archives

o FullAudio Subscription Service Launches on Clear Channel Radio Websites
o Frankfurt EBook Awards Scrapped; Microsoft Withdraws Financial Support
o Vivendi Chairman Messier Fires Head of Canal Plus Digital TV Unit
o Electronics Firms Developing High Definition Multimedia Interface
o AT&T Launches MMode, Wireless Internet Service Modeled on I-Mode
o EchoStar, SBC Partner to Market Joint Satellite TV, DSL Internet Service
> Digital Media Wire Panel: Interactive TV | April 25 | NYC
o Briefly Noted: Microsoft - Windows Media Video, Yahoo - The Eagles,
Liberate Technologies - Samsung, Yahoo - webcasting tools, Cingular - 2.5G
- California, Static - multiplayer iTV games, NGame - IndiaGames, Xlibris
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o FullAudio Subscription Service Launches on Clear Channel Radio Websites

Chicago -- FullAudio, a provider of digital music subscription services,
on Wednesday announced the launch of its MusicNow online subscription
service in Phoenix, Ariz. Radio broadcaster Clear Channel commissioned
FullAudio to create a digital music subscription service for its five
Phoenix stations' websites. Pricing for MusicNow starts at $7.49 for the
Gold plan, which allows subscribers to download and accumulate 50 tracks
per month. Under the Platinum plan, subscribers pay $14.99 per month,
allowing them to accumulate 100 tracks per month, or 1,200 tracks in one
year. The MusicNow service offers short samples of songs, but does not
provide full streaming or allow tracks to be transferred off of a PC onto
portable music players. Chicago-based FullAudio said that additional
MusicNow on-demand music subscription services will launch on 30 Clear
Channel station websites in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles and Salt Lake
City from now through this summer.
http://www.fullaudio.com
http://kesz-fm.fullaudio.com/welcome/
_____________________________________________

o Frankfurt EBook Awards Scrapped; Microsoft Withdraws Financial Support

New York -- Following the reported withdrawal of financial support from
Microsoft, the Frankfurt eBook Awards, which were part of the
international Frankfurt Book Fair, have been discontinued. The
announcement comes as a blow to the e-book format, which has struggled to
gain widespread acceptance from publishers and authors. "Microsoft told us
that their budget did not foresee funding for the foundation," Alberto
Vitale, chairman of the International eBooks Awards Foundation, told the
Associated Press. "It's been impossible to obtain the funding necessary to
continue." Microsoft had provided the principal financial backing for the
International eBooks Awards Foundation, which ran the Frankfurt
competition. The Frankfurt eBook Awards, launched in 1999 as part of the
world's largest book fair, has awarded cash prizes to authors including
Joyce Carol Oates and Amitav Ghosh.
http://www.iebaf.org/
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/3083486.htm
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o Vivendi Chairman Messier Fires Head of Canal Plus Digital TV Unit

Paris -- Vivendi Universal chairman and CEO Jean-Marie Messier has fired
the chairman of the company's Canal Plus digital TV unit, Pierre Lescure.
Lescure's firing follows the departure of Canal Plus COO Denis Olivennes
last week. The company has been losing money, and according to published
reports Messier and the two Canal Plus executives had differing opinions
as to why France's biggest pay-TV operator was flagging. An ultimatum from
Messier giving the men 24 months to turn the company around prompted a
company-wide email from Lescure criticizing Messier. Vivendi has appointed
Xavier Couture to replace Lescure at Canal Plus. Couture previously served
as a director at Canal Plus rival station Television Francaise 1.
http://biz.yahoo.com/djus/020416/200204161357000816_2.html
http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/article.html?id=020417000821
http://www.cplus.fr/
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o Electronics Firms Developing High Definition Multimedia Interface

Los Angeles -- A number of consumer electronics firms announced on
Wednesday the formation of a working group to define the next-generation
digital interface specification for consumer electronics products. Joining
the group were Hitachi, Matsushita, Philips, Silicon Image, Sony, Thomson
and Toshiba. The High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) specification
combines high-definition video and multi-channel audio in one digital
interface. The HDMI technology combines high-quality audio and video on
one cable so to eliminate the hassle of additional cables connecting
digital TVs, set-top boxes, DVD players and devices such as digital
camcorders. The HDMI specification will be compatible with digital content
protection based on an existing standard, the High-bandwidth Digital
Content Protection (HDCP) for Digital Visual Interface (DVI). "We are
encouraged to see these technology manufacturers endorsing a protected
baseband digital interconnect specification that appeals to consumers and
provides us the ability to protect our content with HDCP," said Universal
Pictures' senior vice president for technology, Jerry Pierce.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020416/sftu105_1.html
http://www.digital-cp.com/
_____________________________________________

o AT&T Launches MMode, Wireless Internet Service Modeled on Japan's I-Mode

Redmond, Wash. -- AT&T Wireless has launched MMode, a wireless Internet
service modeled on Japanese operator NTT DoCoMo's successful I-mode
service, which claims 30 million subscribers in Japan. The MMode service
offers cell phone users the ability to use their phones to send email,
play games, check news and sports scores, get driving directions or check
flight information. Washington-based AT&T Wireless will charge users $2.99
a month plus usage charges, which equate to about $8 a month to download
1MB of data and $12.50 per month to download 2MG of data. MMode features
to be offered in the future include digital photo messaging and
location-based services.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020416/nytu098_1.html
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,51878,00.html
http://news.com.com/2100-1033-884026.html
http://www.attwireless.com/mmode
_____________________________________________

o EchoStar, SBC Partner to Market Joint Satellite TV, DSL Internet Service

Littleton, Colo. -- Satellite TV provider EchoStar announced on Wednesday
a marketing alliance with SBC Communications, a provider of regional
broadband DSL Internet access. Financial terms were not disclosed. Under
the agreement, both companies will offer bundled service packages via
internal sales efforts and affiliated retailers, giving subscribers who
sign up for bundled DISH Network satellite TV and DSL Internet service up
to $10 off monthly service charges. The companies are also discussing
research and development of products and services that combine the
capabilities of broadband Internet and satellite television to deliver
video-on-demand and other advanced services.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020417/172139_1.html
http://www.dishnetwork.com
http://www.sbc.com
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April 18: Southern California Technology Venture Forum Knowledge and
Investment Conference

