archives

o Peer-To-Peer Firm CenterSpan Awarded Scour's Assets For $9 Million
o Musicbank Licenses Catalog From EMI For On-Demand Streaming Service
o Entertainment Site Hookt.com Raises $5 Million In Third Round
o Content Distributor Omneon Video Networks Raises $24 Million
o Creative Planet Lays Off 20% Of Staff
o Video Game Firm Electronic Arts To Develop Titles For Microsoft's X-box
> Today: Digital Media Wire Networking Event -- Los Angeles
o Briefly Noted: PacketVideo - Sonera, BMI, SecureMedia - RealNetworks,
Transcast, Indiqu - Eircell, StarCD - HitHive, "MP3 & Napster: An Indie
Label and Artist Perspective," StreamTheory - Interplay, "Long Live
Analog," ACTV, Audiobasket - Spinner.com
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o Peer-To-Peer Firm CenterSpan Awarded Scour's Assets For $9 Million

Los Angeles -- CenterSpan Communications, a distributor of digital content
through peer-to-peer networking, announced on Wednesday that it has been
awarded the assets of bankrupt file-sharing exchange Scour for $5.5
million in cash and stock worth $3.5 million. Others companies that placed
bids in the auction were Listen.com, which bid $5.5 million and stock
worth $3 million and Liquid Audio, which offered $5.25 million in cash and
50,000 shares of the company before dropping out of the bidding.
Oregon-based CenterSpan said it will immediately begin integrating Scour's
technology into its peer-to-peer network, called C*, which is scheduled
for beta release in the first quarter of 2001. The auction for Scour's
assets took place in Los Angeles court after the company sought refuge
from its creditors through a Chapter 11 filing. The proceedings also
halted copyright infringement lawsuits against the company by the Motion
Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of
America, which the company now expects to settle. "We are happy and
satisfied our creditors will be paid and that the process has allowed
Scour to maximize the value of its assets," said Scour president Dan
Rodrigues. Losing bidder Listen.com said in a statement that essentially
CenterSpan paid more than Scour is worth. "More than any other company,
Listen.com thoroughly researched the value of Scour's assets, met with the
Scour team and determined exactly how an acquisition would benefit us and
our syndication partners," said Rob Reid, CEO of Listen.com. "With this
information, we knew exactly what Scour was worth to us. We saw
absolutely no benefit in spending more than this amount."
http://www.centerspan.com/main/dsp_scour.cfm
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o Musicbank Licenses Catalog From EMI For On-Demand Streaming Service

San Francisco -- Musicbank, a provider of free digital locker technology,
announced on Tuesday that it has licensed songs from EMI Recorded Music
for its on-demand streaming service. EMI was the last holdout of the major
labels -- Musicbank has already secured licensing agreements with BMG
Entertainment, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Music
Entertainment -- to provide its users with on-demand streaming of music
they own on CD. The company said that EMI will receive a small equity
stake in the company as a result of the agreement. A spokeswoman for
Musicbank said that the company is in licensing negotiations with the
National Music Publishers Association, and will launch its service
"immediately" after an agreement is reached. "We are pleased to be working
with Musicbank to create new avenues for our artists' music, said Jay
Samit, senior vice president of new media, EMI Recorded Music. "This
agreement reiterates EMI's commitment to new media and to creating
universal and legitimate ways for music fans to access their music
anytime, anywhere." San Francisco-based Musicbank's service will compete
with MP3.com's similar My.MP3.com service, which recently re-launched with
both paid and free options after ending a lengthy court battle with the
major labels. Unlike My.MP3.com, Musicbank has worked to secure licensing
agreements with the recording industry before launching its service.
http://www.musicbank.com
http://www.emigroup.com
_____________________________________________

o Entertainment Site Hookt.com Raises $5 Million In Third Round

New York -- Hookt.com, a hip-hop music and fashion portal, announced on
Wednesday that it has raised $5 million from Warburg Pincus in its third
round of venture capital financing. New York-based Hookt.com provides
hip-hop music, news, culture and apparel e-commerce to a young
demographic. The funding for Hookt.com is encouraging for the online urban
market, which recently saw the closing of Urban Box Office, due to the
inability to secure additional funding. "With the recent demise of some of
our competitors, Hookt.com is one of the few strong independent brands
left in the space," said Hookt.com CEO Peter Griffith. "Our execution to
date has earned the confidence of our venture backers for the third time."
The company counts hip-hop figures Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs and Eminem
among its "strategic partners."
http://www.hookt.com
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o Content Distributor Omneon Video Networks Raises $24 Million

