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DIGITAL MEDIA WIRE -- August 29, 2000
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To Subscribe For Free: http://www.digitalmediawire.com 

o Testimony Begins in Universal's Lawsuit Against MP3.com
o Ubi Soft Acquires Red Storm Entertainment For $45 Million
o BET.com In Acquisition Talks With 360HIPHOP.com
o Amazon Picks Microsoft's Reader For Its E-Bookstore
o Adobe and Barnesandnoble.com Announce Partnership
o MDI Entertainment, The Lottery Channel Call Off Merger
o Briefly Noted: Gary Coleman - UnderGroundOnline, 
Alt.sho.com - Alternative Media Festival, DigitalMediaNet.com,
Big Brother, Terry Bowden, Artesia - Random House,
Dolby - Bertelsmann - Universal, Sapient - Human Code,
Magicinc.com, Grateful Dead - Digital Island
_____________________________________________

o Testimony Begins in Universal's Lawsuit Against MP3.com

New York -- Universal Music Group's copyright infringement lawsuit against
MP3.com began in New York City on Monday. Although MP3.com has reached
settlement agreements with four other record companies that were part of
the original suit, it failed to reach an agreement with Universal before
Monday's court date. "It is rumored that Universal will not be so willing
to settle and will leverage its bargaining position as the lone holdout,"
a Red Herring article said today. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff is
hearing the non-jury trial. He has already ruled that MP3.com infringed on
the copyrights of Universal with its My.MP3.com service. The trial is
aimed at determining whether MP3.com's actions were "willful" and how many
Universal copyrights were violated. MP3.com has settled with Sony, Time
Warner, EMI and Bertelsmann.
http://www.redherring.com/insider/2000/0829/tech-redeye082900.html 
____________________________________________

o Ubi Soft Acquires Red Storm Entertainment For $45 Million

Paris -- Ubi Soft Entertainment, a European interactive game publisher,
announced on Tuesday that it will acquire Red Storm Entertainment, a
U.S.-based video game company, for $45 million in cash. Red Storm, which
was founded by author Tom Clancy,  had revenues of $52 million in 1999. As
part of the transaction, Tom Clancy entered into an exclusive, long-term
license and endorsement agreement with Red Storm and Ubi Soft
Entertainment for all video and computer games and products. "It is
anticipated also that most of the Red Storm Entertainment staff will
remain intact in North Carolina," the companies said in a statement. Ubi
Soft is headquartered in Paris; its US headquarters are in San Francisco.
http://www.redstorm.com/corporate/press/press.html 
http://www.ubisoft.com/ 
_____________________________________________

o BET.com In Acquisition Talks With 360HIPHOP.com

New York -- BET.com, an African-American web site, and 360HIPHOP.com, a
hip-hop entertainment web site, announced in a statement that they are
discussing a possible acquisition of 360HIPHOP.com by BET.com. Under the
acquisition proposal, both companies would continue to operate
independently. No financial terms have been released. "We want to align
with a company with the right strategic resources and think that BET.com
is a great fit," said Russell Simmons, CEO of 360HIPHOP.com. New
York-based 360HIPHOP.com was founded in August 1999 by Simmons and a
number of hip-hop artists. Washington DC-based BET.com said it has been
named by Media Metrix and Nielsen/NetRatings as the highest-trafficked
African American site on the Internet since April 2000.
http://www.bet.com 
http://www.360hiphop.com 
_____________________________________________

o Amazon Picks Microsoft's Reader For Its E-Bookstore

San Francisco, Calif. -- Microsoft Corporation today announced that
Amazon.com has selected Microsoft Reader as its preferred format for
Amazon.com's e-bookstore, which is currently under development. The
bookstore will sell digital books. Microsoft, which is trying to spread
the use of its digital book software, said it will develop a customized
version of Microsoft Reader for Amazon.
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2000/Aug00/AmazonPR.asp 
_____________________________________________

o Adobe and Barnesandnoble.com Announce Partnership

San Francisco, Calif. -- Adobe Systems and Barnesandnoble.com today
announced a partnership to expand the number of eBooks available in the
Adobe Portable Document Format on Barnesandnoble.com. The companies also
announced a joint marketing strategy. "The powerful combination of Adobe
and Barnes & Noble, two trusted brand names, adds a level of credibility
and confidence that will accelerate the momentum of the eBook market,"
said John Warnock, CEO of Adobe.
http://www.adobe.com 
http://www.bn.com 
_____________________________________________

