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===================================================
DIGITAL MEDIA WIRE -- August 31, 2000
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To Subscribe For Free: http://www.digitalmediawire.com 

o LA Times: Pop.com To Merge Into Ifilm
o Excite@Home Acquires Game Developer Pogo.com
o MP3.com To Promote Music By Email
o Gartner Group: 34% of Universities Have Banned Napster
o Loudeye Technologies To Work With Musicbank
o RodmanTV.com To Launch Tonight
o Briefly Noted: Sega, Soundbreak.com, Centerseat.com,
Webnoize, Media 100, "The Bandies," 
_____________________________________________

o LA Times: Pop.com To Merge Into IFilm

Los Angeles -- The Los Angeles Times reported on Wednesday that Pop.com, a
high-profile Internet entertainment company founded by a number of top
Hollywood executives, is close to a merger agreement with IFilm. Pop.com,
which has not launched, was created by DreamWorks SKG and Imagine
Entertainment, with the support of Jeffrey Katzenberg, David Geffen,
Steven Spielberg, Brian Grazer and Ron Howard. Earlier in the month,
Pop.com began laying off a number of its 90 employees. "Intended to draw
on top Hollywood talent to create original short-form content for the Web,
the company failed to find much support among stars and top directors,"
the LA Times reported. The Times reported that the company was "plagued by
infighting and indecision from the start" and "never found a clear
direction." The article said that the force behind the merger talks was
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, whose Vulcan Ventures invested $50
million in Pop.com and who also has a substantial interest in
Hollywood-based IFilm.
http://www.latimes.com/business/20000831/t000081631.html 
_____________________________________________

o Excite@Home Acquires Game Developer Pogo.com 

San Francisco -- Excite@Home today announced that it will acquire
pogo.com, a leading online game developer. The financial terms of the deal
were not disclosed. The acquisition is part of Excite@Home's strategy of
offering consumer applications for broadband connections. San
Francisco-based Pogo.com, which focuses on "family games," provides
multi-user online games. "Games have proved to be a key method of
attracting and acquiring customers and ultimately in securing user loyalty
in a powerful, broad demographic online," said Byron Smith, an executive
vice-president of Excite@Home. "Online games are shaping up to be a
'killer app' for the set-top box market."
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/000831/ca_pogo_ex.html 
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-2658314.html?tag=st.ne.1005.thed.ni 
_____________________________________________

o MP3.com To Promote Music By Email

San Diego -- MP3.com Inc. said on Thursday that it would start a new
promotional service that sends hit songs to listeners by email. The email
service will be launched with music from the band Vast, which has been
signed by Warner Music Group's Elektra label. The email service will not
allow users to download the songs to their hard drive. In addition to the
songs, the emails will include links to the artist's home page and to
online retailers selling the full album. MP3.com is currently engaged in a
lawsuit with Universal Music Group, which is trying to extract damages
from MP3.com for past copyright infringement of its music.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000831/wr/mpcom_elektra_dc_1.html 
_____________________________________________

o Gartner Group: 34% of Universities Have Banned Napster

Stamford, Conn. -- The Gartner Group reported on Thursday that 34 percent
of U.S. universities have banned the use of Napster from campus servers.
"Napster on campus networks is raising several moral and legal issues that
will be at the forefront as students return to campus this fall," the
report said. The Gartner Group said that fear over potential liability is
the primary reason for the Napster ban by many universities. "I would not
want to be the university president who neglected to update the school
policy regarding music downloads this year," said Robert Labatt, an
analyst for Gartner's e-Business Services group. "Long legal battles can
be costly, and one school could easily be singled out to set legal
precedent this year." In addition to the liability issues, many
universities are concerned about clogging their networks with large media
files from Napster.
http://gartner12.gartnerweb.com/public/static/aboutgg/pressrel/pr20000830a.html 
_____________________________________________

o Loudeye Technologies To Work With Musicbank

Seattle, Wash. -- Loudeye Technologies, a Santa Monica-based provider of
digital media software, today announced it has been chosen to provide
technology services to San Francisco-based Musicbank, Inc., an online
music provider. Under the deal, Loudeye will encode Musicbank's song
library for streaming media. Musicbank, which raised $20 million in
venture funding last month, is scheduled to launch in the fall. It will
provide streaming access of its users' personal music collections.
http://www.loudeye.com 
http://www.musicbank.com 
_____________________________________________

o RodmanTV.com To Launch Tonight

Los Angeles, Calif. -- RodmanTV.com, a web site that will broadcast live
video from the house of former NBA star Dennis Rodman, will launch on
Thursday. The site will charge $30 a month for full access. The launch
party for the site will be held at the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles.
RodmanTV.com will broadcast live video from eight video cameras installed
at Rodman's Newport Beach home. Other sections of the site include "The in
Crowd," which provides video footage of Rodman with other sports stars;
"Spot Light," an archive of past video and photos of Rodman; and "Rodmans’
Road Rage," a nationwide tour to promote the site.
http://www.rodmantv.com 
_____________________________________________

o Briefly Noted:

(San Francisco) Forbes.com profiled Sega's new Internet gaming service
that will launch next month. "Sega has lost more than $1 billion since
1997, there's talk of a salvage sale to Microsoft, and competitors say
they've all but dismissed the struggling videogame maker," the Forbes.com
article said. "But don't count Sega out yet. SegaNet, its ambitious
Internet gaming system, launches Sept. 7, and even the company's harshest
critics say they're surprised by how well it works."
http://www.forbes.com/tool/html/00/aug/0831/mu3.htm 

(West Hollywood, Calif.)  Soundbreak.com, a music entertainment web site,
announced that Paul Ryan has been named chief executive officer of the
company. Ryan has served as chairman of Soundbreak, and is the CEO of
Acacia Research Corporation, the majority-owner of Soundbreak.
http://www.soundbreak.com 

(New York)  Centerseat.com, a New York-based entertainment and e-commerce
web site, announced today that it has launched its movie trailer service.
The site shows three dozen full-length trailers of upcoming films.
http://www.centerseat.com 
 
(New York) Webnoize, a digital media news site, will hold a panel
discussion called "Content-Driven Models -- Achieving the Golden
Proportion," during its Venture Forum on September 7-8 in New York City.
The speakers will include Elinor Hirschhorn of MTVi; Kevin C. Clark of
Screaming Media; Jon Sichel of  iCast; Daniel A. Stone of Scient; and John
Marcom of Atom Films. The two-day forum will focus on the digital media
sector.
http://events.webnoize.com/vf2000/ 

(Marlboro, Mass.) Media 100 Inc., a provider of software for streaming
media, today announced that it has acquired key technology assets and
intellectual properties from ICE (Integrated Computing Engines), a
provider of streaming media technology.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/000830/ma_media_1.html 

(Los Angeles, Calif.) "The Bandies," an event that will give awards for
the best Internet content, announced that it is receiving entries for its
inaugural ceremony. The ceremony will be held in Los Angeles at the Mayan
Theater on November 29 during the cable industry's Western Show. The
deadline for submissions is September 29.
http://www.thebandies.com 
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