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NBA Gets Estimated $400 Million From Five Video Game Publishers

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 22, 2005 - 9:45am.
New York -- The National Basketball Association (NBA) on Tuesday announced the signing of non-exclusive video game licensing agreements with five game publishers, bucking the recent trend for exclusive licenses granted by the NFL and MLB. The NBA granted Electronic Arts, Take-Two Interactive, Sony, Midway Games and Atari the rights to continue to develop and publish titles featuring NBA teams and both current and retired players, adding that it will promote the games through the league's various assets, including NBA TV and NBA.com. Reuters cited analysts who estimated the five and six-year deals to be worth a combined $400 million. "It's been our experience that relative competition among the (publishers) has inspired a tremendous amount of creativity," Sal LaRocca, senior vice president of global merchandise for the NBA, told Reuters. NBA Entertainment president Adam Silver added, "We got to a dollar number which is a significant increase off our current deals but at the same time we're able to maintain relations with our current partners." Under the agreements, EA, Take-Two and Sony will be allowed to develop NBA simulation titles every year, while EA and Midway will alternate years when releasing their arcade-style titles, "NBA Street" and "NBA Ballers."
tags: Deals | NBA | Video Game Publishers |

U.K. Games Firm Eidos Gets Offers From SCi Entertainment, Elevation Partners

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 22, 2005 - 9:42am.
London -- U.K. video game developer SCi Entertainment Group on Tuesday offered 53.6 pence per share, or about $145 million for Eidos, its troubled U.K. rival. Earlier on Tuesday, Eidos agreed to a $135.1 million takeover bid by Elevation Partners (EP), a U.S.-based venture capital firm that focuses on media, entertainment and consumer-oriented companies. EP's partners include John Riccitello, a former president of EA; Fred Anderson, the former CFO of Apple; and Bono, the lead singer of Irish rock band U2. With the news of SCi's rival bid, Eidos shares jumped by as much as 28% to 55 pence in afternoon trading on the London Stock Exchange, its largest gain in nearly five years. Eidos, which produces the popular "Lara Croft Tomb Raider" and "Championship Manager" franchises, has been shopping around for a buyer since last August, only two months after revealing that full-year figures would not meet expectations.
tags: Deals | U.K | Elevation | Games Firm Eidos | SCi Entertainment |

RIAA Settles Lawsuit Against StreamCast Networks Over Web Radio Service

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 22, 2005 - 9:40am.
Los Angeles -- The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has settled a lawsuit it filed against peer-to-peer file-sharing provider StreamCast Networks, which accused the company of making thousands of unauthorized copies of songs -- for an online radio service the company never launched, the Los Angeles Times reported. The settlement does not affect the major record labels' separate lawsuit against StreamCast and Grokster, another file-sharing network, which will be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court next week. StreamCast CEO Michael Weiss told The Times that the company accepted a "ridiculously low settlement offer" from the labels to end the "nuisance lawsuit." RIAA senior vice president Stanley Pierre-Louis told The Times, "We certainly were satisfied with where we ended up."
tags: RIAA | StreamCast Networks | Web Radio Service |

Report: DVD Sales Will Maintain Growth to Reach $76.5 Billion in 2009

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 22, 2005 - 9:38am.
Scottsdale, Ariz. -- Worldwide DVD sales are expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 18.2% to $76.5 billion in 2009, up from about $33 billion in 2004, according to a report from Arizona-based market research firm In-Stat. The firm doesn't expect digitally-delivered entertainment or the coming format war between Blu-ray and HD DVD high-definition discs to impede DVD sales. "HD DVDs will appear later this year, to take advantage of the growing installed base of HDTV sets in the U.S. However, we expect Blu-Ray products to take off in Asia in 2006, and in Europe and the ROW during 2007. Music videos, DualDisc products and locally produced DVDs will account for 20% of the market value by 2009," said In-Stat analyst Gerry Kaufold. In-Stat also predicts point-of-sale kiosks like those made by Rimage will catch on, enabling retailers to offer their customers the ability to burn DVDs on demand, without maintaining a large inventory.
tags: Deals | VC | Reports | DVD Sales | Maintain |

