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Sirius Satellite Radio CEO Denies Merger Talks With Rival XM

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 26, 2005 - 6:44am.
New York -- Following a report in The New York Post that claimed satellite radio providers Sirius and XM had entered merger negotiations, Sirius Satellite Radio head Mel Karmazin denied the rumors on Wednesday. "I have not met with the chairman or CEO [of XM], so I have no idea where any of this came from," Karmazin told reporters on a conference call. Analysts speculated that a proposed merger between the two rival satellite radio firms would not pass regulatory muster. Karmazin also denied that Sirius was trying to buy out the remainder of shock jock Howard Stern's contract with Viacom, so that he could shift to Sirius sooner than in 2006 as planned. Sirius said on Wednesday that it experienced a wider loss during the fourth quarter of 2004, as a result of high subscriber acquisition costs and expensive licenses for sports programming. The company did raise its subscriber forecast for 2005 to 2.5 million subscribers.
tags: XM | Rival | Sirius Satellite Radio CEO | Denies Merger |

MPAA Files Second Wave of Lawsuits Against Alleged Movie File-Swappers

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 26, 2005 - 6:42am.
Los Angeles -- The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), which represents the major Hollywood movie studios, announced on Wednesday that it has filed a second round of copyright infringement lawsuits against an undisclosed number of alleged U.S. online movie file-swappers. "We cannot allow people to steal our motion pictures and other products online, and we will use all the options we have available to encourage people to obey the law," said MPAA CEO Dan Glickman. Following the example of the recording industry, which has now sued over 7,000 individuals for online piracy, the MPAA filed its first round of lawsuits against individual file-swappers in November. The group then led an international effort to go after operators of servers for file-sharing services like eDonkey and BitTorrent, leading to arrests in several European countries. The MPAA on Wednesday also released a software application, "Parent File Scan," that can be used by parents to determine if file-sharing software and copyrighted media files have been downloaded by their children. The MPAA said the software doesn't collect or report any information on users.
tags: Law | Lawsuits | MPAA | Movie File-Swappers |

Yahoo Opens L.A. Offices in Bid to Court Entertainment Industry

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 26, 2005 - 6:40am.
Sunnyvale, Calif. -- In a bid to strengthen its ties to the entertainment business, web portal Yahoo will lease new facilities in Los Angeles to house a newly formed Yahoo Media Group to be headed by former ABC TV chairman Lloyd Braun. Yahoo Media Group will oversee the company's news, sports, video games, movies and music services. The Los Angeles Times called the estimated $100 million lease of offices in Santa Monica one of the largest commercial real estate deals in Los Angeles County in the last year. Yahoo will maintain its Sunnyvale, Calif. headquarters, but will aggressively hire in the Los Angeles area and relocate employees from its New York and Sunnyvale operations to staff the new facilities. Following the appointment of former Warner Bros. head Terry Semel as CEO in 2001, the company has sought to bolster the quality of its entertainment and news offerings. It has since acquired online ad purveyor Overture Services and online music services Launch and Musicmatch, and hired Wall Street Journal Online founder Neil Budde to head its online news division.
tags: Yahoo | Bid | L.A. Offices | Court Entertainment Industry |

Nintendo Profits Down 43% on Weak GameCube Sales

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 26, 2005 - 6:38am.
Tokyo -- Japanese video game firm Nintendo's profits were down 43% for the last quarter, which the company attributed in part to weak GameCube sales. and prompted a cut of more than 20% for its sales forecast for the full year. Nintendo lowered its sales forecast for the full year by 20%, and also revised projected sales for the GameCube for the upcoming year downward by 12.5%, to 4 million units. The plunge in profits came in spite of strong sales for its new DS handheld, which the company said has outperformed expectations, selling 2.84 million units since launch. Nintendo increased its sales forecast for the DS to 6 million units by March, but at the same time cut its projections for DS game sales by one-third. "DS software is not selling because users are playing the pre-installed PictoChat game or Gameboy Advance games, which are compatible," a spokesman for Nintendo told Reuters. "They buy one game with their DS purchase, but they're not buying two or three."
tags: Nintendo | Profits Down | Weak GameCube Sales |