Come to SCTVF 2002 to learn about emerging markets--including
nanotechnology, security technologies, and bioscience. Renowned keynote
speakers will present industry analyses on these emerging markets,
followed by a select group of companies representing the best technologies
in Southern California. SCTVF is the meeting point for anyone who needs to
know about the state of cutting-edge technology--venture capitalists,
corporate investors, private investors, analysts, corporate executives,
and entrepreneurs. 7:30 am-2:30 pm, Regent Beverly Wilshire, Beverly
Hills, California.

For more information, please visit: http://www.sctvf.org

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

**FREE EXHIBITION*** (last day to pre-register online is April 19)
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.

***CONFERENCE*** The premiere learning, networking and problem solving
event for anyone looking to integrate streaming and digital media into
their enterprise, marketing or broadcasting objectives and those within
the industry looking to develop a sustainable ROI.

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:

(Seattle) Microsoft plans to introduce a new format for encoding digital
video to compete with existing formats such as MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and
QuickTime, CNET reported on Wednesday. Windows Media Video (WMV) will be similar to Microsoft's format for digital audio, Windows Media Audio
(WMA), which competes with MP3 and other formats such as Ogg Vorbis. The
company said WMV is more efficient for video encoding than MPEG-4, able to
fit three full-length movies on a single DVD.
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-884588.html?tag=cd_mh

(Santa Monica, Calif.) Yahoo announced that it will offer advance sales of
tickets to The Eagles' "Summer Tour 2002," beginning on Thursday, April
18. Tickets will be available for concert dates in Reno, NV; El Paso, TX;
Portland, OR; and Moline, IL through Yahoo on Thursday before they go on
sale to the general public on Monday, April 22.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020416/160403_1.html
http://eagles.yahoo.com

(San Carlos, Calif.) Liberate Technologies, a developer of operating
system software for set-top boxes used to deliver interactive television,
said on Wednesday that it has expanded its partnership with set-top box
manufacturer Samsung. The two companies will collaborate on sales and
marketing of Samsung set-top boxes running Liberate software worldwide;
Samsung is currently one of two providers of set-tops to NTL, the largest
cable TV operator in the U.K. Samsung and San Carlos, Calif.-based
Liberate also said they are engaged in proof-of-concept engineering
activities for various types of future set-top boxes.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020417/sfw067_1.html
http://www.liberate.com
http://samsungelectronics.com

(Sunnyvale, Calif.) Yahoo on Wednesday released Yahoo Webcast Studio
Professional, a suite of self-publishing tools customers may use to
create, edit, publish, manage, and measure their own webcasts. Nine
corporate customers including Compaq, Texas Instruments, and Canada
NewsWire have contracted to begin using the platform. "By licensing this
platform, we give our customers the control to publish their own webcasts
with greater speed to market and greater cost efficiency," said Jim
Fanella, senior vice president of Yahoo Enterprise Solutions. "We believe
this platform will bring about more rapid corporate adoption for
webcasting and drive day-to-day usage of this powerful communications
medium."
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020417/170081_1.html

(Los Angeles) Wireless network operator Cingular said on Wednesday that it
has launched 2.5G wireless data services in California and Reno, Nevada.
"It gives consumers the flexibility to toggle between an Internet session
-- say wireless access to email -- and a phone call or text message
without having to abandon their connection," said Cingular CEO Stephen
Carter. Cingular expects to begin upgrading this service to 3G -- which
will enable wireless devices to receive full motion streaming video -- in
the fourth quarter of this year and expects to be finished by early 2004.
http://www.cingular.com

(London) Static, a subsidiary of interactive TV firm OpenTV that develops
interactive TV games, said that it has added a feature to games it offers
on digital TV that allows for multiplayer game play. The feature will be
introduced this spring on London-based Static's PlayJam interactive games
channel, for a popular TV game called "East End Arrows." The PlayJam
channel is currently available in 5.7 million digital satellite homes in
the U.K.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020416/160034_1.html
http://www.static.co.uk

(Cambridge, U.K.) NGame, a developer of wireless entertainment, said on
Wednesday that it has licensed and will market three wireless games
developed by Mumbai, India-based developer IndiaGames. U.K.-based NGame
develops games for digital TV and wireless devices and markets them to
network operators.
http://www.indiagames.com/
http://www.ngame.com

(Philadelphia) Xlibris, a provider of print-on-demand services for
self-published authors, announced that it has added full color printing to
its offering. Philadelphia-based Xlibris offers a service that lets
authors print their works as they are ordered while retaining all rights
to their work. Authors earn royalties on book sales and may also offer
their work to publishing houses and agents without restriction. Xlibris
partnered with Berryville Graphics to develop the full color printing
process. "This is a major step for publishing," said Xlibris CEO John
Feldcamp. "The ability to publish full color books on-demand changes the
landscape of publishing and makes the market accessible to a whole new
group of authors."
http://www.xlibris.com
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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?"

=========================================================
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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