HP to Acquire Snapfish Online Photo Service

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 22, 2005 - 9:36am.
Palo Alto, Calif. -- Hoping to capitalize on the growing market for online photo printing, Hewlett-Packard announced that it has signed a deal to acquire San Francisco-based Snapfish, operator of a popular online photo service. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Snapfish has more than 13 million registered members and is growing at a rate of more than 500,000 members per month. The acquisition is expected to close in April. Snapfish offers photo products and services, including online photo sharing, editing tools, print ordering and more than 70 personalized photo products, such as calendars and mousepads. The company also provides infrastructure services to retailers, internet service providers and wireless carriers, allowing them to offer these same products and services to their own consumers. HP said that the services are complimentary with its own expertise in digital imaging and home printing.
tags: Deals | HP | Snapfish Online Photo Service |

Report: Chinese Online Games Market to Reach $2 Billion in 2009

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 22, 2005 - 9:34am.
San Francisco -- The Chinese online games market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 33.8%, from $467.8 million in 2004 to $2 billion in 2009, according to a report from San Francisco-based market research firm Niko Partners. The number of online gamers, who mainly play while patronizing one of China's 350,000 Internet cafes, is expected to grow from 28.8 million in 2004, to 55.5 million in 2009. "The online game platform is an excellent solution for the Chinese market, meeting the consumer demands for social interaction, entertainment, and intellectual stimulation," said Niko Partners managing partners Lisa Cosmas Hanson. "It also meets the needs of publishers because revenue is earned from fees gamers pay to play games, rather than from purchases of game software units that have long been the victim of piracy in China."
tags: Deals | VC | Reports | Chinese Online Games |

Spoken Word Audio Content Distributor MediaBay Raises $35 Million

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 22, 2005 - 9:31am.
Cedar Knolls, N.J. -- MediaBay, a provider of spoken word audio content, announced on Tuesday that it has raised $35 million in a recent round of funding from several institutional investors. The company said the proceeds would go to help fund its digital distribution strategy; MediaBay holds a library of 75,000 hours of audio content, which it sells both on CD and cassettes, and as downloads through various digital services. MediaBay has recently struck agreements to distribute its content through both XM and Sirius Satellite Radio, as well as Microsoft's MSN and Loudeye. The company also partnered with talk host Larry King on an upcoming audiobook club. "Today we have distribution agreements to deliver our programming on satellite radio, via digital downloads on our partner's storefronts and our own celebrity-endorsed storefronts, and to cell phones via ringtones," said MediaBay CEO Jeffrey Dittus. New Jersey-based MediaBay said it will use the proceeds first to pay off debt, after which its cash reserves are expected to stand at $16 million.
tags: Deals | MediaBay | Spoken Word Audio Content Distributor |

Interactive TV Games Firm PlayTV Acquires Pixel Technologies

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 22, 2005 - 9:29am.
New York -- PlayTV, a publisher of interactive TV games, announced on Tuesday that it has agreed to acquire Pixel Technologies, a developer of cross-platform entertainment technology. While PlayTV said it raised an undisclosed amount of new funding for the new company, financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Founded in 2002, New York-based PlayTV provides subscription-based interactive TV games for cable and satellite TV systems, based on properties including "Monopoly," "Scrabble," "Asteroids" and "Reader Rabbit." Israel-based Pixel Technologies has provided cross-platform, multiplayer interactive TV game software to customers including EchoStar, Liberate, OpenTV and Microsoft. The new company will be headquartered in New York and will be renamed PixelPlay.
tags: Games | Deals | PlayTV | Pixel Technologies |

Mobile Search Service 4INFO Raises $8 Million in Funding

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 22, 2005 - 9:26am.
Palo Alto, Calif. -- 4INFO, a developer of services that allow users to search for information on their mobile devices, announced that it has raised $8 million in a new round of venture capital funding led by U.S. Venture Partners. Draper Fisher Jurvetson also participated. San Mateo, Calif.-based 4INFO's free service -- which works with all major wireless carriers -- allows users of cell phones and PDAs to search for such information as sports scores, weather, flight information, movie times and stock quotes. Users also can access a comprehensive database of stores and businesses, broken down by neighborhood. For instance, a user can send "starbucks palo alto" to 44636 and the service will return the addresses and phone numbers for all of the locations in the city.
tags: Funding | Mobile Search Service | 4INFO |