archives

o Tech Firms' Letter Urges Market Solution to Device Copyright Controls
o CenterSpan Pays $2 Million Plus Stock to License Sony Music Songs
o Princeton Video Image to Acquire Virtual Ad Firm SciDel Technologies
o TiVo to Hike Subscription Fee for Digital Video Recorder Service
> Digital Media Wire Panel Discussion: Interactive Games -- S.F. | NYC
o Briefly Noted: MLB Advanced Media - Spring Training webcasts, Texas
Instruments - DLP Cinema m15, Sega Sports - Jason Giambi, Ubi Soft - "CSI:
Crime Scene Investigation," Mobile Games Interoperability Forum, Sonicblue
- LG Electronics, iPod - software theft, Association of American
Publishers - e-book industry
_____________________________________________

o Tech Firms' Letter Urges Market Solution to Device Copyright Controls

Washington -- Executives from IBM, Microsoft, Motorola, Intel, Compaq,
Dell, Motorola and other technology firms sent a letter Wednesday to major
media companies and Sen. Fritz Hollings (D-S.C.), urging a market solution
to the debate over copyright controls being placed in consumer electronics
devices, Wired News reported. Sen. Hollings held a Senate Commerce
committee hearing on Thursday to discuss his proposed legislation that
would place government-mandated copyright controls in most consumer
electronics devices, to protect Hollywood's creative content from piracy.
In the letter, the technology executives argue that industry groups such
as the Copy Protection Technology Working Group and the Moving Picture
Experts Group are already developing copy-protection technologies. "We
have found these voluntary multi-industry standards setting efforts to be
optimally effective in reaching workable market solutions," the executives
wrote in the letter. A link to a copy of the letter, provided through
Polictechbot.com, is available below. Links to the prepared testimony
given at Thursday's hearing by Motion Picture Association of America
president Jack Valenti and Disney chairman Michael Eisner are also
provided below.
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,50716,00.html
http://216.110.42.179/docs/sssca.opponents.letter.022702.html
http://www.mpaa.org/jack/2002/2002_02_28b.htm
http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/f_headline.cgi?day0/220590184&ticker=dis
_____________________________________________

o CenterSpan Pays $2 Million Plus Stock to License Sony Music Songs

Hillsboro, Ore. -- CenterSpan Communications, a provider of peer-to-peer
networking technology for music subscription services, announced on
Thursday that it has licensed songs from Sony Music for inclusion in its
C-Star content delivery network. Oregon-based CenterSpan will pay a total
of $2 million to Sony for use of the songs. A $500,000 "content
integration fee" will be paid now, with an additional $500,000 fee paid on
Sept. 1. CenterSpan will also pay quarterly advance minimum service fees
of $250,000 for four quarters beginning Sept. 1. In addition, CenterSpan
offered Sony 283,556 shares of its stock and a warrant for another 189,037
shares at an exercise price of $8.11 a share. CenterSpan acquired its
file-sharing technology during an auction for the assets of the
now-defunct Scour, Inc.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020228/280098_1.html
http://sec.freeedgar.com/displayHTML.asp?ID=1777914
http://www.centerspan.com
http://www.sonymusic.com
_____________________________________________

o Princeton Video Image to Acquire Virtual Ad Firm SciDel Technologies

Lawrenceville, N.J. -- Princeton Video Image (PVI), a provider of virtual
advertising technology for broadcasters, announced on Thursday that it
will acquire the assets of SciDel Technologies, an Israeli company that
inserts electronic virtual advertisements into live and taped televised
sporting events. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
New Jersey-based PVI said the acquisition will increase its share in the
European soccer market, as SciDel is responsible for creating the virtual
ads that appear as if they are painted on the field during soccer match
broadcasts from the English Premier League, Italian Series A and the
Spanish Football league. In addition to virtual ads, PVI also developed
the "virtual 1st down line" visible in NFL football broadcasts.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020228/280122_1.html
http://www.pvi-inc.com
http://www.psidel.com
_____________________________________________

o TiVo to Hike Subscription Fee for Digital Video Recorder Service

San Jose, Calif. -- TiVo, a manufacturer of personal video recorder
devices that allow viewers to pause and record live television, announced
that it will raise the monthly subscription fee for its service from $9.95
to $12.95, effective April 1. San Jose-based TiVo said the move is aimed
at bringing its subscription service -- which uploads TV program listings
directly to the devices to facilitate recording -- to profitability. The
price increase will not apply to those subscribers who access TiVo through
their DirecTV satellite TV service.
http://www.tivo.com
_____________________________________________

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

STREAMING MEDIA WEST 2002: April 23-26, Los Angeles Convention Center

Join us in LA for the World's Largest Digital Media Technology Event
featuring keynotes from Rob Koenen, President, M4IF, Mark Jarvis, SVP,
Oracle Corporation, Shelby Bonnie, Chairman/CEO, CNET Networks, Inc. and
Jonathan Taplin, CEO, Intertainer.

All Streaming Media West attendees are invited to attend these dynamic
keynote addresses, which will showcase how streaming and digital media are
successfully being utilized across a multitude of business and media
platforms.

For your FREE Exhibition pass or to save $200 on your full Conference pass
Visit http://www.streamingmedia.com/west
Or contact register@streamingmedia.com or 888-301-8890.

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

Make better games.

