archives

 events
 about us
 resources
 privacy
 news tips
 contact us
 home

Sign up for our free daily email briefing

Past Editions

===================================================
DIGITAL MEDIA WIRE -- August 8, 2000
===================================================
To Subscribe For Free: http://www.digitalmediawire.com 
o Creative Planet Raises $38 Million in Fifth Round
o Vulcan Ventures Takes Stake in TheStreet.com
o Wired: Lieberman Holds Conservative Positions on Digital Media
o Alchemedia Raises $17.5 For Image Protection Technology
o Streaming Message Company iClips Raises $6.4 Million
o Star Trek Book Series To Be Published Exclusively In Digital Format
o Briefly Noted: Music piracy, online advertising, MP3Board.com,
Ecast - Eveo, MarsMusic.com, eUniverse, iBEAM, Hughes - AEI,
Sonic Sounds - PlayJ.com, Intel - Matsushita, AudioRamp, 
Cybars.com, JimiHendrix.com
_____________________________________________
o Creative Planet Raises $38 Million in Fifth Round
Los Angeles -- Creative Planet, a provider of technology services and
Internet applications for the entertainment industry, announced today that
it has raised $38 million in its fifth round of equity financing.
Times-Mirror Chandler Trust Ventures led the investment. Other investors
included J & W Seligman Funds, Chase Capital Partners, Waterview Advisors,
PaineWebber Capital, SunAmerica Investments, East River Ventures, Ares
Management and Trekk Opportunity Partners. Los Angeles-based Creative
Planet uses the Internet and technology in a variety of different ways to
save money -- and time -- for entertainment companies. Creative Planet has
also entered into an e-commerce venture with Commerce One, a leading
business-to-business company. Jack Valenti, CEO of the Motion Picture
Association of America, and Frank Biondi, former CEO of Viacom and
Universal, are on Creative Planet's board of directors.
http://www.creativeplanet.com 
_____________________________________________
o Vulcan Ventures Takes Stake in TheStreet.com
New York -- TheStreet.com, Inc., an online financial news service that has
seen its stock price plummet over the last year, announced Tuesday that it
has raised $7.5 million by selling a 5% stake in the company to Paul
Allen’s Vulcan Ventures and GO2Net. Under the deal, Vulcan and GO2Net also
have an option to acquire an additional 7.5% stake in the company. New
York-based TheStreet.com, which saw its stock soar to over $70 after its
IPO last year, ended today at $6, up 20% on the day. In many respects, the
funding reflects the low valuation of one of the Internet's leading
content brand names. Thomas Clarke, CEO of TheStreet.com, called the deal
"a vote of confidence in our financial strength, our brand, and our new
business model." This new model includes the addition of several new
subscriber-based niche sites, and the gradual movement away from a
subscription model for its general content offerings.
http://www.thestreet.com 
_____________________________________________
o Wired: Lieberman Holds Conservative Positions on Digital Media 
Washington, D.C. -- A WiredNews article published today said that
Democratic vice presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman, who has a
reputation as a liberal on many issues, has taken a conservative stance on
a number of digital media issues. In May, Lieberman sponsored the Media
Violence Labeling Act, which caused the videogame and motion picture
industries to fall under a single national rating system. WiredNews
reported that a month later Lieberman said that the legislation "sets the
stage" for a rating system for web sites. In June, Lieberman told a
Congressional advisory panel that the government should consider creating
a new top-level domain such as ".sex" or ".xxx." "This idea, which would
in effect establish a virtual red-light district ... has a lot of merit,"
the article quoted Lieberman as saying. "For rather than constricting the
Net's open architecture, it would capitalize on it to effectively shield
children from pornography."
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,38055,00.html 
___________________________________________
o Alchemedia Raises $17.5 For Image Protection Technology
San Francisco -- Alchemedia, a developer of "image protection" technology,
announced today that it has received $17.5 million in its third round of
funding. The investment was led by The Carlyle Group of Washington DC. San
Francisco-based Alchemedia said its technology "protects images from
Napsterization (peer-to-peer sharing of digital content), and promotes
image-based commerce by preventing copying, printing and screen capturing
of images." The company said its "Clever Content" product is used by sites
including Variety.com and Terraserver.com.
http://www.alchemedia.com/company/releases/080800.html 
_____________________________________________
o Streaming Message Company iClips Raises $6.4 Million
New York -- iClips, a developer of streaming video messaging technology,
announced that it has raised $6.4 million in its first round of funding.
The investment was led by Opticality Ventures, and also included
Schoffstall Ventures. New York-based iClips said it has developed a
service that allows users to send messages using streaming video, instead
of text. iClips said it generates revenue from streaming advertisements in
the video messages. The company has raised a total of $5.4 million to
date.
http://www.iclips.com/ 
_____________________________________________
o Star Trek Series To Be Published Exclusively In Digital Format
New York -- Simon & Schuster, the publishing division of Viacom, announced
today that its Pocket Books division has launched a new Star Trek series
that will only be available in electronic format. The new series, called
Star Trek S.C.E., will initially be readable only using Microsoft Reader,
