archives

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DIGITAL MEDIA WIRE -- September 18, 2000
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o Pseudo.com Closes Down; Lays Off 180 Employees
o Quokka Sports Raises $76 Million Through Private Placement
o Senator Hatch Opposes Federal Government on Napster Filing
o Business.com Secures $61 Million from Financial Times and McGraw-Hill
o Digimarc Announces $60 Million Investment from Phillips and Macrovision
o Scotland's Digital Bridges Raises $14 Million
o Everstream Receives $8.5 Million from Knight Ridder Ventures
o Music Industry Organization Offers Cash to Hackers Who Can Crack Code
o Stan Lee Media Acquires Rights to "Conan the Barbarian" Character
o Briefly Noted: Akamai - Digital Island, Tower Records - Liquid Audio,
The Offspring - Sony, "Media in the 21st Century," Nibblebox.com,
Virgin Megastores - PDQuick.com
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o Pseudo.com Closes Down; Lays Off 180 Employees

New York -- Joining a string of recent digital media failures, Pseudo.com,
one of the oldest and most well-known developers of Internet programming,
closed down its service on Monday. "Thanks to all the viewers and the
talent that made Pseudo so special," read a notice on the company's web
site, which was no longer offering live broadcasts as of Monday afternoon.
New York-based Pseudo.com reportedly laid off all 180 of its employees.
For the last month and a half, Pseudo.com was actively trying to raise
more funds or be acquired. In May, Pseudo.com, which launched its first
webcast in 1997, received $14 million in venture capital.
http://www.pseudo.com/
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-2809996.html?tag=st.ne.1005.thed.ni
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o Quokka Sports Raises $76 Million Through Private Placement

San Francisco -- Quokka Sports, a provider of streaming sports content,
announced today that it has raised $76 million through a private
placement. The round was led by GE Capital; other investors included Accel
Partners, Allegis Capital/Media Technology Ventures, Trinity Ventures, and
Wakefield. The funding was in the form of convertible debt. Quokka's
shares closed down 20 percent on Monday; the stock's sharp fall was
attributed to the fact that the private placement's conversion price was
less than Friday's closing stock price. The company said the investment
will be used to continue the expansion of its sports entertainment network
and to develop greater production and technology expertise. Quokka Sports'
web sites include NBCOlympics.com, CART.com, and MountainZone.com.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/000918/ca_quokka_.html
http://cbs.marketwatch.com/archive/20000918/news/current/qkka.htx?
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o Senator Hatch Opposes Federal Government on Napster Filing

Washington, DC -- CNET reported that Sen. Orrin Hatch, the powerful
chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has written a letter to the
appeals court that is hearing the Napster case. The letter tells the court
that the federal government's brief in the case may not represent the
opinion of entire government. Two weeks ago, the Department of Justice
(DOJ) and the U.S. Copyright Office filed a "friend of the court" brief
supporting key arguments made by the Recording Industry Association of
America (RIAA). "Given the importance of the issues to be decided, I
thought it important that the court be under no misapprehension that the
(DOJ) brief necessarily expresses the view of Congress in this matter,"
Hatch wrote. "Indeed, Congress has recently held hearings into the matter
and is engaged in ongoing deliberations about its merits as the events
unfold in the emerging online music and entertainment market." The CNET
article said that the Hatch letter, while not an official "friend of the
court" brief, could undermine some of the weight of the federal
government's filings. Napster and the RIAA are scheduled back in court
during the first week of October.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-2806552.html?tag=st.ne.1005.thed.ni
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o Business.com Secures $61 Million from Financial Times and McGraw-Hill

Santa Monica, Calif. -- Business.com, an online business directory, today
announced that it has secured $61 million in its third round venture
financing. Investors in the round include The Financial Times Group,
Cahners Business Information and the McGraw-Hill Companies. Santa
Monica-based Business.com remains partially controlled by Earthlink
founder Sky Dayton and eCompanies, an Internet incubator that holds stakes
in online entertainment company Icebox.com, as well as eHobbies, X:Drive
and BizBuyer.com.
http://www.business.com/info/press/pr_000918.asp
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o Digimarc Announces $60 Million Investment from Phillips and Macrovision

Tualatin, Ore. -- Digimarc, a developer of digital watermark technology
and applications for the entertainment industry, today announced that it
has raised $60 million from Royal Phillips Electronics and Macrovision, a
digital rights management company. Digital watermarks, which are embedded
in movies and digital music files, can prevent users from copying content.
Entertainment companies are increasingly looking to digital watermark
technologies developed by companies such as Digimarc and Verance to
prevent the piracy of their content.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/000918/or_digimar.html
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o Scotland's Digital Bridges Raises $14 Million

