archives

o Nintendo Delays Launch, Ups Total Shipments of GameCube
o Arraignment Hearing for Russian Hacker Postponed
o Yahoo Lays Off Staffers at Launch Media Unit
o DataPlay Delays Launch of New Digital Media Discs
o Interactive Ad Firm Premier Retail Networks Raises $35 Million
o Wippit to Launch $72/Year P2P Music Subscription Service October 4
> Pepper Hamilton Legal Update
> DMW Panel Discussion: Microsoft vs. AOL | August 30 | Virginia
> DMW Panel Discussion: iTV | Sept. 5 | New York
o Briefly Noted: Snowball - CompUSA, Walt Disney Internet Group - Taiwan
Cellular Corporation, YourMobile Networks - Fanscape, Spiderdance -
Nearlife, Arush Entertainment - GameSpy, TechTV - VertigoXmedia, IFPI, U.
of Phoenix - e-book readers, "Fingered by the movie cops"
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> Job Postings: Producer/Consultant, Sr. Business Strategist,
Website Design/Marketing, Director of Strategic Sales,
Client Service Rep., Editor at Large

> Events/Services: "SHORTSPAN Film & Video Festival: SOUTHEAST Tour,
August 24- Sept. 22," "Digital Rights Management"

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 Nintendo Delays Launch, Ups Total Shipments of GameCube

Tokyo -- Nintendo announced on Thursday that it will delay the launch of
its GameCube video game console by 10 days in order to ensure that it
releases enough units to meet demand. The company has increased the number
of GameCube video game consoles that it will now ship to retailers on Nov.
18 -- instead of the originally announced launch date of Nov. 5 -- which
falls just before the post-Thanksgiving holiday shopping rush. The company
will now send out 700,000 units for the important week, and will put a
total of 1.1 million GameCubes in stores by Dec. 31. The game console will
be released in Japan on Sept.14 and in Europe in early 2002. Nintendo also
announced that the first online network-playable title for the GameCube
will be Sega's "Phantasy Star Online," which will let users link their
GameCubes to the Internet via a high-speed connection and compete with
other users online.
http://www.newstream.com/us/story_pub.shtml?story_id=3774&user_ip=64.173.231.203
http://www.sega.com
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o Arraignment Hearing for Russian Hacker Postponed

San Jose, Calif. -- An arraignment hearing scheduled to take place on
Thursday for Dmitry Sklyarov, a Russian programmer charged with
trafficking of a copyright circumvention device, has been postponed until
August 30 as federal prosecutors and defense lawyers discuss the case
further. "I don't want to characterize the talks as getting better or
worse," Sklyarov attorney Joseph M. Burton told the Los Angeles Times.
"But if you're in talks, and you need more time to continue those talks,
then you ask for it." Sklyarov is being charged under a controversial
provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright that makes it illegal to
circumvent the copyright security technology on digital media; software he
wrote makes this possible on Adobe's eBook Reader. Sklyarov faces up to
five years in jail and a fine of up to $500,000 if convicted.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-000068206aug23.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2D
http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/US_v_Sklyarov/20010821_eff_sklyarov_bunner_pr.html
_____________________________________________

o Yahoo Lays Off Staffers at Launch Media Unit

Santa Clara, Calif. -- Yahoo said that it has laid off 14 employees at its
recently-acquired Launch Media digital music unit, and plans to eliminate
another 36 positions before the end of the year, according to published
reports. Santa Clara-based Yahoo said the layoffs are due to duplicate
jobs between its Yahoo Music division and Launch Media. Santa Monica-based
Launch Media offers music videos, artist information and a streaming music
feature called Launchcast.
http://www.launch.com
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o DataPlay Delays Launch of New Digital Media Discs

Boulder, Colo. -- DataPlay, a company developing a quarter-sized
recordable disc for music and other digital media, announced that it will
delay the launch of its product until the beginning of next year, Webnoize
reported on Thursday. The company was scheduled to release the 500 MB
discs into the market for the holiday shopping season, and has deals with
several major record labels that plan to release pre-recorded albums and
complementary features on DataPlay discs. The company decided to postpone
its launch date after learning that an essential component for devices
that play DataPlay discs won't begin production until September at its
Singapore plant.
http://news.webnoize.com
http://www.dataplay.com
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o Interactive Ad Firm Premier Retail Networks Raises $35 Million