but will later become available on a variety of eBook software platforms.
Yesterday, Microsoft announced a major partnership with
barnesandnoble.com, which will also use the Microsoft Reader software.
Simon & Schuster said it publishes about 40 Star Trek books each year.
http://www.startrek.com 
http://www.simonandschuster.com 
_____________________________________________
o Briefly Noted:
(Los Angeles) "Let's face it, most streaming video on the Web stinks,"
wrote a Red Herring article on music piracy that was published today. "The
picture is fuzzy, ill synchronized with sound, and small. So why are some
big Hollywood studios afraid of average Joes watching pirated movies on
the Web? Maybe it's because hackers are offering more on the web than some
multibillion dollar entertainment conglomerates." The article notes that a
growing number of services -- including Gnutella, iMesh, Hotline,
Carracho, and Freenet -- allow users to exchange full length movies.
http://www.redherring.com/industries/2000/0808/ind-shoptalk080800.html 
(San Francisco) A CNET article today reported that online advertising is
booming, despite the conventional wisdom among many Internet analysts. The
article cites two reports that "show that online ad spending has
maintained its robust pace."
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-2463112.html?tag=st.ne.1002.srchres.ni 
(Dulles, Va.) Upside Magazine reported today that America Online, which is
merging with Time Warner, has launched an MP3 search service just as Time
Warner sues another company for offering a similar service. AOL's search
engine is run by its Winamp division, which makes a popular software
program for playing MP3 files. "In late June, Time Warner's Warner Bros.
Music joined the other major record labels to sue MP3Board.com, a small
search company, for offering the same sort of search engine (as AOL's),"
Upside reported.
http://www.upside.com/News/398f50560.html 
http://www.mp3board.com/ 
(San Francisco)  Ecast, Inc., a San Francisco-based provider of broadband
entertainment tools, today announced a partnership with Eveo, an online
video company. The partnership will bring short films to the Ecast
entertainment network. The Eveo short films will consist of submissions
from aspiring filmmakers.
http://www.eveo.com 
http://www.ecastinc.com 
(College Park, Md.) Florida-based MarsMusic.com, a web site for musicians,
said it will produce a live webcast of the final round of competition at
the Drum Corps International World Championships, on Saturday, Aug. 12, at
the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland.
http://www.MarsMusic.com 
(Los Angeles) eUniverse, an online entertainment network, said today that
it has hired Shawn Gold as its co-President and chief strategic officer.
Gold was formerly vice president of marketing and communications at
WhatsHotNow.com.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/000808/ca_euni_ne.html 
(Sunnyvale, Calif.) iBEAM Broadcasting Corp, an online streaming media
network, said it is the first company to ever broadcast an audio cast of
an NFL game over the Internet. Last week, the company broadcast the
Minnesota-New Orleans game. iBEAM has an agreement to provide streaming
audio service for all Vikings games this season. The audio will be
available on the team's web site.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/000808/ca_ibeam_b.html 
http://www.vikings.com 
(Germantown, Md.) Maryland-based Hughes Network Systems (HNS), a broadband
communications company, and Seattle-based AEI Music Network, Inc., a
provider of targeted music and video content for businesses, today
announced an agreement to jointly market music and messaging services
worldwide.  This new service, called "DirecWay Music," is aimed at helping
businesses to increase their sales with targeted music and messaging to
their customers.
http://www.aeimusic.com/ 
(Miami, Fla.)  Sonic Sounds, a Florida-based distributor of reggae music,
announced today that it will provide over 300 songs for download on the
PlayJ.com web site. PlayJ.com, a division of New York-based EverAd, pays
artists and labels each time a song is downloaded.
http://www.playj.com 
(Santa Clara, Calif.)  Intel Corporation and Matsushita Electric
Industrial Co., the parent company of Panasonic, announced today that they
have jointly developed software products for securely managing music
online and transferring music to portable players.  The companies said the
software will allow record companies to maintain copyright protection.
http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/cn080800a.htm 
(Irvine, Calif.)  AudioRamp, Inc., an Irvine-based provider of online
audio products and services, today announced a partnership with InterTrust
Technologies Corporation, a developer of digital rights management
technology.
http://www.AudioRamp.com 
http://www.intertrust.com 
(Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)  Magicinc.com, a Florida-based Internet
entertainment holding company, today announced that it signed 61
nightclubs from across the country to its Cybars.com nightclub network. 
Cybars.com will provide streaming audio and video of nightclubs.
http://www.magicinc.com 
(Geneva) Family members of guitarist Jimi Hendrix have won a case before
an international panel in Switzerland that grants them the domain name
JimiHendrix.com. The family filed the case in May at the Geneva-based
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) against Denny Hammerton of
Minneola, Florida. Hammerton was the first to register the Internet
address. The WIPO ruled that the domain name was registered in bad faith
and ordered Hammerton to transfer ownership of the site to the Hendrix
family.
http://www.jimihendrix.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