archives

o Napster Hires Justice Dept. Lawyer, Gets Song ID Technology from Loudeye
o Previews Provider Asks Court to Affirm Legality of Streaming Previews
o Film Sites Hypnotic and Nibblebox Merge, Raise $15 Million in New Funds
o RIAA, Napster Not Discussing Court Compliance Hearing
o Web Entertainment Network eUniverse Buys Email Publisher IntelligentX
o Wireless Games Firm Call IT Entertainment Raises Seed Funding
> DMW & socalTECH Seminar: Digital Asia -- June 20 | Los Angeles
> Digital Media Wire Seminar: iTV -- June 27 | San Francisco
o Briefly Noted: Microsoft iTV - Portugal, MusicMatch - Sony, Scientific
Atlanta - Screaming Media, Vivendi Universal Games, 4WallFilms.com, X10
Wireless, LA Weekly cover story
_____________________________________________

> Job Postings: New Media Designer, Product Manager, Director of Product
Management

> Events/Services: "Wireless 2001," "Loyola Marymount MBA in the Media,"
"Investing in Early Stage Deals," "Tickets On-Sale for Sensory Circus"

Full Job/Event/Services 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/Service: http://www.digitalmediawire.com/events.html
_____________________________________________

o Napster Hires Justice Dept. Lawyer, Gets Song ID Technology from Loudeye

Redwood City, Calif. -- File-sharing service Napster announced on Thursday
that it has appointed Jonathan Schwartz to the new position of general
counsel. Schwartz, who most recently served as Principal Associate Deputy
Attorney General, will oversee Napster's legal team and compliance efforts
in the company's ongoing litigation with the recording industry. Napster's
other Washington connection is Manus Cooney, a former aide to Judiciary
Committee chairman Orrin Hatch who now serves as the company's vice
president for corporate and public policy development. Napster also
announced that it has partnered with Seattle-based Loudeye Technologies,
which will provide the company with "audio fingerprinting" technology that
can identify songs based on their acoustic qualities. Napster said it will
implement the fingerprinting technology into its court-mandated filtering
of copyrighted songs. The company has already received fingerprints from
Loudeye, and will add data on newly-released songs on a weekly basis.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010607/lath063.html
http://www.loudeye.com
_____________________________________________

o Previews Provider Asks Court to Affirm Legality of Streaming Previews

Haddonfield, N.J. -- Video Pipeline, a provider of promotional movie
previews to video stores, on Thursday said it has asked a federal judge in
New Jersey to declare the online portion of its services legal. The suit
is in response to a cease-and-desist order sent by Walt Disney Co.'s Buena
Vista Home Entertainment, asking Video Pipeline to stop providing
streaming video previews to video retailers' websites. After filing their
request for a declaratory judgment with the Court, Buena Vista sued Video
Pipeline for copyright infringement, claiming damages of $111,450,000
resulting from the streaming video previews. Video Pipeline also claims
that Disney has contacted several of its video retail clients and asked
them to stop using the company's services, and instead contact Buena Vista
for "authentic" and "authorized" previews, the company said in a
statement. New Jersey-based Video Pipeline has also provided
videotape-based previews to video retailers since 1985.
http://www.videopipeline.com
_____________________________________________

o Film Sites Hypnotic and Nibblebox Merge, Raise $15 Million in New Funds

New York -- Hypnotic.com, a film entertainment website backed by Vivendi
Universal, and Nibblebox.com, a site that offers Web-based episodic
series, announced on Thursday that they have merged. The merged company --
which will be called Hypnotic -- additionally announced that it has raised
a $15 million round of new funding led by Vivendi Universal and Dresdner
Kleinwort Capital; previous Nibblebox investors Knowledge Universe,
Windsor Media and Entertainment Media Ventures also participated.
Nibblebox co-founder and former head of NBC Studios David Bartis will
become CEO of Hypnotic. The company will use the new funds to further its
business model, which is "to develop the talents of emerging filmmakers
for commercial, television and feature film production."
http://www.hypnotic.com/hypnotic.asp?content=/pressreleases.asp
http://www.hypnotic.com/hypnotic.asp?content=/nibblebox_redirect.asp
_____________________________________________

o RIAA, Napster Not Discussing Court Compliance Hearing

San Francisco -- Napster and the Recording Industry Association of America
(RIAA) met in a San Francisco court Wednesday for a compliance hearing to
update Judge Marilyn Hall Patel on how each side is complying with her
injunction that ordered copyrighted songs to be blocked from the
file-sharing service. Also present was court-appointed technical expert
A.J. "Nick" Nichols. TheStandard.com reported that representatives from
both sides were unwilling to comment on what was discussed at the hearing,
which likely included the recent announcement of Napster's licensing deal
with MusicNet, a digital music initiative launched by three major labels
and RealNetworks. According to a report published this week by analyst
firm Webnoize, downloads of songs on Napster are down 87 percent from a
peak of 2.79 billion in February.
http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,26957,00.html
http://www.webnoize.com
_____________________________________________