o MDI Entertainment, The Lottery Channel Call Off Merger

Hartford, Conn. -- MDI Entertainment, Inc., a developer of
entertainment-based promotions for the lottery industry, announced today
that it has ended its merger agreement with The Lottery Channel. The two
companies announced plans for a merger in January. "We regret that market,
legislative, and other conditions have made it impossible to consummate
the originally contemplated merger with The Lottery Channel," said Steve
Saferin, CEO of MDI.  According to Saferin, the company expects to report
a downturn in revenue for fiscal year 2000.
http://www.mdientertainment.com 
_____________________________________________

o Briefly Noted:

(New York) Gary Coleman, former star of "Different Strokes," has become a
weekly columnist on UnderGroundOnline, an entertainment news web site.
Coleman will write a weekly column called "Coleman Confidential."
http://www.UGO.com 

(New York)  Alt.SHO.com, an online entertainment network backed by
Showtime Networks, Inc., announced that it has begun accepting original
content submissions from digital artists, animators, directors, and
programmers that will be judged by a panel of entertainment industry
professionals at its first Alternative Media Festival. The Deadline for
submissions is November 15, 2000.
http://www.alt.sho.com 

(Santa Anna, Calif.) DigitalMediaNet.com, an online publisher focused on
the digital media sector, announced on Tuesday the launch of a new email
newsletter for the design and publishing market. The newsletter is called
Pixels.
http://www.digitalmedianet.com 

(London) CBS Marketwatch reported that the web site for the European
reality-television show Big Brother has quickly become one of the most
popular web sites in Europe. The site, which monitors ten people living in
a house filled with cameras, is the fastest-growing web site in the UK,
according to MMXI, the European division of Media Metrix.
http://cbs.marketwatch.com/archive/20000829/news/current/euronetdaily.htx? 
http://www.BigBrother.terra.com  

(Atlanta, GA)  A group headed by Terry Bowden, the former football coach
of Auburn University and current ABC sports analyst, today announced the
formation of a new online venture called Digital Sports Publishing, Inc.
The new company will produce sports books and magazines for the Internet.
The first release will be a preseason guide to college football. "What we
want to do is use the new technologies to narrow the gap between folks who
play and coach the games and folks who watch in the stands and at home,"
said Bowden, CEO of Digital Sports Publishing.

(Rockville, Md.) Artesia Technologies, Inc., a Maryland-based provider of
digital asset management technology, today announced that Random House has
decided to use Artesia's software for online publishing. Under the terms
of the deal, Random House will adopt Artesias’ TEAMS digital asset
management software to create an archive of new and existing titles.
http://www.artesiatech.com 

(San Francisco, Calif.) Dolby Laboratories announced today that
Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) and Universal Music Group are using the AAC
audio compression standard for their digital music delivery services. The
company said that AAC provides higher quality audio with less bandwidth
than music delivered using the MP3 standard.
http://www.aac-audio.com 

(Cambridge, Mass.) Sapient, an Internet consulting firm, announced today
that it has completed its acquisition of Austin-based Human Code, Inc., a
developer of rich media and broadband applications for entertainment and
e-learning companies.
http://www.sapient.com/company/press_releases.asp 

(Fort Lauderdale, FL)  Magicinc.com recently announced that it has entered
into a licensing agreement with Academy Entertainment to supply content to
magicinternetwork.com. Florida-based Magicinternetwork.com plans to
broadcast content in nightclubs. The service will be supported by
advertising. Magicinc.com said it currently has 61 nightclubs signed up to
receive the service.
http://www.magicinc.com 

(San Francisco, Calif.)  Digital Island, a San Francisco-based e-business
delivery network, will webcast a recent concert by The Other Ones, the
remaining members of the Grateful Dead. Other artists at the concert, held
at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, California, were Bruce
Hornsby, Alfonzo Johnson, Mark Karan, and Steve Kimock. The event will be
webcast on August 30.
http://www.sfx.fp.sandpiper.net/index_other_ones.html 
http://www.digitalisland.net 
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