San Francisco -- Premier Retail Networks, a provider of broadcast and
interactive advertising to retail TV screens, announced on Thursday that
it has raised $35 million in its fifth round of financing. The Shamrock
Capital Growth Fund led the investment round; Allen and Company and GE
Capital also participated. San Francisco-based Premier Retail Networks
provides interactive product reviews for CDs, video games and other
products to kiosks placed in retail stores. The company also provides
streaming ad programming to TV screens located in stores. The funds will
be used to seek new retail partners -- the company's service is currently
used by companies including Circuit City, Sears and Wal-Mart.
http://www.prn.com
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o Wippit to Launch $72/Year P2P Music Subscription Service October 4

London -- Wippit, a company developing a peer-to-peer file-sharing music
subscription service, announced on Thursday that its $72-per-year service
will launch on October 4. The company has not yet announced any deals with
record labels or publishers, but says available music will include pop,
alternative, jazz, classical, unreleased recordings and remixes, as well
as previews of album tracks before their release, and that "significant
deals" will be announced soon. The service will let users download as many
songs as they like, search for music using their cell phones and also
download ringtones. Napster CEO Konrad Hilbers recently said that the paid
version of Napster will launch by the end of the year; the major labels'
MusicNet and Pressplay subscription services are due to launch yet this
year as well.
http://www.wippit.com/press/pr-230801.html
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|||||||||||||||||| Pepper Hamilton Legal Update ||||||||||||||||||

> FTC Investigates Alleged Price-Fixing by Major Labels in "Three Tenors" Case

On July 31, 2001, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charged several major
record labels with illegally agreeing to fix prices for audio and video
products featuring Three Tenors, an operatic supergroup consisting of Jose
Carreras, Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti. In 1997, Warner and
Polygram (a predecessor of Vivendi Universal) agreed to collaborate in the
distribution of audio and video products derived from the Three Tenors
1998 World Cup concert. According to the formal complaint issued by the
FTC, Polygram agreed to a "moratorium" on discounts and advertising with
respect to its 1990 Three Tenors audio and video products, and Warner
agreed to the same restrictions with respect to its 1994 Three Tenors
audio and video products. Warner and Polygram called this "cooperation.
The FTC called it potential "price fixing," "unfair competition" and an
"inappropriate agreement regarding competitive advertising." Without
admitting any wrongdoing, Warner agreed to "settle" the FTC charges by
accepting the terms of a proposed Consent Order. At present, Vivendi has
not settled. Therefore, the FTC will likely continue its investigative
proceeding against Vivendi unless Vivendi also agrees to a Consent Order.
For the entire article, click on the link below.

http://www.pepperlaw.com/pepper/calendar1.cfm?RID=219.0

Look for this regular legal update, written and produced by the law firm
of Pepper Hamilton, every other week in Digital Media Wire.
_____________________________________________

> Digital Media Wire Presents a Panel Discussion:
"Microsoft vs. AOL: The Battle of the Internet Titans"

McLean, VA | Thursday, August 30th at The Ritz-Carlton, Tyson's Corner

This panel of journalists, policymakers and others will discuss the
increasing rivalry between these two monolithic companies -- and how their
competition will affect the development of the Internet for years to come.
For more information and to register:
http://www.digitalmediawire.com/DCbattle.html

MODERATOR:
Paul Sherman - Editor | Potomac Tech Wire

SPEAKERS:
Declan McCullagh - Washington Bureau Chief | Wired News
Edmund Sanders - Staff Writer | Los Angeles Times
***Additional Panelists TBA***

MEDIA SPONSOR: Potomac Tech Wire

For more information and to register:
http://www.digitalmediawire.com/DCbattle.html
_____________________________________________

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

NYC | Wednesday, September 5th at the Verizon Headquarters

This panel of players ranging from content providers to middleware
developers 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.digitalmediawire.com/NYCitv.html

MODERATOR:
Lydia Loizides - Senior Analyst | Jupiter Media Metrix

SPEAKERS:
Sean Bratches - EVP, Affiliate Sales & Marketing | ESPN
Tim Larcombe - Regional President iTV, North America | AGENCY.com
David Nathanson - VP, Broadband Strategy & Channel Development | FOX
***Additional Panelists TBA***

SPONSOR: Verizon

For more information and to register:
http://www.digitalmediawire.com/NYCitv.html
_____________________________________________

o Briefly Noted:

