Seth Gilbert, 01-10-2008
San Francisco based Outspark, a publisher of online community driven games announced the closing of sizable $11m Series B Financing Thursday. China’s largest Internet portal and instant messaging operator Tencent Holdings led the round. Series A investors DCM (formerly Doll Capital Management) and Altos Ventures also participated. DCM has invested in other gaming co’s recently, including Trion World Network.
Outspark was founded in 2006 by CEO Susan Choe. Choe was formerly COO of NHN USA and also International Director of Yahoo Games. Outspark’s studio services are run by Nick Foster, former CTO of Starz Media and former head of global FX at DreamWorks Animation.
Outspark is purely a publisher and game operator. They do not develop games themselves. Their model is centered on licensing launched games from international markets (currently China and Korea) and localizing them for redistribution in western markets.
Click to Read More
Seth Gilbert,
Friday, Warner Brother’s crashed HD DVD’s CES party with the shocking last-minute announcement that they’d throw their support behind the rival Blu Ray DVD format. It was bad news for Toshiba and their HD DVD technology, really bad news. It was like being told they had six months to live. Prognosis: terminal.
Warner’s decision meant 5 out of 7 major Hollywood movie studios were supporting the Sony developed next generation DVD format. Short of a miraculous comeback, Warner Brother’s ended the format war. Now, added revelations are suggesting Sony may be able to add insult to injury and claim a landslide, possibly even, a unanimous victory in the Blu Ray vs HD DVD battle by June (when the Warner’s decision will go into effect).
Universal and Paramount are the two studios not yet in Sony’s pocket. Wednesday, Daily Variety confirmed that Universal’s agreement to back HD DVD has ended. That frees the studio to change camps at any time should they choose. Click to Read More
Seth Gilbert, 01-9-2008
Microsoft opened the Consumer Electronics Show with the boast that their Xbox Live on-demand platform would soon offer more than double the number of titles available on demand from Cable and Satellite providers. Not to be out done, Comcast, the nation’s largest cable TV provider (and 2nd largest broadband service provider) used the trade show stage as opportunity to issue a reply.
During another keynote, CEO Brian Roberts unveiled several content initiatives Comcast has planned for 2008. Click to Read More
Seth Gilbert,
Terry Semel remains Yahoo’s chairman but since ceding (or relinquishing) executive control to Jerry Yang in June, he’s been largely out of the public eye and off the radar. In 2008, that may change, albeit in a lower profile way that is unrelated to Yahoo.
Paid Content is reporting Terry’s set to relaunch a “revamped version” of Windsor Media, an investment firm he started in 1999 but abandoned to take on the leadership position at Yahoo in 2001. So far nobody involved directly has issued any statements but the reports say Drew Buckley, former GM of Yahoo Originals, Jeff Karish, former head of media strategy at Yahoo, and Jimmy Yaffe, managing partner of Endeavor Marketing Solutions are all involved.
Speculation is that Windsor, in its new form, may be similar to Click to Read More
Seth Gilbert,
It’s an election year, so it comes as no surprise that political issues large and small are getting extra attention. Tuesday, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin used a CES panel discussion as an opportunity to address the regulatory commission’s stance on the bandwidth throttling complaints that put the nation’s second largest broadband provider, Comcast, into a boiling cauldron of bad PR in October and November.
In no uncertain terms, Martin told the audience, “Sure, we’re going to investigate and make sure that no consumer is going to be blocked.”
At issue is a debate over the policy concept: Network Neutrality. The issues date back to the 1996 Telecommunications Act. Click to Read More
Seth Gilbert, 01-8-2008
Last week, news that Sony BMG would soon drop DRM encryption from their music library leaked but details were scarce. The company confirmed Monday the reports were accurate – more or less. It’s the “less” part that will cause some confusion.
Sony BMG will in fact begin selling unrestricted music January 15th. The method, however, won’t be as expected (at least initially). It might not make a lot of sense either. Instead of partnering with online music stores and offering their catalog in the portable unencrypted format, Sony BMG has opted to start their DRM-Free experiment by throwing their support behind traditional brick and mortar retailers: the bellwether’s of the labels’ past successes (Only about 10% of music sold in 2007 was online digital music).
Sony’s BMG has also opted to support only full album sales and not the more common online practice of ala carte singles with this first foray.
The new service is called the Platinum Music Pass. It is built around a gift card Click to Read More
A Hui, 01-7-2008
In addition to Bill Gates keynote, Microsoft launched the Consumer Electronics Show Sunday evening with four Television related press releases and product announcements.
• MGM & Disney/ABC on Xbox Live
Headlining the list was Microsoft’s announcement that, Xbox Live, their internet platform for delivering video on demand through the game console, will soon offer an on-demand library of content double that available through cable and satellite services.
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