archives

o Sony, Universal Change Name of Duet Service, Announce Officers
o Automatic Media Shuts Down, Closing Online Publications Feed and Suck
o RIAA, Listen.com Settle Lawsuit; RIAA Sues Additional Webcasters
o Game Developer Buzztime Entertainment Raises $1 Million for iTV Project
o Universal Music Developing Video-on-Demand Service for Digital Cable
o Cisco to Market RealNetworks' Streaming Media Delivery Software
> DMW & socalTECH Seminar: Digital Asia -- June 20 | Los Angeles
> Digital Media Wire Seminar: iTV -- June 27 | San Francisco
o Briefly Noted: Scientific-Atlanta, Comcast Cable, MetaTV - Worldspan -
Tribune Media Services, Canal Plus Technologies - Starz Encore, ClearBand,
Thomas Middlehoff, "Desperately Seeking Financing"
_____________________________________________

> Job Postings: Sr. Interactive Web Designer/Art Director, New Media
Designer, Director of Product Management

> Events/Services: "Wireless 2001," "Loyola Marymount MBA in the Media,"
"Investing in Early Stage Deals,"

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 Sony, Universal Change Name of Duet Service, Announce Officers

New York -- Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group announced
on Monday that their joint digital music subscription service, up to this
point called Duet, has been officially titled Pressplay. Additionally, the
companies named Andy Schuon as president and CEO of the company, and
Michael Bebel as chief operating officer of Pressplay, which is scheduled
to launch by the end of the summer. Previously, Schuon served as president
and chief operating officer of Universal's Farmclub.com, an on-demand
music streaming service. Pressplay will offer secure on-demand streaming
and downloading of music. The company said that users will eventually be
able to transfer downloaded music to portable digital music players. Yahoo
has partnered with Pressplay to become a distributor and marketer of the
subscription service.
http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/f_headline.cgi?day0/211622720&ticker=
http://www.sonymusic.com
http://www.umusic.com
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o Automatic Media Shuts Down, Closing Online Publications Feed and Suck

New York -- Automatic Media, which operated the online publications Feed
Magazine and Suck.com, has shut down "due to an inability to secure
additional financing," according to a note on the company's website. In
addition to daily column Suck.com and online magazine Feed, the company
also operated Plastic.com, a discussion forum modeled after Slashdot.org
and AltCulture.com. The company laid off 18 employees -- the majority of
its staff -- last week. A letter from the editors of Feed says that it is
still seeking financing to continue operations. "While we still very much
believe that content on the web can support itself, Automatic Media is not
able to succor us until we see that day," wrote Feed editors Stefanie
Syman and Steven Johnson. "As of today, we are in suspended animation,
cooled to a temperature at which our metabolic rate is near zero. We'll be
posting some reruns this summer and looking for a new home." Suck.com also
noted on its website that it will remain online, but will not be posting
new editorial content. Plastic.com will continue to operate under the
direction of volunteers.
http://www.automatic-media.com
http://www.feedmag.com/templates/default.php3?a_id=1723
http://www.suck.com
http://www.plastic.com/article.pl?sid=01/06/08/1743239
_____________________________________________

o RIAA, Listen.com Settle Lawsuit; RIAA Sues Additional Webcasters

Washington, D.C. -- The Recording Industry Association of America and
streaming music provider Listen.com have settled a lawsuit that Listen.com
initiated over the "interactive" nature of its streaming radio service,
Webnoize reported Monday. Listen.com, along with other webcasters MTVi,
MusicMatch and Xact Radio, asked a court to declare its services worthy of
a compulsory license to broadcast music, and therefore legal. The RIAA
disputed certain features offered by Listen.com, arguing that they were
too "interactive" to be covered by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
The RIAA withdrew its objections and Listen.com dropped its litigation
after it removed the features in question from its service. The RIAA filed
a countersuit against the remaining webcasters Friday, in an attempt to
consolidate its litigation on the interactive streaming issue.
http://news.webnoize.com
http://www.listen.com
http://www.riaa.org
_____________________________________________

o Game Developer Buzztime Entertainment Raises $1 Million for iTV Project

Carlsbad, Calif. -- Buzztime Entertainment, a subsidiary of NTN
Communications that develops and publishes interactive games, announced on
Monday that it has received a $1 million investment from set-top box
manufacturer Scientific-Atlanta. In return, Scientific-Atlanta receives 6
percent ownership of Buzztime, with warrants to purchase an additional 1.5
percent. The two companies will work together to develop software that
allows Carlsbad-based Buzztime's interactive trivia game show channel to
be broadcast on Scientific-Atlanta's 6 million deployed set-top boxes.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010611/nym038.html
http://www.buzztime.com
http://www.sci-atl.com
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o Universal Music Developing Video-on-Demand Service for Digital Cable

