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DIGITAL MEDIA WIRE -- April 9, 2002
===================================================
Subscribe for free: http://www.digitalmediawire.com

o Vivendi Unit Blizzard Sues ISP Over Unauthorized Online Game Service
o AOL CEO Barry Schuler Moved to Head of New Digital Services Division
o Study: Consumers Willing to Pay for Subscription Video-on-Demand
o XM Satellite Radio to Raise New Funds in Secondary Offering
o FullAudio Licenses Tracks from Warner Music for Subscription Service
o Sony Developing Online Game "EverQuest" for PlayStation 2
o Digital Media Content Distribution Firm Pathfire Raises $27 Million
o Cable TV Firms to Deploy Over 9 Million Digital Set-Top Boxes This Year
o Briefly Noted: RealNetworks, Cloakware - DataPlay, CD Baby - IUMA,
Liquid Audio - Universal Music Group, DivXNetworks - E.Digital, SeaChange
- Golden-Channels, Optibase - VBox Communications
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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
professionals at our upcoming iTV breakfast panels in Los Angeles, San
Francisco and New York.

LA: http://www.digitalmediawire.com/LAitv2.html
SF: http://www.digitalmediawire.com/SFitv2.html
NYC: http://www.digitalmediawire.com/NYCitv2.html

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_____________________________________________

o Vivendi Unit Blizzard Sues ISP Over Unauthorized Online Game Service

St. Louis -- Video game developer Blizzard Entertainment, along with its
parent company Vivendi Universal Games, has sued an Internet service
provider and its owner for copyright and trademark infringement for
distributing free software that emulates Blizzard's free Battle.net online
game service. The software in question -- called bnetd -- was created by a
group of volunteer developers and allows players of Blizzard's multiplayer
online games to go online or on a local area network to chat, find
competition, and start multiplayer games. Blizzard previously sent a
cease-and-desist letter to St. Louis-based ISP Internet Gateway, claiming
that by distributing the software the company was violating
anti-circumvention provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
(DMCA) and committing various copyright violations; the lawsuit does not
mention the DMCA but adds trademark claims not included in the letter.
Blizzard's lawsuit is seeking an injunction to prevent Internet Gateway
and its founder Tim Jung from distributing bnetd, as well as undisclosed
monetary damages.
http://www.eff.org/IP/Emulation/Blizzard_v_bnetd/20020408_eff_bnetd_pr.html
http://www.bnetd.org/
http://www.battle.net/support/emulationfaq.shtml
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-878212.html?tag=cd_mh
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/175742.html
_____________________________________________

o AOL CEO Barry Schuler Moved to Head of New Digital Services Division

Dulles, Va. -- AOL Time Warner announced on Tuesday that Barry Schuler,
chairman and CEO of America Online, will relinquish his current title and
responsibilities and instead head a new division that will develop digital
services for AOL Time Warner. AOL Time Warner COO-elect Bob Pittman will
take over Schuler's responsibilities running AOL while maintaining his
other role with the larger AOL Time Warner entity. Schuler became chairman
and CEO of AOL in January 2001, following the completion of the AOL Time
Warner merger. Before that, Schuler was president of AOL's Interactive
Services Group. The new AOL Time Warner Digital Services Division Schuler
will head will focus on developing programs for home networking solutions,
as well as digital home services such as digital music delivery.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020409/92430_1.html
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-878839.html
_____________________________________________

o Study: Consumers Willing to Pay for Subscription Video-on-Demand

Winchester, Mass. -- According to a recent survey, 42 percent of Americans
would be willing to pay $4.95 per month for subscription video-on-demand
of premium movie services, while 29 percent would pay $9.95 per month for
the service. The survey, conducted by Massachusetts-based research firm
Leichtman Research Group, polled 1,200 general U.S. households and another
600 where video-on-demand and subscription video-on-demand are already
offered. The survey also showed that in households that already subscribe
to cable TV premium movie services, such as HBO or Showtime, 56 percent
reported that they would pay $4.95 for subscription video-on-demand and 38
percent said they'd pay $9.95. "Video-on-demand is not a new concept, but
converging factors now make a widespread deployment of VOD more likely,"
said Bruce Leichtman, president of Leichtman Research Group. "Subscription
video-on-demand, and the availability of other programs on-demand beyond
just hit movies, changes the dynamics and economics of delivering
video-on-demand."
http://www.leichtmanresearch.com/0409release.html
_____________________________________________

o XM Satellite Radio to Raise New Funds in Secondary Offering

Washington, D.C. -- XM Satellite Radio, a provider of nationwide
satellite-delivered digital radio programming, announced that it plans to
raise between $167 million and $193 million through a secondary offering
of its shares. The company said in an SEC filing that it needs to raise an
additional $40 million to $65 million to continue operations through the
end of 2002. Washington-based XM's service charges a monthly fee of $9.95
for access to 100 channels of music, news and other audio programming
delivered to car stereos and other receivers via satellite.
http://biz.yahoo.com/e/020408/xmsr.html
http://www.xmradio.com
_____________________________________________

