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DIGITAL MEDIA WIRE -- November 14, 2002
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o Skill-Based Online Games Provider WorldWinner Raises $9.2 Million
o Pressplay Music Service Adds Warner Tracks; Now Offers All 5 Majors
o XM Satellite Radio Lays Off 80, Adds 64,000 Subscribers in Third Quarter
o Sonic Solutions Buys Desktop/Mobile Division of Veritas for $9.2 Million
o Web Search Firm Inktomi Sells Business Unit to Verity for $25 Million
> DMW Publications: Special Rates for DMW Subscribers
> DMW Marketing: 2003 Events & New Holiday Classifieds Section
> Featured Section
o Briefly Noted: Harry Potter film - Internet leak, MusicNet - Warner
Music Group, "Star Wars: Episode II" DVD - first day sales, RealNetworks -
NBA, Pinnacle Systems, WorldGate - patent, COMDEX preview, Digital media
firms - Los Angeles
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> Jobs: East Coast Sales Rep.
> Events: Storage Visions Conference, GasPedal VIP Dinner
> Marketplace: "Interactive Television: The Definitive Chronicle,"
Homeland Security Directory, Interest-Based Navigation
Full Classifieds located beneath "Briefly Noted" section below.
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o Skill-Based Online Games Provider WorldWinner Raises $9.2 Million
Los Angeles -- WorldWinner, a provider of online skill-based tournaments
with cash prizes, announced on Thursday that it has raised $9.2 million in
its third round of venture capital financing. Benchmark Capital led the
investment round; previous investors Zero Stage Capital, HarbourVest
Partners and CommonAngels also participated. Los Angeles-based WorldWinner
facilitates over 2 million structured tournaments per month and awards
over $100,000 daily in cash prizes. Its skill-based games are featured on
partner sites including Freeserve, InfoSpace, Lycos, MyPoints and
Shockwave.com. The company, which has raised $17.5 million this year to
date, will use the new funds to expand its operations.
http://www.worldwinner.com
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o Pressplay Music Service Adds Warner Tracks; Now Offers All 5 Majors
Los Angeles -- Pressplay, a digital music subscription service joint
venture between Sony Music and Universal Music Group, announced on
Thursday a licensing agreement with Warner Music Group, in a deal that now
gives the service access to tracks from all five major record labels.
Warner will provide "tens of thousands" of tracks to Pressplay's catalog,
providing subscribers the ability to stream and download the tracks, as
well as purchase individual songs that may be burned to CD or transferred
to a portable player. "By adding Warner Music Group's great artists to the
Pressplay service we have now rounded out our offering to include music
from all five major labels," said Pressplay president and CEO Michael
Bebel. Rival service MusicNet, a venture of AOL, RealNetworks, BMG, EMI
and Warner, has yet to secure deals to offer tracks from Sony or
Universal.
http://www.pressplay.com/pressroom/pr_20021114.html
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o XM Satellite Radio Lays Off 80, Adds 64,000 Subscribers in Third Quarter
Washington -- XM Satellite Radio, a provider of nationwide,
satellite-delivered digital radio programming, announced that it will lay
off 80 of its 480 employees to reduce costs. The company reported a total
of 201,544 total subscribers, adding 64,836 subscribers during the third
quarter -- an increase of 47 percent -- and still predicts it will have
350,000 by the end of the year. Washington-based XM is also negotiating
with partner General Motors on deferring up to $200 million in payment
obligations; this potential deal is contingent upon the company being able
to raise $200 million in new financing. The company said General Motors
will increase the number of vehicles for which it will offer to install XM
receivers.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/021114/dcth020_1.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51239-2002Nov13.html
http://www.xmradio.com
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o Sonic Solutions Buys Desktop/Mobile Division of Veritas for $9.2 Million
Novato, Calif. -- Sonic Solutions, a provider of digital video software,
announced that it will acquire the desktop and mobile division of Veritas,
which includes the company's CD and DVD-ROM burning software, for $9.2
million in stock. Novato, Calif.-based Sonic said the purchase will allow
it to offer the broadest product line of software for CD and DVD burning
including audio, data, and backup as well as VCD and DVD video creation,
as well as to expand its engineering, original equipment manufacturer
(OEM) sales, and marketing teams to better support its PC, drive and
graphics card manufacturer partners.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/021113/130512_1.html
http://www.sonic.com
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o Web Search Firm Inktomi Sells Business Unit to Verity for $25 Million
Foster City, Calif. -- Inktomi, a provider of Web search and other
information retrieval products for businesses, announced that it will sell
its corporate search business for $25 million in cash to Verity, a
provider of business portal infrastructure software. Foster City,
Calif.-based Inktomi said the sale will allow it to focus on its core
business of providing Web search services. Last month, the company laid
off 20 percent of its staff. Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Verity said the
purchase will expand its service offering; as part of the transaction, the
company will acquire Inktomi's 2,500 corporate customers and some of the
company's employees.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/021113/130587_1.html
http://www.inktomi.com
http://www.verity.com
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DMW Marketing: 2003 Events & New Holiday Classifieds Section
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We are pleased to announce New 2003 Events & Marketing Information:
* 2003 EVENTS SCHEDULE - 4 Full-Day Industry Forums on Cutting-Edge
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FEATURED SECTION
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Briefly Noted:
(Los Angeles) The Associated Press reports Warner Bros. has confirmed that
pirated copies of its upcoming film "Harry Potter and the Chamber of
Secrets" have begun to circulate on the Internet. The movie opens in
theaters on Friday. "As long as they are showing premiers and as long as
post-production have access to the film, it's very hard to prevent this
from happening," Andrew Frank of software firm Divine Inc. told AP.
