archives

o WSJ: Microsoft May Invest In News Corp.'s Satellite TV Unit
o Primedia To Acquire About.com For $690 Million
o Forrester Research: TV Will Eclipse PC For Broadband Content Delivery
o Content Distribution Technology Developer iMagicTV Raises $15 Million
o New York Times: Web Shows Slowly Encroaching On TV Audience
o Content Delivery Firm Digital Fountain Raises $20 Million
o Musicbank Licenses Sony Music; Only EMI Remains Of Five Majors
> Digital Media Wire Networking Event - Los Angeles
o Briefly Noted: Rioport - Nike, Beatnik - Record Labels, TDK -
Calimetrics, Media 100 - Intel Internet Media Services, AIWA MP3 Player,
iBEAM - Regent Entertainment, ClickPLAY - GEO Interactive
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o WSJ: Microsoft May Invest In News Corp.'s Satellite TV Unit

New York -- Microsoft is in talks with News Corp. to invest up to $1
billion in News Corp.'s satellite TV unit, Sky Global Networks, the Wall
Street Journal reported on Monday. The deal could give Microsoft an outlet
for interactive television software that it is currently developing for
digital set-top boxes. Sources close to News Corp. told the Journal that
the company hopes to use Sky Global to acquire other iTV companies such as
Hughes Electronics' DirecTV, with which Microsoft has already established
a partnership for its Ultimate TV service. Microsoft has experienced
delays in the release of its software platform for interactive television;
AT&T, which had said it would use the Microsoft TV software in its set-top
trials, recently took advantage of the non-exclusive nature of the deal to
solicit iTV software from Microsoft rival Liberate Technologies. Liberate
is also providing iTV software for AOL's AOLTV.
_____________________________________________

o Primedia To Acquire About.com For $690 Million

San Francisco -- Magazine publisher Primedia announced on Monday that it
will acquire About.com, a network of websites written by users on various
topics, for $690 million. The publisher said it hopes to capitalize on
opportunities that will be created online for its magazine advertisers.
"In one fell swoop we are marrying Primedia's content in more than 700
media niches with About's more than 700 topic specific Guide Sites and
some 10,000 associated experts," said Primedia CEO Tom Rogers. "Primedia
has a 1,600 person sales force and 60,000 advertisers. Applying this force
to About's niche based sites, driving Primedia magazine subscriptions on
these sites, and combining other such revenues yields a high growth
formula." Primedia's acquisition is another example of traditional media
companies making strategic moves, such as AOL-Time Warner into the "new
ecomony."
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/001030/ny_primedi.html
http://www.primedia.com
http://www.about.com
_____________________________________________

o Forrester Research: TV Will Eclipse PC For Broadband Content Delivery

Cambridge, Mass. -- Television will eclipse the computer as the main
source through which consumers receive broadband content by 2005,
according to a Forrester Research report published on Monday.
Multimedia-focused entertainment will gravitate toward TVs and
broadband-enabled gaming consoles, such as Sony's Playstation 2 and the
upcoming Microsoft Xbox, while streaming interactive content and software
updates will flow to PCs. "As all types of devices connect to the
high-speed Internet, content will shift to the most appropriate device,
like digital music files being played back on the stereo system," said
Bruce Kasrel, senior analyst at Forrester Research. "Media providers must
anticipate the most appropriate device for their content and tailor the
consumer experience and business models to take advantage of that
environment." The report also indicated that visual entertainment will
move onto televisions in the living room, through digital set-top boxes.
"Entertainment content will flow away from uncomfortable PCs in the den
toward comfy couches in front of the living room TV set," added Kasrel.
"PCs will be left for practical, task-oriented activities. Broadband
content will split into two streams -- visuals with minimal interactivity
on the TV screen and interactive content enhanced with visuals on the PC."
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/001030/ma_forrest.html
http://www.forrester.com
_____________________________________________

o Content Distribution Technology Developer iMagicTV Raises $15 Million

Saint John, New Brunswick -- iMagicTV, a developer of content distribution
software for broadband, announced on Monday that it has raised $15 million
in its latest round of financing. Cisco Systems and America Online were
the investors for the round. Canada-based iMagicTV, which filed for an
initial public offering last week, develops software that lets telephone
companies and Internet service providers deliver multi-channel digital
television as well as rich media to users' computers and televisions over
high-speed networks.
http://www.imagictv.com
_____________________________________________

o New York Times: Web Shows Slowly Encroaching On TV Audience

New York -- Consumers are slowly but increasingly turning to short, often
controversial "webisodes" for small doses of entertainment, the New York
Times reported on Monday. The popularity of some programs has caught the
attention of television producers, who have bought web-based shows to
develop for television audiences. "The ideas on the Internet are coming
from different places, and there's less restriction on creativity," said
Steve Gordon, vice president for creative affairs at Viacom Productions.
"Some of it you'd have to tone down for TV. But we think the web is a very
rich place to look." The lower cost of producing web content, and greater
creative control, have spurred content producers to look to the web as an
outlet for edgier programming ideas. Some of these ideas have been picked
up by film and television companies; the article mentions several
examples, including MediaTrip.com's "L'il Pimp," picked up by Revolution
Studio, and Icebox.com's "Starship Regulars," which Showtime plans to turn
into a half-hour cable television show.
http://www.mediatrip.com
http://www.icebox.com
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o Content Delivery Firm Digital Fountain Raises $20 Million