Game Developers Conference 2002
March 19-23
San Jose, California

Learn about successful game creation from the world's leading developers.
At the Game Developers Conference, industry experts lead more than 300
lectures, tutorials and roundtables. Visual Arts track sessions cover non-
linear animation, blended animations, modeling, texturing and lighting.
Those interested in interactivity or in broadening their skill set are
encouraged to attend.

http://www.gdconf.com

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
_____________________________________________

o Briefly Noted:

(New York) MLB Advanced Media has announced that it will provide free
streaming audio webcasts on MLB.com of over 350 games played during Major
League Baseball's Spring Training season. Regular season games will also
be webcast through a subscription service available on MLB.com as well as
RealNetworks' RealOne premium content subscription service. New York-based
MLB Advanced Media said that last year 115,000 listeners subscribed to its
MLB.com audio webcast service.
http://www.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/news/mlb_news_story.jsp?article_id=
mlb_20020227_liveSTgames_ampr&team_id=mlb

(Dallas) Texas Instruments has introduced a new version of its DLP Cinema
Technology, which can project high-quality digital films onto movie
theater screens. The upgrade features additional security technology,
including encryption at the local link between the server which houses the
movie file and the film projector, as well as support of watermarking and
fingerprinting, which would enable the tracking of any "pirate" copies of
a digital film file. The new m15 version of Texas Instruments' DLP is
being included in projectors manufactured by Barco and Christie.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020227/daw041_1.html
http://www.dlpcinema.com

(San Francisco) Sega Sports, the sports game development unit of the
Japanese video games firm, announced on Thursday that it has signed a
multi-year deal with New York Yankees first baseman Jason Giambi to serve
as the official spokesperson and cover athlete for its "World Series
Baseball" video game franchise. San Francisco-based Sega Sports' "World
Series Baseball," developed by Visual Concepts, will ship in May
exclusively for Microsoft's Xbox game console.
http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/f_headline.cgi?day0/220590030&ticker=
http://www.sega.com/segascream/developers/post_amprofiles.jhtml?article=dev_vc

(Paris) Video game publisher Ubi Soft Entertainment announced on Thursday
that it has signed a deal with CBS Consumer Products and Alliance Atlantis
to develop and publish games based on the CBS television drama "CSI: Crime
Scene Investigation" for all platforms. The PC version of the game will be
the first to ship worldwide in the latter half of 2003.
http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/f_headline.cgi?day0/220590140&ticker=
http://www.ubi.com
http://www.cbs.com/primetime/csi/main.shtml

(Piscataway, N.J.) The Mobile Games Interoperability Forum (MGIF), a
program of the IEEE Industry Standards and Technology Organization, on
Thursday announced the formation of its management board. The MGIF was
formed by Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia and Siemens in July 2001 to address
the issues of portability and interoperability for mobile games. The
MGIF's specifications will allow game developers to produce and deploy
mobile games that can be distributed across multiple game servers and
wireless networks, and played over different mobile devices. MGIF sponsor
companies include Borland, Capcom, Cash-U Mobile Technologies, Codeonline,
Digital Bridges, IFone, Konami, Metrowerks, Picofun and Terraplay Systems.
http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/f_headline.cgi?day0/220592052&ticker=
http://www.mgif.org

(Santa Clara, Calif.) Consumer electronics firm Sonicblue said on Thursday
that it has licensed its "Dual-Deck" technology to LG Electronics for use
in DVD/VCR combination devices. Santa Clara-based Sonicblue, which also
manufactures the ReplayTV personal video recorder and Rio line of MP3
players, recently signed a similar licensing agreement with Samsung
Electronics.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020228/280081_1.html
http://www.sonicblue.com

(San Francisco) Wired News reported on Thursday on how an owner of Apple's
iPod digital music player can use the device to walk into a computer
retail store, plug the device into a display computer via a high-speed
FireWire cable, and download any programs residing on the computer for
free. One such iPod owner was observed taking Microsoft's $500 Office for
OS X program from a computer at a Texas CompUSA store.
http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,50688,00.html
http://www.apple.com/ipod/

(Washington) The Associated Press on Thursday reported on the state of the
e-book industry from the annual Association of American Publishers
meeting. Both Random House and AOL Time Warner recently shuttered their
e-book imprints, but other e-publishers reported double digit growth over
the past year. "Publishing houses are still very much watching how this is
unfolding," Patricia Schroeder, CEO of the publishers' association, told
AP. "This is a nation that always overhypes technology in the beginning
and then overreacts in the other direction."
http://www.salon.com/books/wire/2002/02/27/e_books/index.html
______________________

> DIGITAL MEDIA WIRE PANEL DISCUSSION SERIES:
"Interactive Games on the Internet: Recent Developments and New Business
Opportunities"

SAN FRANCISCO: Tuesday, March 12, 2002, The City Club of San Francisco
http://www.digitalmediawire.com/SFgames2.html

MODERATOR:
Greg Kasavin, Executive Editor, GameSpot

PANELISTS:
Mark Blecher, Vice President, Electronic Arts
Alec Hogg, VP of Sales & Strategic Relationships, WildTangent
Chad Richard, CEO, NoizePlay
Mark Surfas, Founder, Chairman and CEO, GameSpy
John Welch, VP of Games and Product Development, Shockwave.com

For more information and to register for the San Francisco event:
http://www.digitalmediawire.com/SFgames2.html

NEW YORK: Thursday, March 14, 2002, The Cornell Club of New York City
http://www.digitalmediawire.com/NYCgames2.html

MODERATOR:
Billy Pidgeon, Digital Media Analyst

PANELISTS:
Greg Costikyan, Founder and Chief Design Officer, Unplugged Games
Cort Fritz, Senior Consultant, Microsoft Media and Entertainment Group
Doug Lowenstein, President, Interactive Digital Software Association
Doug Wallace, VP of Business Development, WildTangent
Joseph Varet, VP of Business Development and Strategy, The Groove Alliance

For more information and to register for the New York event:
http://www.digitalmediawire.com/NYCgames2.html

Sponsorships and Inquiries: Ned Sherman at 323/464.0793
or esherman@digitalmediawire.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

Copyright 2002 Digital Media Wire