Main Stories
o IFP, Indie Filmmakers Sue MPAA Over Ban on Awards Screeners
o Report: Online Spending to Sharply Increase During Holidays
o Nintendo Reports Strong Sales for Game Boy Advance Handheld
o Norwegian DVD Security Hacker Takes on Apple's iTunes Security
o Report: Online Advertising in Europe Set to Hit $1.2 Billion in 2005

o Note to Readers: Thanksgiving Holiday

o Briefly Noted: Inspired Broadcast Networks - Internet jukebox, Pioneer Electronics - Time Warner Cable, Voom - Don King Productions, Fandango - "Return of the King," British Library - Amazon.co.uk, TVN Entertainment - Fox Cable Networks, "Teachers' TV," LandWare - Leonard Maltin, Vivendi Universal Games - "The Simpsons Hit and Run"

New York -- A group of independent filmmakers, including the Los Angeles and New York chapters of the Independent Feature Project (IFP), on Monday sued the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), asking a federal judge to place an injunction against the MPAA's ban on the distribution of "screener" copies of films to members of various groups that vote on awards. The MPAA enacted a full ban on screeners as a means of stemming potential piracy, but later said it would allows VHS movies to be distributed -- only to those who vote on the Academy Awards -- which prompted complaints from the Golden Globes and others. In its lawsuit, the independent filmmakers say that the MPAA has "conspired" with the major studios to eliminate competitive rivalry among themselves and independent film producers; the group also allegedly "conspired" with the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to unlawfully disadvantage other competing critics' evaluation and awards events. A hearing on the injunction is set for Wednesday morning before the U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
http://www.indiewire.com/biz/biz_031125mpaa.html
http://www.indiewire.com/biz/photos/ComplaintIndiesVsMPAA.pdf
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o Report: Online Spending to Sharply Increase During Holidays

New York -- Consumers are expected to significantly increase their online shopping budgets during the holiday season, according to a new report from Nielsen//NetRatings, Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Harris Interactive. During the week ending Nov. 15, 67% of those surveyed said that they had visited an e-commerce site, up from 60% during the same week last year. A separate report by Nielsen//NetRatings found that the online holiday shopping season has officially started during the past two weeks, driven by a significant uptick in shopping at toys sites. "Toys and games got the holiday season started this year, with big spikes in many of the firms' online sessions," said Robert Leathern, a director and senior analyst for Nielsen//NetRatings. "Other categories like consumer electronics, and home and garden have shown strong consistent growth throughout this year, and continue to grow traffic strongly as the holiday season is kicking off."
http://www.nielsen-netratings.com/pr/pr_031125.pdf 
http://www.nielsen-netratings.com/pr/pr_0311251.pdf
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o Nintendo Reports Strong Sales for Game Boy Advance Handheld

Redmond, Wash. -- Nintendo of America said this week that U.S. sales of its Game Boy Advance handheld video game and titles for the device will likely top $1.5 billion this year. Nintendo said it sold over 400,000 units of the device during October; the company expects to sell nearly nine million in 2003, up from the seven million it sold last year. Separately, Redmond, Wash.-based Nintendo of America said it named Reginald Fils-Aime as executive vice president of sales and marketing. Most recently, Fils-Aime was senior vice president of marketing at MTV Networks' VH1.
http://www.nintendo.com
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o Norwegian DVD Security Hacker Takes on Apple's iTunes

Oslo -- The Norwegian hacker Jon Lech Johansen, nicknamed "DVD Jon," who broke the encryption code for DVDs when he was 15 years old, has struck again, Norwegian online news daily IT-avisen reported this week. DVD Jon has reportedly now posted software code that can be used to evade the copy-protection technology embedded on songs purchased from Apple's iTunes digital music store, so that the songs may be freely copied. CNET News.com reported that, "if other developers -- or Johansen himself -- pursue the project, it could herald the arrival of simple ripping programs that could create unprotected music files from iTunes songs as simply as from an ordinary compact disc."
http://www.itavisen.no/art/1302364.html 
http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-5111426.html ____________________________________________

o Report: Online Advertising in Europe Set to Hit $1.2 Billion in 2005

London -- Online advertising will top $1.2 billion across Europe in 2005 as marketers increase their use of the Internet, according to a new report from Forrester Research. The report acknowledges that traditional methods of advertising, such as television commercials, newspaper ads and poster hoardings, still command the biggest slice of advertising budgets, but says that online advertising is the fastest growing medium. Online display spending -- which includes banner ads and sponsorships but not job ads -- will increase this year by 12.5% to $943 million, and by 2008 will have almost doubled to reach $1.67 billion.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/031124/245356_1.html
http://www.forrester.com/europe ____________________________________________

o Note to Readers: Thanksgiving Holiday

In observance of the Thanksgiving Day holiday in the U.S., Digital Media Wire will not be published for the remainder of the week. The next edition will arrive on Monday, Dec. 1.