San Francisco -- Digital Fountain, a developer of content delivery
technology, announced on Monday that it has raised $20 million in its
third round of venture capital financing. Matrix Partners led the
investment round; Granite Ventures, Texas Instruments, Adobe Inc., Sony
Corp. and Cisco Systems also contributed. San Francisco-based Digital
Fountain develops technology that enables large numbers of users to access
the same rich media content simultaneously, without putting an added load
on network servers.
http://www.digitalfountain.com/press07.html
_____________________________________________

o Musicbank Licenses Sony Music; Only EMI Remains Of Five Majors

San Francisco -- Musicbank, a developer of digital music storage
technology, announced on Monday an agreement with Sony 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. Last
week, Musicbank announced a similar agreement with Warner Music, and has
also reached agreements with major labels Universal Music Group and BMG.
EMI is the only label that Musicbank, which said it still plans to launch
this fall, has yet to reach an agreement with. MP3.com's similar
My.MP3.com service has deals with four of the five labels as well, but
also has licensed music through major music-publishing companies such as
ASCAP and BMI, which represent artists' music publishers.
http://www.upside.com/News/39fdc6d311_yahoo.html
http://www.musicbank.com
http://www.sonymusic.com
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> Digital Media Wire Networking Event - Los Angeles

Digital Media Wire will host its first networking event on Wednesday,
November 8, 2000 in Los Angeles, for subscribers and those interested in
the convergence of entertainment, technology and the Internet. Please
feel free to spread the word to others who may be interested. Light hors
d'oeuvres will be served and there will be a cash bar. There is no charge
for the event and registration is not necessary.

Sponsors:
Netjammer
Red Road Foundation

Date: Wednesday, November 8
Time: 6:30 - 9:00 p.m.
Where: The Sunset Trocadero Lounge
8280 Sunset Boulevard - West Hollywood, CA

For additional details: http://www.digitalmediawire.com/dmw_event1.html _____________________________________________

o Briefly Noted:

(San Jose, Calif.) Rioport, a digital music distributor, announced on
Monday a partnership with shoe manufacturer Nike. Under the deal, Rioport
is developing a music download center on Nike's web site, to serve as a
music playlist creator for Nike's branded MP3 player. The download center
will allow users to create playlists of songs from Rioport's catalog of
secured and licensed music, and then download the songs from the playlist
onto a PC or MP3 player.
http://www.rioport.com/RioPress/1,2057,1,00.html
http://www.nike.com

(San Mateo, Calif.) Beatnik, an online music site and Internet audio
technology developer, announced on Monday partnerships with a number of
record labels, including Zomba, Elektra, Virgin, Interscope, Nothing and
V2, to develop technology for their artists that enables users to create
"remixes" of their songs. San Mateo-based Beatnik's technology allows
users to manipulate music by remixing the various elements of popular
songs, such as the vocals, bass, guitar and synthesizer elements. The
company has developed remix programs for musical acts including Britney
Spears and Moby.
http://www.beatnik.com

(Port Washington, N.Y.) TDK Electronics Corporation announced on Monday
that it has partnered with Calimetrics, a digital disc storage technology
company, to develop high-speed, high-capacity CD-R and CD-RWs. TDK said
that by using technology from Calimetrics, the companies will produce new
discs that hold more than 2 GB of data, and can record at a speed of 36X.
Current CD-Rs, onto which many consumers "burn" digital music, hold only
650MB of data, or about 74 minutes of audio. The new discs would hold 3.5
hours of music.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/001030/ny_tdk_cal.html
http://www.tdk.com
http://www.calimetrics.com

(Marlboro, Mass.) Media 100, a developer of video editing and Internet
delivery technologies, announced on Monday a partnership with Intel
Internet Media Services. Under the deal, the companies will provide
high-bandwidth hosting services for Internet broadcasters. Media 100's
Streamriver Networks streaming media clients include Warner Brothers
Online, MTVi, HBO and VH1.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/001030/ma_media_1.html
http://www.media100.com
http://www.streamriver.net

(Mahwah, N.J.) Electronics manufacturer AIWA released its first MP3 player
on Monday. The player, which sells for $299, comes with 32MB of internal
memory, and 32MB of extra memory on a memory chip. Many electronics
companies, such as Phillips and Sony, have released new MP3 players for
the holiday shopping season, hoping to capitalize on the recent popularity
of MP3's.
http://www.aiwa.com

(Sunnyvale, Calif.) iBEAM, a streaming media technology provider,
announced on Monday that it will premiere a full length feature
"BoltNeck," produced by Regent Entertainment, on the Internet in streaming
video on October 31. The film, a Frankenstein-inspired teen comedy, will
be available at 300K and 750K broadband speeds at windowsmedia.com
http://www.ibeam.com
http://www.regententertainment.com
http://www.windowsmedia.com

(Boulder, Colo.) ClickPLAY, a provider of wireless entertainment content,
announced on Monday an agreement with GEO Interactive, a provider of
streaming video over wireless networks. Under the deal, Boulder-based
ClickPLAY will provide audio and video content that will allow consumers
to preview and purchase music and video entertainment using cell phones
and wireless devices that use GEO Interactive's wireless network.
http://www.emblaze.com/news/geonews/index.html
http://www.clickplay.com
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