Fife, Scotland -- Digital Bridges Ltd, a developer of interactive wireless
content applications, announced that it has raised $14 million in its
latest round of venture capital financing. The investment came from Argo
Global Capital and Apex Partners Funds. Digital Bridges specializes in
interactive, multi-player games for cell phone users. The company said its
open source platform and the relatively unified European wireless network
have allowed it to form partnerships with wireless companies in many
countries. Digital Bridges currently has strategic partnerships with
Orange Switzerland, France Telecom Mobile, One2One and Vodafone in the UK,
Omnitel in Italy, Telfort in The Netherlands, Halebop and Mobyson in
Scandinavia, ClearNET in North America, Globetel in The Philippines, and
World Online in South Africa.
http://www.digitalbridges.com/dbframeset.htm    
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o Everstream Receives $8.5 Million from Knight Ridder Ventures

Cleveland, Ohio -- Everstream, a provider of locally-branded news,
entertainment and advertising streaming services used primarily by
newspaper web sites, today announced that it has raised $8.5 million in
its latest investment round. Knight Ridder Ventures led the round. Other
investors in the round included the Gannett Company, Pulitzer Inc., and
Capstar Partners. Cleveland-based Everstream has developed a network of 56
channels of tailored content that are used by newspaper web sites. These
channels contain content on various music styles, comedy programming,
audio news and news headlines. Everstream said that it will use a portion
of the funding to build its own advertising sales staff.
http://www.everstream.com
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o Music Industry Organization Offers Cash to Hackers Who Can Crack Code

San Diego, Calif. -- In order to test its new security technologies, the
Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI), a music industry-backed
organization developing secure digital distribution technologies, has put
out a challenge to the hacker community on the web site hacksdmi.org. On
the site, Leonardo Chiariglione, the executive director of the SDMI,
offers "up to $10,000" to any person who can successfully break the
security measures it has developed for the distribution of copyrighted
material. A number of members of the hacker community are refusing to
participate. "I am planning to boycott the challenge on the hacksdmi.org
web site, and I will encourage all Linux users, hackers, and reverse
engineering practitioners to do likewise," wrote Don Marti, a technical
editor of the Linux Journal. "I will not help test programs or devices
that violate privacy or interfere with the right of fair use."
http://www.sdmi.org/pr/OL_Sept_6_2000.htm
http://www2.linuxjournal.com/cgi-bin/frames.pl/index.html
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o Stan Lee Media Acquires Rights to "Conan the Barbarian" Character

Los Angeles -- Stan Lee Media Inc., which was founded by the co-creator of
Spider Man and the X-Men, today announced that it has acquired Conan
Properties, Inc., which holds all rights to the "Conan the Barbarian"
character. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. "I am excited
about developing innovative ways to reinvigorate the Conan the Barbarian
brand in line with the spirit of its originator," Stan Lee said in a
statement. Lee said he plans to integrate the character into the
stanlee.net web site.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/000915/ca_stan_le.html
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o Briefly Noted:

(San Francisco) Two competitors in the online content delivery market,
Akamai and Digital Island, are continuing their legal battles against one
another over patent infringements. On Monday, San Francisco-based Digital
Island filed a patent-infringement complaint with the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office against Cambridge-based Akamai Technologies. The two
companies provide technology that speeds digital media content over the
Internet. Digital Island said in a statement that the complaint was filed
in response to a patent infringement suit Akamai filed in Massachusetts
state court last week.
http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/000918/n18262542.html
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/000918/ma_akamai_2.html

(Redwood City, Calif.) Tower Records today announced that it has chosen
Redwood City-based Liquid Audio to provide "digital kiosks" at its retail
outlets. The kiosks will allow customers to preview and purchase music and
create custom CDs in Tower Records stores.
http://www.biz.yahoo.com/prnews/000918/ca_liquid_.html

(New York) The Offspring announced on Friday that they will make their
upcoming album, Conspiracy of One, available by download for free on their
web site. The Los Angeles Times reported on Friday that Sony Music
Entertainment, the Offspring's record label, has notified the band that
the online promotion violates its contract with the group. The band gained
notoriety for selling Napster merchandise on their own web site.
http://www.offspring.com
http://www.calendarlive.com/went/20000915/tCB00V0635.html

(Berkeley, Calif.) The University of California Extension Center in San
Francisco will offer a course from Sept. 27 to Nov. 15 entitled "Media in
the 21st Century." The course will examine a number of digital media
topics including the growth of Internet journalism, the long-term outlook
for newspapers, and the role of independent media.
http://www.unex.berkeley.edu/cat/048462.html

(Los Angeles) Nibblebox.com, an online entertainment site targeting
college students, announced its fall programming today. The site's content
is developed by college students, who collaborate with Nibblebox "mentors"
including Doug Liman, Wim Wenders and Steven Soderbergh.
http://www.nibblebox.com

(Los Angeles) Virgin Megastores announced that it will use home delivery
service PDQuick.com for a new service that delivers "highly anticipated"
CDs, videos and books to customers' homes. Orders may be placed online or
by telephone; they are expected to be delivered within 30 minutes.
LA-based PDQuick.com was formerly called Pink Dot.
http://www.pdquick.com
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