archives

o NetRatings, Jupiter Terminate Merger; Jupiter Explores Strategic Options
o Electronics Firms Agree to Standard for New Blue-Laser DVD Players
o Motorola Makes Equity Investment in Wireless Games Firm Codeonline
o Taiwanese Site That Offered Streaming Movies for $1 Is Shut Down
o Japanese Wireless Firm NTT DoCoMo Claims 40 Million Subscribers
o Internet Video-On-Demand Provider Intertainer Adds Movies from MGM
> Digital Media Wire Panel: Interactive Games | Coming to L.A. and S.F.
o Briefly Noted: Muze - Sony Music, Qualcomm - Walt Disney Internet Group
- U.S. Cellular - game firms, RealNetworks, Nokia - Universal - Starcut,
Sonic Solutions - Sony, Sierra Entertainment - "The Hobbit," WorldGate iTV
patent, Image Entertainment - Yahoo, Digital Bridges - Cartoon Network,
Cahners Business Information, Recording Academy - AOL, Music subscription
services - artists' payments
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o NetRatings, Jupiter Terminate Merger; Jupiter Explores Strategic Options

New York -- Internet audience measurement firm NetRatings and Internet
analyst and measurement firm Jupiter Media Metrix announced on Tuesday
that they have mutually agreed to terminate their $71 million merger
agreement, after the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) told the companies it
would challenge the transaction. New York-based Jupiter separately
announced on Tuesday that it has hired Robertson Stephens and formed a
special committee on its board to explore strategic alternatives. Jupiter
also said that a trial date of Oct. 28, 2002 has been set for its patent
infringement suit against Milpitas, Calif.-based NetRatings.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020219/hstu025_1.html
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020219/hstu026_1.html
http://www.jmm.com
http://www.netratings.com
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o Electronics Firms Agree to Standard for New Blue-Laser DVD Players

Tokyo -- Nine manufacturers of consumer electronics products have agreed
to a standard for next-generation blue-laser DVD players, which will
eventually replace the red lasers used in current DVD and CD players,
Reuters reported on Tuesday. Agreeing on a single standard for blue-laser
DVD were Hitachi, LG Electronics, Matsushita, Pioneer, Samsung, Sharp,
Sony and Thomson Multimedia. Blue-laser technology offers a finer laser
beam, allowing for more data to be placed in a smaller area of disc space.
The new format will offer 27 GB of space per disc, compared with the DVD's
current 4.7 GB capacity; the technology is expected to begin licensing in
the spring.
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-839972.html
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o Motorola Makes Equity Investment in Wireless Games Firm Codeonline

Cannes -- Wireless technology developer Motorola announced on Tuesday that
it has made a minority equity investment in wireless entertainment firm
Codeonline. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Finland-based
Codeonline acquires the wireless rights to games like "Who Wants To Be A
Millionaire?" and "Trivial Pursuit" and creates versions that can be
played on cell phones. Motorola will distribute these and other games to
wireless network operators worldwide. The investment will help Codeonline
accelerate development of additional games that are now in development and
due to go into service later this year and in early 2003.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020219/cgtu036_1.html
http://www.codeonline.com
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o Taiwanese Site That Offered Streaming Movies for $1 Is Shut Down

San Francisco -- Movie88.com, a Taiwan-based website that offered current movies streamed over the Internet for $1 -- without the approval of Hollywood movie studios -- has been shut down by Taiwanese authorities, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) said in a statement. "We are grateful to the Taiwanese authorities for their swift action in shutting down Movie88.com. Their resolve to pursue this matter is a testament that no pirate should feel secure as long as he continues to try to profit from the theft of copyrighted works," said MPAA CEO Jack Valenti. CNET reported that the Movie88.com site was blocked by its Internet service provider, HiNet, without warning on Tuesday. "We are now doing whatever we can to restore our access and protest against the outrageous act of HiNet," Movie88 told CNET via email. "This must not be a precedent. Even if there
are issues about our content, we must be given a fair trial. Our registered users must not be made to suffer."
http://www.mpaa.org/jack/2002/2002_02_19.htm
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-840228.html?tag=cd_mh
http://www.hinet.net/english/index.htm 
http://www.movie88.com
_____________________________________________

