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Online Payments Provider Bitpass to Shut Down

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 22, 2007 - 9:36am.

San Mateo, Calif. - Bitpass, a four-year-old provider of online payment processing services, has announced that it is discontinuing operations, due to "circumstances beyond our control," CEO Matthew Graves wrote in an e-mail to customers.

tags: Internet | Online Publishing | Payments | Career | Commerce | Closings | Digital River | BitPass | Shutdowns |

Russia Agrees to Shut Down AllofMP3.com, Clamp Down on Piracy

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 29, 2006 - 2:43pm.
Washington - Russia has agreed to shut down the controversial website AllofMP3.com -- which sold cheap song downloads without label permissions -- as part of an agreement designed to allay U.S. concerns about the country's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO).
tags: Law | Piracy | Music | Commerce | Russia | Copyright | Closings | AllofMP3.com | International | WTO | IP |

Ziff Davis to Discontinue Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 15, 2006 - 3:17pm.
San Francisco - Ziff Davis Game Group, the publisher of Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine, announced on Wednesday that it will discontinue publication of the magazine after the January 2007 issue. The nine-year-old magazine was licensed by Sony exclusively for print, which Ziff Davis said no longer fits the company's strategic vision.
tags: Games | Sony | Career | PS2 | Magazines | PS3 | Closings | Publishing | PlayStation | Ziff Davis |

Online Game Retailer Lik-Sang Closes Following Sony Court Victories

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 25, 2006 - 1:54pm.
Hong Kong - Hong Kong-based online game retailer Lik-Sang has announced plans to shut down, following its defeat in several U.K. lawsuits filed by Sony that targeted the company's sale of imported Japanese PSP handheld game devices to customers in Europe.
tags: Games | Law | Lawsuits | Sony | Commerce | Asia | Retail | Closings | Hong Kong | Lik-Sang |

Bankrupt Tower Records Sells Assets, Will Close Retail Stores

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 10, 2006 - 4:56pm.
Los Angeles - Music retailer Tower Records will shutter its 89 U.S. locations, a result of the sale of the bankrupt company's assets at auction on Friday to liquidation firm Great American Group for $134.3 million. An e-mail sent to employees from Tower CEO Joseph D'Amico said in part: "My heart goes out to each of you who have poured your hearts and souls into this great company," according to The Hollywood Reporter, which also quoted Tower attorney peter Gurfein as saying liquidation and going out of business sales launched over the weekend. Bidders for the assets of the 46-year-old company included fellow music retailer Trans World Entertainment (FYE), and Radius Equity, which had promised to keep Tower Records stores open. The company's online store at Tower.com was sold separately from the real estate holdings, and on Tuesday was still operating.
tags: Video | Music | Commerce | Investing | Retail | Closings | Tower Records | Bankruptcies |

Disney to Shutter Mobile ESPN Service, License to Carriers Instead

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 28, 2006 - 1:52pm.
New York - Disney's ESPN sports network announced on Thursday that it will shutter its Mobile ESPN cell phone service, which offered exclusive sports video and other content on a branded phone that used bandwidth from Sprint's wireless network. The company will support existing subscribers through the end of 2006, and provide a full refund on the purchase of their Mobile ESPN phones. An analyst with Merrill Lynch said the service had attracted fewer than 30,000 subscribers; Disney projected the service would count 240,000 by the end of its first year of operation. The company's new plan is to license the Mobile ESPN application to existing service providers. "With a redefined approach we have a greater opportunity to reach millions of fans while achieving our strategic and financial goals," said Salil Mehta, an executive vice president of ESPN Enterprises.
tags: Mobile | Sports | Licensing | Video | TV | Career | Disney | Telecom | ESPN | MVNO | Closings | Mobile ESPN |

Warner to Shutter Warner Bros. Online Unit, Redeploy Most Staff

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 28, 2006 - 1:49pm.
Los Angeles - Warner Bros. has confirmed that it will shutter its Warner Bros. Online unit as part of a cost-cutting initiative, the Los Angeles Times reported. As a result, 19 employees will be laid off, while another 60 or so will be moved to other positions within the company. Since the late 1990s, when it was home to Entertaindom -- an early online entertainment network that attracted talent including Adam Sandler -- the unit has settled into a role of promoting Warner Bros. films and television series online, and publishing mobile entertainment content. "It's not really an elimination of what online has done or did do," Kevin Tsujihara, president of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group, told the Times. "It's really more of a realignment of and redeployment of people."
tags: Internet | Video | Career | Movies | Warner Bros. | Layoffs | Closings |

