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ArchivesReport: Icahn's Group May Attempt to Quadruple Time Warner StakeAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on August 31, 2005 - 6:56am.
Dulles, Va. -- Hoping to turn up the pressure on AOL parent Time Warner, a group led by billionaire financier Carl Icahn is considering quadrupling its stake in the media giant to 10%, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. Icahn has been trying to get the company to implement his plan for increasing shareholder value, which includes a massive stock buyback and the divestiture of Time Warner's cable television unit. Icahn's group, which includes SAC Capital Advisors, Jana Partners and Franklin Mutual Advisors, currently owns about 2.6% of the company. Increasing its stake to 10% could cost more than $6 billion. Icahn two weeks ago met with Time Warner CEO Dick Parsons in what he described as a "good and productive discussion with a lively exchange of ideas." He is recommending that the company spin off its cable television business and repurchase $20 billion in stock. Plans for Dulles-based AOL were not disclosed.
RIAA Sues Another 754 Song-Swappers for Copyright InfringementAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on August 31, 2005 - 4:43am.
Los Angeles -- The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) announced on Wednesday that it has sued another 754 individuals for copyright infringement of songs on peer-to-peer file-sharing networks. The "John Doe" lawsuits, filed in federal courts in California, Colorado, Georgia, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington, D.C., will seek to obtain the identities of individuals from their Internet service providers. The industry's last wave of 765 file-swapper lawsuits was filed in late July; defendants have usually settled with the record labels for between $3,000 and $5,000 each. The RIAA has now sued over 14,000 individuals since launching its legal anti-piracy campaign in Sept. 2003.
Google to Buy Print Ads, Re-Sell Them to Online AdvertisersAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on August 31, 2005 - 4:41am.
San Francisco -- In an effort to expand its lucrative online ad sales business, Google has begun buying ads in print publications and re-selling them to advertisers who use its online AdWords program, CNET News.com reported. Google has purchased full page ads in publications including PC Magazine and Maximum PC, broken up the ad space, and re-sold the smaller sections to AdWords advertisers. "Google has shown that big media companies don't have to be part of the mix at all," Tim Hanlon, senior vice president of emerging contacts at ad agency Publicis Groupe. "People can just get the content and ads directly from an uber-intermediary. That's caught a lot of traditional ad types off guard." The Google print ad pages, labeled "Ads by Google," include an address for a website that features a replica of the ads on the print page.
"Call of Duty" Developer Spark Sues Activision for $10 MillionAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on August 31, 2005 - 4:39am.
Santa Monica, Calif. -- Video game publisher Activision has been sued for $10 million by Spark Unlimited, developer of its "Call of Duty: Finest Hour" title, over allegations Activision reneged on an agreement that would have seen Spark develop two sequels to the game. Spark says in its lawsuit that Activision withheld bridge financing due after the delivery of Finest Hour, in addition to lowering royalty payments to the developer for the title. Spark also alleges that Activision stole ideas presented by Spark for sequels to Finest Hour, which are now being implemented in a sequel being worked on by developers Grey Matter and Treyarch. "Activision refused to pay Spark the royalties owed on Finest Hour or the bridge financing due under the contract, stole Spark's idea, and then hired away Spark's own employees to develop that sequel, hoping that if Spark was sufficiently crippled, Spark would be unable to protect its rights," Spark alleges, in its lawsuit. Activision told Reuters that it is reviewing the lawsuit.
Virgin to Launch Digital Music Subscription Service on FridayAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on August 31, 2005 - 4:37am.
London -- The U.K.-based Virgin Group said on Wednesday that it plans to launch its digital music service, Virgin Digital UK, on Friday, offering a library of over one million tracks for 79p ($1.42) each. The service was developed in-house, and will feature tracks licensed through U.S.-based MusicNet. In addition to permanent downloads, Virgin Digital will offer a basic subscription for 9.99 pounds ($18) per month and a premium version for 14.99 pounds ($27) per month. Virgin Digital will be promoted within all Virgin Megastores, which will also sell MP3 hardware compatible with the service from Samsung, Sony, Creative and iRiver; the service will not support Apple's iPod. The company also partnered with U.K. broadband provider Blueyonder, to offer free downloads and trial subscriptions to Virgin Digital. "With a strong music heritage behind us, as a record label and a retailer, Virgin has a huge advantage, and platform to launch a digital service that will become the ultimate destination to buy, stream, burn and enjoy the best the music world has to offer," said Virgin Group founder Richard Branson.
Gracenote Raises $10.9 Million, Acquires Technology from PhilipsAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on August 31, 2005 - 4:36am.
