Archives

Adelphia, Rigas Family Pay $715 Million to Settle SEC Fraud Case

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 26, 2005 - 7:13am.
Washington -- The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York have settled their civil action and criminal charges against the executives at bankrupt cable operator Adelphia, who will pay $715 million in compensation. The SEC called the fraud scandal involving Adelphia's founding Rigas family "one of the most extensive financial frauds ever to take place at a public company." Adelphia founder John J. Rigas and his three sons, Timothy, Michael and James, will also forfeit $1.5 billion in assets derived from the fraud, including their interests in certain cable properties. Adelphia, the nation's sixth-largest cable TV company, filed for bankruptcy in June 2002; last week, the company accepted a $17.6 billion buyout offer from Comcast, the nation's largest cable company, and partner Time Warner.
tags: Law | Adelphia | Rigas Family | SEC Fraud Case |

RealNetworks Updates Rhapsody With Free, Unlimited, Portable Versions

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 26, 2005 - 7:10am.
Seattle -- RealNetworks on Tuesday launched a new three-tiered version of its Rhapsody digital music service, offering a free version alongside new portable and unlimited options. "Rhapsody 25" lets users listen to, and share 25 tracks each month for free. For $9.99 per month, Rhapsody Unlimited lets users download and access an unlimited number of tracks from Real's library of one million songs -- as long as they remain subscribers -- or else pay an additional $0.89 per song and $8.99 per album for permanent downloads. The Rhapsody To Go service, which includes all features of the Unlimited tier, adds the ability to transfer an unlimited number of tracks to supported MP3 players for $14.99 per month.
tags: RealNetworks | Rhapsody | Free | Unlimited | Portable Versions |

Netscape Veterans Launch Peer-to-Peer Content Distribution Network

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 26, 2005 - 7:08am.
Sunnyvale, Calif. -- Open Media Network has launched a beta test of its new service that lets users download movies, music, video blogs, podcasts and public TV and radio shows over a peer-to-peer network. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based non-profit, a start-up founded by Netscape veterans Mike Homer and Marc Andreessen, will eventually allow both professional and amateur content creators to set any fees to download their content, which will be indexed in a program guide similar to TiVo's. The Open Media Network will screen out unauthorized copyrighted content from being shared among users, while encouraging creators to authorize use of their submissions under Creative Commons licenses. Initially, content on the service will include public TV and radio content from WGBH, KQED, KWSU and WYNC, in addition to films from Cinequest and video alerts from Witness.org. The service will utilize peer-to-peer distribution technology from Kontiki, Open Media Network founder Mike Homer's corporate venture, which supports Microsoft's digital rights management system.
tags: Launch | Netscape Veterans | Peer-to-Peer Content Distribution |

RealNetworks Updates Controversial "Harmony" Interoperability With iPods

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 26, 2005 - 7:05am.
San Francisco -- RealNetworks has released an updated version of its controversial Harmony technology, which allowed songs purchased outside Apple's iTunes store to play on the iPod, CNET News.com reported on Tuesday. Apple derided the initial version of the technology as "hacking," and updated iTunes to block the connection, while Real contended the technology served a vital function of creating interoperability and more choice for consumers. "Harmony now supports all shipping iPods, including iPod Photo," RealNetworks chief strategy officer Richard Wolpert told News.com. Apple did not immediately provide a response on Harmony to News.com.
tags: RealNetworks | iPods | Harmony Interoperability |

Wal-Mart Launches Online Custom CD Creation Service

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 26, 2005 - 7:03am.
Brisbane, Calif. -- Retail giant Wal-Mart on Tuesday launched a new online custom CD creation service, which allows users to browse its library of 500,000 tracks and create their own mix CDs, which are then burned by Wal-Mart sent to them through the mail. The service costs $4.62 for a three-song CD, plus 88 cents for each additional song, up to 20 ($19.58) total songs. The service also lets users personalize the CD title and packaging from provided images.
tags: Launches | Wal-Mart | Online Custom CD Creation |