(San Francisco) Youth entertainment network Snowball announced on Thursday
that it has formed a marketing alliance with electronics retail chain Comp
USA. Under the terms of the deal, Snowball's IGN.com game site will
feature links to Comp USA's online store, in addition to providing game
reviews and downloadable game demos to Comp USA's online and offline
stores. Dallas-based CompUSA will put IGN.com shelf hangers in its stores
and feature in-store video presentations of game reviews produced by IGN.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/010823/232125_2.html
http://www.ign.com
http://www.compusa.com

(North Hollywood) Walt Disney Internet Group announced on Thursday that it
will distribute wireless entertainment content in Taiwan through Taiwan
Cellular Corporation's network. The service will launch in October for SMS
and WAP subscribers and will include downloadable content such as logos,
screensavers and ring tones based on Disney characters. Eventually the
service will offer games and other content.
http://www.twngsm.com.tw/en/default.asp
http://www.disney.com

(Santa Monica, Calif.) YourMobile Networks, a provider of wireless
entertainment content and delivery technology, announced on Thursday that
it has partnered with music marketing firm Fanscape to produce and deliver
wireless multimedia content for Fanscape artists. The service will feature
wireless messaging to alert fans to the latest artist news, wireless fan
clubs, and ringtones and graphic logos that users can download to their
phones from Fanscape-represented artists like Tori Amos, Sheryl Crow,
Smash Mouth and Sum 41.
http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/f_headline.cgi?day0/212350049&ticker=
http://www.pws.ws
http://www.fanscape.com

(Venice, Calif.) Interactive TV programming developer Spiderdance said on
Thursday that it has partnered with Nearlife, a spin-off of MIT's Media
Lab, to develop interactive programming for TV. Nearlife develops 3-D
characters and environments that adapt, grow and react based on user
input. The companies are developing programming that will allow users to
"create a 3-D character, interact with it in sync with a television show,
and then actually see your character appear in the TV broadcast," said
Spiderdance president Tracy Fullerton.
http://www.spiderdance.com
http://www.nearlife.com

(Scottsdale, Az.) Arush Entertainment, a publisher of episodic PC video
games for the Web and retail, said on Thursday that it has partnered with
game retailer GameSpy to deliver its games on the GameSpy website. The
feature will let visitors download demos of Arizona-based Arush
Entertainment's games for free, after which time they will have to pay for
each successive level in the game. Arush will also provide GameSpy with a
branded GameCapsule with which to distribute games in episodic format.
http://www.arushgames.com
http://www.gamespy.com

(Montreal) Twenty-four hour technology news and information network TechTV
said on Thursday that it has hired Montreal-based VertigoXmedia to develop
interactive TV features for its programming. The first project will be an
iTV version of TechTV's Tech Live technology news show.
http://www.vertigoxmedia.com
http://www.techtv.com

(San Francisco) CNET on Thursday reported on the efforts of the
International Federation of Phonographic Industries (IFPI) to clamp down
on various overseas companies and individuals trading unauthorized music
files on the Internet. The IFPI -- an international version of the
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) -- has developed a Web
crawler that trolls the Internet and locates over one million files daily
and sends notices to Web hosts or ISPs that users are trading copyrighted
content. The organization has also licensed technology from Utah-based
Songbird that can be used by record labels or artists to track trading of
songs on their own.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-6950486.html?tag=cd_mh
http://www.mediaenforcer.com/

(San Francisco) Wired News offered a feature story on Thursday that
follows the University of Phoenix's experiment to distribute e-book
readers to its students in place of paper textbooks. "In the next five
years, I see digital college textbooks taking about a quarter of the
market," said Forrester Research analyst Dan O'Brien. "Longer term, with
the advent of digital paper from companies like e Ink and Gyricon,
physical texts will seem too limiting and become more uncommon."
http://www.wired.com/news/school/0,1383,45860,00.html

(San Francisco) Salon.com ran a feature story on Thursday ("Fingered by
the movie cops") that chronicles the experience of a couple that had their
high-speed Internet connection suspended by their ISP after the company
received a letter from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA)
informing the ISP that the couple was trading copyrighted content and was
in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. In the article, the
couple states that beside the fact that they were not even home when the
alleged infringement took place -- they were not notified by either the
MPAA or their ISP before a service they paid for and depended on was
summarily cut off.
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2001/08/23/pirate/index.html