Sunnyvale, CA -- Omneon Video Networks, a developer of networking and
storage technology for digital media, has announced that it raised $24
million in its third round of venture capital financing. Meritech Capital
Partners led the round; additional investments came from new investors
Chase H&Q, Intel Communications Fund, Palo Alto Investors and Thomas
Weisel Partners, as well as previous investors Accel Partners, Mayfield
Fund, Norwest Venture Partners, Lucent Venture Partners and The Ignite
Group. Sunnyvale-based Omneon develops technology that allows content
producers and distributors to share audio and video content throughout
their own companies and with business partners through a closed network.
http://www.omneon.com/news/12_12_00_3.html
_____________________________________________

o Creative Planet Lays Off 20% Of Staff

Los Angeles -- It was reported today that business-to-business
entertainment tools provider Creative Planet has laid off 70 employees, or
20 percent of its staff. The company received $30 million in financing in
November from London-based United News & Media, but Creative Planet CEO
Allen DeBevoise told Inside.com, "We're trying to cut operating expenses
and focus on profitability. It's necessary, unfortunately, and healthy for
our company." DeBevoise reportedly told employees that the company waited
until after it secured the financing to go ahead with the layoffs so that
terminated employees would receive severance packages.
http://news.webnoize.com/
http://www.inside.com/jcs/InsideDope
http://www.creativeplanet.com
_____________________________________________

o Video Game Firm Electronic Arts To Develop Titles For Microsoft's X-box

Redmond, Wash. -- Microsoft announced on Wednesday that leading video game
firm Electronic Arts has signed a multi-year agreement with the company to
develop titles for its X-box game console. Electronic Arts said that it
expects to publish up to 10 game titles for the launch of the X-box,
scheduled for the fall of 2001. Redwood City-based Electronic Arts creates
popular games such as "Madden NFL Football," "FIFA Soccer" and "The Sims"
for multiple game consoles, including Sony's Playstation2 and Sega's
Dreamcast. Microsoft has either acquired or partnered with 200 game
developers in preparation for the launch of its consumer game console. The
company said that it will complement the release of the X-box with a $500
million marketing campaign.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/001213/wa_elect_a.html
http://www.ea.com
_____________________________________________

> Today: Digital Media Wire Networking Event -- Los Angeles

Los Angeles -- Digital Media Wire will host its next networking event this
evening 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.

Event Sponsor:
iHollywood Forum

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:

(Helsinki, Finland) PacketVideo, a developer of technology that delivers
video to wireless devices, announced on Wednesday that it has partnered
with Finland-based wireless provider Sonera to offer video and audio
content to the company's cell phone subscribers. San Diego-based Packet
Video said the deployment is the first test of its wireless video service
with paying subscribers.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/001213/packetvide.html
http://www.packetvideo.com
http://www.sonera.fi/english

(New York) Performing rights organization Broadcast Music International
(BMI) announced on Wednesday that it will add new features to its online
licensing service. Licensing for non-profit websites, as well as a feature
allowing visitors to prepare and send financial and music-use reports,
will be added to the service. BMI said its Digital Licensing Center is for
lower-trafficked websites that garner less than $25,000 per year in music
retail revenues.
https://dlc.bmi.com
http://www.bmi.com

