archives

o Sirius Satellite Radio CEO Steps Down; Service Launch Delayed
o Reuters to Lay Off 500 More Employees
o Amazon Offering Streaming Previews While Users Wait for CD to Ship
o Media Delivery Technology Firm Digital Fountain Raises $20 Million
o Broadband Provider Speakeasy.net to Distribute Listen.com Subscriptions
o Webcasting Systems Provider E-StudioLive Raises $2.5 Million
o Briefly Noted: Best Buy - Netflix, Alliance Entertainment - Pressplay,
2001 Frankfurt E-book Awards, Canal Plus Technologies - WinFirst,
Soundwrap - indie labels, EnReach Technology - Thailand, Radio@AOL, MSN
vs. AOL
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> Job Postings: Vice President of Sales

> Events/Services: "Mobile Entertainment," "CTAM Broadband Opportunity
Conference," "Office Space - L.A.," "SHORTSPAN Film & Video Festival,
OCTOBER DATES," "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
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o Sirius Satellite Radio CEO Steps Down; Service Launch Delayed

New York -- Sirius Satellite Radio announced on Tuesday that CEO David
Margolese has stepped down and that the company will delay the launch of
its service, previously scheduled to occur by the end of the year. The
company will provide a launch update on Nov. 14. Analysts said they expect
Sirius to delay launch until next year due to late delivery of an
essential component; the company said it currently has enough cash on hand
to last it until the fourth quarter of 2002. While the company seeks a new
chief executive, duties will be shared between John J. Scelfo, senior vice
president and CFO, and Patrick L. Donnelly, senior vice president and
general counsel. Margolese will remain as chairman of the company's board.
"Sirius is now strong enough to achieve this and the time has come for me
to pass the baton," said Margolese. "It has been a privilege working this
past decade with all of our wonderful people who literally are about to
transform the face of radio." Additionally, New York-based Sirius said it
will expand its in-vehicle testing to six more markets.
http://www.siriusradio.com/nonflash_site/recent.asp?ID=175
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o Reuters to Lay Off 500 More Employees

London -- Reuters Group, the international news organization, announced on
Tuesday that it will lay off 500 employees to accelerate an earlier
announced cost savings program. The company said in July that it would lay
off 1,100 workers; with the 500 added layoffs Reuters now expects to save
$246 million in 2002 and $319 million in 2003. The company blamed the
layoffs on the current market condition, but said it suffered limited
direct financial impact as a result of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Six
Reuters Group employees were killed in the terrorist attacks.
http://about.reuters.com/results/
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o Amazon Offering Streaming Previews While Users Wait for CD to Ship

San Francisco -- Amazon.com will offer users who buy CDs from its site the
ability to listen to a streaming version of the CD before it arrives in
the mail. Santa Clara-based Speedera Networks will provide the streaming
services for the feature, including digital rights management technology.
"Speedera’s new streaming service provides us with a means to innovate
even further, by giving customers instant access to new music releases in
digital form, while they await their CD shipment," said Jeff Blackburn,
general manager of Amazon Worldwide Digital Group.
http://www.speedera.com/newsroom/pressreleases/10162001.html
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o Media Delivery Technology Firm Digital Fountain Raises $20 Million

Fremont, Calif. -- Digital Fountain, a provider of digital media
distribution technology, announced on Tuesday that it has raised $20
million in its fourth round of funding. New investors included
copy-protection technology firm Macrovision, British Telecom and Spinnaker
Ventures. Also participating were previous investors NRI, Sony Corp.,
Cisco Systems, Matrix Partners, Granite Ventures, Adobe Inc. and Texas
Instruments. Fremont-based Digtial Fountain says its software eliminates
data losses in streaming and is more cost-effective because it works by
"encod[ing] data into a series of equations from which an unlimited number
of users can reconstruct a perfect copy of the original content."
http://www.digitalfountain.com/news/pressReleaseItem.htm?uid=17
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o Broadband Provider Speakeasy.net to Distribute Listen.com Subscriptions