Santa Monica, Calif. -- Universal Music Group announced on Monday that it
will develop a music video-on-demand service for digital cable
subscribers. The company has partnered with Redwood City-based iTV
developer Diva Systems to develop the service, which will offer viewers
custom blocks of music videos based on genre. A subscription service
upgrade will also be available, where viewers can build their own custom
playlists. The service will be based on UMG's PC-based broadband site "The
Viewing Lounge."
http://www.theviewinglounge.com/
http://www.divatv.com
http://www.umusic.com
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o Cisco to Market RealNetworks' Streaming Media Delivery Software

Seattle -- Digital media delivery provider RealNetworks announced on
Monday that networking hardware and software provider Cisco Systems will
market the company's media delivery products along with its own. Cisco
will become a reseller of Seattle-based RealNetworks' RealSystem iQ, and
will include several other of the company's media delivery products with
its content networking product line.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010611/lam078.html
http://www.realnetworks.com
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> 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 (LA - Taipei)
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:

(Chicago) Set-top box manufacturer Scientific-Atlanta announced on Monday
from the National Cable Television Association's (NCTA) Cable 2001
convention in Chicago that it has partnered with cable TV operator Comcast
Cable. The companies will integrate video-on-demand services into
offerings available to 2 million Comcast digital cable subscribers over
the next five months. Philadelphia-based Comcast claims a total of 8.2
million subscribers in six markets.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010611/atm015.html
http://www.comcast.com
http://www.sci-atl.com

(Chicago) Interactive television portal and services provider MetaTV
announced on Monday that Atlanta-based online travel information provider
Worldspan and Chicago-based Tribune Media Services have partnered with the
company to develop interactive television services for their respective
products. Sausalito-based MetaTV will develop an iTV travel services
offering for Worldspan, and will customize Tribune's existing Zap2it
online entertainment information service for interactive television.
http://www.metatv.com
http://www.worldspan.com
http://www.tms.tribune.com

(Chicago) Canal Plus Technologies, a subsidiary of Vivendi Universal that
develops interactive television software, announced on Monday that it has
partnered with cable network Starz Encore. The two companies will work
together to determine suitable Starz movie programming for which to create
interactive elements.
http://www.canalplus-technologies.com
http://www.starzencore.com

(Schaumburg, Ill.) ClearBand, a provider of software for broadband digital
video delivery, announced on Monday that James L. Faust has been appointed
CEO. Faust was previously CEO of Evolve Products, a developer of advanced
television control systems. Illinois-based ClearBand's technology
transmits TV and other programming to PCs with high-speed connections in
real-time.
http://www.clearband.com

(New York) The New York Times Magazine on Sunday featured an interview
with and profile of Thomas Middlehoff, chairman and CEO of Bertelsmann.
Middlehoff is credited with convincing his company to invest in AOL early
on, and also spearheaded the company's efforts to partner with
file-sharing service Napster.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/10/magazine/10MIDDELHOFF.html
http://www.bertelsmann.com/persons/persons_middelhoff.cfm

(San Francisco) The latest issue of The Industry Standard features an
article ("Desperately Seeking Financing") on how companies are attempting
to attain venture capital financing in the current difficult market.
Sometimes risky financing ploys such as the cram-down,
liquidation-preferenced bridge loans, bought deals and death-spiral
convertibles are explained in the article.
http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,27036,00.html?nl=mg

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

> MediaHippo, Sr. Interactive Web Designer/Art Director - Los Angeles

E-services company seeks a Sr. Web Designer to conjure well-architected
multi-media concepts. Candidate must be comfortable designing Web,
Interactive CD, DVD and Kiosk interfaces. Corporate branding & logo design
a must, plus a minimum of 4-6 yrs. of professional web design experience
and an excellent grasp of large-scale site design, navigation, and
architecture. Send resumes to: monica@mediahippo.com
http://www.mediahippo.com
______________________

> 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
______________________

> 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

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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
______________________

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