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Top Stories
o House Judiciary Committee Approves Internet Gambling Ban
o Studios, Networks Sue Cablevision Over Planned Network DVR
o Internet Giants Yahoo, eBay Join Forces in Partnership
o Nintendo Wii Console to Sell for Under $250; 6 Million to Ship by March
o Torrentspy Accuses MPAA of Hiring Hacker to Steal Trade Secrets
o CBS Radio to Settle Lawsuit Against Howard Stern, Court Clerk Says
o Nintendo of America Names New Chairman and CEO, President
o Report: U.S. PC Game Sales Hit $1.4 Billion in 2005
o Canon to Halt Development of Film Cameras in Favor of Digital
o Entertainment Publisher Hands-On Mobile Acquires Thumbspeed
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Briefly Noted
o Sirius Satellite Radio Reaffirms 2006 Subscriber Forecast
o TiVo Ends Quarter with 4.4 Million Subscribers; Loss Sends Shares Lower
o MySpace Launches Online Campaign for "An Inconvenient Truth"
o ROO Partners with The Real Hip Hop Network on Internet TV
o Fortuna Introduces $5,000 Component MP3 Player for Classical Music
o Clothing Designer Koyono Debuts iPod-Ready Line of Jackets
o CNET News.com: Interview with RIAA's Mitch Bainwol, Cary Sherman
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Washington - The U.S. House Judiciary Committee on Thursday approved a bill that would ban Internet gambling in the U.S., and prohibit online casinos from accepting payments from credit cards, checks, wire and Internet transfers. The Internet Gambling Prohibition Act passed the committee by a vote of 25-11, and will now move before the full House, where it is unclear whether it will be taken up during the election year. An estimated $6 billion of the $12 billion in revenue that online casinos take in comes from U.S. residents, who place bets on some 2,300 gambling sites located offshore -- where they are out of U.S. jurisdictional reach. "Virtual betting parlors have attempted to avoid the application of United States law by locating themselves offshore and out of our jurisdictional reach. These offshore, fly-by-night Internet gambling operators are unlicensed, untaxed and unregulated and are sucking billions of dollars out of the United States," said Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), who authored the bill.
http://www.house.gov/list/press/va06_goodlatte/052506ig.html
http://judiciary.house.gov/markup.aspx?ID=132
http://tinyurl.com/ne7gq (Reuters)
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o Studios, Networks Sue Cablevision Over Planned Network DVR

New York - A group of Hollywood TV networks and movie studios on Thursday sued cable TV provider Cablevision, seeking to block the company's plans for a digital video recorder that would store content on company servers rather than on a user's home set-top box. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in New York by 20th Century Fox, Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures, Disney, ABC, CBS and NBC, charges that Cablevision's "network" digital video recorder is akin to selling copies of their programming for profit, whereas the individual digital video recorder boxes in consumers' homes make legal copies for each household for personal use. They argue that Cablevision should pay a license fee for their programming, or be offered a share of the revenue from the service. Other cable providers -- including the nation's largest, Comcast -- have said they would explore similar offerings should the technology stand up in court.
http://tinyurl.com/knnyj (Reuters)
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060525/cablevision_lawsuit.html?.v=4 (AP)
http://www.cablevision.com
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o Internet Giants Yahoo, eBay Join Forces in Partnership

Sunnyvale, Calif. - Taking aim at rivals Google, Microsoft and AOL, Yahoo and eBay on Thursday unveiled a multi-year partnership that will combine the resources of the two Internet giants with combined revenue last year of nearly $10 billion. Under the deal, the companies will team in the areas of search, graphical advertising and online payments. They will also develop a co-branded toolbar and explore "click-to-call" functionality. Terry Semel, the chairman and CEO of Yahoo, said that the deal "provides us with a great opportunity to further extend our sponsored search and graphical advertising reach to one of the largest and most active communities on the web." Meg Whitman, the president and CEO of eBay, said that teaming with Yahoo will "create more exposure" for the companies' various properties. Yahoo's portal drew 402 million unique visitors in 2005, while eBay's auction site had nearly 200 million users. The companies plan to begin testing several new co-branded services over the next several months, with implementation expected in 2007.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/060525/20060525005329.html?.v=1
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o Nintendo Wii Console to Sell for Under $250; 6 Million to Ship by March

