archives

o Columbine Victims' Relatives Sue Video Game Companies for $5 Billion
o NTT DoCoMo Delays Full Launch of 3G Wireless Service
o Verance Gets Investment from Video Research, Licenses Watermark to SESAC
o Streaming Media Firm iBeam Lays Off 25% of Staff
o WSJ: Vivendi Looking to Add TV, Video Distribution on Yahoo
o Philips Electronics to Acquire Streaming Content Developer Veon
o Sports Card Stock Market ThePit Gets $1.6 Million from Topps
o Digital Asset Management Firm Sunhawk.com Merges with A.N.N. Automation
> Digital Media Wire Seminar: The Future of Digital Entertainment - LA
o Briefly Noted: Excite@Home, SecureMedia - DivXNetworks, Spinner.com -
AudioBasket, Level 3 - Yahoo Broadcast, FirstLook - eUniverse - Imagine
Media, Snap2 - British Airways, Radio Free Virgin - ZapMedia, Video
Networks - New Regency, GeoVideo Networks
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> Job Postings: Director of Technology, Marketing Associate, Research
Associate

> Events/Services: "Real Road Show 2001," "Digital Horizon Conference & Expo"

Full Job/Event descriptions listed below "Briefly Noted" section or at
http://www.digitalmediawire.com/postings.html

To Post a Job: http://www.digitalmediawire.com/jobs.html
To Post an Event: http://www.digitalmediawire.com/events.html
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o Columbine Victims' Relatives Sue Video Game Companies for $5 Billion

San Francisco -- A number of family members of victims who were killed in
the Columbine High School shootings are suing video game makers who they
blame for inspiring the teenagers' violent actions, CNET reported on
Tuesday. Defendants named in the suit, which seeks $5 billion in punitive
damages, include ID Software, Atari, Sega of America, Virgin Interactive
Media, Activision, Polygram Film Entertainment Distribution, New Line
Cinema and GT Interactive Software. Mesquite, Texas-based ID Software
developed the video game "Doom," which is singled out because the two
young assailants made a video before the shootings that makes reference to
the game. The lawsuit "seeks literally to change the marketing and
distribution of these super-violent video games that take kids…to become
addicted and turn them into monster killers," said John DeCamp, attorney
for the family member plaintiffs.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-5712037.html?tag=cd_mh
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o NTT DoCoMo Delays Full Launch of 3G Wireless Service

Tokyo -- Japanese telecommunications provider NTT DoCoMo said on Tuesday
that it will delay the full commercial launch of its third generation or
"3G" wireless service by four months, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The service was slated to launch on May 30 but will now be delayed until
October 1. The company will in the meantime launch an "introductory
service" to a limited amount of customers. NTT cited technical
difficulties that could not guarantee a fully stable service at the
original launch date. The Journal called the delay a "major blow" to the
wireless industry, with the potential to harm stock prices of other mobile
network and service providers.
http://www.nttdocomo.com/top.shtml
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o Verance Gets Investment from Video Research, Licenses Watermark to SESAC

Las Vegas -- Watermarking technology developer Verance announced on
Tuesday that Video Research, a Japanese marketing and media audience
research company, has licensed its technology and has made an undisclosed
equity investment in the company. San Diego-based Verance's technology
will be used to monitor commercials broadcast in Japan for Video Research.
Verance also announced that performing rights organization SESAC will use
broadcast monitoring for its online service that pays royalties to
composers, lyricists, arrangers and music publishers. San Diego-based
Verance's technology inserts trackable copyright information into audio
and video data in a way that makes it inaudible and invisible to
consumers.
http://www.verance.com/verance/news/releases/4-24-01-sesac.html
http://www.sesac.com
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o Streaming Media Firm iBeam Lays Off 25% of Staff

Sunnyvale, Calif. -- iBeam, a provider of streaming media services to
businesses, announced that it will lay off 25 percent of its staff, or
about 140 employees, across all departments as part of the company's
cost-cutting measures. The company expects to take a one-time charge of
between $1 and $2 million in the second quarter to account for the
layoffs. Sunnyvale-based iBeam also said that it has hired Morgan Stanley
and Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein as financial advisers. The company
reported record revenue for the first quarter, although was downgraded by
a number of analysts based on its earnings report.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/010423/0739.html
http://www.ibeam.com
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o WSJ: Vivendi Looking to Add TV, Video Distribution on Yahoo

