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| =================================================== DIGITAL MEDIA WIRE -- October 24, 2000 =================================================== To Subscribe For Free: http://www.digitalmediawire.com o SAG/AFTRA Reach Agreement With Advertisers On Control Of Web Ads o McKinsey: Magazines Should Not Necessarily Move Online o Oracle And French Telecom Alcatel To Launch Interactive TV Service o Musicbank Licenses Warner Music For Planned Online Locker Service o Streaming Media Quality Index Gives Top Sites Low Marks o Briefly Noted: Stephen King, Live 365 - British Telecom, Greenleaf Technologies- Ritek, Rioport - EMI, AudioBasket - Time Inc., Latinanet, OpenTV - RespondTV, StreamTheory - Gamecenter.com _____________________________________________ o SAG/AFTRA Reach Agreement With Advertisers On Control Of Web Ads Los Angeles -- The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), whose members have been on strike for nearly six months, announced on Tuesday a tentative agreement with advertisers to end the dispute. This could mean a return to work for commercial actors as early as Monday. Among the major issues disputed was the unions' control over actors appearing in Internet-based advertising, which the unions foresee as a potential major source of income for commercial actors. "Recognition of jurisdiction for commercials on the Internet was a critical element of finalizing any deal," said Mathis Dunn, AFTRA's chief negotiator. "The industry realized that, and we worked jointly to put together an agreement that represented the interest of both parties well into the future." http://www.sag.com/strike/nypr_001023.html _____________________________________________ o McKinsey: Magazines Should Not Necessarily Move Online New York -- Magazine publishers who decide to take their publications online will most likely not turn a profit, according to a study released by McKinsey and Co. and the Magazine Publishers of America, USA Today reported on Tuesday. "Magazines are going to be losing money on the Web for years to come," said Joanna Brash, a director at McKinsey and Co., in the article. "The economic model for a content provider just isn't there yet." The study suggests that magazines launch modest web offerings with limited articles, and a way for web users to subscribe to the print edition. McKinsey estimates a cost of $4.5 million to create a destination site for a magazine, but only $275,000 to create a complementary web site. http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/cti705.htm http://www.mckinsey.com _____________________________________________ o Oracle And French Telecom Alcatel To Launch Interactive TV Service London -- U.S. software company Oracle announced on Tuesday that it has partnered with French telecom equipment company Alcatel to develop an interactive television service for telephone companies. The joint venture, called Thirdspace, will offer broadcast television and video on demand to DSL subscribers, whose copper lines are regulated by phone companies. The aim of the venture is to help phone companies retain customers as Internet and entertainment companies offer interactive television through cable lines and set-top boxes. "The name of their game is to keep their customers," said Brian Keating, CEO of Thirdspace. "If they're not going to do something, they're going to lose those customers." http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/001024/l2475331.html http://www.oracle.com http://www.alcatel.com _____________________________________________ o Musicbank Licenses Warner Music For Planned Online Locker Service New York -- Musicbank, a provider of digital music storage technology, announced on Tuesday an agreement with Warner Music, to license the label's music for use with its "digital locker" service. San Francisco-based Musicbank is developing a free service, similar to the controversial My.MP3.com service, which will allow users to listen to streamed music from CDs they can prove they have already purchased. Musicbank has already reached licensing agreements with major labels BMG and Universal, but has yet to secure deals with Sony and EMI. A note on the company's site said it will launch in the fall of 2000, but it is unclear whether the company will launch without agreements with EMI and Sony. MP3.com launched its MyMP3.com digital locker service before obtaining licenses from the major labels, inciting copyright infringement lawsuits. The digital locker concept is currently being considered in Congress, under the proposed Music Owners' Listening Rights Act of 2000. If passed, the legislation would ensure the legality of the digital locker concept. http://www.musicbank.com http://www.house.gov/boucher/docs/molra.htm _____________________________________________ o Streaming Media Quality Index Gives Top Sites Low Marks San Mateo, Calif. -- Keynote Systems, a provider of Internet performance measurements, published on Tuesday its first weekly Streaming Index, which