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DIGITAL MEDIA WIRE -- April 15, 2003
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To Subscribe For Free: http://www.digitalmediawire.com
o AOL Time Warner Executives Sued Over Insider Trading
o Royalty Logic Files Opposition to RIAA/Webcaster Music Royalty Proposal
o Report: Bucking Global Slump, U.K. Online Ad Market on the Rise
o Study Finds Most Avid "EverQuest" Players Male, Not Teenagers
> DMW Publications: March Law and Policy Report
> Featured Section: Discreet cleaner XL
o Briefly Noted: Audi - satellite radio, Europe - steep broadband costs,
Samsung - multimedia cards, IGN Entertainment - VE3D, Midway Games - "The
Suffering," Atari - "Ikaruga," Radica Games - Electronic Arts, Infogrames
- "Backyard Baseball," AOL - IM video
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> Events: Games & Mobile Forum: April 28 | NYC
> Marketplace: HP Workstation for a PC Price, Game Industry Report,
iTV Chronicle, Interest-Based Navigation
Full Classifieds located beneath "Briefly Noted" section below.
To post a Classified Ad:
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o AOL Time Warner Executives Sued Over Insider Trading
New York, NY -- A New York bank and the University of California have sued
AOL Time Warner Inc. ex-Chairman Steve Case and other top executives for
allegedly profiting from insider trading while misrepresenting revenue and
subscriber growth. Other defendants include Vice Chairman Ted Turner, who
is set to step down; Chief Executive Richard Parsons; former CEO Gerald
Levin; and former Chief Operating Officer Bob Pittman. The executives are
charged with making nearly $1 billion in share sales while using "tricks,
contrivances and bogus transactions" to pump up the value of the stock,
according to the plaintiffs.
http://reuters.com/financeNewsArticle.jhtml?type=usFundsNews&storyID=2563257
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o Royalty Logic Files Opposition to RIAA/Webcaster Music Royalty Proposal
Washington -- An independent royalty collection body has filed an
objection to the recent joint proposal on Web music royalties filed by the
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Digital Media
Association, a group representing large webcasters. Royalty Logic,
currently the only independent alternative to the recording industry's
SoundExchange authorized to collect royalties from webcasters to be paid
to artists and record labels, filed the opposition with the U.S. Copyright
Office. In its filing, Burbank, Calif.-based Royalty Logic argues that the
proposal submitted by record labels and the big webcasters would eliminate
competition in royalty collection, because artists and copyright owners
would not be able to choose a royalty collection agent such as itself that
does not first deduct litigation costs and other administrative fees
charged by SoundExchange before delivering royalty payments. Royalty Logic
says it should be allowed to offer its customers "lower administration
costs, more flexible terms, more frequent payments, greater transparency
in operation and better access to information." If the U.S. Copyright
Office accepts Royalty Logic's position, or for some other reason rejects
the RIAA/DiMA Web royalties proposal, another oft-criticized (CARP)
Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel proceeding will be held.
http://www.gnutellanews.com/article/6407
http://www.royaltylogic.com
http://www.soundexchange.com/Joint_Notification.cfm
http://www.copyright.gov/carp
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o Report: Bucking Global Slump, U.K. Online Ad Market on the Rise
London -- Bucking a continued global slump, the U.K. online advertising
sales market grew nearly 20 percent in 2002 to reach $309 million,
according to a recent report from industry trade group the Internet
Advertising Bureau U.K. By contrast, an IAB/Price PricewaterhouseCoopers
report showed that U.S. online advertising fell 17 percent in 2002, to
$5.95 billion. The U.K. IAB said that the growth of broadband and larger
investments from big-name advertisers helped propel the increase in ad
sales in the U.K. The report also found that online ad spending also
increased its share of the total U.K. ad spending market to 1.4 percent,
above media like cinema advertising but still well below mainstays like
radio and newspapers.
http://www.iabuk.net
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=internetNews&storyID=2570596
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o Study Finds Most Avid "EverQuest" Players Male, Not Teenagers
London -- The BBC Online recently reported on a survey of enthusiasts of
Sony's online game "EverQuest," where Nottingham Trent University research
found that active players are just as likely to be a 40-something,
well-paid professional as they are to be teenagers with lots of spare
time. The study found that over 60 percent of players were older than 19,
85 percent were male, and that a "significant minority" (15 percent) adopt
a character gender opposite to their own in the game. It also found that
15 percent said they play the game for more than 50 hours per week. Dr.
Mark Davies, co-author of the study and himself one of about 400,000
EverQuest players, said that figure is not necessarily cause for alarm.
"Most people I know spend about 3-4 hours a night watching TV... so in
many cases it is just a substitution of entertainment rather than some
unfortunate development in their lifestyle," Davies told BBC Online. "If
you are married with three children, it probably will not go down so well
and could cause immense problems. but it is okay for someone who is not in
a relationship and does not have other responsibilities," said study
co-author Professor Mark Griffiths.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/nottinghamshire/2939175.stm
http://everquest.station.sony.com
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==========================================
DMW Publications: March Law & Policy Report
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Contact tinzar@digitalmediawire.com or call 323-464-0793 to order your
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Digital Media Law & Policy Report - New Issue
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Published monthly. March issue on sale now!