Paris -- Vivendi Universal, which recently announced it would distribute
digital music on Yahoo in a joint venture with Sony Music, said it is
looking to broaden its alliance with Yahoo, The Wall Street Journal
reported. Vivendi chairman Jean-Marie Messier said that "Yahoo could be
the privileged partner of Vivendi Universal and vice versa. We have other
content. Let's discuss this other content with Yahoo." Yahoo could
additionally be used as a distribution platform for the company's TV and
film content. Messier also disclosed that Yahoo would receive less than 20
percent of the revenues from the service at first, but its stake would
rise after signing up 500,000 and then 2 million paying subscribers.
http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/010424/l24117725_2.html
http://www.vivendi.com 
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o Philips Electronics to Acquire Streaming Content Developer Veon

Las Vegas -- Philips Electronics has announced that it will acquire Veon,
a developer of software that lets providers create, deploy, manage and
measure the effectiveness of digital media. Financial terms of the
transaction were not disclosed. Israel-based Veon will be incorporated
into MP4Net, a division of Philips concerned with multimedia streaming and
content delivery over IP. "This acquisition will strengthen Philips' lead
in the emerging market of MPEG-4 delivery to various consumer platforms,
including PCs, set-top boxes, PDAs, and mobile devices," said Ahmad Ouri,
vice president of Philips MP4Net.
http://www.digitalnetworks.philips.com/InformationCenter/PhilipsInternet/FPress.asp?lArticleId=2030&lNodeId=997
http://veon.com
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o Sports Card Stock Market ThePit Gets $1.6 Million from Topps

White Plains, N.Y. -- ThePit, an online exchange for sports trading cards,
said on Tuesday that sports card manufacturer Topps has committed $1.6
million to the first stage of its second round of funding, VentureWire
reported. New York-based ThePit is obliged to raise more funds as part of
the terms of the investment. ThePit will incorporate Topps' Emerging Card
Index into its site, and will exchange promotional consideration with
Topps. The company expects to raise an additional $10 million by the end
of the summer. ThePit is an auction-type website that offers continually
updated valuations of trading cards and allows buyers and sellers to post
available card listings online.
http://www.thepit.com
http://www.topps.com
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o Digital Asset Management Firm Sunhawk.com Merges with A.N.N. Automation

Seattle -- Sunhawk.com, a developer of digital asset management software,
announced on Tuesday that it has reached an agreement to merge with A.N.N.
Automation, a provider of digital video production services. Under terms
of the transaction, Sunhawk will acquire all the outstanding stock of
A.N.N. in exchange for 36 percent of the merged company. Sunhawk will
relocate to Agoura Hills, Calif.-based A.N.N.'s offices, where A.N.N.
management will take over operations of the merged company.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010423/sfm169.html
http://www.sunhawk.com
http://www.annautomation.com
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> Digital Media Wire Seminar: The Future of Digital Entertainment - LA

"The Future of Digital Entertainment: What's Next After Napster?"

Los Angeles | Sponsored by Jones Day Reavis & Pogue
For more information and to register:
http://www.digitalmediawire.com/LAcopyright.html

MODERATOR:
- Jim Griffin, CEO of Cherry Lane Digital, Founder of Evolab,
Co-founder of the 'pho' list

PANELISTS:
- Scott Dinsdale, EVP of Digital Strategy,
Motion Picture Association (MPA)
- Russell Frackman, Attorney, Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP,
Lead counsel for the RIAA in their litigation vs. Napster
- Robin Gross, Attorney, Fair Use & Intellectual Property,
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
- Jonathan Potter, Executive Director, Digital Media Association (DiMA)
- Noah Stone, Executive Director, Artists Against Piracy

Date: Wednesday, April 25th, 2001
CLE credit has been applied for with the California State Bar.
CLE credit may be available in other states as well.
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o Briefly Noted:

(Redwood City, Calif.) Broadband service provider Excite@Home has
announced the appointment of Patti S. Hart as chairman and CEO of the
company. Hart replaces George Bell, who announced his resignation from the
company and the board on Monday. Hart most recently served as chairman,
president and CEO of DSL provider Telocity.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010423/sfm174.html
http://www.home.net

(Las Vegas) Digital rights management provider SecureMedia announced on
Tuesday that DivXNetworks will use the company's encryption technology for
its video on-demand system, which is based on its own video compression
technology. San Diego-based DivXNetworks is developing a "codec" that
shrinks video files the same way that MP3s shrink sound files, so they can
be easily distributed online.
http://www.securemedia.com
http://www.divxnetworks.com

(San Francisco) AOL's Web radio service, Spinner.com, announced on Tuesday
that it will syndicate news and other spoken word audio content from San
Francisco-based AudioBasket on its service. AudioBasket's content
providers include CNN, The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg.
http://www.spinner.com
http://www.audiobasket.com

