archives

o Disney Projects Profit from Online Unit by Year's End
o Congressman Argues Copy-Protected CDs May Be Illegal
o City of Tampa Appeals VoyeurDorm.com Case to Supreme Court
o Motorola Completes Acquisition of Video Networking Firm Synchronous
o Newsplayer Group Buys Unit of Asset Management Software Firm EMotion
o Briefly Noted: XM Satellite Radio - Walter Mossberg, DVD vs.
VCR, Pressplay review, Nazi protagonists - video games, Ion Storm
_____________________________________________

o Disney Projects Profit from Online Unit by Year's End

Burbank, Calif. -- The Walt Disney Company predicts that its Internet
operations will be profitable by the end of the year, according to a
letter sent to shareholders by company chairman and CEO Michael Eisner.
The Walt Disney Internet Group went through a number of rounds of layoffs
last year, and also saw the closing of its Go.com portal and a number of
entertainment sites including MrShowbiz.com and Wall of Sound. The company
realigned its operations so that sites operating independently were
brought under the umbrella of existing business units. To achieve profits,
Eisner said the company plans to take steps like expanding its Disney
Mobile program, which sells cell phone graphics and ringtones based on its
entertainment properties, into Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, England, Austria
and Germany by the end of the year.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/020103/30050_1.html
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-8346649.html?tag=ch_mh
_____________________________________________

o Congressman Argues Copy-Protected CDs May Be Illegal

San Francisco -- CNET reported on Friday that in a letter sent to the
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), Rep. Rick Boucher
(D-Va.) argues that the copy-protection technology for CDs being
implemented by the major record labels may be illegal. Boucher says the
technology, which prevents songs on CDs from being copied onto a PC or a
blank CD, may take away consumer rights protected by the Audio Home
Recording Act (AHRA). The AHRA allows consumers to make copies of music in
exchange for royalties included in the price of bank CDs they buy that are
paid out to record labels. "Any deliberate change to a CD by a content
owner that makes [the allowed personal copies] no longer possible would
appear to violate the content owner's obligations," Boucher wrote in the
letter. Universal recently introduced copy-protection technology on one of
its CDs in the U.S., and most of the other major record labels soon plan
to introduce similar technology. Boucher is also co-author of a bill
called the Music Online Competition Act, which aims to ensure competition
in digital music distribution as record labels begin to sell music online.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-8363449.html?tag=mn_hd
http://www.hrrc.org/html/ahra.html
http://www.house.gov/boucher/
_____________________________________________

o City of Tampa Appeals VoyeurDorm.com Case to Supreme Court

Tampa, Fla. -- The Tampa, Florida City Attorney has filed an appeal with
the U.S. Supreme Court in its case against Entertainment Network, Inc.,
which operates the adult entertainment website VoyeurDorm.com. The U.S.
Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals previously ruled that the site, which
offers users video webcam feeds from a house filled with college-aged
women, operates essentially in cyberspace and not in the city of Tampa. As
such, the house should not be subject to adult use zoning ordinances that
were designed to regulate stores, nightclubs and other places where
sexually oriented business is conducted. "This latest action by the city
is a further squandering of taxpayer money," said David Marshlack, CEO of
Entertainment Network. "We have never done anything wrong and have always
been good neighbors." The Supreme Court has not yet said whether or not it
will agree to hear the case.
http://search.prnmedia.com/servlet/pressroomsrv?pressid=253953&detail=story
http://www.entertainmentnetwork.com
_____________________________________________

o Motorola Completes Acquisition of Video Networking Firm Synchronous

Horsham, Penn. -- Motorola announced on Friday that it has finalized its
acquisition of Synchronous, a developer video and data optical networking
systems. Motorola acquired all of Synchronous' stock from its shareholders
in a transaction valued at about $260 million. San Jose-based Synchronous'
employees and business will be integrated into Motorola Broadband's
Transmission Network Systems business. The division focuses on technology
that delivers interactive television, the Internet and telephone services
over wired and wireless networks.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020104/hsf004_1.html
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/011119/hsm004_1.html
http://www.synchronous.com
http://www.gi.com/noflash/products.html
_____________________________________________

o Newsplayer Group Buys Unit of Asset Management Software Firm EMotion

Vienna, Va. -- British online video provider Newsplayer Group said that it
will acquire another unit of Virginia-based EMotion, a developer of
digital asset software. The deal for FootageQuest, an American distributor
of digital content, calls for an initial payment of $500,000 in stock,
with future stock payments totaling as much as $7.5 million. Last week,
Newsplayer bought Footage.Net, a service that allows users to research
stock footage from sources such as ABC News and CNN, for $500,000.
http://www.emotion.com
http://www.newsplayer.com
_____________________________________________