Redmond, Wash. - Nintendo announced on Thursday that its forthcoming Wii next-generation video game console will not cost more than $250 when it launches in the fourth quarter of 2006. The company's pricing strategy undercuts both the $600/$500 that Sony will be charging for its PlayStation 3 models, and the $400/$300 price tags that Microsoft has set for its two Xbox 360 console models, which have been on sale since November. Nintendo plans to ship 6 million Wii consoles to retailers between launch and the end of its fiscal year, in March 2007. The company also expects to sell 17 million games for the console during this period as well. Overall, Nintendo projects 18% sales growth for the year, based on strong sales for its DS handheld and the Wii launch.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060525/nyth053.html?.v=50
http://www.nintendo.com
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o Torrentspy Accuses MPAA of Hiring Hacker to Steal Trade Secrets

San Francisco - A file-sharing firm sued by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) for copyright infringement has filed its own suit against the MPAA, claiming the movie studio trade group hired a hacker to steal corporate information, CNET News.com reported. Torrentspy, a firm that provides links to movies and songs available for download on the BitTorrent file-sharing network, claims the MPAA paid one of its former business associates $15,000 to steal trade secrets, including e-mail between Torrentspy executives and employees. The file-sharing firm also claims this hacker has turned informant, and provided the company a written agreement signed by an MPAA executive for the work he did. "These claims (by Torrentspy) are false," Kori Bernards, the MPAA's vice president of corporate communications, told CNET News.com. "Torrentspy is trying to obscure the facts to hide the fact that they are facilitating thievery. We are confident that our lawsuit against them will be successful because the law is on our side."
http://tinyurl.com/rnjd4 (CNET)
http://www.techfirm.com/ts-mpaa.pdf (PDF of complaint)
http://www.mpaa.org
http://www.torrentspy.com
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o CBS Radio to Settle Lawsuit Against Howard Stern, Court Clerk Says

New York - CBS Radio has settled its lawsuit against Howard Stern, in which it alleged the shock jock improperly used his last months on terrestrial radio to promote his jump to satellite radio, Reuters reported. An official in a court clerk's office in New York said the two sides have reached a settlement, although spokespeople for both sides told Reuters that although a settlement agreement may exist, it has not yet been signed by both sides. "The only response we're authorized to give you is the settlement agreement is not yet signed. We will release a statement when it is," the office of Peter Parcher, lawyer for Stern, told Reuters. Howard Stern signed a $500 million, five-year deal to bring his show to Sirius Satellite Radio in October 2004. CBS alleged in its lawsuit that Stern breached his existing contract with them when he promoted Sirius in the months leading up to his debut on the service in January 2006.
http://tinyurl.com/jhf7s (Reuters)
http://www.cbsradio.com
http://www.howardstern.com
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o Nintendo of America Names New Chairman and CEO, President

Redmond, Wash. - Nintendo of America announced on Thursday that it has promoted company president Tatsumi Kimishima to the positions of chairman and CEO. The company also promoted Reggie Fils-Aime, currently executive vice president of sales and marketing, to the position of president. Kimishima has been with the company since 2000 and has served as president since 2002. Prior to joining Nintendo, Kimishima was a top executive at The Pokemon Company, and before that served 27 years at Sanwa Bank of Japan. Before joining Nintendo in 2003, Fils-Aime was senior vice president of marketing for VH1.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060525/lath066.html?.v=53
http://www.nintendo.com
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o Report: U.S. PC Game Sales Hit $1.4 Billion in 2005

New York - Sales of video games for the PC reached $1.4 billion in the U.S. during 2005, propelled by increased broadband penetration and online game subscriptions, according to a report from market research firm NPD group. Online subscriptions to games like "World of Warcraft" and "City of Heroes" accounted for $292 million, while paid memberships to casual PC game sites like Pogo.com and RealArcade brought in around $52 million. The firm added that digital downloads of games -- as opposed to those purchased in boxes at retail stores -- contributed $42 million in sales in 2005, making up about 3% of all PC games sold last year.
http://tinyurl.com/nb6rj (Reuters)
http://www.npd.com
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o Canon to Halt Development of Film Cameras in Favor of Digital

Tokyo - Following the lead of fellow camera and film companies including Nikon and Konica Minolta, Japan's Canon said on Thursday that it will not develop new film-based cameras, choosing instead to focus on models that support digital photography, Reuters reported. A spokesman for Canon told Reuters that the markets for compact and single-lens reflex cameras are shrinking, adding that the company will continue to produce and support existing lines, but freeze development of new models.
http://tinyurl.com/hc3bb (Reuters)
http://www.canon.com
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o Entertainment Publisher Hands-On Mobile Acquires Thumbspeed

