archives

o Intertainer to Stream On-Demand New Releases from Universal Studios
o iSyndicate to Acquire Syndication Technology Developer Kurion
o Webnoize: European Union Approves Broad Copyright Legislation
o Portland's NXNW Music Conference and Festival Cancelled
o New York Times Digital to Syndicate Content to Yahoo
o VOD Firm Burst.com Gets Equity Investment from Eagle Wireless
o File-Sharing Service Aimster Signs Agreement with Marketer L90
> Digital Media Wire Interactive Gaming Panel - Los Angeles: SOLD OUT
o Briefly Noted: Microsoft - Bandai Entertainment - Softbank, MP3.com -
BMF Co., StarPolish, CenterSpan Communications, Generic Media
_____________________________________________

> Job Postings: Dir./Mgr. of Public Relations, Biz Dev/Sales,
Project Mgr./E-Commerce

> Events: "2001 Wharton Technology & Media Conference"

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
_____________________________________________

o Intertainer to Stream On-Demand New Releases from Universal Studios

Los Angeles -- Intertainer, a broadband entertainment network, announced
on Wednesday that it has signed an agreement with Universal Studios
Pay-Per-View to stream new release feature films, the company's film
library and select TV shows on-demand through Intertainer's digital cable
network. Terms of the multi-year agreement were not disclosed. New
releases available through video on-demand will be in the pay-per-view
window, which is the period after movies leave theaters and before they
are sent to video stores. Unlike traditional pay-per-view, on-demand
movies are streamed to consumers through digital cable or broadband
connections and can be paused, rewound and fast-forwarded like a
videocassette -- and time-out after the rental access period is over. As
part of the deal, Universal will offer some of its film library over the
public Internet on Intertainer's broadband site. For now, new releases
will be relegated to the company's digital cable television network.
Intertainer competitor CinemaNow, a Los Angeles-based online film site
partnered with Lion's Gate Films, recently announced that the studio would
offer its new releases over the Internet during the pay-per-view window.
Los Angeles-based Intertainer also offers TV programming, music videos and
movies from Warner Bros., Disney, Sony, Miramax, EMI Music and others.
http://www.intertainer.tv
http://www.universalstudios.com
_____________________________________________

o iSyndicate to Acquire Syndication Technology Developer Kurion

San Francisco -- iSyndicate, a provider of online content syndication
services, announced that it will acquire Kurion, a developer of content
syndication technology. Financial terms of the transaction were not
disclosed. iSyndicate will maintain Austin-based Kurion's operations, but
did say it would "consolidate redundant functions or positions" within the
company following the acquisition. San Francisco-based iSyndicate offers
content providers syndication services that sell their content to websites
and other outlets. The company will integrate Kurion's technology -- which
automatically transforms any content, including applications, into a Web
page, product catalog, marketplace exchange or an entire personalization
offering -- into its private syndication network for businesses. The
network service allows companies to aggregate, distribute and share
digital content and information among customers, partners and employees
over a secure, scalable and private network. iSyndicate currently
syndicates content from 1,200 providers to a network of 295,000 customers.
http://www.isyndicate.com/company/press/pr/pr_tmpl.phtml?id=85
http://www.kurion.com
_____________________________________________

o Webnoize: European Union Approves Broad Copyright Legislation

Cambridge, Mass. -- The European Union has approved a broad copyright
legislative initiative -- the European Union Copyright Directive -- that
is the equivalent of the controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act in
the U.S., Webnoize reported on Wednesday. The EU rejected amendments to
the legislation that would have made webcasters pay for the "temporary
copies" of streams that are stored on users hard drives that essentially
make audio sound less choppy. The EU did allow for a compromise on the
issue of private copying, or personal use -- an issue at the heart of
Napster's legal argument and issues surrounding the Digital Millennium
Copyright Act. The compromise states that a digital copy of a work may be
made "by a natural person for private use and for ends that are neither
directly or indirectly commercial." The new copyright legislation will not
become a standard in Europe until it gains approval from the European
Commission.
http://news.webnoize.com/item.rs?ID=11986
http://www2.europarl.eu.int/omk/OM-Europarl?PROG=PRESS-DAILYNB&L
=EN&PUBREF=-//EP//TEXT+PRESS-DAILYNB+DN-20010214-1+0+DOC+
SGML+V0//EN&LEVEL=1#SECTION15
_____________________________________________

