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DIGITAL MEDIA WIRE -- August 22, 2000
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To Subscribe For Free: http://www.digitalmediawire.com 
o MP3.com Settles Copyright Infringement Lawsuit With Sony
o Liberty Digital Invests $225 Million in Sony’s Game Network
o ZDTV Changes Name To TechTV; Expands Distribution
o Emusic and Supertracks Form Partnership
o Briefly Noted: Reliacast - Cisco, MXG, Ampcast.com
Columbiahouse.com - Elton John, Amplified Holdings,
Thomson – RCA, CinemaNow – BroadbandNow, 
MP3board.com – AOL, ARTISTdirect, Playboy.com,
RespondTV, Vox Generation, Starmedia – Orlando Cepeda,
 _____________________________________________
o MP3.com Settles Copyright Infringement Lawsuit With Sony
San Diego -- MP3.com, an Internet music site, said on Monday that it has
reached a settlement agreement with Sony Music Entertainment over a
copyright infringement lawsuit. Under the terms of the settlement, San
Diego-based MP3.com agreed to pay Sony about $20 million for "past acts,"
and also license music from Sony in the future. The settlement stems from
a ruling by a federal judge who found that MP3.com violated the copyrights
of major music labels with its My.MP3.com service, which allowed users to
download a wide selection of copyrighted songs. MP3.com has now settled
with four out of the five major record companies involved in the lawsuit;
it is still in talks with Universal Music Group. Sony said that under the
new licensing agreement, MP3.com will require users to verify that they
own the CD of any music they want to download.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/000821/ca_ny_mp3_.html 
_____________________________________________
o Liberty Digital Invests $225 Million in Sony’s Game Network
Los Angeles -- In another example of the strength of the interactive game
market, Liberty Digital, Inc., a digital media company owned by AT&T,
announced that it will invest $225 million for a 50% stake in Sony's Game
Show Network. The two companies said the new venture will create an
interactive game service that will allow users to play interactive games
on television sets. The service, which will be available 24 hours a day,
will require users to purchase set-top boxes for their televisions. In
addition to the cash investment, Liberty Digital said it would also
provide $50 million in stock for the new venture.
http://www.gameshownetwork.com 
_____________________________________________
o ZDTV Changes Name To TechTV; Expands Distribution
San Francisco -- ZDTV, a television and online network owned by Paul
Allen, announced today that it has renamed itself "techtv" and has
increased distribution agreements with several large cable operators to
expand its reach. ZDTV said the new distribution agreements will sharply
increase its viewership from its current one million viewers to 23 million
viewers by the end of the year. The company, which Allen purchased from
Ziff-Davis for $320 million in January, said Time Warner’s cable division
will distribute its service in New York City this fall, and AT&T will
distribute it in San Francisco later this year. Charter Communications,
which is partially owned by Allen, has said ZDTV will be available to 50%
of its customers by the end of the year.
http://www.go2net.com 
http://www.zdtv.com 
_____________________________________________
o Emusic and Supertracks Form Partnership
Redwood City, Calif. -- Emusic.com, Inc. and Supertracks, a provider of
technology for secure Internet music distribution, today announced a
partnership. Under the agreement, Supertracks will distribute Emusic’s
catalog of over 125,000 songs in Windows Media format. Emusic estimates
that the agreement will generate over $1 million dollars in digital music
download sales annually.  Financial terms of the partnership were not
disclosed.
http://www.supertracks.com 
http://www.emusic.com 
_____________________________________________
o Briefly Noted:
(Herndon, Va.) Reliacast, Inc., an Internet infrastructure software
company, announced today that it is collaborating with Cisco Systems to
deliver "e-ticketing" technology for Internet broadcasting. Herndon-based
Reliacast has developed technology to allow businesses to measure, manage,
control, bill and scale mass audience events on the Web. The e-ticketing
service allows Internet companies to charge for its streaming content.
