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DIGITAL MEDIA WIRE -- October 26, 2000
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o Former Liquid Audio Executive Arrested For Alleged Kidnapping
o Microsoft Settles WebTV False-Advertising Complaint
o Online Sports Network Swell.com Raises $8 Million In Second Round
o Broadwing, Intertainer Partner To Test DSL-To-TV Connections
o Disney Says Time Warner-AOL Would Control Set-Tops
o Hitachi, Fantastic Corp. To Develop Multimedia Broadcasting Service
o Fox And Amazon.com To Launch High-Stakes TV Auction Show
o Briefly Noted: Ultimate TV, MediaX - EMI Recorded Music, Pace Micro
Technology, Roger Clemens, Net4Music - Tonos, Iomega - InterTrust, Fast
Search and Transfer
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o Former Liquid Audio Executive Arrested For Alleged Kidnapping
Tokyo -- Former Liquid Audio Japan president Masafumi Okanda, 32, and four
employees were arrested in Japan Wednesday for allegedly kidnapping a
fellow employee to deter him from traveling to the U.S. to start a rival
business, the Wall Street Journal reported. A Tokyo police report said
that Okanda, who has denied the charges, abducted the employee from a
hospital and kept him captive for two days before dumping him in a forest
outside of Tokyo. A police spokesperson told the Journal that Okanda and
the employee clashed over the company's business plans, and that Okanda
and the other suspects wanted to force the employee to quit, as well as
prevent him from starting his own business in the U.S. Okanda was
president of Liquid Audio Japan, which is partially owned by Redwood
City-based Liquid Audio, when the alleged kidnapping occurred on June 9,
1999. Liquid Audio is an online music software developer.
http://www.liquidaudio.com
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o Microsoft Settles WebTV False-Advertising Complaint
Washington -- Microsoft has settled its case with the Federal Trade
Commission, regarding its alleged false and deceptive claims in
advertising about the performance and cost of its WebTV interactive
television service, Reuters reported. The complaint alleged that Microsoft
didn't accurately advertise the cost of the service, omitting additional
toll-call charges that users might have accrued. The complaint also
charged that ads promoted complete Internet access, while in reality,
WebTV "would not allow users to download, store or run software available
on the Internet, display certain web pages or play certain web files, or
open e-mail attachments in common formats." As part of the settlement,
Microsoft has agreed to provide consumers with more accurate information
about WebTV in the form of educational advertising and brochures,
including ads to be purchased in Newsweek and Good Housekeeping.
http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/001026/n26666461.html
http://www.webtv.com
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o Online Sports Network Swell.com Raises $8 Million In Second Round
San Clemente, Calif. -- Swell.com, a sports network focused on surfing,
skateboarding and snowboarding, announced on Thursday that it has raised
$8 million in its second round of venture capital financing. Richland
Ventures, Edgewater Funds, Matador
Capital and Bluestem invested in the round. San Clemente-based Swell.com
is the first site in the parent company's planned network of action sports
sites, which will include Monsterskate.com and Crossrocket.com. The sites
are scheduled to launch this fall, although a note about the launch date
on Crossrocket.com's site reads, "We at Crossrocket have found that trying
to set a launch "date" is like trying to set a date for the first time
you're going to get laid." Swell.com raised $15 million in its first round
of financing in May.
http://www.swell.com
http://www.monsterskate.com
http://www.crossrocket.com
_____________________________________________
o Broadwing, Intertainer Partner To Test DSL-To-TV Connections
Cincinnati -- Broadwing, a provider of optical networks for the Internet,
announced on Thursday that it has partnered with broadband entertainment
provider Intertainer, to deploy a test of the delivery of entertainment
over high-speed DSL Internet connections to consumers' televisions. The
joint venture will use a DSL set-top box created by Dallas-based uniView
Technologies to deliver broadband entertainment-on-demand provided by
LA-based Intertainer over phone lines to televisions. The test will use
Cincinnati-based Broadwing's ZoomTown DSL subscribers, who will receive
content such as movies and music on their televisions in Microsoft's
Windows Media format.
http://www.broadwing.com
http://www.intertainer.com
http://www.uniview.com
http://www.zoomtown.com
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o Disney Says Time Warner-AOL Would Control Set-Tops
Washington -- Walt Disney Co. has made a filing with the Federal
Communications Commission, saying that Time Warner-AOL would have
exclusive control over the content that is delivered through digital
set-top boxes to consumers, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
The FCC and FTC have said that Time Warner-AOL's opening of access to
high-speed cable lines is key to the merger's approval. Disney said that
the company could also deny rival companies access to set-top boxes, which
will provide an Internet link between television programmers and consumers
for purposes such as e-commerce. Disney said its worries result from part
of a deal the companies were making with ABC, which would have freed Time
Warner-AOL from any obligation to give ABC access to its set-top boxes.