o Portland's NXNW Music Conference and Festival Cancelled

Austin, TX -- Organizers of Portland, Oregon's NXNW (North by Northwest)
Music Conference and Festival announced on Wednesday that the 2001
festival, tentatively scheduled for September, has been cancelled.
Festival growth has been flat for a number of years, but the final
decision came as a result of the Portland weekly Willamette Week's
decision to withdraw its sponsorship of the event. "We're disappointed,
because we've made a lot of friends in Portland, and we'll miss going
there every year," said SXSW director Roland Swenson. "But obviously,
pressure was mounting from many of the events detractors, and the
Willamette Week was tired of taking the heat." NXNW is organized by SXSW
Inc., which also puts on the larger and more successful SXSW (South by
Southwest) Festival, which will be held as scheduled in March in Austin.
Both festivals host panels on digital filmmaking, music and new media, as
well as industry-attended showcases at local bars for bands from around
the world. SXSW has begun a search for a new host city for the
seven-year-old NXNW event. Plans to shut down the NXNW office in the
Governor's Building are underway, and NXNW participants, workers and
volunteers will be contacted by mail. The sluggish economy has affected
other conference organizers; Jupiter Research recently cancelled a Latin
e-commerce conference it was to hold in Miami, and the number of
exhibitors at other new media conferences has dwindled.
http://www.nxnw.com
http://www.sxsw.com
_____________________________________________

o New York Times Digital to Syndicate Content to Yahoo

New York -- New York Times Digital has announced that it will make select
articles from its websites available on Web portal Yahoo's news sites.
Under the deal, New York Times Digital will offer Yahoo users articles
from the national, politics, business, international, technology, and arts
areas of NYTimes.com as well as local news from newyorktoday.com and
Boston.com. The company usually requires readers to register at the
NYTimes.com site in order to access its articles. The New York Times
content will be added to Yahoo's news network, which includes providers
such as Reuters, the Associated Press and press release distributors
Business Wire and PR Newswire.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/010213/ny_the_new.html
http://www.nytco.com/
http://www.yahoo.com
_____________________________________________

o VOD Firm Burst.com Gets Equity Investment from Eagle Wireless

San Francisco -- Burst.com, a developer of video and audio delivery
software, announced on Wednesday that it has received an equity investment
from Eagle Wireless, which will also license the company's technology. In
the stock-for-stock transaction, Burst.com received 504,600 shares of
Eagle, and Eagle received 1.5 million shares of Burst.com. Texas-based
Eagle Wireless is a supplier of broadband wired and wireless equipment and
services for the Internet, multimedia set-top boxes, one- and two-way
wireless messaging and other platforms. The company will integrate
Burst.com's video delivery software into its set-top boxes to offer video
on-demand through high-speed Internet to gated residential communities,
multi-family dwellings, the hospitality market and wireless applications.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010214/ca_brst_ea.html
http://www.burst.com
http://www.eglw.com/english/index.html
_____________________________________________

o File-Sharing Service Aimster Signs Agreement with Marketer L90

Los Angeles -- Online marketing firm L90 announced on Wednesday that it
will represent instant messaging and file-sharing service Aimster, giving
its clients the ability to market their wares to Aimster users through
instant messages. The Aimster program allows users of instant messaging
software such as AOL's AIM, MSN, Yahoo and ICQ to exchange files with
other users on their "buddy lists." The company's file sharing service is
considered to be on stronger legal ground than Napster, because individual
users determine who else can share their files, instead of a Napster
scenario where they are available to anyone else connected to the Internet
and using the program. Los Angeles-based L90 can peek into Aimster users'
hard drives and see what kind of music they are listening to, and then
utilize this information in targeted marketing for its clients. L90 also
offers online marketing such as sponsorships, eNewsletters,
co-registrations, content integration and sweepstakes to its 1,300
clients.
http://www.l90.com
http://www.aimster.com
_____________________________________________

***EVENT IS SOLD OUT***
> 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: Jim Charne, Attorney and former President,
Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences; Brian Dearth, CEO, Hollywood
Stock Exchange; Tracy Fullerton, President, Spiderdance; Chris Kantrowitz,
CEO, The Groove Alliance; Mark Kapczynski, Principal Consultant, Microsoft
Media & Entertainment Group.

