archives

o U.S. Online Ad Revenues Drop 7.8% in First Half of 2001
o Tasini Claims NY Times Blacklisting Writers Who Won Court Case
o Excite@Home Lays Off 500, Closes Interactive Marketing Unit
o Universal Music Group to Add Copy-Protection to CDs
o Industry Standard's Assets Sold to AOL Time Warner, IDG for $1.4 Million
o Digital Rights Management Firm Reciprocal Lays Off 65% of Staff
o XM Launches Satellite-Delivered Digital Radio Service
o Nintendo Unable to Increase GameCube Shipments Despite Demand
> DMW Panel Discussion: Microsoft vs. AOL | FRIDAY | Los Angeles
> DMW Panel Discussion: The State of Wireless | Oct. 10 | San Francisco
> Seminar: How Bush's Tech Policy Will Affect Your Business | McLean, VA
o Briefly Noted: Sony Screenblast, Mirapoint - DirecTV Latin America,
EMusic, Air Force - Hollywood, USA Networks - National Hockey League,
OpenTV - Tevel, "Simsville"
_____________________________________________

> Job Postings: Ad Sales Mgr., Online Editor, Marketing Associate,
Sr. Level BizDev, Research Asst.

> Events/Services: "Digital Media Revolution in the Americas"

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 U.S. Online Ad Revenues Drop 7.8% in First Half of 2001

New York -- Revenue from sales of online ads dropped 7.8 percent in the
U.S. during the first half of 2001, compared with the same period a year
ago, according to a recently published report from the Internet
Advertising Bureau. This compares with a 78 percent increase in revenues
between 1999 and 2000, and sales totaling $8.2 billion. U.S. online ad
sales during the first two quarters of 2001 totaled $3.76 billion.
However, online ad sales did fare as poorly in the last six months as
non-network or syndicated TV ads, which fell 14.7 percent. Also performing
worse than online ads were national radio ad sales revenues -- which fell
22.4 percent -- and Sunday newspaper ad revenues, which dropped 10.4
percent during the same period, according to figures supplied by
Competitive Media Reporting.
http://www.iab.net/news/content/09_24_01.html
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o Tasini Claims NY Times Blacklisting Writers Who Won Court Case

New York -- The National Writers Union on Monday claimed to have evidence
that The New York Times has created an internal blacklist that directs
editors throughout the paper not to hire writers who prevailed in a
Supreme Court decision regarding republishing their articles in digital
archives. The Supreme Court ruled that publications must additionally
compensate freelance writers when their works are reprinted in digital
archives. NWU President Jonathan Tasini said internal New York Times
correspondence attained by his group says that the paper's lawyers urged
its editorial staff not to engage any of the eleven original plaintiffs in
the lawsuit to write for the paper. "Since our victory in the Supreme
Court, we have tried to negotiate with The New York Times," said Tasini.
"In response, the newspaper tried to scare writers by forcing them to sign
away rights they had won in the highest court in the land. Now, it appears
that just one week after the tragedy that shook our country, as people
were working to solve problems and move forward, The Times decided to take
us back to the darkest days of the McCarthy era. To paraphrase what was
said then, have the Times and its publisher, Arthur Sulzberger, no shame?"
The Times has not yet responded in the matter.
http://www.nwu.org/tvt/blacklst.htm
http://www.nytco.com/pressroom/freelance/index.html
_____________________________________________

o Excite@Home Lays Off 500, Closes Interactive Marketing Unit

Redwood City, Calif. -- Broadband Internet access provider Excite@Home
announced on Tuesday that it will lay off 500 employees over the next
three months and will close Colorado-based MatchLogic, the company's
interactive marketing services unit. The company will also refine the
Excite.com portal services to lower operating costs, but will continue to
offer "core applications and content." The decisions are part of Redwood
City-based Excite@Home's previously announced plans to reduce its focus on
online media. The company reiterated earlier warnings that it needs to
acquire additional funding to continue operations.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010925/sftu105_1.html
http://www.excite.com
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o Universal Music Group to Add Copy-Protection to CDs

New York -- Vivendi Universal CEO Jean-Marie Messier said on Tuesday that
the company's Universal Music Group plans to add copy-protection
technology to music CDs that will prevent consumers from making digital
copies, Reuters reported. Vivendi did not say which company would provide
the technology or when it would begin to be implemented. "With the extent
of piracy and the extent of CD [copying] that's going on, we have no
choice but to protect our artists and our rights holders," said Vivendi
vice chairman Edgar Bronfman, Jr. The technology will prevent users from
"burning" copies of CDs they buy in record stores on their PCs.
http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=technologynews&StoryID=244443
_____________________________________________

o Industry Standard's Assets Sold to AOL Time Warner, IDG for $1.4 Million

San Francisco -- Bankrupt technology publisher Standard Media
International said on Tuesday that its assets -- including the list of
subscribers to its online and print publications Industry Standard -- have
been sold for a total of $1.4 million. AOL Time Warner purchased the
magazine's subscriber list for $500,000, plus liabilities for undelivered
issues amounting to between $2.2 and $2.5 million. IDG agreed to pay
$900,000 for the company's Web site, including its newsletters and
conference arm; the company would not say whether it plans to re-launch
any of its new acquisitions.
http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,29054,00.html?nl=mg
_____________________________________________

