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DIGITAL MEDIA WIRE -- October 17, 2002
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To Subscribe For Free: http://www.digitalmediawire.com
o Small Webcasters' Bill Delayed In Senate; Must Pass This Week
o Sirius Satellite Radio Recapitalization to Fund Operations Into 2004
o Intertainer Halts Video-on-Demand Service; Cites Hollywood Antitrust Suit
o WSJ: Yahoo, AOL Decline to Run Ads for Microsoft's MSN
o Report: Universal Makes Downloads More Financially Appealing to Artists
> Digital Media Wire Event: "iTV Visions" | NYC | Nov. 14
> Featured Event: Tablet PC Digital Publishing Event, M-Commerce Event
o Briefly Noted: Philips - Platform4 ME, AT&T Wireless - "Tony Hawk Pro
Skater 4," Corus Entertainment - Shaw Communications, Avid Technology -
France Televisions, Destiny Media Technologies - Pirate Radio, Ztango -
Gemplus, RIAA's Cary Sherman
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> Jobs
> Events
> Marketplace: DeskTop Author, Interest-Based Navigation
Full Classifieds located beneath "Briefly Noted" section below.
To post a Classified Ad:
http://www.digitalmediawire.com/mainpostingpage.html
or contact David Peebler at david@digitalmediawire.com
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o Small Webcasters' Bill Delayed In Senate; Must Pass This Week
Washington -- The "Small Webcasters Amendment Act of 2002," which would
give smaller webcasters a break on the amount of royalties they pay to
stream music online as well as delay payments for six months, has passed a
vote in the House but has yet to pass in the Senate. One day in session
remains before royalty payments are due Oct. 20. Lawmakers on both sides
have delayed the Senate vote, with a "hold" by an anonymous Democrat
preventing a vote yesterday. Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) also delayed the
vote for at least a day as groups including Digital Media Assn., the
National Association of Broadcasters, Verizon Communications and religious
broadcasters asked for it to be blocked, according to The Hollywood
Reporter. "The Senate is in session Thursday, and we expect and hope that
the bill will be taken up and passed then. One thing remains clear: With
the House adjourning until the election, this bill must be passed by the
Senate and sent to the president for his signature before Oct. 20," a
spokesman for the Recording Industry Association of America told THR.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=91&ncid=786&e=4
&u=/bpihw/20021017/en_bpihw/web_royalty_bill_in_holding_pattern
http://www.kurthanson.com
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o Sirius Satellite Radio Recapitalization to Fund Operations Into 2004
New York -- Sirius Satellite Radio, a provider of satellite-delivered
digital radio programming, announced on Thursday that it has reached an
agreement with its creditors for a recapitalization that will convert $700
million of the company's debt and all of its
$525 million of preferred stock into common stock, as well as raise $200
million in a new stock offering. Purchasing $150 million worth of the
stock was Oppenheimer global funds, while Apollo Management and The
Blackstone Group each bought $25 million. New York-based Sirius, which
struggled to launch its nationwide radio service after being beaten to
market by rival XM, said the new funds plus its $240 million cash on hand
will fund its operations through the second quarter of 2004. "When
completed, this transaction will give Sirius the strongest balance sheet
in our industry," said Sirius CEO Joseph P. Clayton.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/021017/nyth163_1.html
http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/021017/media_sirius_1.html
http://www.siriusradio.com
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o Intertainer Halts Video-on-Demand Service; Cites Hollywood Antitrust Suit
Culver City, Calif. -- Intertainer, a provider of video-on-demand content
and delivery technology, announced on Thursday that it will stop offering
its service on Oct. 23 in light of a federal antitrust lawsuit the company
filed against major entertainment companies that provide its content. The
company filed suit on Sept. 24 against AOL Time Warner, Sony, Universal
and Movielink -- a video-on-demand joint venture between several studios
that is currently in development. Culver City, Calif.-based Intertainer
said it will disable the service for its 147,000 subscribers "until we can
work out a fair business model with the defendants, who control more than
50 percent of the theatrical motion picture business and more than 60
percent of the music business," Intertainer CEO Jonathan Taplin wrote, in
a note on the company's website. "We promise to return when there is an
environment in which the independent company such as ours is allowed to
compete for your business. Whether the current environment of increasing
media concentration is good for our Democracy is of course, the ultimate
question," Taplin continued.
http://www.intertainer.com
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o WSJ: Yahoo, AOL Decline to Run Ads for Microsoft's MSN
Sunnyvale, Calif. -- Both Sunnyvale-based Yahoo and America Online have
declined to accept ads from rival Microsoft, which is set to launch an
advertising blitz for its MSN Internet service, The Wall Street Journal
reported. The campaign is designed, in part, to wrestle away users from
the competing services. "Just as ABC doesn't promote NBC programming, we
don't advertise MSN," an AOL spokesman said. MSN, in turn, does not accept
Yahoo or America Online ads. MSN's $300 million campaign, slated to begin
on Thursday, will include ads on 12 popular web sites -- reaching an
estimated 77 percent of the U.S. Internet audience -- as well as print and
television commercials.