http://www.reliacast.com 
(Manhattan Beach, Calif.) Red Herring reported on Monday that MXG, a media
company providing content and e-commerce aimed at teenaged girls, layed
off 44 of its 87 employees last week after its attempts to raise more
money or attract a buyer failed. The Manhattan Beach-based company
received $26 million in November from USA Networks, which owns 40% of the
company. MXG recently announced plans to launch a new TV unit and hired
Rob Swartz, a former executive at Touchstone Television, to head the
division. The company said it will continue to operate its web sites and
television production unit.
http://www.mxgonline.com/ 
(Mystic, Conn.) Ampcast.com, a provider of online music, today launched a
royalty program and digital video encoding service for musicians. The
royalty program, called Ampcash online, will pay artists a royalty each
time their music is downloaded.
http://www.ampcast.com 
http://www.listen.com 
(New York) Columbiahouse.com, the online division of the Columbia House
Company, today announced a promotional partnership with Elton John, which
will promote Elton John’s "Greatest Hits" concert at Madison Square Garden
on October 20 and 21. "It is the beginning of a new strategic direction
for columbiahouse.com and the first of many exciting artist partnerships
we plan to announce in the coming months," said Bill Ostroff, president of
columbiahouse.com.
http://www.columbiahouse.com 
(Atlanta, Georgia) Amplified Holdings, Inc., an online digital media
service provider, today announced the launch of a new venture to provide
wholesale music downloads and online retailing applications in the Asia
Pacific market. The new company, called Amplified Australia, is a joint
venture between Amplified and a number of Asian technology companies. The
company will offer distribution, marketing, and promotional services for
digital music firms in the region.
http://www.amplified.com 
(Indianapolis) Thomson multimedia, a major consumer electronics company
that is entering the electronic book market, said it will release its
RCA-brand eBook line of electronic reading devices at the "New York is
Book Country" book fair, on September 24 in New York City. The devices,
which will be sold under the RCA brand name, will allow users to read
digital books.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/000821/in_thomson.html 
(Marina Del Rey, Calif.) CinemaNow, Inc., an online community of
independent filmmakers, and BroadbandNow, Inc., an Internet and multimedia
content provider, today announced a new partnership. Under the
partnership, CinemaNow will provide feature films for Texas-based
BroadbandNow.
http://www.cinemanow.com 
http://www.bbnow.com 
(New York) CNET reported that MP3Board.com, a small MP3 search site that
is being sued by the record industry for encouraging the illegal exchange
of copyrighted songs, is embarking on a novel legal strategy -- it is
suing America Online. CNET reported that the company filed an addition to
its lawsuit in New York federal court, asking that a judge declare its
searches of the Gnutella file-sharing network to be legal. The article
reported that MP3Board.com argued that if the searches of Gnutella are not
legal, then AOL -- which employed the programmers who originally created
Gnutella -- should share some of the liability.
http://yahoo.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-2579735.html?pt.yfin.cat_fin.txt.ne 
(Los Angeles) ARTISTdirect, an Internet company for music fans announced
the launch of an online auction service for items such as concert tickets,
signed CDs, and music memorabilia. The auction is available through eBay
and the ARTISTdirect web site.
http://www.Artistdirect.com 
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/000821/ca_artistd.html 
(New York)  Playboy.com today launched an online service called "Playboy
Bachelor Party." The service is aimed helping users organize bachelor
parties.
http://www.playboy.com/bachelorparty 
(San Francisco, Calif.)  RespondTV, an infrastructure and application
service provider for enhanced TV services, announced today that it
acquired AccelerateTV, a provider of interactive content and e-commerce
transactions for cable and satellite companies. Financial terms were not
disclosed.
http://www.respondtv.com 
(London)  Vox Generation Ltd., a company developing a natural voice portal
serving the wireless community in Europe, announced today that Chafic
Najia will head the company. He was previously senior vice president of
GO.com International.
(New York)  Starmedia Network, Inc., an Internet media company for Spanish
and Portugese speakers, announced that Hall of Fame baseball player
Orlando Cepeda will host a section on the Starmedia web site focused on
Spanish speaking professional baseball players.
http://www.starmedia.com/deportes 
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