o Web Entertainment Network eUniverse Buys Email Publisher IntelligentX

Los Angeles -- eUniverse, a network of entertainment websites and
newsletters, announced on Thursday that it has acquired IntelligentX, a
publisher of entertainment and technology-related email newsletters. Terms
of the transaction were not disclosed. IntelligentX's three newsletters,
claiming 6.5 million subscribers, will be added to eUniverse's offering of
29 newsletters reaching 40 million subscribers.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010607/lath065.html
http://www.euniverse.com
http://www.intelligentx.com
_____________________________________________

o Wireless Games Firm Call IT Entertainment Raises Seed Funding

Beverly, Mass. -- Call IT Entertainment, a developer of content for
wireless devices, on Thursday launched the company, announcing that it has
received an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Leo Capital Holdings.
Call IT Entertainment was founded by Tom Dusenberry and Tony Parks, who
helped to launch games firm Hasbro Interactive -- which was recently
acquired by French publisher Infogrames. Dusenberry will serve as CEO of
Call IT Entertainment, while Parks will become chief operating officer.
Massachusetts-based Call IT Entertainment will create games for wireless
devices and also supply "content-related services, including strategic
planning and partnerships, development and marketing." The company does
not yet have a website.
Contact: dusey2@mediaone.net
_____________________________________________

> Digital Media Wire & socalTECH Present a Panel Discussion:
"Digital Asia: Recent Developments & New Business Opportunities"

Los Angeles | Wednesday, June 20th at the Wyndham Bel Age

SPONSORS:
Jones Day Reavis & Pogue, Loyola Marymount Int'l MBA in Media

This panel of executives, investors and professionals will discuss the
latest developments in digital media, with a focus on business
opportunities, strategies and ventures being created between the United
States and China, Taiwan, Korea and Japan.
For more information and to register:
http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=14674&Referrer_id=4074

SPEAKERS:
Ravin Agrawal - Partner | EastWest VentureGroup
Bryan Biniak - COO | Premium Wireless Services & YourMobile Network
Eric Choi - Senior Business Development Manager (Asia Pacific) | Akamai
James Hsu - Attorney | Jones Day Reavis & Pogue
Stuart Levy - Co-Founder & CEO | TOKYOPOP
Beth Minehart - SVP Business Development | Universal Studios Television

MODERATOR:
Stephen Liu
Co-Founder & President | Reelplay, Founder & Chairman | APEX

SUPPORTING ORGANIZATIONS:
Asian Business League, AINT, Asian Professional Exchange, Asia Society,
larta
_____________________________________________

> Digital Media Wire Presents a Panel Discussion:
"iTV: Defining the New Face of Television"

San Francisco | Wednesday, June 27th at The City Club

SPONSOR: UBS Warburg

This panel of players ranging from content developers to investment
bankers will discuss the new face of television, which will include an
amalgam of services like email, IPGs (interactive program guides), PVRs
(personal video recorders), enhanced TV, etc., and what it means for
Hollywood, the tech industry and most importantly, the consumer.
For more information and to register:
http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=14770&Referrer_id=4074

MODERATOR:
Michael Kline - Senior Manager | Deloitte Consulting

SPEAKERS:
David Higley - Exec. Director Technology Investment Banking | UBS Warburg
Bill Niemeyer - Director of Strategic Development | Spiderdance
Jonathon Spatz - Chief Financial Officer | Wink Communications
Nicholas Wodtke - SVP Interactive Television | Sony Pictures Entertainment
***Additional panelists TBA***
_____________________________________________

o Briefly Noted:

(Redmond, Wash.) Microsoft on Thursday launched the first commercial
deployment of its software for interactive television with TV Cabo
subscribers in Portugal, Reuters reported. Subscribers will pay $126 to
install, and just over $12 per month to rent the necessary set-top box and
for services fees. In addition to email, Web-browsing and online games,
Microsoft's iTV service in Portugal will also offer high-speed Internet
access. Microsoft also announced on Thursday trials of its iTV service in
Mexico and Israel, both slated to begin this year.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200-6214758.html?tag=mn_hd
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010607/sfth072.html
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010607/sfth071.html

(San Diego) Music jukebox software firm MusicMatch said on Thursday that
Sony will include the company's software along with Sony-branded CD-R/RW
drives worldwide. San Diego-based MusicMatch -- which claims over 20
million users for its music player software -- said that the addition of
Sony as a hardware partner means that its software will now ship with 60
percent of all CD-R/RW drives.
http://www.musicmatch.com

(Atlanta) Set-top box manufacturer Scientific Atlanta said on Thursday
that it has partnered with New York-based news syndicator Screaming Media,
which will provide content to local cable operators for an interactive TV
channel. The cable channel will offer subscribers news, sports and weather
reports, stock market statistics, horoscopes and entertainment stories
filtered from Screaming Media's 3000 publications.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/010607/2096.html
http://www.screamingmedia.com
http://www.sciatl.com/content/nws/news.htm