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

> Strategux, Producer/Consultant - Washington, DC

Strategux is seeking to add a producer to our growing team of experienced
architects. Versatile, multi-talented consultants with 3-5 years agency
experience in project leadership of large-scale web, brand, marketing &
design engagements, with emphasis on client services and consulting. Great
benefits, fun atmosphere. Send resumes to: cooljobs@strategux.com
http://www.strategux.com
______________________

> DF Consulting, Inc., Sr. Business Strategist - New York City

Contract Consultant needed with at least 4-5 years of business strategy
and planning or bizdev exp. working with either a cell phone manufacturer
or wireless telecommunications carrier. Applicants must be able to produce
case studies and references. A wide variety of bizdev/ business strategy
and planning disciplines related to wireless telecommunications is a plus.
Send resumes to: seisenberg@dfconsulting.com
http://www.dfconsulting.com
______________________

> InternetFuel.com, Website Design/Marketing - Los Angeles

We are a marketing firm looking for an experienced and motivated Webmaster
with a background in web and print design. You must have an excellent
working knowledge of Photoshop, HTML and JavaScript on a PC platform (Mac
available). Duties include: Webpage design & maintenance, online/print
advertising and creative marketing.
Send resumes to: jobs@internetfuel.com
http://www.internetfuel.com
______________________

> National Hockey League, Director of Strategic Sales - New York City

Generate revenue via the sale of online advertising and sponsorships to
league sponsors and non-league prospects. The director will be required to
identify and create sales opportunities, follow up on targeted contacts
and close deals. Must have strong understanding of the Internet and
successful sales strategies, experience in sports and/or entertainment,
and demonstrated advertising sales and marketing accomplishments.
Send resumes to: knova@nhl.com
http://www.nhl.com
______________________

> Verance, Client Service Rep. (Western Region) - Los Angeles

Responsible for the day-to-day servicing of the advertiser/agency client
base, which includes training clients in all aspects of utilizing the
various Media Information Group systems and product offerings, encoding
content, utilizing the website for registering content, producing and
understanding reports and utilizing these reports to further their
respective business. Minimum 3 years advertising industry-related
experience.
Send resumes to: jobs@verance.com
http://www.verance.com
______________________

> CNET Networks, Editor at Large - San Francisco

This newsroom leader is expected to write an average of 1-3 stories per
day if needed, and on a more analytical & exclusive basis than the average
reporter's assignment. Other duties include proposing and writing Special
Reports, news analyses, features and investigative stories. This position
also plays a key role at budget meetings, performs editing functions as
needed and serves as a mentor for less experienced reporters.
Send resumes to: careers@cnet.com and seanl@cnet.com
http://www.cnet.com

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

> SHORTSPAN Film & Video Festival, SOUTHEAST Tour, Aug. 24 - Sept. 22

SHORT MOVIES! Dreamspan presents the 9TH Annual Short Attention Span Film & Video Festival. Shortspan is a non-stop two hour program of ALL NEW
two-minute-or-shorter films, including ultra-short documentaries like
"Peekaboo Sunday," a story about raising miniature horses or "Exotic
World," an inside look at the lives of some of America's first burlesque
performers-- and 57 more shorts! The tour will travel to 30 North American
cities. Southeastern tour dates include:

ATLANTA, GA: The Atlanta Contemporary Arts Center - August 24th - 8PM
ATHENS, GA: The Georgia Museum of Art - September 5 th - 7:30PM
ATLANTA, GA: Cinefest Theatre- September 14th and 15th - 9PM/12PM
ATHENS, GA: The Georgia Theater - September 18th - 10PM
SAVANNAH, GA: Trustee's Theater - September 20 th - 9PM
GAINSVILLE, FL: The University of Florida - September 22nd

More info: http://www.dreamspan.com/shortspan
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> Digital Rights Management, September 20-21 - New York City

DRM for Sports, Media & Entertainment -- Learn How To Monetize & Protect
Content, Digital Assets & Intellectual Property. Featuring Forecasts, Case
Studies & Strategies from: AOL Time Warner, Sony Music, NY Times, National
Hockey League, A&E Networks, Microsoft Corporation, BET, Artisan,
Reciprocal, IBM, NASCAR Digital Entertainment and many more!
Contact dmitry@worldrg.com -- mention this ad for a special discount!
http://www.DRMconference.com
______________________

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Copyright 2001 Digital Media Wire