archives

o Liberate Technologies New Venture Fund Invests $7 Million In Two Way TV
o SDMI To Award Two Successful Hackers From Contest $5,000 Each
o ReplayTV To End Set-Top Production, Cut Staff; CEO Resigns
o Ticketmaster Online Sued Over Acquisition Of USA Networks' Ticketmaster
o Streaming Video Provider VirtualFrenzy Raises $250,000
o Online Film Studio Flixer To Use MP3.com Artists For Upcoming Soundtrack
o Bertelsmann e-Commerce Group, Napster Sued By Rock Band Manager
> Digital Media Wire Networking Events: Washington, D.C., Los Angeles
o Briefly Noted: Stephen King, Zeros & Ones - Sony Corporation, Romp.com -
Channel 4, TheThreshold.com - "Hellraiser," RespondTV - Microsoft, The
Daily Jolt - Universal Music Group, Flipside.com - New Line Home Video
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o Liberate Technologies New Venture Fund Invests $7 Million In Two Way TV

San Carlos, Calif. -- Interactive television developer Liberate
Technologies announced on Tuesday the launch of a $50 million venture
fund, through which it will invest in interactive television companies.
Liberate created the fund from successful investments in interactive
television companies, including ICE Interactive, Diva Systems and
Everypath. "We have the proven know-how to identify all of the critical
technologies and companies that will propel interactive television into
the mainstream," said Mitchell Kertzman, CEO of Liberate Technologies. The
company also announced that the fund's first investment will be $7 million
toward UK-based Two Way TV, a developer of games for interactive
television. Two Way TV develops interactive games based on television game
shows such as "Mastermind" and "The Crystal Maze" for British interactive
television subscribers. Liberate said it will take minority equity stakes
in privately held companies and will generally co-invest 15 to 25 percent
of any given financing event. The company will also become a strategic
partner with each company, integrating its own software into developing
interactive television technologies.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/001128/ca_liberat.html
http://www.liberate.com
http://www.twowaytv.com
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o SDMI To Award Two Successful Hackers From Contest $5,000 Each

Washington, D.C. -- The Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI), a
consortium of recording industry, consumer electronics and information
technology companies, announced on Tuesday that it is in the process of
notifying two hackers that they have successfully cracked its digital
music security technologies, and will each receive a $5,000 prize. The
SDMI posed a challenge to the hacker community to break watermarking and
encryption technologies it is developing to protect digital music from
piracy and copying. "We thank everyone who participated, and congratulate
the successful challenger," said Leonardo Chiariglione, executive director
of SDMI. "We learned from each submission -- successful or not -- and the
public invitation has given us valuable information about how the
technologies might work in the real world." The SDMI said it will allow
the company whose technology was hacked to evaluate the results of the
challenge and propose changes to the technology. Although the SDMI earlier
confirmed that two of its security technologies had been compromised
during the challenge, it said in a statement that no technology has yet
been removed from consideration based on the "HackSDMI" challenge results.
http://www.sdmi.com
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o ReplayTV To End Set-Top Production, Cut Staff; CEO Resigns

New York -- ReplayTV said that it will no longer sell set-top boxes for
digital television, and will instead focus on licensing its technology to
cable television providers and other companies, The Wall Street Journal
reported on Tuesday. Mountain View-based ReplayTV develops hard drives
called "personal video recorders" (PVRs) that allow viewers to record and
time-shift television programming. The decision resulted from lagging
retail sales and pressure from cable and satellite operators, which want
to control the devices themselves. The company also faced competition from
AOL, Microsoft and TiVo, which all are developing PVR technology. CNET
reported that the company will cut between 100 and 130 of its 260
employees across all divisions. ReplayTV CEO Kim LeMasters will resign
from his position, saying the company's new focus is "outside my
background and interest," The Journal reported. Former chief executive and
chairman Anthony Wood will succeed LeMasters as CEO.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200-3886861.html
http://www.replaytv.com
_____________________________________________

o Ticketmaster Online Sued Over Acquisition Of USA Networks' Ticketmaster

Wilmington, Del. -- Ticketmaster Online-Citysearch, which announced last
week that it would acquire USA Networks' Ticketmaster, has been sued by a
stockholder who claims that the acquisition will lower the value of his
stock, CNET reported on Tuesday. The suit says that while minority
shareholders will see their stock devalued, USA Networks, a large
shareholder in Ticketmaster Online-Citysearch, will increase its stake in
the company from 49 percent to 68 percent. "As a result of the
transaction, USA Networks will reap the benefit of increasing its holdings
[in Ticketmaster Online] to the detriment of the minority public
shareholders," said David Osher, Ticketmaster Online shareholder and
plaintiff in the lawsuit. A spokeswoman for Ticketmaster Online said that
while the company hasn't reviewed all four lawsuits filed, it denies the
allegations presented in the suits it has reviewed.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200-3879082.html
_____________________________________________

o Streaming Video Provider VirtualFrenzy Raises $250,000

Vancouver -- VirtualFrenzy, a provider of streaming video content for the
travel industry, announced that it has received a $250,000 investment from
Tri-North Capital. Tri-North will also take a 5 percent equity stake in
the company. Vancouver-based VirtualFrenzy produces streaming video of
travel destinations, branded specifically for its clients, which include
Holiday Inn and Wyndham Hotels and Resorts.
http://www.virtualfrenzy.com
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o Online Film Studio Flixer To Use MP3.com Artists For Upcoming Soundtrack