o Japanese Wireless Firm NTT DoCoMo Claims 40 Million Subscribers

Tokyo -- Japanese wireless operator NTT DoCoMo claims 40 million
subscribers for its services, which includes I-mode -- a service that
charges subscribers based on the volume of data and entertainment content
they download to their phones, Newsbytes reported on Tuesday. The company
launched FOMA, its 3G wireless initiative, last year and said it has
recently begun testing a streaming wireless advertising service. NTT
DoCoMo partnered with international ad firm Dentsu and media player
technology provider ActiveSky on the wireless ad test.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/174570.html
http://www.nttdocomo.com
_____________________________________________

o Internet Video-On-Demand Provider Intertainer Adds Movies from MGM

Culver City, Calif. -- Intertainer, a provider of Internet-based
video-on-demand services, announced on Tuesday that it has added select
new releases and older titles from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's (MGM) library of
4,100 films to its offering. Culver City-based Intertainer also offers
content from Universal Pictures, Warner Bros., DreamWorks SKG, NBC and EMI
Recorded Music on its service, available online in the top 35 broadband
markets as well as through digital cable deployments through cable TV
operators Adelphia and Comcast.
http://www.intertainer.tv
http://www.mgmhomevideo.com
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o Briefly Noted:

(New York) Muze, a provider of informational databases on music, movies,
books and video games, announced on Tuesday an agreement with Sony Music
that will allow it to stream samples of Sony songs and include album cover
art on its music preview service, MuzeTunes. Financial terms of the
agreement were not disclosed. New York-based Muze also has deals to
provide samples from BMG and Warner Music. The company provides its
databases in kiosks at retailers including Virgin Megastore, and on the
websites of online retailers like Yahoo.
http://www.muze.com
http://www.sonymusic.com

(San Diego) Wireless technology developer Qualcomm announced on Tuesday
that Walt Disney Internet Group will create wireless entertainment content
based on its BREW platform for cell phones and wireless devices.
Additionally, Qualcomm said that U.S. Cellular, the nation's eighth
largest wireless service provider, will offer BREW-enabled products and
services to its subscribers. Finally, San Diego-based Qualcomm announced a
range of new entertainment titles for its BREW platform developed by
Texas-based Monkeystone Games, U.K.-based NGame and San Francisco-based
NuvoStudios.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020219/190098_1.html
http://www.qualcomm.com/brew

(Cannes, France) Media delivery technology firm RealNetworks on Tuesday
released RealSystem Mobile, a platform for the creation, delivery and
playback of RealAudio, RealVideo and Third Generation Partnership Program
(3GPP) standards-compliant multimedia content over wireless networks.
Seattle-based RealNetworks also announced that its RealOne Player for cell
phones has been optimized for use with chips developed by Intel for cell
phones and other wireless devices.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020219/sftu085_1.html
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020219/sftu084_2.html

(Helsinki, Finland) Cell phone maker Nokia announced on Tuesday that it
has partnered with Universal Studios Consumer Products Group and wireless
content aggregator Starcut to bring Universal-branded entertainment
content to Nokia's Club Nokia online community. Finland-based Starcut will
handle content design and implementation, creating downloadable display
graphics, ringtones, multimedia messages and mobile games based on
Universal properties including "The Mummy Returns," the "Jurassic Park"
trilogy, "Back to the Future" and Dr. Seuss' "How the Grinch Stole
Christmas."
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020219/192105_1.html
http://www.club.nokia.com
http://www.starcut.com