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Price: $19.00 Per Issue | $195.00 Annual Subscription
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FEATURED SECTION
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Featured Section posting at:
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Briefly Noted:
(New York) Car manufacturer Audi announced on Tuesday that it will begin
offering satellite radio services from both Sirius and XM Satellite Radio
as an option on most of its 2004 car models. Beginning this summer, Audi
models including the A4, S4, A6, A8 and Allroad Quattro will come
pre-wired for satellite radio receivers, which may be installed at Audi
dealerships.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030415/nytu089_1.html
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030415/dctu010_1.html
http://www.siriusradio.com
http://www.xmradio.com
(London) According to a study by Point Topic, Europe is still the most
expensive region of the world for broadband Internet access service over
the telephone network. Service providers in North America and Asia now
have offered cheaper broadband service than those in Europe for three
years running, the study shows.
http://www.point-topic.com
(Seoul, South Korea) Samsung Electronics said on Tuesday that it has begun
mass production of its Multimedia Cards (MMC), used in mobile phones,
digital cameras, MP3 players and other handheld products. The cards
support high storage capacity and rapid transmission of still photos and
moving pictures -- features needed in many 2.5 and 3G phone models.
Samsung said its 128MB MMC can store 2,500 still photographs, 32 MP3 music
files or 20 video minutes.
http://www.samsungsemi.com
(San Francisco) IGN Entertainment, a provider of video game news and
information, said on Tuesday that it has acquired VE3D, a video gaming
news website, from BA Ventures. Financial terms were not disclosed. San
Francisco-based IGN said VE3D's coverage of action and strategy PC games
will complement its own coverage of massively multiplayer online
roleplaying PC games.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/030415/155210_1.html
http://www.ign.com
http://www.ve3d.com
(Chicago) Game developer Midway said on Tuesday it will release its "The
Suffering" title for PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube in the fall of 2003.
Chicago-based Midway recruited Hollywood movie creature designer Stan
Winston to create artwork for the survival horror game. Four-time Academy
Award winner Winston has worked on creatures in films including "Aliens,"
"Predator" and "The Terminator."
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/030415/155374_1.html
http://www.stanwinston.com
http://www.midway.com
(Beverly, Mass.) Video game publisher Atari, a unit of French games firm
Infogrames, said Tuesday that it has shipped its version of the popular
Japanese game title "Ikaruga," for Nintendo GameCube, to U.S. retailers.
The game was originally developed for the arcade and Sega's DreamCast
console by Japanese developer Treasure.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/030415/155116_1.html
http://www.ikaruga-atari.net
(Hong Kong) Radica Games, a developer of electronic toys and video game
accessories, said on Tuesday that it will produce a line of its Play TV
product based on certain Electronic Arts video game titles. Hong
Kong-based Radica's Play TV system plugs into a TV or VCR and offers
"virtual physical reality" gameplay. Radica will produce Play TV versions
of EA's Madden Football and SSX franchises for release in 2004.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030415/latu031_1.html
http://www.ea.com
http://www.radicagames.com
(Beverly, Mass.) Video game publisher Infogrames on Tuesday shipped its
"Backyard Baseball" title for Nintendo GameCube to retailers. Developed by
Humongous Entertainment, the game features Texas Rangers shortstop Alex
Rodriguez and several other MLB players
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/030415/155161_1.html
http://www.humon
http://www.funkidsgames.com
(San Francisco) CNET News.com reported on Tuesday on America Online's
trials into adding video services to its popular AIM instant messenger
offering. AOL is now testing a feature that lets IM users with webcams
record and forward video clips to other IM users, a feature that rival
Yahoo has offered since June 2001 and now says is used by 7.5 million of
its users. "What we are seeking to do with this record and forward video
feature is to test its adoption and popularity with our audience and
determine its potential as a possible feature within a future AOL client,"
AOL spokesman Derrick Mains told News.com.
http://news.com.com/2100-1032-996837.html?tag=cd_mh
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CLASSIFIEDS - JOBS
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CLASSIFIEDS - EVENTS
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Digital Media Wire Presents...Games & Mobile Forum
April 2003, New York City
Focusing on games and mobile entertainment opportunities and business
models. Panel topics will include "The Battle to Control the Living Room:
Is the Game Industry Winning?", "Mobile Games: Business Models & New
Opportunities", "Legal & Policy Issues Impacting the Game Industry &
Mobile Entertainment", and "Home Networking: Technology for Modern Living
& Entertainment."
Door Tickets Price: $250. For Early Bird Specials, pre-register at:
http://kb.digitalmediawire.com/register.php?eventid=1025
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CLASSIFIEDS - MARKETPLACE
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Copyright 2003 Digital Media Wire, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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