archives

o Judge Moves To Shut Down Napster Service
o Uproar.com Acquires iwin.com For $88 Million
o FCC Hearings on AOL-Time Warner To Begin Thursday
o Musicbank Signs Deal With Universal Music Group
o TBS and HyperTV To Launch "Converged" Television-Net Service
o Briefly Noted: AOL - National Federation of the Blind, Portals -
Advertisers "Herring on Hollywood," PayForView.com, Barbie.com,
Medium4.com, Be Here Corporation, eYada.com - Johnny Rotten
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o Judge Moves To Shut Down Napster Service; Napster Will Appeal

San Francisco -- Federal Judge Marilyn Patel ruled in favor of the
recording industry Wednesday and issued an order that will shut down the
popular Napster by the end of the week unless the company is successful in
an appeal. The judge said the injunction, which will block Napster from
facilitating the download of copyrighted songs, will go into effect at 4
p.m. on Friday. When lawyers for Napster, which currently has over 20
million users, argued that her ruling would cripple the start-up company,
Patel responded by saying, "Napster wrote the software, it's up to them to
write software that will remove from users the ability to copy copyrighted
material...They created a monster…that's the consequence they face." The
case has become a lighting rod for the record industry, as it attempts to
reign in copyright abuse over the Internet.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000726/bs/tech_napster_dc_3.html
_____________________________________________

o Uproar.com Acquires iwin.com For $88 Million

New York -- Uproar.com, a publicly traded online entertainment site, today
announced that it will acquire iwin.com, an online game and lottery site,
for $88 million in stock. The merged company will be one of the largest
game and entertainment providers on the Internet. According to Media
Metrix's June report, New York-based Uproar ranked as the 38th most
visited web site and LA-based iwin.com ranked as the 59th most visited
site. "With access to one of the world's largest online entertainment
audiences, an extensive array of Internet marketing options and a large
inventory of both performance-based and impression-based advertising
opportunities, Uproar is poised to become an even more attractive platform
for advertisers," said Kenneth Cron, CEO of Uproar. Uproar.com's stock was
up 18% on Wednesday after announcing the deal.
http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/000726/n26265799.html
_____________________________________________

o FCC Hearings on AOL-Time Warner To Begin on Thursday

Washington, DC -- The Federal Communications Commission will hold its much
anticipated public hearing about the proposed merger of AOL and Time
Warner on Thursday. A number of leading media companies and consumer
organizations are scheduled to testify about their opposition to the
merger. Steve Case, CEO of AOL, and Gerald Levin, CEO of Time Warner, are
expected to speak on behalf of AOL-Time Warner.
http://www.zdnet.com/eweek/stories/general/0,11011,2607627,00.html
_____________________________________________

o Musicbank Signs Deal With Universal Music Group

San Francisco -- Musicbank, a start-up company that will provide users
with Internet access to music they have on purchased CDs, today announced
an agreement with Seagram's Universal Music Group. Under the deal,
Musicbank users will have online access to CDs in their personal
collections that are part of the Universal Music Group collection. "Our
agreement with Universal Music Group brings us another step closer to our
goal of providing consumers with on-demand access to their personal music
collections anytime, anywhere," said Michael Downing, CEO of Musicbank.
Universal Music Group also announced that it has made an equity investment
in San Francisco-based Musicbank, which is supported by many record labels
because they are able to protect their copyrights using the company's
service. The company has signed similar deals with BMG Entertainment and
Virgin Megastores. Financial backers of Musicbank include Atlas Venture,
Bertelsmann Ventures, Bonaventure Investments and Universal Music Group.
http://www.musicbank.com
http://yahoo.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-2349574.html?pt.yfin.cat_fin.txt.ne
http://www.redherring.com/investor/2000/0726/inv-plugin072600.html?id=yahoo _____________________________________________

o TBS and HyperTV To Launch Television-Internet Programming

Atlanta, GA. -- TBS Superstation and HyperTV announced today a project to
integrate Internet content with certain TBS programs. The service, which
will be available for "Ripley's Believe It or Not!" and "WCW Thunder"
programs, will allow television viewers to access synchronized Internet
content tied to the television programs. TBS said viewers will be able to
participate in contests tied to the shows, chat with other viewers and
purchase show-related merchandise on the web site.
http://www.TBSsuperstation.com
http://www.hypertv.com 
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o Briefly Noted: 

(Baltimore, Md.) The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and America
Online, Inc. (AOL) announced Wednesday that they have made "real progress"
in making AOL service accessible to the blind. Baltimore-based NFB filed a
well-publicized lawsuit last year claiming that AOL's Internet service was
inaccessible to the blind, and thus violated the Americans with
Disabilities Act. Today, the NFB said it has withdrawn its complaint
against the company. "AOL will continue its existing efforts to ensure
that the next version of AOL's software (AOL 6.0) is compatible with
screen reader assistive technology which makes it accessible to blind
users," the NFB said in a statement. Dulles-based AOL plans to release its
new software in the fall.
http://www.nfb.org/
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20000726/tc/aol_blind_lawsuit_1.html

(New York) A CNET article reported that large web portals are
renegotiating advertising contracts with cash-strapped Internet companies
at an increasing rate. "Now, even market leader Yahoo has been showing far
more flexibility as the portals recognize that companies purchasing ads
may no longer be able to afford the high rents in today's more frugal
dot-com environment." The full article is available at the link below.
http://yahoo.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-2350751.html?pt.yfin.cat_fin.txt.ne

(Los Angeles, Ca.) As a promotion for its upcoming "Herring on Hollywood"
conference, Red Herring magazine announced a preview party for the new
online film called "Choke." The event will be held on Thursday, July 27
from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. at the Hugo Boss Store in Beverly Hills.
"Choke" is a short comedy developed by Propaganda Films and Atom Films, an
online film distributor. "Herring on Hollywood," which will be held on
August 1-2, is a conference focusing on new technology and the
entertainment industry.
http://www.redherring.com

(New York) PayForView.com, an online broadcaster, today announced that it
has acquired the Internet broadcast rights to two international soccer
games that will be played in the coming weeks. The first game is the US
woman's championship team vs. Norway on July 30th. The second is
Portugal's Benfica vs. Liverpool on August 5th.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/000726/ny_payforv.html

(Los Angeles) Mattel today released its redesigned Barbie.com site.
MarchFIRST, an Internet development firm, and Macromedia, a leading
multi-media software developer, helped develop the site. Mattel said the
site has more music and interactive games than the previous site.
http://www.Barbie.com

(New York) Medium4.com, an Internet broadcaster specializing in foreign
television, today announced the launch of ForeignTVIsrael.com, which will
feature a variety of news, travel, and style programs about Israel.
http://www.Medium4.com

(Cupertino, Ca.) Cupertino-based Be Here Corporation, a provider of
360-degree Internet video technology, today announced an agreement with
the National Football League.  Under the deal, Be Here will provide
viewers with live, 360-degree streaming “webcasts” of the NFL’s Hall of
Fame weekend from July 29-30.
http://www.behere.com
http://www.profootballhof.com
http://www.nfl.com

(New York) New York-based eYada.com, an Internet talk radio company,
announced today that Johnny Rotten, the former member of the Sex Pistols
punk-rock band, and talk radio personality, Lionel, will cover the
Democratic National Convention for the site. eYada said the pair have
already been approved for convention press credentials.
http://www.eyada.com
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