Amsterdam -- Gracenote, a provider of song identification technology, announced that it has raised $10.9 million in its fifth round of venture capital financing from existing investors. The company also announced that it will acquire audio identification and fingerprinting technology from Philips, which will make an equity investment in the company. Berkeley, Calif.-based Gracenote paid an undisclosed sum for Philips' technologies; the companies will also enter into a long-term research and development pact. Gracenote said the acquisition would further extend its lead in the digital entertainment technology market and allow it to expand into significant new markets, including chip-based recognition, embedded technologies for devices such as car stereos and music and advertising monitoring.
Napster Offers Music Service for Cell PhonesAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on August 31, 2005 - 4:34am.
Los Angeles -- Napster announced on Wednesday the availability of its Napster To Go portable music subscription service for a number of cell phone models. The service is now available on smartphones and cell phones that run Microsoft's Windows Mobile 5.0 and Windows Mobile 2003, including the forthcoming Motorola Moto Q, and certain models made by Audiovox, HP, HTC, i-Mate, Orange, Palm, Samsung, Siemens and Sierra. The mobile subscription service will allow for both unlimited streaming of songs and a la carte downloads to cell phones. Wireless carriers that support handset models compatible with Napster To Go include BellSouth, Cingular, O2, Orange, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon and Vodafone.
Disney, Swiss Firm Kudelski to Develop Video-on-Demand ServiceAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on August 31, 2005 - 4:32am.
Zurich -- The Walt Disney Company has partnered with Swiss security software firm Kudelski, to develop a video-on-demand service for global digital TV operators that would deliver movies and TV programs to the hard drive of a digital video recorder, Reuters reported. The companies said the service will be compatible with satellite, cable, terrestrial and IPTV digital video recorders. However, the service will not be offered in the U.S., Canada or Japan.
Korean Mobile Game Publisher Com2uS Raises $8 MillionAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on August 31, 2005 - 4:30am.
Seoul, South Korea -- Com2uS, a Korean developer and publisher of mobile games, announced on Wednesday that it has raised $8 million in a new round of venture capital financing, led by Storm Ventures and Walden International. Com2uS titles, such as "Andre Agassi COM2US Tennis," "Civilization" and "3D Golf," are available on Korean carriers including SK Telecom, KTF and LG Telecom, and internationally through Vodafone, NTT DoCoMo, China Mobile and T-Mobile. The company will use the funds -- which it calls largest amount to date raised by a Korean online game publisher -- to boost its game development programs and marketing activities in both Korean and international markets.
P2P Streaming Developer Rawflow Raises $4 MillionAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on August 31, 2005 - 4:29am.
London -- Rawflow, a London-based developer of peer-to-peer streaming media technology, announced on Wednesday that it has received a $4 million investment from Benchmark Capital. Founded in 2000, Rawflow developed Intelligent Content Distribution (ICD) technology that distributes a live broadcast to users' computers connected through a peer-to-peer network; the system is being used by customers including the Danish Broadcasting Corporation. The company will use the funds for marketing and sales efforts for its ICD technology.
Report: U.K. Mobile Phone Spending Jumped 17% in 2nd QtrAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on August 31, 2005 - 4:26am.
London -- According to the "Communications Market August 2005 Quarterly Update", published by U.K. telecommunications watchdog Ofcom, mobile spending in the first quarter of 2005 came to nearly $6 billion, about 17% higher than the total for the same quarter last year. Total retail revenues for U.K. telecommunications companies in the 12 months ended March 2005 came to more than $66 billion, about 5% higher compared to the year previous. Ofcom's report also found that Freeview, a fast-growing digital terrestrial platform, has now reached more than 5 million U.K. households and that shopping, interactive services and pay-per-view services accounted for about a fifth of local digital channels' revenues in 2004.
Impact of Hurricane Katrina Slows Some Major U.S. WebsitesAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on August 31, 2005 - 4:08am.
San Mateo, Calif. -- As Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast, several popular websites had difficulty maintaining their performance and availability, according to new information from Keynote Systems, a provider of site performance measurement services. For a period of about three hours on Sunday night, some of the graphic content on Weather.com was not available, and the availability of other content on the site also dipped for about 35 minutes on Monday morning. Both CNN.com and USAToday.com, although both stable and available, also showed some degradation of performance on Monday morning, with home pages taking up to 10 seconds to load, or about three times as long as normal. In addition, the National Weather Service's site went from its usual availability rate of 94%-98% to just 29% for a short period. Keynote's performance index measures the average download time for the home pages of 40 important sites from the 25 largest metropolitan areas of the U.S.
Reports: Cingular to Market Motorola iTunes PhoneAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on August 30, 2005 - 5:00am.
New York -- According to published reports in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and other sources, Apple Computer and Motorola plan to introduce a cell phone with iTunes music player software next week. Apple said on Monday that it plans a major music-related announcement on Sept. 7, but did not provide additional details. The New York Times cited Roger Entner, an analyst with market research firm Ovum, who was told by an industry executive that the iTunes phone would be marketed by Cingular Wireless. Such a phone would allow users to transfer songs from their computers directly onto the phone, bypassing data charges associated with downloading full-length tracks over wireless networks on other music phones.