o FullAudio Licenses Tracks from Warner Music for Subscription Service

Chicago -- FullAudio, a provider of digital music subscription services,
announced on Tuesday that it has licensed tracks from Warner Music Group
(WMG) for distribution through its service. Financial terms of the
agreement were not disclosed. Chicago-based FullAudio's "cache-download"
system allows users to download and stream tracks from WMG's catalog, and
will also let users transfer them to secure portable devices and set-top
boxes "as soon as these devices become commercially available," the
company said in a statement. FullAudio has also been granted licenses from
major labels EMI Recorded Music and Universal Music Group, as well as
music publishers Universal Music Publishing, EMI Music Publishing, and BMG
Music Publishing. The company intends to use the newly-licensed WMG tracks
in the service it is developing for radio broadcaster Clear Channel's
radio stations, due to launch later in April.
http://www.fullaudio.com/pr.jsp?prDate=04092002
_____________________________________________

o Sony Developing Online Game "EverQuest" for PlayStation 2

San Diego -- Sony Online Entertainment announced on Tuesday that it will
develop a version of its popular "EverQuest" massively multiplayer online
roleplaying game for the PlayStation 2 video game console. "EverQuest
Online Adventures" will be a completely new game, separate from but
similar to the existing "EverQuest" online game. The title will take
advantage of the PlayStation 2's network adapter, due to begin selling in
August, which will allow users to connect to dedicated servers to play the
game. "EverQuest Online Adventures" will be released in the spring of
2003. San Diego-based Sony Online Entertainment also announced that it has
become an official PlayStation 2 game developer, and will focus on
creating massively multiplayer online games for the console.
http://www.station.com
http://www.everquest.com
_____________________________________________

o Digital Media Content Distribution Firm Pathfire Raises $27 Million

Las Vegas -- Pathfire, a business-to-business provider of digital media
content distribution and management services, announced on Tuesday that it
has raised $27 million in its latest round of venture capital financing.
New investor CNN News Group participated in the round, which also included
contributions from previous investors Quadrangle Group, Halpern Denny and
Company, US Venture Partners, Bank of America Capital Investors, Reuters
Greenhouse Fund, Riggs Capital Partners, Noro-Moseley Partners, AT&T
Ventures, Institutional Venture Partners, Monarch Capital Partners and
Kinetic Ventures. Atlanta-based Pathfire also announced that CNN Newsource
will use its services to deliver digital news content to more than 680
affiliate stations nationwide. In addition to news, Pathfire's services
are also used to store and transmit syndicated productions, stock footage,
ads and other types of video content.
http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/f_headline.cgi?day0/220992637&ticker=
http://www.pathfire.com
_____________________________________________

o Cable TV Firms to Deploy Over 9 Million Digital Set-Top Boxes This Year

Boston -- The 12 largest cable TV operators will deploy an estimated 9.39
million digital set-top boxes into North American homes in 2002, resulting
in a 62 percent increase in the industry's installed base, according to a
report published on Tuesday by Boston-based research firm Trace
Strategies. The report also found that the Motorola DCT2000 digital cable
set-top box will account for 51 percent of the total 2002 North American
installed base. In the area of services enabled by these set-top box
deployments, the report indicates that 92 percent of leading North
American cable operators will rollout video-on-demand in 2002, the most of
any application for the devices, which can also enable interactive TV
services such as email, chat, Web browsing and enhanced TV. Finally, the
report, which polled Adelphia, AOL Time Warner, AT&T Broadband,
Cablevision, Charter, Cogeco, Comcast, Cox, Insight, Rogers, Shaw and
Videotron, found that Time Warner Cable will possess the largest installed
base of digital set-top boxes (24 percent) of any provider and Cablevision
will experience the largest increase in digital set-top box deployment
growth of any cable operator in 2002.
http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/f_headline.cgi?day0/220992426&ticker=
http://www.tracestrategies.com/market/desc_NADigital_Cable.html
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STREAMING MEDIA WEST 2002 - April 23-26, Los Angeles Convention Center

***CONFERENCE*** Held over 4 fact-filled days, the Streaming Media West
2002 Conference offers 7 industry-leading keynotes, world-class speakers,
in-depth Conference Sessions, a beginner's seminar and specialty MPEG-4
and Interactive Advertising Forums.

**EXHIBITION (FREE with pre-registration)*** Experience the tricks behind
the trade and find today's business solutions, as the most cutting-edge,
industry leading companies showcase the latest in streaming and digital
media advancements.

