Main Stories
o Report: U.S. Ad Market Continues Rebound; 'Net Ads Outpace Overall Growth
o Video Game Industry Gets "B" Rating from Family Watchdog Group
o Report: 3.5 Million MP3 Players Will Be Shipped in 2003
o Sirius Satellite Radio Reaches 200,000 Subscribers
o Report: Mobile Gambling Revenue Could Reach $16 Billion by 2008
o Paris Commercial Court Postpones Decision on Messier Payment

o Briefly Noted: SunnComm - Sonopress, MobiTV - Dec. 9 presidential debate, Sony Music - Intel, Hispanic Digital Network, Roxio - DivXNetworks, ESPN Videogames - NTN Communications' "QB1," Blue Lava Wireless - Atlas Mobile, Gigex, WWII-themed video games

New York -- The U.S. advertising market totaled $89.6 billion during the first three quarters of 2003 -- a 7% increase over the same period in 2002 -- with Internet advertising showing an even greater 13.8% growth rate for the period, according to data released on Tuesday by New York-based analyst firm TNS Media Intelligence/CMR. Total Internet advertising for the first three quarters of 2003 totaled $4.74 billion, up from $4.2 billion for the same period in 2002. Internet advertising growth outpaced the overall broadcast (4.5%) and print (9.1%) advertising sectors, but could not keep pace with growth in either cable TV (17%) or Spanish language TV (18.3%) advertising sectors for 2003. "The consistent increase in spending this year speaks to the overall health of the ad market," said TNS Media Intelligence/CMR president and CEO Steven Fredericks.
http://www.tnsmi-cmr.com
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o Video Game Industry Gets "B" Rating from Family Watchdog Group

Washington -- The National Institute on Media and the Family, a public interest group focusing on the effects that video games have on children, on Monday released its 2003 report card for the industry, giving the overall industry a "B" rating for its efforts to label games that contain violent or sexual content, educate parents on the ratings system, and prevent minors from purchasing such titles. The report included a survey of grade school and high school students, which found that 87% of students are regular gamers, with 77% of boys reporting they own an "M" or "Mature"-rated game. Only one in five reported ever having his parents stop him from buying a game based on its rating. "The survey finds boys are not only playing M-rated video games, but are playing them for greater amounts of time without their parents' knowledge. Children's access to these "killographic" games, parents' lack of knowledge of ratings, and kid's game-playing habits, are all major contributors to the increase in casual violence and the culture of disrespect among our children," said Institute founder David Walsh. Following the release of the report, the Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association (IEMA), a trade group of video game retailers, announced it will institute an ID check process at its member retailers by the end of 2004 to ensure that "M" rated games are not sold to minors under the age of 17.
http://www.mediafamily.org/press/20031208.shtml
http://www.mediafamily.org/research/report_vgrc_2003-2.shtml
http://makeashorterlink.com/?G17A223C6 
http://www.theiema.com
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o Report: 3.5 Million MP3 Players Will Be Shipped in 2003

New York -- The number of MP3 digital music players shipped to retailers is expected to almost double in 2003 to over 3.5 million, and will continue to grow almost 50% per year for the next three years, according to a report from New York-based research firm Jupitermedia. The firm also predicts that demand for MP3 players with hard drives will outstrip demand for those with flash memory starting in 2004, and that by 2006, the installed base of MP3 players will top 26 million, establishing a critical mass of users that will help spur digital music sales. Jupitermedia credited the successful launch of Apple's iTunes Store and accompanying iPod player, new entries from HP and Dell for the MP3 player market, and the new crop of download stores from Napster, Musicmatch and others, for the device category's rise in popularity. "They're not quite this season's DVD player, but portable music players, combined with online music stores and services, will be a strong holiday shopping combination," said Jupiter Research vice president and research director David Card.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/031209/95165_1.html 
http://www.jupitermedia.com
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o Sirius Satellite Radio Reaches 200,000 Subscribers

New York -- Sirius Satellite Radio, provider of a nationwide, satellite-delivered digital radio service, announced on Tuesday that it has surpassed 200,000 subscribers for its service. The company projected in October that it would have over 200,000 by the end of 2003, down from an estimate of 300,000 made earlier in the year. Rival XM Satellite Radio announced in October that it had surpassed 1 million subscribers, and expects to count over 1.2 million by the end of the year.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/031208/nym194_1.html 
http://www.siriusradio.com
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o Report: Mobile Gambling Revenue Could Reach $16 Billion by 2008

Dallas -- Worldwide revenue from wagers placed with a cell phone has the potential to reach $16 billion by 2008, if the industry is able to overcome some significant regulatory and legal hurdles, according to a report released on Tuesday by Dallas-based research firm Alexander Resources. The report divides the mobile gambling market into three categories: mobile casino-style gambling, where users play video poker or other games against the house or other players -- which is expected to generate $6 billion by 2008; mobile lotteries, forecasted to bring in $5 billion; and mobile sports betting, where micropayments and real-time betting on live events will spur the market to revenues of $5 billion by 2008. "While holding great promise, certain user, payment, security, privacy, regulatory and technology challenges could at worst stymie this market even before it gains traction or at best could heavily influence the amount of revenues forecasted," the firm said. Most, if not all of this revenue will be generated in the U.K. and other countries overseas, as most phone- and Internet-based gambling is currently prohibited in the U.S.
http://www.alexanderresources.com/reports/Report 18/index.html    ____________________________________________

o Paris Commercial Court Postpones Decision on Messier Payment

Paris -- The Paris Commercial Court has rescheduled a hearing on a highly controversial severance package for former Vivendi Universal CEO Jean-Marie Messier. The court -- which has ordered the French media and entertainment conglomerate to produce additional documentation -- said it needed more time to determine whether or not the court had jurisdiction over the case. The court also said that it could possibly make a final ruling on the matter by March 1, once testimony has been heard. Messier is demanding a more than $24 million severance package from the company that sacked him last year.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?P241220C6