Los Angeles -- Flixer, an Internet entertainment studio, has announced a
partnership with downloadable music provider MP3.com. The online film
company is currently featuring a contest for its members, where a winner
will be chosen to become the "Online Music Supervisor" for its upcoming
feature film, "Girl's Best Friend." The online music supervisor will work
with the producers of the film to choose the music that is used. Music
selections will be licensed from artists' submissions on MP3.com's Artist
Opportunity Program. LA-based Flixer will also choose a member of the
MP3.com community to serve as the film's "Online Marketing Supervisor,"
and receive credit in the film. The company also featured a contest where
members could submit their own film based on a script written by Robert
Huang, who wrote "Swimming With Sharks." Currently, Flixer is accepting
members' film submissions for a contest in association with the Sundance
Film Festival, where a winner will be flown to the festival in Utah and be
given a screening of their film at a Flixer event.
http://www.flixer.com
http://www.mp3.com
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o Bertelsmann e-Commerce Group, Napster Sued By Rock Band Manager

San Francisco -- Matthew Katz, the one-time manager of 60's rock bands
Moby Grape and the Jefferson Airplane, filed suit against Bertelsmann
eCommerce Group (BeCG) and Napster, claiming that BeCG is helping Napster
to commit copyright infringement by funding its file sharing service, CNET
reported on Tuesday. Katz, producer for psychedelic rock band Jefferson
Airplane, sued both BeCG and Napster's 40 million users for driving down
record sales, and claimed that they have nearly put his record label out
of business.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-3881135.html
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> Digital Media Wire Networking Events: Washington, D.C., Los Angeles

Washington, D.C. -- Digital Media Wire will host its next networking event
on Wednesday, December 6 in Washington, D.C. for subscribers and those
interested in the convergence of entertainment, technology and the
Internet. Light hors d'oeuvres will be served and there will be a cash
bar.

Date: Wednesday, December 6, 2000
Time: 6:30 - 8:30
Location: Clyde's of Tyson's Corner
8332 Leesburg Pike - Vienna, VA

There is no charge for the event, but attendees must register at the link
below.
http://www.digitalmediawire.com/washington.htm

Los Angeles -- Digital Media Wire will host a networking event on
Wednesday, December 13 in Los Angeles for subscribers and those interested
in the convergence of entertainment, technology and the Internet. 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.

Date: Wednesday, December 13, 2000
Time: 6:30 - 9:30
Location: The Sunset Trocadero Lounge
8280 Sunset Boulevard - West Hollywood, CA

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

o Briefly Noted:

(San Francisco) Stephen King will not produce an ending for "The Plant,"
an e-book that the horror author was publishing serially from his website,
Wired News reported on Tuesday. King had stipulated that he would only
continue to publish chapters to the e-book if a large enough percentage of
readers paid $1 to download each chapter. Only 49 percent of readers who
downloaded the fourth chapter paid the fee. Some readers are upset because
of having to pay $7 for a book without an ending.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,40356,00.html
http://www.stephenking.com

(Santa Monica, Calif.) Zeros & Ones, a developer of entertainment content,
announced on Tuesday that its animated series "Julius and Friends" has
been selected by Sony Corporation's online entertainment network, which is
scheduled to launch early next year. The series of 28 webisodes were
created by fashion designer Paul Frank, and produced by Santa Monica-based
Zeros & Ones.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/001128/ca_zeros_o.html
http://www.zerosones.com

(Los Angeles) Romp.com, an online entertainment network, announced on
Tuesday that it has syndicated two of its programs to be shown on the
website of UK-based Channel 4 television. Under the deal, Eight episodes
each of the LA-based Romp.com programs "Booty Call" and "Those F---ing
Animals" will be shown on the edgy television channel's website.
http://www.channel4.com
http://www.romp.com

(Santa Monica, Calif.) TheThreshold.com, an online entertainment network,
announced on Tuesday that it has acquired the rights to produce an online
game for the "Hellraiser" movie franchise, originally created by horror
author Clive Barker. The company has also created games for "Mortal
Kombat," "Duke Nukem," "Heavy Metal" and "Conan the Barbarian." Santa
Monica-based TheThreshold.com produces video chats, games and streaming,
live action and animated programs for its site.
http://www.thethreshold.com

(San Francisco) RespondTV, a developer of interactive television
technology, announced on Tuesday that it has signed a deal with Microsoft
to integrate its technology into the Microsoft TV Platform. Under the
deal, the two companies will provide technical support to network
operators for e-commerce, interactive advertising and TV portals. San
Francisco-based RespondTV has secured similar deals with interactive
television companies including AOLTV, Liberate, OpenTV, PowerTV and
Spyglass.
http://www.respondtv.com

(Santa Monica, Calif.) The Daily Jolt, a network of student-created campus
websites, announced on Tuesday that it has partnered with Universal Music
Group (UMG). Under the deal, The Daily Jolt will market UMG's service for
users with high-speed Internet access on its network.
http://www.dailyjolt.com
http://www.musicuwant.com

(Berkeley, Calif.) Flipside.com, a developer of online games, announced on
Tuesday that it has partnered with New Line Home Video to create games in
conjunction with the company's home video and DVD releases. Berkeley-based
Flipside.com created games for New Line's "Frequency" and "The Cell,"
which are available to play on its website.
http://www.flipside.com
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