o Digital Rights Management Firm Reciprocal Lays Off 65% of Staff

New York -- Reciprocal, a developer of digital rights management and
provider of digital distribution technologies, announced that it has laid
off 65 percent of its staff as part of a restructuring plan. The company
does not anticipate further layoffs and will now maintain a staff of about
47 employees. New York-based Reciprocal laid off 29 percent of its staff
in April, as part of a different restructuring plan. The company provides
a clearinghouse for the rights management of audio, text, graphics,
software, images and video distributed via the Internet or other networks.
http://www.reciprocal.com
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o XM Launches Satellite-Delivered Digital Radio Service

Washington, D.C. -- Satellite-delivered digital radio service XM Satellite
Radio announced on Tuesday the official launch of its service in San Diego
and Dallas. Washington, D.C.-based XM said it will offer the service to
the Southwestern and Southeastern U.S. by the middle of next month and to
the entire country in November. The service offers coast-to-coast
reception for 71 music channels, more than 30 of which are
commercial-free, as well as 29 channels of news, sports, talk, children's
and entertainment programming for a monthly fee of $9.99.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010925/dctu016_1.html
http://www.xmradio.com
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o Nintendo Unable to Increase GameCube Shipments Despite Demand

Tokyo -- Nintendo said on Tuesday that despite requests from U.S.
retailers including Wal-Mart, the company will not be able to increase
shipments of its GameCube video game console for sale to consumers. "It
seems impossible for us to make any change to our GameCube shipment plan
for this year given the limited production capacity," said Hiroshi
Imanishi, a director at Nintendo. He added that the only remedy would be
to siphon shipments from Japanese retailers, who are also asking for more
consoles in response to consumer demand.
http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=technologynews&StoryID=243167
_____________________________________________

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

Los Angeles | Friday, September 28th at the Four Seasons Hotel

This panel of journalists, legal experts 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/LAbattle.html

MODERATOR:
Jim Griffin - CEO of Cherry Lane Digital, Founder of Evolab,
Co-founder of the 'pho' list

SPEAKERS:
Sonia Arrison - Director, Center for Technology Studies | Pacific Research
Bob Badal - Attorney | Heller Ehrman
Mark Frauenfelder - Editor | WIRED
Jon Goodman - Executive Director | EC2 Incubator Project @ USC
Dave Wilson - Technology Columnist | Los Angeles Times

SPONSOR: Heller Ehrman
SUPPORTING ORGANIZATION: larta

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

> Digital Media Wire Presents a Panel Discussion:
"The State of Wireless: Delivering Content Across Today's Mobile
Landscape"

San Francisco | Wednesday, October 10th at The City Club

This panel of top wireless, content and technology executives and
professionals will discuss the necessary steps in streamlining an array of
applications in order to lay a workable infrastructure for the delivery of
emerging products.

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

FEATURED SPEAKERS:
Seamus McAteer - Sr. Analyst | Jupiter Media Metrix
Rick Onyon - Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer | fusionOne
John Trobough - Chief Executive Officer | Gravitate
***Additional Panelists TBA***

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

> Potomac Tech Wire Seminar:
How Bush's Tech Policy Will Affect Your Business

Sponsors:
Womble Carlyle
National Journal's Technology Daily

Panelists:
-Wayne Crews, Director of Technology Policy, Cato Institute
-Kevin Jones, Attorney, Womble Carlyle
-John Palfoutas, Sr. VP Domestic Policy, American Electronics Association
-Ken Wasch, President, Software & Information Industry Association
-Bara Vaida, Senior Writer, National Journal's Tech Daily
Paul Sherman (moderator), Editor, Potomac Tech Wire

When: Wednesday, September 26, 2001
7:30 - 8 AM: Registration and Networking
8 - 9:30 AM: Breakfast, Panel, Q&A
Where: The Ritz Carlton, McLean, VA

For more information and to register for this event:
http://www.potomactechwire.com/seminar10.htm
_____________________________________________

o Briefly Noted:

(Los Angeles) Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment announced on Tuesday the
launch of Screenblast, a broadband online entertainment site where users
can create their own music, movies and animation. Screenblast will offer
downloadable music such as drum loops and stock video footage that its
community of users can edit using software provided by the site. They can
then store their creations in a private 50 MB "stash" and make them
available to the whole community. Users can also pay between $29 and $149
to gain access to higher performance editing software. Screenblast is only
being offered for broadband users with connection speeds of at least 128
Kbps.
http://www.screenblast.com

(Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) Mirapoint, a developer of instant messaging
technology, announced on Tuesday that DirecTV Latin America will
incorporate its software into the interactive television services it
offers in the region. The service will let users send and receive email
and instant messages from several accounts and maintain address books
through their televisions. DirecTV will initially offer the service to
400,000 subscribers in Brazil and Venezuela, with other Latin American
markets added by the end of the year.
http://www.mirapoint.com/news/press/20010925.shtml