(Broomfield, Colo.) Level 3, a provider of broadband bandwidth services,
will be the primary provider of the large amounts of bandwidth needed by
Yahoo to operate its recently-announced Yahoo Broadcast site.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010423/lam168.html
http://broadcast.yahoo.com
http://www.level3.com/

(Sherman Oaks, Calif.) FirstLook, a provider of streaming song, movie and
video game samples, said on Tuesday that it has licensed streaming video
game previews to entertainment network eUniverse and publisher Imagine
Media's DailyRadar.com games site. Sherman Oaks-based FirstLook's game
previews allow users to play parts of a level from a video game without
having to download any software.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/010424/0310.html
http://www.firstlook.com
http://www.euniverse.com
http://www.dailyradar.com

(Des Moines, Iowa) Game developer Snap2 announced on Tuesday that it has
licensed its games to British Airways for use in the airline's in-flight
entertainment service. Iowa-based Snap2 has also licensed its games to
Delta Air Lines, Air France, LanChile, Airtours International Airlines and
AOM French Airlines.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/010424/2206.html
http://www.snaptwo.com

(Los Angeles) Web radio site Radio Free Virgin announced on Tuesday a deal
with convergence technology developer ZapMedia to syndicate its radio
stations on ZapMedia's set-top box. Atlanta-based ZapMedia's device acts
as a broadband connection -- with a CD and DVD player -- that can connect
to users' TVs and home stereos.
http://www.radiofreevirgin.com
http://www.zapmedia.com

(Los Angeles) Video on-demand provider Video Networks announced on Tuesday
that it has licensed content from Regency Enterprises, which distributes
films for movie studio New Regency. The three-year deal will add current
and library films such as "Fight Club" to the U.K.-based consumer VOD
provider's offerings, which now include 1,000 films from Sony, Disney,
Warner Bros., MGM, Universal and other independents.
http://www.videonetworks.com
http://www.newregency.com/homepage.html

(New York) GeoVideo Networks, a developer of Web video software, announced
that Peter Lee has been appointed as president and CEO of the company. Lee
will focus the company on developing software for collaborative video
online. A former IBM executive, Lee recently served as CTO of streaming
media firm Hitplay Media.
http://www.geovideo.com/html/news.html

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Job Postings:
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To Post Jobs: http://www.digitalmediawire.com/jobs.html

> <kpe>, Director of Technology - Los Angeles

KPE is seeking a Director of Technology for its Los Angeles office who
will develop and implement relevant, cost-effective technology solutions
for its clients in the media and entertainment industries. Given the
typical solution requirement of entertainment firms, KPE seeks an
individual with depth of experience in implementing content management
systems (CMS) and customer relationship management (CRM) solutions.
Send resumes to lajobs@kpe.com
http://www.kpe.com
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> idealab!, Marketing Associate - Los Angeles

Looking for a motivated, talented & creative individual to join the
fast-growing marketing department for New.net, a leading domain name
registry. Duties include providing support for online advertising
campaigns, affiliate programs, banner production, as well as assisting
with other marketing programs & projects. Previous online marketing
experience is a plus.
Please submit resume to idealabmonster@hiresystems.com
http://www.idealab.com
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> Ziff-Davis Publishing, Research Associate - San Francisco

Research Associate for Ziff-Davis Smart Business Magazine is responsible
for ensuring that all business-technology stories we publish are timely
and accurate, as well as assist the editorial staff with research, and
build & maintain a contact list of sources & companies. This is perfect
for recent college grads interested in publishing and high-tech! Previous
writing and editing experience a plus.
Send resume to careerscal@ziffdavis.com
http://www.ziffdavis.com

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Event Postings:
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To Post Events: http://www.digitalmediawire.com/events.html

> Real RoadShow 2001, April 26 - New York City

Join RealNetworks, the pioneer and recognized leader in streaming media,
at the Real RoadShow 2001, a free half-day seminar, to find out how
streaming media advertising can work for you. You'll hear from top
industry executives from RealNetworks, Arbitron and Millward Brown
Interactive on the state of the industry and the future of streaming media
advertising.
Register on-line at http://www.key3media.com/realroadshow or contact
Vanessa Doherty at realroadshow@key3media.com
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> Digital Horizon Conference & Expo, April 30 - May 1 - Los Angeles

The Digital Horizon Conference & Expo is a 2-day educational technology
event targeting small business owners and SOHO (small office, home office)
entrepreneurs featuring over 20 workshops, Keynote Luncheons, an exhibit
hall and daily raffles for end-user computer products.
For more information and to register: http://www.digitalhorizonexpo.com
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