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> Complete Information for Department of Homeland Security

The new Department of Homeland Security is still an evolving government body. But the 2003-2004 Directory of Homeland Security provides a department-wide organizational chart as well as descriptions and contact information for all key personnel, their newly established positions and core responsibilities. The 2003-2004 edition also includes complete information on other federal agencies, a comprehensive state section and 532 companies selling technologies and services for homeland security. To order, go to http://www.tech-directories.com/dmw.htm
 

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(London) Inspired Broadcast Networks has created the world's largest Internet-connected jukebox, offering more than two million MP3 tracks via a broadband connection. Five thousand of the new broadband jukeboxes will be in pubs in the U.K. within two years, replacing old-fashioned CD versions, according to the company.
http://www.inspiredtg.com/pressreleases/2003_11_24_jukebox.html

(Long Beach, Calif.) Consumer electronics firm Pioneer Electronics announced on Tuesday an agreement with Time Warner Cable to launch a national HDTV promotion, aimed at stimulating market growth, increasing HD awareness among Time Warner Cable customers and establishing relationships with retailers. Under the promotion, cable customers who buy a Pioneer high-definition television and subscribe to Time Warner HD service will receive a $500 cash rebate, six months of free Time Warner HD service and Time Warner HD set-top box rental and basic installation.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/031124/lam071_1.html
http://www.pioneerelectronics.com

(Jericho, N.Y.) Voom, a unit of Cablevision's Rainbow satellite division that provides a slate of high-definition TV programming, said on Tuesday that it has partnered with boxing promoter Don King to broadcast King's "Undisputed -- Back-to-Back-to-Back" boxing card in high-definition format.
http://www.voom.com 
http://www.donking.com/popup.htm

(Hollywood) Fandango, a provider of advance online movie ticket sales, said on Tuesday that it has begun selling advance tickets to early screenings of New Line Cinema's "The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King," which premiers in theaters on Dec. 17. Hollywood-based Fandango said it sold nearly $6 million for the five-day opening weekend of the trilogy's second film, "The Two Towers."
http://www.fandango.com

(London) The British Library will sell millions of rare books from its collection to the public in collaboration with e-commerce site Amazon.co.uk. The library, part of the British Museum, will make 2.5 million rare and antique titles available to the public via Amazon's website, including first-edition novels and centuries-old sheet music.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?G207110A6

(Burbank, Calif.) TVN Entertainment, a provider of video-on-demand content and delivery technology, announced on Tuesday that it has renewed and expanded its agreement with Fox Cable Networks. Burbank, Calif.-based TVN will provide encoding, asset management, site-specific metadata and multicast transport for Fox video-on-demand programming across the country, including content from The National Geographic Channel and Speed Channel.
http://www.foxcable.com 
http://www.tvn.com

(London) A new consortium will manage and produce a digital television channel aimed at the U.K. teaching profession and funded by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES). The channel, called "Teachers' TV," is scheduled to be on-air in the U.K. at the end of 2004.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?E286510A6

(Oradell, N.J.) LandWare, a developer of software for mobile devices, announced on Tuesday the release of its Leonard Maltin Movie & Video Guide for Palm OS handhelds. The $19.95 program includes availability, screen formats, running time, director and cast, nationality, MPAA rating, genre and date of release for over 19,000 movies.
http://www.landware.com/movieguide

(Los Angeles) Vivendi Universal Games announced on Tuesday the release of the PC version of its "The Simpsons Hit and Run" game, which was created in collaboration with series creator Matt Groening and Gracie Films. The title was developed by Vancouver-based Radical Entertainment and licensed to Vivendi by Twentieth Century Fox Licensing and Merchandising.
http://www.vugames.com/news_story.do?storyId=537 
http://www.radical.ca

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