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

Digital Media Wire Directory Launched

Digital Media Wire just launched the Digital Media Directory, an online
directory and RFP engine that facilitates the search and negotiation
process between buyers and sellers.

Register as a provider in the Digital Media Directory at
http://digitalmediawire.newmediary.com/dmw111301nl

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
_____________________________________________

o Briefly Noted:

(New York) Shares of digital satellite radio firm XM Satellite Radio fell
13 percent on Thursday, due to a somewhat negative review written by Wall
Street Journal technology columnist Walter Mossberg, Reuters reported.
Mossberg countered this assertion in a video interview with CNBC, arguing
that the downgrading of XM's stock by a prominent firm probably played a
larger role in the steep one-day loss. He also clarified that his qualms
were with the quality and price of the radio receivers that must be
purchased to receive XM's service.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20020103/tc/media_xmsatellite_stocks_dc_1.html
http://www.msnbc.com/news/427244.asp?0dm=C19RT#BODY

(New York) Reuters on Friday published an article on how DVD players are
becoming more popular than VCRs among consumers. "Our sales of DVD players
were beyond our expectations," said Blockbuster spokeswoman Karen Raskopf.
The video rental chain recently began selling the devices in its stores
and has begun to allot more shelf space to DVDs. By 2003, the company
expects DVD rentals to account for half of its total revenue.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/reuters_wire/1721789l.htm

(San Jose) The San Jose Mercury News on Friday offered a review of the
Pressplay digital music subscription service recently launched by Sony and
Universal. The review touts Pressplay's advantages over the rival MusicNet
service being offered by Warner Music, BMG and EMI, such as the ability to
burn tracks to CD and transfer them to portable players. It also points to
the limited catalogs of both Pressplay and MusicNet and the necessity of
having a broadband connection to use the services as two of their biggest
downfalls.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/opinion/techtest/ml010302.htm

(New York) The New York Times on Friday reported on how the once taboo
idea of using Nazis as protagonists in violent video games is being broken
with a number of current releases. Both "Return to Castle Wolfenstein" and
"Day of Defeat" from Id Software contain Nazi-related storylines and
characters. "The trend you're seeing with new games is, to some extent, a
reflection of what's going in the culture," said Id CEO Todd Hollenshead.
"For instance, you've now got games with terrorists and counterterrorists.
And World War II games such as Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Day of
Defeat reflect what you see in popular movies." Mark Weitzman, the
national director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Task Force Against
Hate, responded by saying, "It encourages people to express what are
rightly considered to be socially unacceptable sentiments -- racism and
anti-Semitism and hate."
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/03/technology/circuits/03NAZI.html
http://www.activision.com/games/wolfenstein/home.html

(San Francisco) Salon.com recently featured an article on the rise and
fall of Ion Storm, the Dallas-based independent video game development
studio responsible for popular games including "Deus Ex" and "Daikatana."
The article examines the controversial image portrayed in the media and in
chat rooms of Ion Storm founder John Romero, who is widely credited with
starting the first-person shooter genre of games with "Castle
Wolfenstein." Romero also founded another studio, Id Software, which
developed games including "Doom" and its sequel, "Quake." Long time
investor Eidos Interactive acquired Ion Storm last year, and plans to
rename the unit but maintain game development under different leadership.
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2002/01/02/ion_storm/index.html?x
http://www.ionstorm.com
______________________

To subscribe, go to:
http://www.digitalmediawire.com

Questions or comments? Send email to:
mark@digitalmediawire.com

News tips, press releases. Send email to:
editorial@digitalmediawire.com

Copyright 2002 Digital Media Wire