San Francisco -- Listen.com, an online music entertainment site, announced
on Tuesday that high-speed Internet access provider Speakeasy.net has
become a distribution partner for its Rhapsody music subscription service.
San Francisco-based Listen.com says the service -- which is slated to
launch yet this fall -- is optimized for broadband connections and will
offer online radio, on-demand music listening, editorial content and
recommendations. The company also announced that it has licensed classical
music distributor Naxos of America's entire catalogue of 2,200 titles for
the Rhapsody service. Listen.com has not yet announced a pricing structure
for the service.
http://www.prnmedia.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=107&STORY=
/www/story/10-16-2001/0001593061&EDATE=
http://rhapsody.listen.com
http://www.speakeasy.net
http://www.naxos.com
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o Webcasting Systems Provider E-StudioLive Raises $2.5 Million

Chelmsford, Mass. -- E-StudioLive, a provider of webcasting systems for
businesses, announced on Tuesday that it has raised $2.5 million in its
third round of venture capital financing. Putnam Investments, Apex
Investment Partners and several private investors participated in the
round. Massachusetts-based E-StudioLive provides live and on-demand
webcasting of press conferences, earnings reports and sales and training
videos to corporate clients. The company will use the funds to expand its
webcasting distribution channels.
http://www.e-studiolive.com/news/releaseX.php?release_number=27
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o Briefly Noted:

(Minneapolis, Minn.) Consumer entertainment and electronics retailer Best
Buy said on Tuesday that it will begin offering a co-branded online DVD
rental service through its Best Buy, Sam Goody, Suncoast, On Cue and Media
Play stores nationwide. The companies had already partnered to create an
online co-branded service. A $19.95 per month Netflix subscription lets
users rent DVDs online and receive and return them through the mail. The
offer includes a 14-day free trial of Los Gatos, Calif.-based Netflix's
service.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/011016/160457_1.html
http://www.netflix.com/bestbuy

(Coral Springs, Fla.) Alliance Entertainment, a provider of e-commerce
software and entertainment information databases, said on Tuesday that its
All Music Guide will be used to provide music-related data to Sony and
Universal's Pressplay music subscription service. Florida-based Alliance's
music guide provides information such as complete discographies, artist
biographies, album reviews, genres and styles of music, and similar
artists and influences.
http://www.allmusic.com
http://www.aent.com
http://www.pressplay.com

(Frankfurt, Germany) Winners of the 2001 Frankfurt E-book Awards have been
announced. The winner of the $50,000 prize for fiction was Amitav Ghosh's
novel, "The Glass Palace," published by Random House; the nonfiction
winner was Stephen Levy's "Crypto: How the Code Rebels Beat the
Government," published by Penguin Putman. Winning the Technical
Achievement award was Theirry Brethes, CEO of Mobipocket -- a
cross-platform e-book reading system. Reuters also covered the event and
offered attendees' speculations on the future of the technology.
http://www.iebaf.org/winners2001.asp
http://www.mobipocket.com
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-7530275.html?tag=cd_mh

(Cupertino, Calif.) Interactive TV developer Canal Plus Technologies
announced on Tuesday the launch of its service on residential home
networking provider WinFirst's lines in Sacramento, Calif. The service
includes content from Intertainer for video-on-demand, TVN for
pay-per-view and NCube for broadband streaming media, and will run on
set-top boxes developed by Phillips.
http://www.canalplus-technologies.com
http://www.winfirst.com

(London) Soundwrap, a provider of digital rights management technology for
digital music files and CD-ROMs, said on Tuesday that several independent
record labels will use its product to protect songs they distribute on the
Internet. Cooking Vinyl, Assassination Music Promotions, Knova Records and
General Production Recordings said they will use London-based Soundwrap's
technology, that allows users to download a full song in its proprietary
MPS format and preview a portion of the song indefinitely. Users must pay
a licensing fee to access the whole song.
http://www.soundwrap.com
http://www.cookingvinyl.com

