archives

o Set-top Box Developers Digeo, Moxi Digital Agree to Merger
o Xbox Not Hitting Sales Marks in Europe
o Calif. Man Pleads Guilty to Video Copyright Infringement Charges
o TV Commercial Streaming Site AdCritic Acquired by Ad Age Group
o Report: Digital Cable Set-top Box Sales to Reach $5.3 Billion in 2005
> Digital Media Wire Panel Series: Interactive Television | L.A., S.F., NYC
o Briefly Noted: Home networking enthusiasts - CBDTPA, "Star Wars" -
digital cinema
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o Set-top Box Developers Digeo, Moxi Digital Agree to Merger

Kirkland, Wash. -- Digeo, a developer of interactive TV services,
announced on Friday that it will merge with Moxi Digital, developer of an
interactive set-top box and home media center device. Microsoft co-founder
Paul Allen's Vulcan, Inc. provided an undisclosed amount of additional
funding to the new company, which will be called Digeo. Allen will serve
as the company's chairman, while Digeo CEO Jim Billmaier will become CEO
and Moxi CEO Rita Brogley will become executive vice president of business
development and marketing. "This merger will allow us to deliver a family
of media center platforms more rapidly," said Paul Allen. "Besides having
the power of a PC, they are incredibly easy-to-use and can also run many
exciting new applications that range from personal video recording to
digital photo sharing to wireless home networking." Washington-based Digeo
already provides interactive TV services to over 550,000 Charter cable TV
subscribers; Charter will also deploy a set-top box designed
collaboratively by Digeo and Motorola later this year. Moxi developed a
set-top box that can receive TV signals and Internet content, store media,
and connect to other devices in the home.
http://www.digeo.com/Home/home.html#
http://www.moxi.com
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/03/29/BU139461.DTL&type=business
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o Xbox Not Hitting Sales Marks in Europe

London -- Several reports out of Europe have indicated that Microsoft's
Xbox video game console has not sold as well following its launch as the
company had expected. German newspaper Heise News quoted figures saying
that in its first three days of launch, only 10,000 Xbox consoles were
sold in Germany, with about the same number sold in France. In the U.K.
there were reported sales of 48,000 units. Microsoft has yet to provide
any sales figures for the Xbox launch in Europe, other than to report a
"near sell-out" during its first day at retail. CNET reported that
investment bank SoundView Technology group reduced its revenue estimates
for Microsoft after deducing that the company would ship only 4.35 million
Xbox consoles during the current fiscal year. Microsoft's target was to
ship between 4.5 million and 6 million units.
http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/data/jk-25.03.02-004
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020321/sfth031_1.html
http://www.theregus.com/content/54/24449.html
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-869983.html?tag=cd_mh
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o Calif. Man Pleads Guilty to Video Copyright Infringement Charges

Washington -- A California man has pleaded guilty to criminal charges of
copyright infringement over 4,500 pirated videotapes, as well as
circumvention of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act by using a modified
chip that allowed unauthorized games to be played on a Sony PlayStation
video game console. Thirty-six year-old Mohsin Mynaf faces a penalty of up
to five years in prison and up to $500,000 in fines for his admitted
violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and up to 60 years in
prison and fines of up to $3 million related to the copyright infringement
charges. Mynaf's conviction is only the second ever under the U.S.'s
controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which makes it a crime to
circumvent the copyright protection technology on consumer electronics
devices.
http://www.usdoj.gov
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-870888.html?tag=cd_mh
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o TV Commercial Streaming Site AdCritic Acquired by Ad Age Group

New York -- Crain Communications' Ad Age Group, publisher of Advertising
Age, announced that it has acquired AdCritic.com, a site that streamed
vintage and current TV commercials to Internet users. Financial terms of
the transaction were not disclosed. The company stressed that it will be
re-launching the site as a tool for ad industry professionals, rather than
reviving the entertainment site that AdCritic.com once was. The site's
archive of commercials will now be available as part of a paid
subscription service. "The addition of AdCritic's commercial archives and
multimedia technology will be a tremendous complement to the
round-the-clock news we already provide," said David Klein, publishing and
editorial director of the Ad Age Group.
http://www.adcritic.com/downloads/pr/20020327-AdCritic.html
http://www.adage.com
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o Report: Digital Cable Set-top Box Sales to Reach $5.3 Billion in 2005