Google Hires Lead Programmer of Firefox Browser

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 26, 2005 - 6:36am.
Mountain View, Calif. -- Fueling speculation that Google may be gearing up to release its own web browser to compete against Microsoft's Internet Explorer, the Internet search giant has apparently hired Ben Goodger, the lead programmer of the alternative Firefox browser. "As of January 10, 2005, my source of income changed from The Mozilla Foundation to Google, Inc. of Mountain View, California," said Goodger on his web site. "My role with Firefox and the Mozilla project will remain largely unchanged… While I will be spending more time at Google, I will work out of the Mozilla Foundation offices regularly as the need arises." His exact role at Google remains unclear. The Firefox browser, put out by Mozilla, has rapidly gained in popularity in recent months due to its numerous features and fewer occurrences of malicious attacks.
tags: Google | Lead Programmer | Firefox Browser |

Take-Two Acquires Rights to Firaxis Games' "Civilization" Franchise

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 26, 2005 - 6:35am.
New York -- Take-Two Interactive, publisher of the "Grand Theft Auto" video game franchise, announced on Wednesday that it has acquired the multi-million unit-selling "Civilization" game franchise from Maryland-based Firaxis Games. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Take-Two also signed a long-term, multi-title publishing agreement with Firaxis, which is home to developer Sid Meier and has created games including "Pirates," "SimGolf" and "Alpha Centauri." The first title to be published as a result of the agreement will be "Sid Meier's Civilization IV" for PC, to be released by Take-Two's newly formed 2K Games label in late 2005.
tags: Take-Two | Civilization | Acquires | Firaxis Games |

Game Publisher Majesco Raises $46 Million in Stock Offering

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 26, 2005 - 6:33am.
Edison, N.J. -- Video game publisher Majesco, a developer of games including "BloodRayne" and "Advent Rising," announced on Wednesday that it has priced a $75 million offering of 6 million of its shares, issued by the company and its stockholders. New Jersey-based Majesco said it would receive proceeds of about $46 million from the offering. "This successful offering gives us the opportunity to further develop and prove Majesco's growth strategies and management team," said CEO Carl Yankowski. "These funds will help finance working capital, accelerate product development, fuel more marketing, and acquire new content, all of which will facilitate our diverse planned growth and leverage our unique three-pronged digital entertainment business model."
tags: VC | Majesco | Game Publisher | Stock Offering |

Mobile Entertainment Developer PhoneBites Raises $3 Million

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 26, 2005 - 6:28am.
San Francisco -- PhoneBites, a mobile entertainment firm developing sound clips that callers can inject into their cell phone conversations, announced that it has raised $3 million in its first round of venture capital financing. Investors participating in the round included Garage Technology Ventures, Cardinal Venture Capital and Siemens Mobile Acceleration. Founded in 2002, San Francisco-based PhoneBites recently introduced its RAZZ technology, which lets callers insert pre-recorded sound effects and voices -- such as the "Bushisms" examples offered on its website -- into live conversations and voice mail messages. The company said it will use the funds to expand its product portfolio, add global distribution channels and increase infrastructure.
tags: VC | Phonebites | Mobile Entertainment Developer |

Report: U.K. Mobile Phone Penetration Now Exceeds 100%

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 26, 2005 - 6:24am.
London -- According the latest figures from the Mobile Data Association (MDA) based on contract and pre-paid subscriptions, mobile phone penetration in the U.K. now exceeds 100%. The MDA said many U.K. customers now own more than one handset in order to separate voice and e-mail applications or business and personal communications. The 100% milestone was reached 11 years after digital mobile services were first launched in the U.K., the MDA said. With the news, the U.K. joins the likes of Italy, Iceland, Portugal, Sweden and Luxembourg, which currently boasts a 133% mobile penetration rate.
tags: Reports | Exceeds | U.K. Mobile Phone Penetration |