http://online.wsj.com/home/us
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o Report: Universal Makes Downloads More Financially Appealing to Artists
New York -- In an attempt to woo more artists into accepting digital
distribution agreements, Universal Music Group has taken steps to increase
the amount its artists are paid for offering their songs as paid
downloads, Hits Daily Double reported on Thursday. Specifically, Universal
changed its royalty rate for downloads from the single rate to the album
rate, which is usually 25 percent higher. The company also eliminated a
variety of deductions taken away from an artist's royalty, such as "new
media" and "packaging" fees.
http://www.hitsdailydouble.com/news/newsPage.cgi?news03862
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o Salon.com Gets $200,000 Loan From Adobe Systems Founder
San Francisco -- Salon Media Group, which publishes online magazine
Salon.com, announced that it has raised $200,000 through the sale of an
unsecured promissory note to Adobe Systems founder Dr. John Warnock. San
Francisco-based Salon said it will use the funds for working capital and
other general corporate purposes. Warnock and other investors poured
$714,000 into the struggling online publisher in July.
http://biz.yahoo.com/e/021015/salnc8-k.html
http://www.salon.com
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EVENT -- DIGITAL MEDIA WIRE Presents...
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iTV Visions: Technology Transforming Entertainment
New York City | Thurs. November 14 | 1:30-7:30 PM
In association with the Interactive Television Alliance
Sponsors: Etronica | ITA | Filter Media | AIM
This half-day executive forum will present views on the future of
entertainment based on next generation interactive television technologies
emerging today. Thought leaders from leading edge companies that are
driving these technologies into the marketplace will gather to show how
entertainment is on the verge of yet another radical transformation.
For more information and to register:
http://www.digitalmediawire.com/events/itv_visions_111902.htm
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==================
FEATURED SECTION
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Featured Section posting at:
http://www.digitalmediawire.com/featuredpostingpage.htm
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Briefly Noted:
(Las Vegas) Dutch consumer electronics firm Philips on Thursday introduced
its Platform4 Micro Edition (ME), a media encoding and decoding
software-based product line that enables next-generation cell phones to
handle multimedia. The company said Platform4 ME will speed up the
introduction of audio and video capturing and playback capabilities,
enabling consumers to use Multimedia Message Services (MMS) functionality
to both produce, send and playback video messages and high-quality audio
files.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/021017/172398_1.html
(Redmond, Wash.) Network operator AT&T Wireless announced on Thursday that
Santa Monica, Calif.-based game developer Activision's popular "Tony Hawk
Pro Skater 4" title will become available to its subscribers through an
existing distribution agreement with Los Angeles-based Jamdat Mobile. AT&T
Wireless customers with color-screen phones who subscribe to the company's
mMode content service can purchase the game for a one-time fee of $5.99,
beginning on Oct. 28.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/021017/nyth098_1.html
http://www.attwireless.com/mmode
http://www.activisiono2.com/hawk/index.html
(Toronto) Canadian pay-per-view provider Corus Entertainment announced on
Thursday that, along with cable TV operator partner Shaw Communications,
it will launch Canada's first subscription video-on-demand service in
Calgary next month. The $5.99 per month Movie Central Express service will
initially offer films from Twentieth Century Fox, Columbia Tristar, Lions
Gate Films and TVA Films, and will be expanded to include television
series.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/021016/to041_1.html
http://www.shaw.ca
http://www.corusent.com
(Pinewood Studios, England) Avid Technology, a provider of digital video
editing hardware and software, announced on Thursday that it has completed
a sale of $8.4 million worth of its digital broadcasting equipment to
France Televisions, the country's largest broadcaster. The company plans
to install a newsroom system in Paris that will deliver news programming
for the France 2 and France 3 TV channels, using Massachusetts-based
Avid's equipment.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/021017/172042_1.html
http://www.avid.com
(Vancouver) Destiny Media Technologies, a developer of digital media
distribution software, on Thursday launched its Pirate Radio product,
which allows consumers to create a streaming radio station from their PC
and broadcast on the Internet over a broadband connection. Vancouver-based
Destiny Media also offers a line of products for broadcasters and larger
companies that offer streaming audio channels.
http://www.dsny.com
http://www.pirateradionetwork.com
(Las Vegas) Ztango, a provider of cell phone ringtones to wireless network
operators, on Thursday announced a sales distribution agreement with
Gemplus, a manufacturer of "smart cards" used in portable digital devices.
Under the agreement, France-based Gemplus will facilitate distribution of
Virginia-based Ztango's ringtones, which may be ordered and delivered
directly to subscribers' wireless devices via Gemplus' smart cards.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/021017/dcth001_1.html
http://www.gemplus.com
http://www.ztango.com
(San Francisco) CNET News.com on Thursday offered commentary from
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) president Cary Sherman,
in which Sherman addresses a speech made by Consumer Electronics
Association CEO Gary Shapiro that defends the practice of downloading
music. In his commentary, Sherman addresses Shapiro's, and other
file-sharing advocates' arguments that it should be allowed because of
"fair use rights," the "Betamax defense" that file-sharing has
non-infringing uses, the "moral" aspects of downloading intellectual
property, and First Amendment issues.
http://news.com.com/2010-1071-962279.html
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Digital Media Wire, Inc. leverages its integrated media network to provide
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Copyright 2002 Digital Media Wire, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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