Archive - Aug 18, 2005 | Digital Media Wire

Google Aims to Raise $4 Billion in Secondary Stock Offering

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 18, 2005 - 9:03am.

Mountain View, Calif. -- Google announced on Thursday that it plans to sell another 14.2 million shares, in anticipation of raising over $4 billion in a secondary stock offering. The company's shares debuted at $85 in their IPO a year ago, which raised $1.7 billion. Since then, Google's shares have tripled in value; the company plans to sell the shares in the new offering at $285 each. Mountain View, Calif.-based Google will use the proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes, as well as for potential acquisitions.

tags: Deals | VC | Google | Secondary Stock Offering |

Yahoo Maintains Market's Lowest Pricing for Music Service Launch

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 18, 2005 - 9:01am.

Santa Monica, Calif. -- Yahoo on Thursday officially launched its music subscription service, Yahoo Music Unlimited, in the U.S. The company slightly altered the market-leading subscription price for the service, which allows unlimited downloads from its million-song library while a user remains a subscriber: previously available for $4.99 per month during beta testing, the service will now cost $6.99 per month, or $4.99 per month if purchased as an annual subscription. The service's launch will be promoted through a multi-faceted ad campaign featuring minutely-drawn, detailed depictions of well-known musicians including Green Day, Missy Elliot, Big & Rich and Ciara, which will kick-off during the MTV Video Music Awards on Aug. 28.

tags: Music | Yahoo | Music Service Launch | Lowest Pricing |

Sony Introduces New "Bean" Line of Flash-Based MP3 Players

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 18, 2005 - 8:58am.

San Diego -- Sony Electronics said on Thursday that it will release a new series of flash memory-based Walkman digital audio players in the U.S. in October. The Walkman NW-E300 "Bean" players feature an FM tuner, come in a range of colors, and support MP3, ATRAC3, WMA and WAV formats, as well as downloads from Sony's Connect online music store. The $129, 512MB and $179, 1GB capacity models are currently available for pre-order from Sony.

tags: Music | Sony | Bean | Flash-Based MP3 Players |

SBC Announces Set-top Vendors, Details for Internet TV Service

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 18, 2005 - 8:57am.

San Antonio -- SBC Communications announced on Thursday that it has signed Scientific-Atlanta and Motorola to supply set-top boxes for its planned service that will deliver TV programming over broadband lines (IPTV). The IPTV set-top boxes, which will run on Microsoft's IPTV software, will come without traditional tuners, allowing them to receive multiple video streams, and will feature next-generation compression technology enabling them to store content more efficiently on their digital video recorders. The SBC U-verse TV service is scheduled to launch in limited markets in late 2005 or early 2006. The company then plans to expand the service in mid-2006, adding features like whole-home digital video recording and HDTV.

tags: Details | Set-top Vendors | SBC | Internet TV Service |

Report: 27% of Game-Compatible Cell Phone Owners Are Playing

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 18, 2005 - 8:55am.

Port Washington, N.Y. -- The number of U.S. wireless subscribers with compatible handsets who played games on their cell phones increased from 20% last year to 27% in 2005, according to a survey of 8,500 subscribers conducted by market research firm NPD Group. However, only one-third of these mobile gamers actually purchased game downloads; the rest played free games or titles that came pre-loaded on their phones. The most common motivation cited among respondents for playing mobile games was "to kill time or alleviate boredom," with the average gaming session lasting 11 minutes. The survey found more kids between the ages of 13 and 17 (60%) said they played mobile games than did adults (23%), while mobile gamers were twice as likely to be African-American, Hispanic or Asian. "The world of mobile gaming is like the Wild West," said NPD Group vice president Clint Wheelock. "In this time of rapid growth, and with the industry in such a formative stage, it's especially important for wireless operators and game publishers to understand the mindsets of mobile gamers, in order to best position themselves for long-term success."

The Mobile Media Company Raises $3.75 Million

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 18, 2005 - 8:53am.

Vienna, Va. -- The Mobile Media Company, a distributor of mobile entertainment and interactive TV technology, announced on Thursday that it has received $3.75 million in venture capital financing, from a group of undisclosed investors. The Norway-based company recently acquired streaming video developer Rubberduck Media Lab, and also signed a deal to provide interactive TV applications to China's Hunan Movie and Television Channel. The company will use the funds to expand its global operations, and increase the scale of its business in North America.

tags: Deals | VC | Mobile Media Company |

Parent Co. of Zingy, MusiKube, Vindigo Plans U.S. Stock Offering

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 18, 2005 - 8:28am.

New York -- The Japanese parent company of U.S. ringtone firm Zingy, song ID service MusiKube and mobile city guide provider Vindigo is planning a U.S. stock offering on the Nasdaq, Forbes.com reported. Japanese mobile entertainment publisher For-side.com currently plans to sell shares in some or all of its U.S. subsidiaries either late this year or in early 2006. Forbes.com reported that "speculation among mobile content competitors is that the roll-up would be headed by Zingy CEO Fabrice Grinda.