digital media, that will add the
ability for PCs to wirelessly transmit online media to other devices --
such as TVs and home stereos. The technology will let users play MP3s,
watch streaming video and view digital photos. Under the agreement,
RealPlayer 8 software will be integrated into Wavefly's wireless home
networking technology, which will then be licensed to consumer electronics
manufacturers. In addition to licensing the technology, Austin-based
Wavefly will integrate RealPlayer 8 into its own digital media player.
Wavefly's player can connect to a PC either wired or wirelessly; the
digital media player can then be connected to a home stereo or television
and play digital media files through RCA or S-Video outputs. "We believe
that products such as those enabled by the integration of [Wavefly's
technology] will allow our popular news content to be enjoyed in a more
relaxed lean-back environment, enhancing both the user experience and
accelerating the adoption of Internet media," said Bernard Gershon, senior
vice president and general manager of ABCNEWS.com
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010207/wa_se_real.html
http://www.realnetworks.com
http://www.wavefly.com
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o Amazon.com to Charge Publishers for Email Recommendations

New York -- Amazon.com will soon charge publishers as much as $10,000 per
book for the chance to be included in the lists of recommendations the
company's editors send out to customers through email, the Wall Street
Journal reported on Tuesday. The mass emails are sent to consumers who
have previously purchased books at Amazon.com. The paying titles will
still face scrutiny by Amazon.com editors, but if a book is deemed worthy,
the publisher will also have to buy ads on the company's website that
would make the promotional investment as much as $17,000. Previously,
editors' recommendations were free to publishers and based solely on the
merits of the book. Some publishers have experienced "significant spikes
in sales" following an email promotion, according to the article.
Seattle-based Amazon.com will still provide unbiased recommendations
alongside its paid counterparts, which may confuse consumers. Recipients
of the promotional emails will have to click on a link and be directed to
a page on the company's website in order to see which recommendations were
bought and which were given on their own merit.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010207/wr/amazon_report_dc_1.html
http://www.amazon.com
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o MP3.com and Qualcomm to Develop Wireless Music Applications

San Diego -- MP3.com announced on Wednesday that it has partnered with
wireless developer Qualcomm to create software that would allow for the
wireless delivery of digital music. The software will be based on
Qualcomm's BREW technology, which lets developers make software that is
compatible with all phones that use Qualcomm's CDMA integrated circuits.
"The next step for digital music is mobility," said MP3.com CEO Michael
Robertson. "Artists and music fans have told us they are looking for the
day when music will be delivered beyond the desktop to wireless devices,
and we're building the technologies that will be instrumental in making
this vision a reality." The potential of this partnership is in San
Diego-based MP3.com's My.MP3.com service, which allows users to stream
music they have already bought on CD to Internet-enabled devices. A
wireless version of the service would mean that users would have access to
their digital music collections wherever they go.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010207/ca_mppp_qc.html
http://www.mp3.com/mp3mobile
http://www.qualcomm.com
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o SunnComm CD Copy-Protection to be Tested on Country Release

Phoenix, Az. -- Country music label group Fahrenheit Entertainment
announced on Wednesday that an upcoming release for Country Music Hall of
Fame artist Charley Pride will be embedded with CD copy-protection
technology from SunnComm. The technology claims it will prohibit users
from "ripping" the CD, or turning its songs into computer files that can
be copied with ease. The album -- "Charley Pride's Tribute to Jim Reeves"
-- is scheduled for release on March 20. "We believe our licensing
agreement with SunnComm will afford us the opportunity to protect the
rights and financial well being of our artists as well as play an integral
part in the growth of our company," said Peter Trimarco, president of
Fahrenheit Entertainment. Phoenix-based SunnComm announced a $20 million
deal in December with an Asian CD manufacturer to include its
copy-protection on CDs pressed by the company.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/010207/az_sunncom_3.html
http://www.sunncomm.com
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o Briefly Noted:

(New York) The MTVi Group announced on Wednesday that it has signed an
Internet radio licensing and marketing agreement with Universal Music
Group. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The agreement allows
MTVi to broadcast songs from Universal Music artists including U2 and
Jay-Z on the web radio station at its Sonicnet.com website. Universal
Music will also collaborate with MTVi on marketing services and market
research initiatives.
http://www.mtvi.com/flash/press_release_detail.asp?id=229
http://radio.sonicnet.com
http://www.umusic.com

(Los Angeles) Intertainer, a broadband entertainment site, announced that
it has licensed music videos from Warner Music Group for video-on-demand
on its Intertainer.com and Intertainer.tv websites. In exchange, Los
Angeles-based Intertainer will promote Warner artists such as Metallica
and Bjork on its sites. Intertainer has also licensed music videos from
Sony and EMI Recorded Music. In addition to music videos, Intertainer also
offers the American Film Institute's library of short films and other
content to users with high-speed connections.
http://www.intertainer.tv
http://www.warnerbros.com/pages/music/index.jspfromtout=home_menu_music_item

(Irvine, Calif.) Game developer and distributor Interplay Entertainment
Corp. announced on Wednesday that it has signed an agreement with Warner
Bros. Consumer Products to develop game titles based on the popular sci-fi
movie "The Matrix." The agreement covers both current and future
interactive gaming platforms. Irvine-based Interplay recently announced
the formation of an online division, where it will offer its roster of
massively-multiplayer online games.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010207/ca_iply_sh.html
http://www.interplay.com

(Alameda, Calif.) Wink Communications, a developer of set-top boxes for
interactive television, announced that it has signed a five-year deal to
offer its product to Toronto-based satellite TV provider Bell ExpressVu.
Under the deal, Bell ExpressVu will deploy Wink's set-tops into 1 million
homes over a five-year period. The companies will also work to deploy
e-commerce capabilities on the system. Alameda-based Wink's service is
currently available to 2.5 million satellite and cable subscribers in the
U.S.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010206/ca_wink_be.html
http://www.wink.com
http://www.expressvu.com

(San Francisco) Television broadcasters may soon be using untapped
bandwidth in their signals to broadcast Internet content, but FCC
restrictions for television mean the content will be the equivalent of a
PG-13 rated movie, Wired News reported on Wednesday. Companies including
Wavexpress and iBlast are developing technology to use a portion of the
19.4Mbps available to TV stations to send Internet content to home
viewers. The connection would not allow for interaction, however, only the
reception of content. Due to a lack of FCC regulation on the new medium,
the companies only plan to send content that would be acceptable under
current FCC guidelines for broadcast television.
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,41616,00.html
http://www.wavexpress.com
http://www.iblast.com

(Bangor, Maine) Horror writer Stephen King said that his experiment with
"The Plant," a payment-optional e-book which he posted on his website
earned $463,832.27, Reuters reported on Wednesday. King offered the first
chapter of the e-book for free, and then asked users to contribute $1 for
each additional chapter. King said he would continue the story as long as
a large enough percentage of readers paid the fee. The story was shelved
after the sixth chapter as paying readers dropped below 50 percent.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-4740035.html?tag=mn_hd
http://www.stephenking.com/PlantNumbers_010101.html

(San Francisco) CNET featured an interview on Wednesday with Andreas
Schmidt, CEO of Bertelsmann eCommerce Group. Schmidt's company is heading
Bertelsmann's effort to create a paid subscription service for music
file-sharing with Napster, that can generate a profit as well as
compensate artists and copyright holders. In the interview, Schmidt
reveals, among other things, that he believes Napster has a "good legal
argument" against its service being illegal, and says of other record
labels that, "We're meeting constantly with them, we're trying to take
them into the process, giving them input, giving them knowledge, and
including them in establishing this business model."
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-201-4735496-0.html?tag=tp_pr

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

> The DIY Convention - Do It Yourself in Film, Music & Books - Los Angeles

A one-day showcase examining the DIY Digital Revolution. The Convention
will educate attendees -- entertainment professionals, indie labels and
production companies, musicians and content creators -- on the steps
necessary to bring their vision to the worldwide audience. Panels will
address all the legal, business and creative steps needed to produce,
exploit and distribute books, music and film.
Registration: http://www.diyconvention.com
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> 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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