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MTV Two-a-Days

Authored by Robert Spears on September 30, 2006 - 2:07am.

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MPAA: Film Piracy Costs U.S. Economy $20.5 Billion a Year

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 29, 2006 - 2:43pm.

Washington - A new study commissioned by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) finds that movie piracy exacts a greater toll on the U.S. economy that previously projected. While a previous study estimated that DVD and online movie piracy cost the industry $6 billion a year in lost sales, a new report from former Rep. Dick Armey's (R-N.D.) Institute for Policy Innovation think tank -- that also factors in lost jobs, worker earnings and tax revenue -- pegs annual piracy losses at $20.5 billion, 140,000 jobs and over $800 million in tax revenue.

"Superman Returns" DVD Launches in China for $2.75; Bootleg Copies $1.75

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 29, 2006 - 2:39pm.

Los Angeles - Despite Warner Home Video's efforts to curb piracy of "Superman Returns" in China by releasing the film on DVD in the country two months before anywhere else, a high-quality bootleg version of the movie was readily available on the streets of Beijing today for $1.75, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Warner's plan was to release a two-disc, legitimate DVD version of the film will all the special features to Chinese retailers to sell for $2.75, betting that the low price and early release date would provide competition to bootleggers.

HP to Acquire Gaming Computer Maker VoodooPC

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 29, 2006 - 2:37pm.

Palo Alto, Calif. - Looking to capture a larger slice of the gaming market, Hewlett
Packard, the Palo Alto, Calif.-based technology giant currently embroiled in a boardroom spying scandal, said that it has signed a deal to acquire Calgary-based VoodooPC, a maker of high-performance gaming computer systems. Financial terms of the deal, expected to close in November, were not disclosed. HP said that it plans to form a separate business unit within its Personal Systems Group focused on the gaming industry, with VoodooPC co-owners Rahul Sood and Ravi Sood becoming the unit's chief technologist and director of strategy, respectively.

British Music Industry, Digital Music Retailers Set Royalty Rates

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 29, 2006 - 2:33pm.

London - The British music industry announced this week that it has reached an agreement with Apple and mobile carriers including O2, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone, on royalties to be paid to artists for music distributed online and to cell phones in the U.K. The deal between the British Phonographic Industry, which represents major record labels, MCPS-PRS Alliance -- which represents songwriters, composers and music publishers -- and the digital music distributors also partially settles outstanding litigation between the parties.

List of Artists With Unclaimed Digital Royalties Includes Big Names

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 29, 2006 - 2:30pm.

Los Angeles - Well-known recording artists including Mos Def, T-Bone Burnett and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir are among 9,000 whom SoundExchange, the recording industry entity set up to dole out royalties for digital music, has said it has been unable to locate or contact to claim $500,000 in unpaid royalties, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Shares of Online Photo Service Shutterfly Rise Following $81 Million IPO

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 29, 2006 - 2:27pm.

Redwood City, Calif. - Shares of Shutterfly rose nearly 4% on the their first day of trading after the Redwood City, Calif.-based online photo service raised about $80.9 million in its initial public offering (IPO). The company priced its 5.8 million shares at $15 each, at the top of its expected range. The seven-year-old company, which lets users upload, edit and share digital photos, is trading on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol "SFLY." Since launching its service in late 1999, Shutterfly has fulfilled more than 11 million orders, sold approximately 350 million prints and stored more than 900 million customer photos in its image archives. Shares of the company closed at $15.55.

News Corp.'s NDS Acquires Video Game Developer ITE

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 29, 2006 - 2:09pm.

London - NDS, a unit of News Corporation that provides content protection technologies for digital pay-TV, announced on Friday that it has acquired Denmark-based video game developer and publisher ITE (Interactive Television Entertainment). Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. In addition to console, handheld and mobile games that have sold a combined 8.5 million units to date, ITE has also developed interactive TV games including "Hugo the TV Troll."