calculates the performance and quality of streaming media web sites. The results showed that web audio and video web sites scored very low in streaming quality measurements, with an average score of 1.87 on a scale of zero to ten, with a "10" being equivalent to DVD-quality streaming. San Mateo-based Keynote estimated that the best that current Internet technology could produce on its Streaming Index is a score of "6." The top scorer for the past week was MTVi, which received a rating of 3.46. http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/001024/ca_keynote.html http://www.keynote.com/company/overview/public_services/streaming/ ks20_index.html _____________________________________________ o Briefly Noted: (San Francisco) Stephen King's e-novella "Riding The Bullet" has been adapted as a screenplay by director and screenwriter Mick Garris, Wired News reported Tuesday. Garris, who previously worked with King on "The Stand" and "Sleepwalkers," is reportedly in talks to create the film with producers and production companies. http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,39629,00.html http://www.stephenking.com (Foster City, Calif.) Live365, a web radio network, announced on Tuesday that it will make available its 19,000 user-created web radio stations to British Telecom's BTopenworld Internet access subscribers. Foster City-based Live365 provides technology to users who wish to create their own web radio stations, which become part of the Live365 network. http://www.live365.com http://www.btopenworld.com (Austin) Greenleaf Technologies, a developer of encryption technologies, announced on Tuesday a deal with optical media manufacturer Ritek Corporation. Ritek has taken a stake in the company in exchange for exclusive rights to manufacture Greenleaf's technologies for five years. Austin-based Greenleaf develops encryption technologies for digital music, audio books, games and DVDs. http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/001024/tx_greenle.html http://www.glfc.com http://www.ritek.com (San Jose, Calif.) Rioport, a digital music distributor, announced on Tuesday that it has reached an agreement with EMI Recorded Music, to sell digital EMI albums though its online sales network. Full digital albums in a secure Windows Media format will be sold as downloads through Rioport's network, which includes the MTVi Group, iCAST and Bolt.com. San Jose-based Rioport said that the service will be available in November. http://www.rioport.com/RioPress/1,2057,1,00.html http://www.emigroup.com (New York) AudioBasket, a web audio technology developer, announced on Tuesday a content distribution deal with Time Inc. Under the deal, Time Inc.'s magazines such as Time, Fortune, Money, Entertainment Weekly and People will provide New York-based AudioBasket with updated audio content, which AudioBasket will offer to users of its personalized web radio service. The company also announced on Tuesday a partnership with web site hosting service Homestead.com, where individual web site creators who use Homestead.com for their sites will be able to create personalized web radio stations using AudioBasket technology. http://company.audiobasket.com/timeinc.htm http://company.audiobasket.com/homestead.htm http://www.time.com http://www.homestead.com (Miami) Latinanet, a Spanish and Portuguese language streaming video portal, announced that it will launch in the first quarter of next year. Miami-based Latinanet will offer news, entertainment and cultural programming focused on Latin Americans and their native regions. The company was founded by 13 Latin American TV networks, and lists Andy Heyward, president and CEO of DIC Entertainment, and Bruce Maggin, former head of ABC Multimedia, on its board of directors. http://www.latinanet.com (Mountain View, Calif.) OpenTV, a deveoper of technology for interactive television, announced on Tuesday a partnership with software developer RespondTV. Mountain View-based OpenTV said that it will use RespondTV's interactive advertising and transaction software in interactive advertising being developed for OpenTV's software platform. San Francisco-based RespondTV has created interactive ads for companies including American Airlines, Bloomberg Television, Domino's Pizza and Ford. http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/001024/ca_opentv.html http://www.opentv.com http://www.respondtv.com (Moffett Field, Calif.) StreamTheory, a streaming technology developer, announced on Tuesday that it will provide streaming samples of video games to CNET's Gamecenter.com. Moffett Field-based StreamTheory said that its technology will allow users to play video games that are streamed to their PCs rather than having to download and install them. http://www.streamtheory.com/news/pressreleases/prelease102400.html http://www.gamecenter.com ___________________ To subscribe, go to: http://www.digitalmediawire.com Questions or comments? Send email to: mark@digitalmediawire.com News tips, press releases. Send email to: editorial@digitalmediawire.com |