For more information:
http://www.digitalmediawire.com/panel1.html
_____________________________________________

o Briefly Noted:

(Tokyo) Microsoft has named Bandai Entertainment and Softbank as the sole
distributor and marketer, respectively, of the company's Xbox gaming
console in Japan, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday. Bandai will form a
new unit of its Happinet division to distribute the Xbox to Japanese
retailers, while Softbank will form an entirely new company to market the
game to a Japanese audience. The game console is scheduled for release in
the fall.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200-4821261.html?tag=mn_hd
http://www.bandai-ent.com
http://www.softbank.com
http://www.xbox.com

(San Diego) MP3.com announced on Wednesday an agreement with Japanese
record label group BMF Co., where MP3.com will market BMF artists through
free songs, custom CDs and the My.MP3 service. "As a leader in the
Japanese music industry, BMF recognizes the power of the Internet as a
worldwide vehicle to enhance the marketing and distribution of their great
stable of successful artists," said MP3.com CEO Michael Robertson. BMF is
home to artists such as Kuraki Mai, the top-selling Japanese artist of
2000.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010214/ca_mppp_bm.html
http://www.mp3.com

(New York) StarPolish, an online resource for emerging musical acts,
announced on Wednesday an interactive interview series that will relay
questions from its community of aspiring musicians to successful acts like
former Minutemen and fIREHOSE member Mike Watt, The Mighty Mighty
BossTones and Sister Hazel. New York-based StarPolish offers musicians
information on producing a demo, writing contracts and online marketing
services, as well as a database of contacts within the recording industry.
http://www.starpolish.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimate.cgi

(Hillsboro, Ore.) CenterSpan Communications, the company that purchased
the assets of the Scour file-sharing exchange, announced on Wednesday the
formation of a Media and Entertainment Group. Based in Los Angeles and
headed by former Massive Media Group executives Howard Weitzman and
Michael Kassan, the division will attempt to generate business
relationships with content partners in the music and film industries.
Oregon-based CenterSpan recently announced that it is beta-testing a
subscription-based paid file-sharing service based on the technology it
acquired from Scour.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/010214/or_centers.html
http://www.centerspan.com

(San Francisco) CNET ran a feature story on Wednesday about Generic Media,
a company attempting to bridge incompatible streaming media applications
from companies like RealNetworks, Microsoft and Apple. The company has
released software that it says can play multimedia files on different
devices without having to select a format, a feature that could be very
helpful to content providers who currently must encode files in myriad
formats.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-4821476.html?tag=mn_hd
http://www.genericmedia.com

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

> Load Media Network, Director/Manager of Public Relations - Los Angeles

Develop and execute Load Media's PR strategy. Manage relationship
with external PR agency. Implement standard public relations and
communications practices including but not limited to: media tours, events
and trade shows, desk side briefings, media pitching, press release
development, approvals and distribution, and message documents. 4-8 years
marketing/advertising experience. Send resumes to danderson@loadmedia.com
http://www.loadmedia.com
______________________

> everse, Business Development / Sales - Los Angeles

Internet professional services firm seeks star sales person to identify
and drive strategic business to closure. Assist clients in defining
business objectives, goals and budgets. Position requires establishing
and maintaining long-term relationships with client base. Bachelor's
degree, MBA preferred. History of closing web service business or
agency-related. Ability to generate leads through cold-calling.
Send resumes to stevey@everse.com
http://www.everse.com
______________________

> RichFX, Project Manager / E-commerce - New York City

Change the face of on-line shopping by helping to create the world's
first ONE PAGE storefront. This is an opportunity to work on truly
breakthrough, cutting-edge technology. Very competitive salary and equity
in a well-funded mature startup. Professional, but business casual
environment. Comprehensive benefits package.
Send resumes to nyrecruiter@richfx.com
http://www.richfx.com

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

> 2001 Wharton Technology & Media Conference, Feb. 15-17 - Philadelphia

"Managing in a Converging World" -- Featured Keynote Speakers: George
Conrages, CEO, Akamai Technologies; Joseph P. Nacchio, Chairman and
CEO,Qwest Communications International; Ellen Hancock, Chairman and
CEO, Exodus Communications. Panelists include Hank Barry, Napster,
and Jonathan Sacks, AOL Service. For more info:
soyoung2@wharton.upenn.edu
http://www.whartontechmedia.com
______________________

To subscribe, go to:
http://www.digitalmediawire.com

Questions or comments? Send email to:
mark@digitalmediawire.com

News tips, press releases. Send email to:
editorial@digitalmediawire.com