Taiwan Song-Swapping Service Kuro Agrees to Shut Down, Pay Damages

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 15, 2006 - 11:28am.
London - The recording industry's campaign against illicit file-sharing sites claimed another victory this week, as Taiwan-based Kuro agreed to shut down and pay the industry unspecified damages for copyright infringement. Kuro, which counted an estimated 500,000 registered users for its commercial, subscription-based download service, announced plans to re-launch as a legitimate service that will compensate copyright holders.
tags: Law | Lawsuits | Settlements | Tech | Music | Copyright | Closings | File-Sharing | Taiwan | Kuro |

Lead Bidder for Tower Records May Shut Retailer Down

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 14, 2006 - 12:28pm.
Sacramento, Calif. - Tower Records parent company MTS Incorporated announced on Wednesday that Great American Group has been selected as lead bidder for the bankrupt music retailer's assets. Woodland Hills, Calif.-based Great American Group is a provider of asset management, disposition and financial services -- an indication that Tower might be shut down entirely if the company's bid is successful.
tags: Deals | Music | Commerce | Acquisitions | Retail | Closings | Tower Records |

eDonkey File-Sharing Service to Shut Down, Pay Labels $30 Million

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 12, 2006 - 6:51pm.
Los Angeles - MetaMachine, operator of the eDonkey peer-to-peer file-sharing service, has agreed to pay $30 million to avoid copyright infringement litigation from the major record labels, the Associated Press reported. New York-based MetaMachine also agreed to immediately cease distribution of its eDonkey, eDonkey 2000, Overnet and other file-sharing applications, as well as take steps to prevent current eDonkey users from trading files with one another. Since the 2005 landmark Supreme Court decision that found providers of file-sharing software liable for copyright infringement committed by users, the recording industry has threatened litigation against the remaining popular free file-sharing networks. To date, BearShare, i2Hub, WinMX and Grokster have reached settlements with the record labels and shut down their peer-to-peer services. Holdouts include Soulseek and LimeWire, which was served a copyright infringement lawsuit by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) last month.
tags: Law | Settlements | Tech | P2P | Music | Copyright | Closings | File-Sharing | eDonkey |

Time to Halt Publication of Teen People, Maintain Website

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 26, 2006 - 5:38pm.
New York - Time Inc. announced on Tuesday that it will cease publication of its Teen People magazine, but will maintain and continue to invest in its website, the Associated Press reported. The company cited a challenging advertising market for the magazine, which launched in 1998 but has seen circulation fall off steadily in recent years; the Teen People website, conversely, was said to show "promise and growth."
tags: Internet | Online Publishing | Magazines | Closings | Teens | Publishing | Time | Teen People |

Prince Shutters Subscription-Based Online Music Club

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 13, 2006 - 2:51pm.
Lights Out Los Angeles - Recording artist Prince has shut down his online music club, which offered fans exclusive access to unreleased music and early concert ticket sales, Billboard reported. Launched in 2001, the NPG Music Club offered a $100 annual membership that included special features like access to soundchecks at Prince concerts, and invites to post-concert parties.
tags: Internet | Subscriptions | Music | Commerce | Closings | Prince | Memberships | NPG Music Club |

Coca-Cola to Shutter U.K. Online Music Store

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 22, 2006 - 6:58pm.
London - Coca-Cola plans to close its online music store in the U.K. next month, a victim of competition from Apple's iTunes Store and others, TheRegister reported.
tags: Internet | Marketing | Music | UK | Career | Commerce | Brands | Closings | Coca-Cola | MyCokeMusic.com |

Rockstar Games Shutters Vienna, Austria Development Studio

Authored by dmw on May 12, 2006 - 12:14pm.
London - Rockstar Games, the unit of video game publisher Take-Two Interactive responsible for the "Grand Theft Auto" franchise, has shuttered its development studio in Vienna, Austria, GamesIndustry.biz reported. The closing affects more than 100 employees, some of whom will be offered other positions at Rockstar or Take-Two, with the rest receiving severance packages. Rockstar Vienna produced Xbox versions of the developer's "Max Payne" and "Grand Theft Auto" titles.
tags: Games | Europe | Career | Rockstar Games | Layoffs | Closings | Austria |

Electronic Arts to Lay Off 117 Amid Game Development Studio Closings

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 8, 2004 - 2:45pm.
Redwood City, Calif. -- Video game developer Electronic Arts disclosed in a recent SEC filing that it will lay off 117 employees in connection with the closure of development studios in Austin, Texas and Walnut Creek, Calif. The team in Austin consisted of Origin Systems employees working on the "Ultima Online" franchise, while the company's Maxis studio -- developer of "The Sims" -- was located in Walnut Creek. "The studio closures were the result of a strategic decision to consolidate local development efforts in Redwood City, California," the company said in the filing. The affected employees are expected to be laid off in the first quarter of the company's 2005 fiscal year.
tags: Closings | Electronic Arts | Game Development Studio |