(Novato, Calif.) Sonic Solutions, a provider of DVD creation and editing
software, said on Tuesday that Sony has licensed its software for use on
its Vaio desktop computers. Novato-based Sonic's software will give Vaio
users the ability to record TV-captured video files onto DVDs. The
company's software has also been licensed for use by Fujitsu, Dell, Adobe
Systems and Microsoft.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020219/190078_1.html
http://www.sonic.com

(Bellevue, Wash.) Sierra On-Line, a game development studio under Vivendi
Universal Publishing, announced on Tuesday that it has changed its name to
Sierra Entertainment. The company also announced it is developing "The
Hobbit," a game based on the J.R.R. Tolkien novel of the same name, for
Nintendo's GameCube console. Texas-based Inevitable Entertainment is
designing the third-person adventure game, which is due to be released in
2003.
http://www.inevitable.com
http://www.sierra.com

(Trevose, Pa.) WorldGate, a provider of interactive entertainment
technology for cable TV, said on Tuesday that the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office has granted it an additional patent. The new patent is
based on eighteen claims related to an MPEG broadcast encoding technique
intended to further increase the efficiency of thin-client systems. The
interactive TV developer already has four patents granted and over 50
pending.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020218/phm005_1.html
http://www.wgate.com

(Chatsworth, Calif.) Image Entertainment, a licensee and distributor of
DVDs in North America, said on Tuesday that its DVDPlanet.com subsidiary
will receive distribution through Yahoo Shopping. Chatsworth-based Image
distributes 1,700 exclusive DVD titles, and also owns exclusive audio,
videocassette, broadcast, video-on-demand, streaming video and downloading
rights for many of its properties.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020219/190275_1.html
http://www.dvdplanet.com
http://www.image-entertainment.com

(Cannes, France) Mobile entertainment developer Digital Bridges said on
Tuesday that it has partnered with Turner Broadcasting's Cartoon Network
to develop a number of games for wireless devices. Scotland-based Digital
Bridges will create three games based on Hanna-Barbera's "Scooby-Doo"
cartoon, while one will feature a variety of Cartoon Network characters.
The games will be developed for SMS, WAP, Java and Qualcomm's BREW
platform.
http://www.digitalbridges.com
http://www.cartoonnetwork.com

(New York) Cahners Business Information, publisher of Variety and provider
of market research for media and electronics firms, announced on Tuesday
that it has been renamed Reed Business Information. Accompanying the name
change, Reed Business Information will more closely align itself with Reed
Elsevier -- the publisher and information provider for the science and
medical, legal, education and business-to-business sectors.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020219/192413_1.html
http://www.cahners.com

(Santa Monica, Calif.) The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
said on Tuesday that America Online will host online content related to
the 44th Annual Grammy Awards. Content on the site will include on-demand
streams of video interviews with nominees and other celebrities, webcam
footage of preparation for the awards, and a live webcast of performers'
arrivals on the day of the awards, scheduled for Feb. 27.
http://www.grammy.com

(San Francisco) NuvoStudios, a wireless game developer, said on Tuesday
that it has launched six games for Qualcomm's BREW wireless applications
platform. The mass-market games, such as Blackjack and Tic Tac Toe, were
developed by San Francisco-based NuvoStudios for publishers including
Mattel and Jamdat Mobile.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020219/192193_1.html
http://www.nuvostudios.com

(New York) The New York Times recently published an article exploring the
payment terms for artists whose music is included on digital subscription
services like MusicNet and Pressplay. Several top-level musicians'
managers and lawyers interviewed for the story said they have sent
cease-and-desist letters to the labels, asking that their artists' songs
be taken off the services because they do not justly compensate artists.
One manager, whose clients include No Doubt, Offspring, Beck and Chris
Cornell, said that he computed that the major labels' subscription
services reap 91 percent of profits from the services while artists are
paid only about $0.0023 each time one of their songs is downloaded.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/18/technology/18SONG.html
______________________

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______________________

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