(Alviso, Calif.) EnReach Technology, a provider of operating system
software for interactive TV systems, said on Tuesday that its product will
be used to deploy low-cost interactive TV services in Thailand.
Alviso-based EnReach will work with Thailand-based Internet TV developer
E-Everything to deploy the service -- which offers Web browsing, email and
online shopping -- to Thailand Telephone & Telegraph (TT&T) subscribers.
The "T-box" appliance will be offered to subscribers in November and
services will be available to 100,000 subscribers by the end of 2002.
http://www.enreach.com/News/press/101601.htm

(New York) AOL Time Warner on Tuesday released AOL 7.0, the newest version
of the Internet service provider's software, with a new Web radio service
offering 75 stations in a range of musical genres. Radio@AOL also offers
news, sports and talk programming, as well as live streams from several
local radio stations, including Los Angeles' KCRW. The new version of AOL
also includes MusicNet, the subscription service joint venture between
AOL, RealNetworks, Warner Music, BMG and EMI, which is scheduled to launch
later this year.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/011016/160116_1.html

(Redmond, Wash.) MSNBC and The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday both weighed in on the new versions of MSN and AOL consumer Internet access software, and the emphasis that both services put on improved high-speed access for subscribers.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/643115.asp?0dm=C16MT
http://public.wsj.com/sn/y/SB1003183342951836000.html

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

> Vice President of Sales - United States

We are a six-year-old E-Learning company expanding our sales presence in
the US. We are looking for a proven sales leader. Our streaming technology
is proprietary, our client base is outstanding, our track record is
extremely strong. We are in search of kindred spirits who believe that
great technology companies are built by great people not hype. If your
knowledge of technology is strong and you have a demonstrable history
(10+years) of significant sales success -- we would like to speak with
you. This position can be located anywhere in the US. Send resumes to
njwlmw@aol.com

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

> Mobile Entertainment, Oct 25-26, 2001 -- Las Vegas

"Mobile Entertainment - Developing Winning Content and Partnerships for
Survival" is coming to Las Vegas! The conference covers winning strategies
for creating successful mobile entertainment, including content
development, partnerships and international case studies. To register call
888-666-8514 or email info@srinstitute.com (mention code DX20). For
questions, please email Daphne Lee at dlee@srinstitute.com
http://www.srinstitute.com/ck105
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> CTAM Broadband Opportunity Conference, Nov. 6-8 -- Tysons Corner, VA

Get the FYI on HSI and iTV at CTAM's Broadband Opportunity Conference Nov
6-8, Sheraton Premiere Tysons Corner. Keynote speakers: Maggie Bellville,
Incanta; Christopher P. Bogart, Time Warner Cable Ventures; Charles F.
Dolan, Cablevision Systems Corporation & Steve Wadsworth, The Walt Disney
Internet Group. Call CTAM at 703.549.4200. For more information contact:
tania@ctam.com
http://www.ctambroadband.com
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> Office Space For Rent - Los Angeles

Prime Sunset Boulevard location. Approx. 588 sq ft. Second floor, spacious
two + offices with private bathroom. Convenient parking. Recently
renovated. Quiet, nice work environment. Other tenants in building are
primarily entertainment and new media companies. DSL-ready. Rent is $1,175
per month.
For more information, please call 323-363-3620.
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> SHORTSPAN Film & Video Festival, OCTOBER DATES

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.

CHICAGO, IL: Columbia College - Oct. 10 - 7PM
BOSTON, MA: Boston University - Oct. 10 - 7PM
KYONGIU CITY, SOUTH KOREA: Film & Video Dept - Oct 10
BROOKLINE, MA: Coolidge Corner Theatre - Oct. 12-18
WASHINGTON, D.C.: The Lucky Bar - Oct. 23 - 8PM
SALT LAKE CITY, UT: Univ. of Utah Union Theatre - Oct. 24 - 8PM

HOLLYWOOD, CA: The American Cinematheque - Oct. 17 - 7:30PM
SAN DIEGO, CA: San Diego Museum of Art - Oct. 18 - 7:30PM
BERKELEY, CA: Fine Arts Cinema - Oct. 23-24 - 9:30PM

For more info: http://www.dreamspan.com/shortspan
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> 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