archives

o XM Satellite Radio to Raise $154 Million in Stock Offering
o FTC Asks for Data on Marketing, Sales of "Mature" Video Games to Minors
o New Allegations Emerge in Canal Plus/NDS Digital TV Piracy Suit
o Copyright Office to Hold Roundtable on New Webcasting Fees, Reporting
o Briefly Noted: FTC/DOJ - intellectual property hearings, Sega Sports -
U. of Nebraska QB Eric Crouch, Vitaminic - EPO Technology, Satellite radio
- "wi-fi" interference?, U.K. - cell phone gambling, Video game addiction
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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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o XM Satellite Radio to Raise $154 Million in Stock Offering

Washington -- XM Satellite Radio, a provider of nationwide
satellite-delivered digital radio programming, announced on Friday that it
has priced 13,387,000 shares of its stock at $11.50 per share. The stock
offering, expected to close next week, will bring proceeds of about $154
million. Washington-based XM offers a $9.95/month service that provides
100 channels of digital music, news, sports and other audio programming.
The company said it will use the funds for marketing expenses, systems,
and other general corporate purposes, and that the funds are expected to
take it into the latter half of the first quarter of 2003.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020412/dcf005_1.html
http://www.xmradio.com
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o FTC Asks for Data on Sales of "Mature" Video Games to Minors

Washington -- The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has asked the Interactive
Digital Software Association (IDSA), a trade group of video game
companies, for information and data on the marketing and sales of games to
minors that carry the "Mature" rating, meaning they are not intended for
play by children under 17, Reuters reported. The "mature" rating has been
given to about 500 of the 7,000 games released since 1994, when the
industry created the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) to create
ratings for its products. IDSA president Doug Lowenstein told Reuters that
the request was in line with a recent FTC report that called for more
information on the enforcement of ratings of movies, music and video games
deemed unsuitable for children.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/737393.asp?0dm=C16KT
http://www.idsa.org
http://www.esrb.org/esrb_about.asp
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o New Allegations Emerge in Canal Plus/NDS Digital TV Piracy Suit

London -- The Financial Times reported on Friday that a software security
consultant has submitted court testimony accusing an employee of News
Corp.'s NDS interactive TV subsidiary of leaking proprietary software code
owned by rival Canal Plus Technologies onto the Internet. Vivendi
Universal interactive TV subsidiary Canal Plus has filed a multimillion
dollar lawsuit against NDS, claiming the company cracked its digital TV
security technology and then arranged for codes to be published on the
Internet -- enabling hackers to pirate Canal Plus digital TV signals.
Software consultant Oliver Kommerling wrote in a court deposition that NDS
employee Chris Tarnovsky arranged to have Canal Plus' codes leaked online.
The judge in the case, which was filed in California, is due to hear
arguments from both sides next week.
http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/article.html?id=020412001769&query=nds
http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/020412/media_vivendi_lawsuit_1.html
http://www.nds.com/
http://www.canalplus-technologies.com/
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o Copyright Office to Hold Roundtable on New Webcasting Fees, Reporting

Washington -- The U.S. Copyright Office announced on Friday that it will
hold a public roundtable discussion on the proposed regulations that will
require webcasters to give notice of copyrighted songs they webcast and
maintain records of their webcasts and create "listener logs" to provide
copyright owners. The Copyright Office said in a statement that it is
"especially interested in the views of small businesses engaged in
webcasting as well as individuals and small businesses who are copyright
owners of sound recordings, and in details relating to the benefits, costs
and burdens associated with the published notice and recordkeeping
proposal and of alternatives to that proposal." Many small webcasters have
submitted comments indicating that the new recordkeeping guidelines and
new fees would force them off the air. The roundtable discussion will be
held on May 10, and those interested in participating are urged to contact
the Copyright Office at the email address 114roundtable@loc.gov, providing
their contact information, any affiliations and proposed questions or
comments they would contribute.
http://www.loc.gov/copyright/carp/114/comments.html
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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
Malia Flynn, Director of Product Management, 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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o Briefly Noted:

(Washington) The Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice said
this week that they are planning to hold joint hearings on April 17-18 and
May 1, 14 and 22 on the topic of "Competition and Intellectual Property
Law and Policy in the Knowledge-Based Economy." Testifying at the hearings
will be representatives from companies including Hewlett-Packard, Sun,
Oracle and MPEG LA, as well as professors and attorneys considered experts
in intellectual property laws. A full agenda and list of witnesses is
available at the link below.
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2002/04/iplaw2.htm

(San Francisco) Video game developer Sega Sports announced on Friday that
it has signed former University of Nebraska quarterback and 2001 Heisman
Trophy Winner Eric Crouch to serve as the official spokesperson and cover
athlete for its "SEGA Sports NCAA College Football 2K3." Sega Sports said
Crouch went on-site to provide design input and record audio samples for
San Rafael, Calif.-based Visual Concepts, which is developing the game for
Sony PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube and Microsoft Xbox for release in
the fall.
http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/f_headline.cgi?day0/221020046&ticker=
http://www.segasports.com

(San Francisco) Vitaminic, an international network of digital music
entertainment sites, said on Friday that it has partnered with EPO
Technology, a manufacturer of optical storage devices. Under the
agreement, purchasers of Taiwan-based EPO Technology's CD-ROM and DVD-ROM drives and CD to CD duplicators will be given one month free access to Italy-based Vitaminic's digital music subscription service. The Vitaminic
Music Club offers 40,000 songs from a range of international artists and
major label acts.
http://www.epousa.com/epo3.htm
http://www.vitaminic.com

(Washington) The Washington Post recently reported on concerns from the
two satellite radio providers -- XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite
Radio -- that signals from wireless fidelity, or "wi-fi" wireless Internet
connections could interfere with their audio signals. Both companies have
asked the FCC to put limits on wi-fi signals, by either lowering their
signal strength or putting filtering equipment on devices that transmit
wi-fi signals.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29024-2002Apr10.html

(London) The BBC Online recently featured an article on the proliferation
of wagering on sporting events via cell phones in the U.K. Online gambling
site Ukbetting and wireless network operator Orange took bets on the
recent Grand National steeplechase horse race from users of WAP-enabled
phones. The two companies said they will offer a range of online
information and gambling opportunities for the 2002 World Cup.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1921000/1921797.stm
http://www.ukbetting.com

(San Francisco) CNET reported on Friday on the topic of video game
addiction, and the growing number of doctors and former game enthusiasts
who admit that video games can be very addictive. "It's a huge and growing
problem with older teenage males and young adult males," Stockton, Calif.
clinical psychologist Dr. Timothy Miller told CNET. "I've seen a number of
cases with 17- or 18-year-old males where they have a broadband (Internet)
connection and they basically haven't left the house for years. I had one
young man who was trying to get on Social Security disability for
agoraphobia," said Miller. "He didn't have a mental disorder; he just
didn't want leave [Sony Online Entertainment's roleplaying game]
'EverQuest' or instant messaging."
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-881673.html?tag=cd_mh
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Copyright 2002 Digital Media Wire