Seattle - Mobile entertainment publisher Hands-On Mobile (formerly Mforma) has acquired mobile application developer Thumbspeed, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Founded in 2004, Bellevue, Wash.-based Thumbspeed's applications include mobile IM and e-mail. Separately, San Francisco-based Hands-On on Thursday announced the release of its products based on Twentieth Century Fox's "X-Men: The Last Stand." The company will offer over 100 products, including the movie's official mobile game, wallpapers, screensavers and themes. San Francisco-based Hands-On said the wireless products would be distributed in over 35 countries.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/270476_bizbriefs17.html 
http://www.thumbspeed.com
http://www.handson.com

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o Sirius Satellite Radio Reaffirms 2006 Subscriber Forecast

New York - Sirius Satellite Radio, a subscription radio service with 4.1 million subscribers, has reaffirmed that it expects to count 6.2 million subscribers by the end of the year, just hours after rival XM Satellite Radio lowered its 2006 subscriber forecast to 8.5 million from 9 million. If Sirius' projections pan out, the company would see an 87% subscriber increase in 2006, with the addition of 2.8 million net new subscribers during the year. XM shares fell 11% on Wednesday after the company lowered its subscriber and revenue forecasts for 2006.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060524/nyw178.html?.v=34
http://www.siriusradio.com
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o TiVo Ends Quarter with 4.4 Million Subscribers; Loss Sends Shares Lower

Alviso, Calif. - TiVo announced on Thursday that it added 91,000 subscribers during the recent quarter and now claims 4.4 million subscribers, a 33% increase from the same period in 2005. The company also reported a higher than expected loss that sent its shares down 12%. TiVo said it lost $10.7 million during the quarter, citing in part legal costs from its patent infringement dispute with DISH Network operator EchoStar Communications.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060524/sfw054.html?.v=60
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060525/tivo_mover.html?.v=1 (AP)
http://www.tivo.com
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o MySpace Launches Online Campaign for "An Inconvenient Truth"

Los Angeles - Social networking site MySpace on Thursday announced that it has created a marketing campaign for former Vice President Al Gore's global warming documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," that it calls its "broadest effort…undertaken on behalf of a social cause." In addition to a custom-designed page focused on global warming, the site's music and movie channels will feature tie-ins with the film. MySpace will also give away free tickets to a June 16 screening of the film in ten cities to members who are part of the film's MySpace community.
http://www.myspace.com/aninconvenienttruth
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o ROO Partners with The Real Hip Hop Network on Internet TV

New York - ROO, a provider of Internet TV delivery technology, said on Thursday that The Real Hip Hop Network will syndicate its content to ROO. As part of the deal, ROO will launch a new video portal on RHN.tv and sell targeted advertising on the site. New York-based ROO's content is offered through Verizon Broadband Beat, iWon, Excite and other video destinations.
http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/060525/0131330.html
http://www.roo.com
http://www.rhn.tv
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o Fortuna Introduces $5,000 Component MP3 Player for Classical Music

San Diego - Fortuna Classical Music, a firm that says its focus is the technological and social advancement of classical music, on Thursday introduced a component MP3 player designed especially for playing classical music. The Maestro's organizational software supports the additional data needed to identify the composers, conductors, soloists, orchestras and detailed track information of classical works. The player also supports high-resolution scans of full CD booklets, in addition to cover art. San Diego-based Fortuna priced the Maestro at $4,995, which includes pre-loading of up to 1,000 CDs on the device.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060524/law075.html?.v=57
http://www.fortunaclassical.com 
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o Clothing Designer Koyono Debuts iPod-Ready Line of Jackets

Cleveland - Clothing designer Koyono on Thursday introduced its spring and summer 2006 line, which includes several jackets that have waterproof pockets and iPod controls integrated into the lapels. The line of jackets, which feature ElekTex fabric touch screen interfaces from Eleksen Group, will retail for between $199 and $275.
http://koyono.com/press/PR20060525_iPod.html
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o CNET News.com: Interview with RIAA's Mitch Bainwol, Cary Sherman

San Francisco - CNET News.com on Thursday published an interview with Mitch Bainwol and Cary Sherman, chairman and CEO, and president, respectively, of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). A main topic was digital rights management, which comes into play with the RIAA's lawsuit against satellite radios that can record songs, and also the fiasco surrounding the "rootkit" that Sony BMG put on CDs that eventually forced the label to remove them from the market. "Digital rights management has just gotten a bad rap based on this notion that it's going to restrict consumer choice," said Sherman. "The fight over DRM will almost fade away as business models (become more flexible)." Added Bainwol, "It's a proxy for an almost ideological fight on fair use."
http://tinyurl.com/ry5xl (CNET)
http://www.riaa.com

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