Williamstown, Mass. -- Annual sales of digital cable set-top boxes will
reach $5.3 billion by 2005, driving the worldwide installed base to over
53.2 million units, according to a recent report published by
Massachusetts-based research firm MindBranch. Additionally, the firm
predicts that worldwide digital cable subscriptions will reach 46 million
by 2005. Revenues from added services such as video-on-demand,
subscription video-on-demand, personal video recording and some
interactive TV services are expected to surpass $31 billion.
http://www.mindbranch.com/about/press_releases.jsp?prID=31
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o Briefly Noted:

(San Francisco) Wired News recently featured an article on how proposed
legislation that would put copyright controls in consumer electronics
devices could affect home networking enthusiasts, who take the time to
connect their PCs with TVs, stereos, personal video recorders and other
devices in their homes. New devices with added copyright controls would
likely limit the ability of consumers to exchange media between devices,
such as from television to PC, or from PC to stereo.
http://www.wired.com/news/mp3/0,1285,51337,00.html

(New York) The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday on George Lucas'
attempts to popularize the digital cinema medium through his
digitally-shot and produced "Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones."
Despite high anticipation regarding the quality of the finished product,
only 27 U.S. theaters are currently equipped to screen the film digitally,
as was intended by the director. It was expected that the film itself
would increase enthusiasm for digital projection, but cost impediments
have slowed upgrades to the new format. "Am I disappointed? Deeply," "Star
Wars" producer Rick McCallum told The Journal. "Has it taken too long?
Incredibly too long."
http://www.msnbc.com/news/730584.asp?0dm=C13JT&cp1=1
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>DIGITAL MEDIA WIRE PANEL DISCUSSION SERIES:
"iTV: New Interactive Services Fuel Big Expectations
Slow Market Penetration Raises Questions: How Big is iTV Going to Be?"

Register by clicking on the links below to join leading executives and
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========================================================
LOS ANGELES: Tuesday, April 16, 2002, Four Seasons Hotel, Beverly Hills
========================================================
Moderator: Ken Rutkowski, Founder and CEO, KenRadio.com
Stephen Condon, SVP and CMO, Intertainer
K.C. Hildreth, COO, GoldPocket Interactive
Steve Hoffman, CEO, Spiderdance
Mark Kapczynski, Principal, Media & Entertainment Solutions Group,
Microsoft
David Nathanson, VP of Broadband Strategy & Channel Development, Fox Cable
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For more information and to register for the Los Angeles event:
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========================================================
SAN FRANCISCO: Wednesday, April 17, 2002, City Club of San Francisco
========================================================
Moderator: Sean Badding, VP and Senior Analyst, The Carmel Group
Martijn Lopes Cardozo, VP of Product Management, GoldPocket Interactive
Bridget Steele, Business Development Manager, Microsoft TV
Bill Niemeyer, Founder, Centrimedia (former Director, Strategic Dev.,
Spiderdance)
Peter Schultz, Director of Business Development, Pop Program, Liberate

For more information and to register for the San Francisco event:
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=========================================================
NEW YORK: Thursday, April 25, 2002, Cornell Club of New York City
=========================================================
Moderator: Art Cohen, SVP, Advertising, ACTV
Patrick Donoghue, VP, Interactive Television, Cablevision
Gerard Kunkel, President, WorldGate
Christopher S. Lucas, VP & Exec. Producer, Digital Media Group, Showtime
Networks
Rod A. Nenner, Director, TV & Entertainment Solutions Group, America
Online
Carla Sinatra, Vice President of Business Development, NBC
Todd Krieger, Senior Manager, Business Development, Microsoft TV

Sponsored by: WorldGate
For more information and to register for the New York event:
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Sponsorships and Inquiries:
Ned Sherman at 323.464.0793 or esherman@digitalmediawire.com
Paul Sherman at psherman@digitalmediawire.com

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