http://www.salon.com/ent/wire/2002/11/13/potter_piracy/index.html
(New York) MusicNet, a digital music subscription service joint venture
between AOL, RealNetworks and record labels Warner, BMG, EMI and Zomba,
announced on Thursday an expanded agreement with Warner Music Group. The
new deal will allow MusicNet subscribers to transfer Warner tracks to
portable devices. It will also allow MusicNet to sell individual Warner
tracks from a 40,000-song catalog, which may then be burned to CD or
downloaded to portable devices.
http://www.musicnet.com
(Los Angeles) Lucasfilm, director George Lucas' production company, said
on Thursday that the DVD release of "Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the
Clones" generated $75 million in its first day of availability, with 25
percent of initial shipments to retailers already sold.
http://www.starwars.com
(Seattle) Media delivery technology provider RealNetworks announced on
Thursday it has expanded its relationship with the National Basketball
Association (NBA). NBA.com will now offer audio play-by-play of every game
using RealNetworks' streaming technology, and RealNetworks will expand the
NBA content it offers through its RealOne SuperPass subscription service.
The NBA.com NBA Inside Ticket service will be offered for $9.95 per month
on NBA.com, or for $14.95 per month when coupled with the RealOne
SuperPass subscription service, which also offers content from other
providers.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/021114/sfth040_1.html
http://www.real.com/partners/nba
http://www.nba.com
(Los Angeles) Pinnacle Systems, a developer of digital video editing
software for broadcasters and consumers, on Thursday released PCTV Deluxe,
a combination TV tuner and digital video recording product for the PC. The
$199 package comes with Iowa-based Decisionmark's Titan TV electronic
programming guide for scheduling programs to be recorded, and is
compatible with USB and USB2 connections.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/021114/sfth044_1.html
http://www.pinnaclesys.com
(Trevose, Pa.) Interactive TV firm WorldGate Communications has been
granted a new patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, for
technology describing an "Access System and Method for Providing
Interactive Access to an Information Source Through a Networked
Distribution System." Pennsylvania-based WorldGate said the patent
contains 20 separate interactive TV technology-related claims.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/021113/phw047_1.html
http://www.wgate.com
(San Francisco) CNET News.com on Thursday provided a preview of
technologies to be demonstrated at Comdex Fall 2002, a PC industry trade
show that takes place next week in Las Vegas, Nevada. Devices that utilize
wireless networking will take center stage at the event, at which
organizers expect a crowd of around 125,000.
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-965766.html
http://www.comdex.com/fall
(New York) The New York Times on Thursday reported on media-related
technology companies are increasingly focusing their attention on
Hollywood for customers. The article profiles three companies -- the
recently launched G4 video game cable TV network, online short film
producer Urban Entertainment, and Web design firm Digital-Reign -- all of
which located to Los Angeles to tap into the city's wealth of
entertainment industry clients. "There is no substitute for proximity,"
Santa Monica-based game developer Activision CEO Bobby Kotick told The
Times. "Being here puts us in a very good competitive position."
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/14/technology/circuits/14holl.html
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CLASSIFIEDS - JOBS
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To Post Jobs: http://www.digitalmediawire.com/jobpostingpage.htm
East Coast Sales Rep - Imaging and Music Software Firm
Imaging and music software firm is seeking an independent, East Coast
sales representative. We have great products - you have strong
relationships with camera and computer hardware manufacturers and
marketers. Significant OEM experience strongly preferred. Position offers
a retainer and generous commissions. Interested parties should forward
their resume to David McKie at: david@simplestar.com
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====================
CLASSIFIEDS - EVENTS
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To Post Events: http://www.digitalmediawire.com/eventpostingpage.htm
Storage Visions 2003 Conference, January 7 & 8 before CES in Las Vegas
Take advantage of the $300 discount on Storage Visions 2003 registration
by the end of November. Before attending CES, see and hear leaders in
digital storage. Learn about the latest in content creation and
distribution, consumer storage technology, home media centers, set-top
boxes, and portable storage devices, as well as market trends and digital
rights management. Speakers include representatives from Sony, IBM, Avid,
Seagate, NDS, MPEG-4 Forum, MPAA, Pace, and Maxtor. Register online or
call 805-989-3945.
Mention Digital Media Wire!
http://www.storagevisions.com/storage_visions_2003.htm
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Feast For Smart Marketers: Little Italy, NYC, 11/18/2002
1000 CEOs and SVPs have attended! Join the best marketers in the business
as we do a few deals, reconnect with old friends, and meet new people with
new opportunities. Our guarantee: No speeches, no PowerPoint, no posers.
"I left with a "wow" and I'm really looking forward to the next one." --
Ron Kovas, CEO, i-traffic
For more information: http://www.gaspedal.net/feast
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To purchase the directory, go to: http://www.homeland-directory.com
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