(San Francisco) SecureMedia, a provider of digital rights management
technology, announced on Wednesday that RealNetworks will use its
encryption technology as a means of security for all of its streaming
media content. San Francisco-based SecureMedia says its technology can
secure data streaming from the server to a user's media player, preventing
unauthorized capture, copying or redirection.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/001213/ca_securem.html
http://www.securemedia.com
http://www.realnetworks.com

(Palo Alto, Calif.) Transcast, a developer of technology for interactive
television, on Wednesday released its "Internet-Over-TV" service and
accompanying set-top box. Transcast offers email, online shopping and news
and entertainment content syndicated from New York-based Screaming Media
using its set-top box, a television and a phone jack. "Transcast
recognizes that two out of three American households still don't have
Internet access -- not because of a lack of desire to access the Web, but
because the technology is still too complex and expensive," commented Kris
Narayan, co-founder of Transcast.
http://www.transcast.net

(Dublin, Ireland) Indiqu, an entertainment content provider for wireless
networks, announced on Wednesday that it has partnered with Irish wireless
network Eircell to offer games and entertainment news to the company's 1.2
million subscribers. Montreal-based Indiqu has partnered with wireless
providers in the U.S., Canada, France, Spain and Holland to provide
wireless entertainment services.
http://www.indiqu.com
http://www.eircell.ie

(Seattle) StarCD (*CD), a provider of technology that lets cell phone
users dial *-C-D to find out information about songs playing on the radio,
announced on Wednesday that it has partnered with HitHive, a
business-to-business developer of custom digital music networks. Under the
agreement, HitHive will create a website for StarCD users to create online
music collections accessible from wireless devices. The two companies will
also promote one another's services.
http://www.starcd.com
http://www.hithive.com

(Redwood City, Calif.) Yahoo will host an online chat on Thursday at 1
p.m. PST entitled, "MP3 & Napster: An Indie Label and Artist
Perspective." Participating in the discussion will be EMusic CEO Gene
Hoffman, EMusic senior director of music development and founder of indie
label SpinART Records Jeff Price, and John Flansburgh, guitarist from the
band They Might Be Giants.
http://chat.yahoo.com/c/events/info/2000/12/14/121400napster.html
http://www.emusic.com
http://www.tmbg.com

(Moffett Field, Calif.) StreamTheory, a provider of software delivery
through streaming media, announced on Wednesday that it has partnered with
entertainment software developer Interplay to develop a streaming
game-sample service. The service allows broadband users to try out games
before purchasing them by streaming the games to their computers.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/001213/ca_stream_.html
http://www.streamtheory.com 
http://www.interplay.com

(New York) Online magazine Feed is currently running a feature story
entitled "Long Live Analog," which examines how current digital technology
for audio recording is emulating the user controls and sounds produced by
older, analog equipment. For instance, many audiophiles prefer the
"warmth" of the sound of a vinyl record or a Moog synthesizer over their
digital counterparts. Some new digital equipment being produced attempts
to re-create this familiar "warm" sound, which the article points out is
usually background noise and equipment hum. Some digital products have
gone so far as to copy the knobs and switches of old analog equipment onto
the user interfaces for new software.
http://www.feedmag.com/templates/default.php3?a_id=1514

(New York) ACTV, a developer of technology for interactive television,
announced that the UK Patent Office has granted it several patents for its
technology. The patents are titled, "A Digital Interactive System for
Providing Full Interactivity with Live Programming Events," and cover
"specific, core technologies" for interactive television delivered via
satellite or cable, or stored on DVDs or CD-ROMs. New York-based ACTV said
the patents will help it to deploy its brand of interactive television
more rapidly in the UK, where interactive television has been more widely
adopted.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/001212/ny_actv.html
http://www.actv.com

(San Jose, Calif.) Audiobasket, a provider of customized audio news and
information, has announced an agreement with America Online's Spinner.com,
to integrate its content onto the Internet service provider's online radio
service. The new station will allow users to hear news from San Jose-based
Audiobasket's media partners, which include The Financial Times, TechTV
and Entertainment Weekly.
http://company.audiobasket.com/aol.htm
http://www.spinner.com
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