(Redwood City, Calif.) EMusic, a subsidiary of Vivendi Universal that
offers downloadable digital music from independent record labels, said on
Tuesday that the paying subscriber base for its subscription service,
launched in July 2000, now numbers 25,000. Redwood City-based EMusic's
subscription service offers a total of over 180,000 songs and 15,000
complete albums from more than 700 independent labels.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010925/sftu040_1.html
http://www.emusic.com

(Los Angeles) The Air Force Entertainment Liaison Office announced on
Tuesday the launch of a new website to provide information to motion
picture studios and producers of fiction-based television shows that
incorporate Air Force themes or segments. The site will provide contact
with the AFEL office, which provides access to Air Force people, aircraft
and equipment, technical assistance, military advice and locations. The
AEFL office provided Disney with access to Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii
to shoot scenes from its film "Pearl Harbor."
http://www.airforcehollywood.af.mil

(New York) USA Networks announced on Tuesday that it has partnered with
the National Hockey League to provide online ticketing and e-commerce
services to the league and its websites. Under the agreement, USA
Networks' Ticketmaster.com will provide ticketing services to the league's
30 team websites as well as NHL.com. Additionally, USA Networks-owned
Styleclick will provide the e-commerce technology, services and
infrastructure for designing, building, operating and hosting the NHL
online store.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/010925/250671_1.html
http://www.nhl.com

(Mountain View, Calif.) OpenTV, a provider of operating system software
for set-top boxes used to deliver interactive television services,
announced on Tuesday that Israeli broadband cable TV operator Tevel will
use its software to offer iTV services to its 430,000 subscribers.
Mountain View-based OpenTV also provides iTV software to Israeli cable
operators Golden Channels and Matav -- a total of 1.2 million households
in the country.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/010925/250046_1.html
http://www.opentv.com

(San Francisco) "Simsville," the highly-anticipated sequel to real-life
simulation game "The Sims," created by Electronic Arts subsidiary Maxis,
has been cancelled, GameSpot magazine online reported. The company said
that the game did not meet its standards and was not compelling enough on
its own to warrant a separate release. New elements to "The Sims" will
instead be added through expansion packs such as "The Sims: Hot Date."
http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870,2814094,00.html
http://thesims.ea.com/

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

> FierceMarkets, Ad Sales Manager - Washington, DC

Fast-growing online publisher seeks smart, creative self-starters to drive
our ad sales effort. Candidates should have a proven sales track record
with at least two years of experience. Come join the fun! Send resumes to
jeff@fiercemarkets.com
http://www.fiercemarkets.com
______________________

> American Express Publishing, Online Editor - New York City

Leading travel magazine seeks an Online Editor responsible for all site
production, in addition to editing, writing and proofreading copy for
various areas of the site; working with magazine editors to create
customized online content; writing a weekly newsletter; scheduling and
conducting online chats with writers and editors; planning ways to enhance
site design & architecture, increasing traffic, facilitating e-commerce
and improving user experience. Send resumes to angelaaexp@aol.com
______________________

> Bluefly, Marketing Associate - New York City

Manage marketing relationships with online companies for leading retailer
of designer fashions at outlet prices. Traffic creative to advertising
partners, as well as track and evaluate creative performance. Implement
marketing promos and customer retention programs. Assist in implementing
an affiliate program, as well as email marketing initiatives. Must have
atleast 6 months exp. in Internet advertising/marketing. Send resumes to:
marketingjobs@bluefly.com
http://www.bluefly.com
______________________

> Roxio, Sr.-Level Business Development Position - Silicon Valley

Hey... are you a closer? Do you like to win? If you answered yes to these
questions and you are an experienced dealmaker, we have an MBA's (or
ex-lawyer's) dream job waiting for you at Roxio, Inc., the leading digital
media company.
Send resumes to: elizabeth@cruelworld.com
http://www.roxio.com
______________________

> VentureOne, Research Assistant - San Francisco

In this entry-level position you will perform secondary research through
web browsing, review of journals and other publications, plus primary
research through direct contact with venture capital firms and start-up
companies. Update profiles of venture capital firms and start-up
companies. Review company data, proofread, and enter data. Assist in
surveys, analyses and general administrative support. College degree.
European language skills a plus. Send resumes to: jobs@ventureone.com
http://www.ventureone.com

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

> Digital Media Revolution in the Americas, 11/29-12/01 -- Pasadena, CA

Presented by the Institute of the Americas and Annenberg School for
Communication, this 2 1/2 day forum will include Sr. Exec. Networking w/ a
special focus on Latin Americas & U.S. Hispanic markets, copyright, rights
mgmt., dist., infrastructure, digital film, iTV, streaming, device trends,
content financing. Early-bird 40% off till 9/30. Keynote Steven Bandel,
Pres. - The Cisneros Group. Sponsors: JP Morgan, Motorola, Global
Crossing, Walt Disney Company, Digital Media Wire, Cahners International
TV, iHollywood, Motion Picture Assoc., National Assoc. of TV Prog. Exec.,
National Assoc. of Theatre owners. For more information:
martin@iamericas.org
Register at: http://www.iamericas.org/events
______________________

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Copyright 2001 Digital Media Wire