_____________________________________________
o Hitachi, Fantastic Corp. To Develop Multimedia Broadcasting Service
Tokyo -- Hitachi Corporation announced on Thursday a partnership with The
Fantastic Corporation, to develop a direct-to-home multimedia broadcasting
service for Asia Pacific. Switzerland-based Fantastic will provide its
broadband content distribution and management software as well as
consulting services to the venture. Hitachi, in turn, will contribute its
hardware and facilities to develop a broadcasting service which aims to
deliver digital multimedia content to Internet-enabled devices such as
PCs, home appliances and set-top boxes. Fantastic has completed similar
tests of broadband channels containing games, news, advertisements and
live video streaming broadcast via satellite to PC users in Australia.
http://www.hitachi.com
http://www.fantastic.com
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/001026/hitachi_fa.html
_____________________________________________
o Fox And Amazon.com To Launch High-Stakes TV Auction Show
New York -- Days after online auction site eBay announced plans for a
television program, Fox Television and Amazon.com have partnered to launch
a television/online auction, Inside.com reported Thursday. The Fox show,
called The Ultimate Auction, will air as a two-hour special on Dec. 7, and
focus on high-bid auctions of items with cultural or historical interest.
One item up for bids during the initial special will be one of the Soviet
Union's early Vostok spacecrafts. Auctions will begin online for wealthy
bidders, and continue until stakes reach television-worthy amounts. eBay,
which had originally been in talks with Fox about an auction series, is
expected to make a deal with ABC, the article said.
http://www.inside.com/story/Story_Cached/0,2770,12718_11_27_1,00.html
_____________________________________________
o Briefly Noted:
(Mountain View, Calif.) Microsoft WebTV Networks announced on Thursday the
pricing for its Ultimate TV interactive television service. For $9.95,
DirecTV subscribers will get 35 hours of digital video recording capacity,
the ability to pause live TV and three hours of Internet access.
Additional Internet access is available for five dollars more. Users will
still have to buy a Thomson set-top box and pay monthly DirecTV
subscription charges. CNET reported that the service is not compatible
with America Online, which is developing its own interactive television
service, AOLTV.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/001026/ca_microso.html
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200-3303295.html
http://www.ultimatetv.com
(Los Angeles) MediaX, a network of entertainment web sites, announced on
Thursday a partnership with EMI Recorded Music to provide downloads of 180
full albums on its amuZnet.com web site. LA-based MediaX develops
entertainment content for a network of sites that includes Nsync.com,
Rodstewartlive.com and Fumanskeeto.com. Redwood City-based Liquid Audio
will provide audio software to deliver the downloads.
http://www.mediax.com
http://www.amuznet.com
http://www.emigroup.com
(Boca Raton, Fl.) Pace Micro Technology, a developer of digital hardware
technology, announced on Thursday that it is developing set-top boxes to
deliver entertainment content over high-speed DSL Internet connections to
consumers' televisions. UK-based Pace currently develops digital hardware
for satellites, cable and wireless Internet devices.
http://www.pacemicro.com
(Los Angeles) New York Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens posted a reply to
fines levied against him by Major League Baseball in an online journal at
LA-based Broadband Sports' AthletesDirect.com. Clemens was fined for his
bat-throwing incident during game 2 of the World Series. "I've been
advised of the fine and that under the rules, I have seven days in which
to decide whether or not to appeal it." AthletesDirect.com is currently
featuring video updates and online journals from several World Series
players on its site.
http://www.rogerclemensdirect.com/AthleteDirect/ad/groupa/ad_my_news.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0692817151.0972589678@@@@&BV_EngineID=galjehhfjglbfejchicgencgih.0&ATH_ID=010126
(New York) Net4Music, a provider of online sheet music, announced on
Thursday a partnership with Culver City-based Tonos, an entertainment site
and resource for aspiring songwriters and musicians. Under the deal, New
York-based Net4Music will provide Tonos with links to its catalog of
60,000 digital sheet music titles.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/001026/ny_net4mus.html
http://www.net4music.com
http://www.tonos.com
(Roy, Utah) Iomega, a developer of data storage hardware and software,
announced on Thursday that it will use Santa Clara-based InterTrust's
digital rights management services to secure copyrighted songs for its
portable digital music players. Utah-based Iomega, best known for their
Zip drives, will use InterTrust technology in discs for its HipZip music
player; the company's technology will also be adopted for Iomega's Zip,
PocketZip and Jaz drives for PCs.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/001026/ca_iom_int.html
http://www.iomega.com
http://www.intertrust.com
(Oslo, Norway) Fast Search and Transfer, a developer of multimedia search
technology, announced on Thursday the launch of its site. Oslo-based Fast
Search and Transfer's site provides a search engine of 66 million
multimedia files. The company said that other web sites can tailor
versions of the search engine for their own sites to return only specific
file types which they desire, such as .mp3.
http://www.fastsearch.com/fast.php3?d=press&l=0&c=press.php3&id=64
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