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EU Unveils Five-Year Program to Boost Digital Economy

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 1, 2005 - 8:48am.
Brussels -- The European Commission on Wednesday unveiled a five-year program to boost Europe's digital economy and close the gap with the U.S. and Japan. Dubbed i2010, the program aims to create a framework for investment in the IT sector, boost consumers and businesses' adoption of IT and deal with the increasing convergence of technologies. "(Internet telephony), Web TV, on-line music, movies on mobile telephones … all this is now reality," said Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media. "To enhance investment in this promising sector of the economy, we must provide a coherent regulatory framework for Europe's digital economy that is market-oriented, flexible and future-proof." Reding said the EU would focus its research spending on key information and communication technologies, such as nanoelectronics.
tags: Launch | Digital | EU | Program | devellopment | Economy |

Microsoft Awaits EU Response After Submitting Antitrust Proposal

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 1, 2005 - 5:04am.
Brussels -- The EU announced that it has begun studying a compliance proposal that was submitted by software giant Microsoft just before deadline at midnight on Tuesday. The eleventh-hour proposal was just the latest development in a long-running antitrust dispute between the European Commission and Microsoft, which still could face massive fines equal to 5% of its global sales, according to EU officials. "The contacts continued late yesterday evening, and now we're examining what they've put on the table," said EU spokesman Jonathon Todd. "The Commission will now carefully analyze what has been put on the table and decide whether or not we consider that Microsoft has complied with the March 2004 decision." Last March, the Commission ruled that Microsoft had abused its market dominance in servers and media player software and ordered the company to share protocol information with rivals. A decision is expected by the end of next month.
tags: Microsoft | Antitrust | EU | Proposal |

Report: One-Third of Digital TVs Will be Cell Phones in 2010

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 1, 2005 - 5:02am.
Boston -- A total of 1.9 million cell phones capable of receiving digital TV signals are expected to sell this year, a number expected to grow to 73.5 million in 2010, when digital TV phones will account for one-third of all digital TVs, according to a report from Boston-based Strategy Analytics. A total of 71 million digital TV devices are forecasted to sell in 2005, rising to 279 million by 2010. "In the context of the cell phone industry, digital TV will be a relatively minor event," said Strategy Analytics principal analyst David Mercer. "But for digital TV players mobile devices represent an important new opportunity. The industry will push digital TV into people's hands, but it faces a challenge getting them to use it." The firm predicts that handset makers Samsung, Sony Ericsson and LG will lead the market push into mobile digital TV, but will be beset with obstacles such as usability problems and government regulations.
tags: Reports | Cell Phones | Digital TVs | One-Third |

Entertainment Retailers Produce Joint PSA for Parents on Ratings Systems

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 1, 2005 - 4:58am.
Washington -- A coalition of entertainment industry retailers comprising music, movies and video games on Wednesday introduced a new website and public service announcement intended to inform parents on the various ratings systems they employ -- as part of Entertainment Ratings & Labeling Awareness Month. The Coalition of Entertainment Retail Trade Associations (CERTA) -- which includes the Digital Media Association (DiMA); Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association (IEMA); National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM); National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO); and Video Software Dealers Association (VSDA) -- represents 2,000 retailers and exhibitors that operate more than 40,000 theaters, video and video game stores, music stores and other retail outlets. The website provides information in multimedia formats on the motion picture, music and video game ratings systems, and the policies of companies that sell such media. The coalition's public service announcement is also set to run on in-store monitors in 5,000 video stores.
tags: Entertainment | Parents | PSA | Ratings Systems |

Video Game Site IGN Entertainment Acquires AskMen.com

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 1, 2005 - 3:19am.
Brisbane, Calif. -- IGN Entertainment, a provider of video game news, information and technologies, announced on Wednesday that it has acquired AskMen.com, a site targeting the male 18 to 34 demographic that counts 25,000 members and logged 3.8 million unique visitors in March 2005. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Brisbane, Calif.-based IGN said the purchase increases its total audience reach by about 3 million visitors; the company operates a network of sites that includes IGN.com, GameSpy, Rotten Tomatoes, FilePlanet and TeamXbox that collectively drew 24 million visitors in March, according to comScore Media Metrix.
tags: IGN | Website | Video Game | AskMen.com |