BMI Acquires Song Identification Technology from U.K.-Based ShazamAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on August 30, 2005 - 4:57am.
New York -- BMI, the performing rights organization that represents 300,000 songwriters and 6.5 million works, announced on Tuesday that it has acquired the technology assets of Shazam Entertainment, a developer of mobile music recognition technology. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. Terms of the deal call for Landmark Digital Services, a new subsidiary of BMI, to acquire the music recognition technology from U.K.-based Shazam -- which it will rename BlueArrow. Shazam will receive a worldwide exclusive license from Landmark to continue offering the music recognition technology to consumers; Shazam's service lets users dial a number, hold their cell phones up to a speaker playing music, and receive a message sent to their phones containing the artist and song title of the song being played. BMI plans to use the BlueArrow technology to identify members' songs played on various media, including radio and TV, to track and process royalty payments. "Pattern recognition technology is the single most promising way to identify music performed on today's media and further into the digital future," said BMI president and CEO Del Bryant. "BlueArrow technology will give us a powerful new tool for the identification of music played on radio, television and in digital media."
California Gets First State Conviction for Felony Internet PiracyAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on August 30, 2005 - 4:55am.
Los Angeles -- A California man has pleaded guilty to felony conspiracy to commit grand theft of movies, music and games, in the first criminal Internet file-sharing case to be brought in the state. Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley said that 34-year-old Los Angeles resident Jed Frederick Kobles ran an Internet file-sharing hub called UTB Smokinghouse, that offered free downloads of films including "A Beautiful Mind" and "Terminator 3," in addition to music videos from Madonna and episodes of "The Simpsons." Under the felony conviction, Kobles could face a sentence ranging from probation to a maximum of three years in prison.
MP3 Player Maker Creative Wins Patent on User InterfaceAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on August 30, 2005 - 4:54am.
Scotts Valley, Calif. -- Consumer electronics firm Creative Technology announced on Tuesday that it has been granted a U.S. patent on its user interface technology for portable media players. The "Zen Patent" covers technology found both in Creative's own Zen and Nomad MP3 players, as well as in Apple's iPod. Creative said the technology covered by the patent describes "a method, performed by software executing on the processor of a portable music playback device, that automatically files tracks according to hierarchical structure of categories to organize tracks in a logical order. A user interface is utilized to change the hierarchy, view track names, and select tracks for playback or other operations."
Infineon to Provide Memory, Chips for Microsoft's Xbox 360Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 30, 2005 - 4:52am.
Munich, Germany -- Infineon Technologies, a German manufacturer of semiconductors and storage memory cards, announced on Tuesday that it has been chosen to provide a removable memory card, advanced security chip, and wireless game controller chip for Microsoft's Xbox 360 video game console. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The chips were developed in Germany, Israel and Italy and will be manufactured in France for inclusion in the Xbox 360, which goes on sale in the fall.
U.K. Skill Games Firm Midasplayer.com Secures $41 Million InvestmentAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on August 30, 2005 - 4:50am.
London -- Midasplayer.com, a London-based skill-gaming company, announced that it has secured approximately $41 million in venture capital financing. Midasplayer.com is an online games website where players win cash prizes by participating in casual game tournaments. Players join tournaments to compete against other real players of similar skill levels to win money or points. The company -- which has a development facility in Stockholm, Sweden, and a satellite office in Hamburg, Germany -- said it planned to use the investment to fund its ongoing global expansion.
Swiss Game Developer Funcom Raises $6.1 MillionAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on August 30, 2005 - 4:47am.
Kusnacht, Switzerland -- Funcom, a developer of massively multiplayer online video games, announced that it has received a $6.1 million equity investment from Nordic Venture Partners. Switzerland-based Funcom, which has U.S. offices in Durham, N.C., has developed titles including "Anarchy Online" and the upcoming "Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures." Founded in 1993, the company's 23 releases to date also include a number for video game consoles, such as a game based on a license of Disney's "Pocahontas."
cTalks Between Music Publishers, Subscription Services Break DownAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on August 29, 2005 - 5:31am.
San Francisco -- Negotiations on how much digital music subscription services like Napster, Yahoo and Rhapsody should pay music publishers for the rights to offer their songwriters' music have broken down, CNET News.com reported. While agreements exist with download services and online radio stations, the subscription services have only a temporary deal with music publishers, which has been in place since 2001. While the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) is currently asking for 17% of subscription services' revenues -- a premium over the 5.25% paid for Internet radio and 8.5% for downloads -- the Digital Media Association (DiMA), which represents Yahoo, RealNetworks and others, has offered 6.9% of revenues. The subscription services say they "cannot justify -- for any executive regardless of title -- paying double and triple royalties in comparison to historical industry economics," DiMA executive director Jon Potter wrote in a letter to the publishers groups on Friday.
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