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> Making Your Way thru the Homeland Security Maze

Small businesses wanting to do business with the government face unique challenges when entering the federal marketplace. The 2003- 2004 Directory of Homeland Security includes a detailed list of procurement information and small business government contacts for the various federal departments and agencies. Contact names, titles, phone and fax numbers and descriptions are included in the listings. The Department of Homeland Security portion of the directory has entire section titled, "Doing Business with the Department of Homeland Security." To order the 2003-2004 edition, go to: http://www.tech-directories.com/dmw.htm
 

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(Phoenix, Ariz.) SunnComm Technologies, a provider of CD copy-protection technology, announced on Tuesday that compact disc manufacturer Sonopress, a unit of Bertelsmann, will serve as a licensed reseller of SunnComm's proprietary audio CD music management and enhancement technology. Bertelsmann's BMG record label earlier this year licensed SunnComm's technology to copy-protect its commercial album releases. Under the new agreement, Arizona-based SunnComm will earn a royalty for each MediaMax CD manufactured by Sonopress.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/031209/95455_1.html 
http://www.sonopress.com 
http://www.sunncomm.com

(Berkeley, Calif.) MobiTV, a live TV streaming service for cell phones, announced on Tuesday that it will offer a live broadcast of the Dec. 9 Democratic presidential debate, which is being produced by ABC News. Created by Berkeley-based Idetic, MobiTV offers owners of most color-screen cell phones the ability to stream live TV to their handsets. The $9.99 per month service, which also offers content from providers including the Discovery Channel, College Sports Television and the Learning Channel, launched in November for Sprint PCS Vision customers.
http://www.idetic.com 
http://www.mobitv.com/press/release_120903.html

(New York) Major record label Sony Music announced on Tuesday that it has partnered with chipmaker Intel to expand its commercial content encoding and delivery system. As part of the agreement, the two companies will collaborate on grid computing research, potentially harnessing the untapped processing power of PCs and laptops in Sony's enterprise during particularly demanding encoding jobs. Sony Music Digital Services Group will also use Intel servers to support its infrastructure.
http://www.sonymusic.com 
http://www.intel.com

(Miami) Hispanic Digital Network (HDN), a network of national online Hispanic newspapers, announced on Tuesday the launch of newspaper websites for New York's Noticias del Mundo, Chicago's La Raza Newspaper and Houston's Semana as part of its network. "HDN publications now enjoy first-rate news Web sites comparable to or better than most U.S. English-language dailies and this is going to help them strengthen and grow their businesses by better serving their readers and advertisers alike," said HDN CEO Manny Ruiz. Seven other local Hispanic newspapers also launched websites on Tuesday, including publications from Dallas, San Francisco and San Diego.
http://www.noticiasdelmundo.com 
http://www.laraza.com 
http://www.hdnweb.com

(Santa Clara, Calif.) Roxio, a developer of CD and DVD burning software, said on Tuesday that it has licensed San Diego-based DivXNetworks' DivX video compression technology for inclusion in its DVD creation software. The deal will allow users of Easy DVD Creator to create and edit video files using the DivX codec.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/031209/sftu073_1.html 
http://www.roxio.com 
http://www.divxnetworks.com

(San Rafael, Calif.) ESPN Videogames, a joint venture between the cable TV sports network and game developer Sega, announced on Tuesday that it will contribute simulated football game play graphics to NTN Communications' "QB1," an interactive TV game played in bars and restaurants. The game challenges players to predict what play the offense will run in actual college and pro football games. Following the play's completion, game graphics from "ESPN NFL Football" for PlayStation 2 and the Xbox will now display a simulation of the play.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/031209/latu034_1.html
http://www.espnvideogames.com 
http://www.ntn.com 
http://www.qb1.com

(San Mateo, Calif.) Mobile game developer Blue Lava Wireless said on Tuesday that it partnered with Atlas Mobile, a developer of wireless multiplayer tournaments, to launch its first "Tetris Tournament for Prizes." In development for Qualcomm's BREW platform, the multiplayer Tetris tournament will see players compete against each other for prizes like CDs, DVDs and movie tickets in daily head to head and weekly progressive tournaments. Honolulu-based Blue Lava said the service is expected to launch yet this year.
http://www.atlas-mobile.com 
http://www.bluelavawireless.com

(San Francisco) Gigex, a provider of video game promotional services, announced on Tuesday the launch of its G-Feed, a free service for websites that delivers an updated stream of video game news, reviews, previews and free hosted PC game demo and console game trailer downloads. San Francisco-based Gigex said the service is based upon an XML RSS feed that website operators may integrate into their existing Web content.
http://www.gigex.com 
http://www.gfeed.com

(San Francisco) Wired News on Tuesday reported on the recent slew of World War II-themed video games to hit retailers' shelves. Most major developers have released at least one WWII title for the holiday season, such as Electronic Arts' "Medal of Honor: Rising Sun" and "Command and Conquer: Generals," Activision's "Call of Duty," Ubisoft's "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3," LucasArts' "Secret Weapons Over Normandy," Sony's "SOCOM II: U.S. Navy SEALs" and Microsoft Game Studios' "Rise of Nations." "Good and evil, and black and white, were much more clearly defined in World War II," Jim Robinette, an Army lawyer and war game aficionado, told Wired News.
http://www.wired.com/news/games/0,2101,61515,00.html
http://www.wargamer.com

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