(Torrance, Calif.) Vivendi Universal Publishing announced on Thursday that
Kenneth D. Cron has been named CEO of its Vivendi Universal Games
division, which releases video games for the PC and game consoles and
operates the games site Flipside.com. Cron replaces Hubert Joly, who will
focus on his other role as senior vice president of North American
integration for Vivendi Universal. Most recently, Cron served as president
of publishing for CMP Media.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010606/law079.html
http://www.havas.fr/english_version/games.html

(Vancouver, B.C.) Canada-based Indie film producer and distributor
Prophecy Entertainment announced on Thursday the launch of 4WallFilms.com,
an indie film-related news and information resource. The site will promote
Prophecy's films as well as accept submissions from indie filmmakers and
provide news, reviews and independent theater listings in North America.
http://www.4wallfilms.com

(New York) Inside.com on Wednesday featured a story on the great number of
"pop-under" ads for a wireless camera appearing on numerous websites,
purchased at a bargain in the current weak advertising market by a company
called X10. The ads appear "underneath" the open browser window to be
somewhat less intrusive than a traditional pop-up ad. Seattle-based X10
has bought ads from big-name sites like MSN, NYTimes.com and LATimes.com
and many, many others.
http://www.inside.com/jcs/Story?article_id=32500&pod_id=13
http://www.x10.com/home/offer.cgi?!TTAB3,../techtoysab3.htm

(Los Angeles) The LA Weekly cover story this week is a piece on how
independent musicians have succeeded with and suffered frustrations by
using online resources such as MP3.com and IUMA (Internet Underground
Music Archive) to post their songs and promote their careers.
http://www.laweekly.com/ink/01/29/cover-lewis.shtml

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

> CCBN, New Media Designer - Boston

Designer needed to conceptualize, design and develop visual interfaces
utilizing user-centered design principles. Ideal candidate will be
detail-oriented, extremely organized, highly creative and aware of tight
deadlines. BA or BFA -or- 2-4+ yrs. exp. in related field. Proficiency in
Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, DreamWeaver, as well as graphic design
principles. Send resumes to: jobs@ccbn.com
http://www.ccbn.com
______________________

> Aleron, Product Manager - McLean, VA

The successful candidate will be responsible for defining, launching &
supporting Aleron's product suite of on-net and private line services, in
addition to interfacing with Engineering, Marketing Communications,
Finance & Sales groups, as well as vendors. Must have proven track record
in product mgmt., 3-5 yrs. exp. in telecommunications - preferably in
Internet, data and/or private line services.
Send resume to: resumes@aleron.com
http://www.aleron.com
______________________

> About.com, Director of Product Management - New York City

The ideal candidate will be responsible for managing product design,
planning, testing, documentation and implementation of company products
and sales integrations. This person will report to the SVP of Product
Development and will be managing a team of top notch dedicated HTML
Producers, Project Managers and Designers.
Send resume and cover letter to Kevin Donovan at kdonovan@about-inc.com
http://www.about.com

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

> Wireless 2001, June 13-14 - New York City

PLATORMS * PARTNERSHIPS * CAPITAL: Wireless 2001 - NYC speakers include
James Balsillie, RIM; Thomas Dolby Robertson, Beatnik; Ikuo Nishioka,
Mobile Internet Capital (Japan); and James Brailean, Packet Video. SAVE
$100: REGISTER ONLINE TODAY! Visit www.wireless2001.com/register.asp  and enter "EMKTRCOMB2" for an exclusive $100 discount.
http://www.wireless2001.com
______________________

> Loyola Marymount University, International MBA in Media - Los Angeles

Loyola Marymount's International MBA in Media is a unique 1-year program
for individuals who are interested in the business aspect of the growing
entertainment and media industries. In cooperation with the Center for
Asian Business at LMU, this innovative program is offered through LMU's
famous College of Business Administration and the School of Film and
Television.
For more information, please visit: http://www.lmu.edu/acad/cab/immba/
______________________

Investing in Early Stage Deals, July 23-24 - Boston

With the dramatic changes and new developments affecting venture capital
investing, how are venture capitalists strategizing and doing business in
uncertain markets? Hear discussions from top industry leaders as they
explore the opportunities, as well as the pitfalls, of early stage
investing.
For more information, please email ipakoys@srinstitute.com
To register: http://www.srinstitute.com/cx375
______________________

> Tickets On-Sale for Sensory Circus, June 9 - Los Angeles

The Los Angeles Times calls Sensory Circus a "cool event" and the LA
Weekly says it will be a "Pick of the Week". Proceeds from the event
benefit non-profit, Red Road. To purchase tickets for the event, please
visit
http://www.acteva.com//booking.cfm?bevaID=14341
For more information about the event, please visit
http://www.sensorycircus.com
______________________

To subscribe, go to:
http://www.digitalmediawire.com

Questions or comments? Send email to:
mark@digitalmediawire.com

News tips, press releases. Send email to:
editorial@digitalmediawire.com