Report: 60% of U.S. Internet Users Streamed or Downloaded Video in July

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 29, 2006 - 2:07pm.

Reston, Va. - About three out of every five U.S. Internet users either streamed or downloaded video during the month of July, according to new figures released by comScore Media Metrix. All told, 7.2 billion videos were streamed or downloaded by U.S. Internet users, which means that the typical video streamer viewed an average of more than two streams a day. Sunnyvale-based Yahoo ranked as the top web property by attracting 37.9 million unique U.S. streamers, followed by MySpace and YouTube. MySpace, however, led the way in terms of individual videos streamed, capturing 20% of the U.S. market share.

MTV to Air Season Finale of "Two-A-Days" Exclusively on MTV.com

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 29, 2006 - 2:05pm.

New York - MTV on Friday announced plans to for the first time broadcast the season finale of a series exclusively on MTV.com. The second season finale of "Two-A-Days," a documentary series about high school football, will premiere on MTV.com immediately following the conclusion of the on-air broadcast of the next-to-last episode on MTV on Oct. 11. MTV said every episode of the series has been viewed more than 500,000 times on MTV.com.

Xbox 360 HD DVD Player Accessory to Sell for $199

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 29, 2006 - 2:04pm.

Redmond, Wash. - Microsoft announced this week that its HD DVD drive accessory for the Xbox 360 video game console will sell for $199 when it ships to the U.S. in mid-November. The drive is Microsoft's answer to Sony's inclusion of its own next-generation DVD format -- Blu-ray -- in its forthcoming PlayStation 3 console.

Sirius Satellite Radio Airs "First Ever Profane Ad" on U.S. Commercial Radio

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 29, 2006 - 1:59pm.

New York - Sirius Satellite Radio, a digital radio service with 4.7 million subscribers, has begun airing the first ever U.S. radio commercial to feature profanity, according to the makers of Sinus Buster hot pepper nasal spray, which produced the ad. Radio personality JR Gach voiced the ad, which will initially air exclusively on shock jock Howard Stern's two channels on Sirius. The 30-second spot is peppered with several other expletives before closing with the line, "The best sh*t that ever was ... Sinus Buster."

Borders Launches Broadband Entertainment Program Featuring Authors

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 29, 2006 - 1:57pm.

Ann Arbor, Mich. - Borders, a retail chain that sells books, music and movies, on Friday announced the launch of a new broadband entertainment program, the "Borders Book Club." The program will provide insight from authors in an open, unscripted discussion and will conclude with a sharing of some of the treats and snacks of the club members -- recipes for which will be featured on the website. The premiere episode features author Mitch Albom discussing his new book "For One More Day."

U. of Illinois Taps UsableNet for Mobile Sports Service

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 29, 2006 - 1:55pm.

New York - UsableNet, a provider of mobile services to universities, corporations and government agencies, said on Friday that the University of Illinois is using its Lift Mobile service to deliver content including live sports scores to students, alumni and fans. New York-based UsableNet said the Illini mobile site has attracted 30,000 visitors since it launched in September.

Xfire Hits 5 Million Users for PC Game Online Community Service

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 29, 2006 - 1:51pm.

Menlo Park, Calif. - Xfire, a recent $102 million acquisition of Viacom's MTV Networks that provides a free, ad-supported online community for over 600 PC games, announced on Friday that it now counts over 5 million users. Menlo Park, Calif.-based Xfire's service includes in-game messaging, voice chat, friend tracking, peer-to-peer file downloading and a game server browser.

Gameloft to Publish 17 New Mobile Games in the Fourth Quarter

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 29, 2006 - 1:14pm.

Paris - Mobile game developer and publisher Gameloft announced on Friday that it plans to release 17 new mobile game titles in the fourth quarter of 2006. Upcoming titles from France-based Gameloft include "Deal or No Deal," "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas" and "Meteos." The company added that 25 of its titles have now sold more than 1 million units each.

tags: Games | Mobile | Mobile Games | Gameloft |