For full Conference information and registration and your FREE Exhibition
pass visit http://www.streamingmedia.com/west
Or contact register@streamingmedia.com or 888 301-8890

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______________________

o Briefly Noted:

(Las Vegas) RealNetworks, a provider of media delivery technology,
announced on Tuesday the launch of a service for companies that will allow
them to offer private-label pay-per-view streaming media services. The RBN
Managed Subscription Service will provide customer registration, billing,
hosting and customer service to companies wishing to provide webcasts of
their events or other media content. SoapCity.com, Campus Crusade for
Christ and Post Time Technologies, which streams video of Thoroughbred
horse racing, have all signed on to use Seattle-based RealNetworks'
service.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020409/sftu041_1.html
http://www.realnetworks.com/products/rbn/index.html

(Ottawa, Canada) Cloakware Corp., a developer of software security
products, said on Tuesday that DataPlay, a developer of small optical
media discs and playback devices, will use its technology to protect
content on pre-recorded DataPlay discs. Colorado-based DataPlay will use
Ottawa-based Cloakware's technology to prevent unauthorized access to
additional content on the pre-recorded media, such as extra music tracks,
separate albums or music videos. DataPlay's ContentKey allows record
labels and other content providers to include extra content on the discs,
with consumers able to instantly activate the extra material without the
need for additional downloads.
http://www.cloakware.com
http://www.dataplay.com

(Portland, Ore.) CD Baby, an online retailer of CDs from unsigned and
independent artists, announced that IUMA (Internet Underground Music
Archive) will distribute all of its artists' CDs through CD Baby. IUMA is
a community of artists that post their music online and maintain
informational websites for their fans; the company was acquired by
Vitaminic, an international network of music websites, in March 2001.
Oregon-based CD Baby will provide all warehousing and shipping of IUMA
artist CDs.
http://www.cdbaby.com
http://www.iuma.com

(Redwood City, Calif.) Liquid Audio, a provider of digital music
distribution services, announced on Tuesday that Vivendi Universal's
Universal Music Group will use its encoding, hosting, clearinghouse and
delivery services to distribute its artists' music in digital format.
Universal Music Group is the fourth major record label to sign up to use
Redwood City, Calif.-based Liquid Audio's services.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020409/sftu109_1.html
http://www.liquidaudio.com

(San Diego) DivXNetworks, a developer of video compression technology,
said on Tuesday that it has partnered with electronics manufacturer
E.Digital to jointly develop and market DivX-branded video playback
devices. The two companies will create handheld DivX video players,
DivX-enabled DVD players, home video jukeboxes, digital video recorders,
set-top boxes and digital video cameras that all utilize the company's
video compression technology -- which shrinks video files so that they may
be more easily stored and transmitted. San Diego-based DivXNetworks said
the first product should arrive by the end of the year.
http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/020409/040443.html
http://www.divxnetworks.com
http://www.edig.com

(Maynard, Mass.) SeaChange International, a provider of servers used to
deliver video-on-demand to cable TV subscribers, announced on Tuesday that
it will provide its products to Israel-based cable TV operator
Golden-Channels. Massachusetts-based SeaChange's servers will be used to
deploy video-on-demand to residents in Jerusalem, the Tel Aviv
metropolitan area and other towns throughout Israel. Golden-Channels is
Israel's largest cable TV operator, with services passing 660,000 homes.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020409/92398_1.html
http://www.aztv.co.il
http://www.seachangeinternational.com

(New York) Optibase, a provider of broadband streaming media services,
announced on Tuesday that it will act as the exclusive distributor in
North and Latin America for multimedia set-top boxes developed by
Israel-based VBox Communications. New York-based Optibase is a minority
stakeholder in VBox, which develops devices that enable TV over IP and
DVB, personal video recording and MPEG decoding.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020409/90040_1.html
http://www.optibase.com
http://www.vbox.to
______________________

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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?"

========================================================
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
Networks

Sponsored by: SpyWorm.TV, LARTA
For more information and to register for the Los Angeles event:
http://www.digitalmediawire.com/LAitv2.html
========================================================
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
Mitchell Linden, Head of Operations - North America, BBC Technology
Bill Niemeyer, Founder, Centrimedia (former Director, Strategic Dev.,
Spiderdance)
Peter Schultz, Director of Business Development, PopTV Program, Liberate
Bridget Steele, Business Development Manager, Microsoft TV

For more information and to register for the San Francisco event:
http://www.digitalmediawire.com/SFitv2.html

=========================================================
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, iTV Marketer (http://www.itvmarketer.com)
For more information and to register for the New York event:
http://www.digitalmediawire.com/NYCitv2.html

Sponsorships and Inquiries:
Ned Sherman at 323.464.0793 or esherman@digitalmediawire.com
Paul Sherman at psherman@digitalmediawire.com

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______________________

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Copyright 2002 Digital Media Wire