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TheTuckShop.com is the Newsfeed from the Edge! The MP3/ Streaming Media newsfeed is pumped from the UK. You can sign up for regular newsletters at tuck.listbot.com.

Freeserve Choose Loudeye For Broadband Content
Date: 21st July 2000,

Freeserve PLC has chosen Loudeye Technologies Inc. to provide the audio and video encoding for the content in their forthcoming broadband video portal. This move marks Loudeye's continuing European expansion, which began with the creation of their London office last year. Freeserve currently has some 1.9 Million members, making it the UK's largest internet portal. Loudeye are one of the leading internet media infrastructure companies providing media solutions for web sites.

Freeserve are set to release their broadband service in September, initially covering 10 major cities. The deal will see Freeserve providing rich media content including ITN News as well as Virgin Records and MusicChoice for music downloads.

Medium4 Team Up With El Sitio
Date: 21st July 2000,

Medium4.com Inc., producers of Internet Only TV, have announced a partnership with El Sitio Inc., providers of interactive content for Latin America and the US. The deal will see Medium4.com provide El Sitio with streaming video content over their range of web sites. The content will primarily come from Medim4Latino, their Spanish language network. El Sitio currently have some 3.8 Million users, which provides a great potential for Medium4, whilst providing El Sitio with valuable content.

United And Carlton Merger Collapses
Date: 21st July 2000

United News and Media PLC and Carlton Communications PLC have called off their proposed merger after it was probed by the competition commission. The commission would only allow the merger to go ahead on the condition that Meridian were disposed of in the deal. This condition would have significantly reduced the value of the merger for both the companies and shareholders. Granada PLC's position in the deal now seems more dubious as it is now open to be sought by both United News and Media and Carlton.

Despite the collapse of the merger United have remained hopeful, hoping to unlock the value of their television assets and to play a part in the consolidation of the ITV network. In a statement to AFXnews, United's Public Affairs Director, Nigel Main, stated 'we are confident that a deal can still be done and we are talking with a number of interested parties.' United are expected to make a bid for Granda.

However further problems my be lurking in the wings for United with the floatation later this week of the continental players TF1 and RTL, who might also seek to get in on the consolidation of ITV.

Sega In Hacker Wars
Date: 21st July 2000

Sega Enterprises have taken a militant stance to prevent the piracy of games for their Dreamcast console. In an announcement, they claimed to have 'crushed' over 60 web sites and 125 auction sites selling/distributing pirated Dreamcast games. The encryption used for Dreamcast games was considered to be amongst the most secure systems on the web. The system featured not only internal encryption, but also external by creating the GD-ROM, able to store twice as much data as an ordinary CD.

Sega have been amongst the first to use the provisions in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act 1998 (US) to present cease and desist orders to auction sites found selling the software. They have however announced that they will be working with Yahoo!, Lycos, e-bay and Amazon auction sites to prevent such auctions.

The size of Sega games would not normally fit onto a normal CD-ROM. However, hackers have removed sections of the games, such as video and sound files to compensate for this. Nevertheless, this has meant that the range of Sega games available as pirates are limited. Sega plans to attempt to close up these loopholes in the system. They hope that these technical and legal measures will reduce the risk of piracy on the Dreamcast.

This move sees a change in Sega's opinion, as they recently stated that they were not worried about such piracy, as only around 10 percent of the consoles would actually support the pirated software. However following the creation of boot disk software, by the Utopia hacker group, which tricks the console into playing the pirated versions the threat has become all the more real for Sega.

Scour Facing Lawsuit
Date: 21st July 2000

Scour Inc. has become the latest company facing copyright infringement lawsuits from the music and film industry in the US.

Scour provides a Napster like system that allows users to swap music and video files. Films such as the Patriot and Perfect Storm have been found on their system. Scour is backed by Michael Ovitz, an ex-Hollywood executive.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of over 20 companies by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA). This new cases comes just a week before the preliminary injunction case against Napster begins, which is likely to set a precedent for this case to follow.

The filing of the lawsuit has come as a surprise to Don Rodrigues, President of Scour, as the company is currently involved in licensing talks with several of the Plaintiff's, such as, Sony, Warner Brothers and BMG.

The Plaintiff's are seeking USD 150,000 per infringed work. This case is all the more significant as it sees Hollywood turning on its own, Mr. Ovitz, is a former Disney executive and a Hollywood super-agent.

TheTuckShop.com is the Newsfeed from the Edge! The MP3/ Streaming Media newsfeed is pumped from the UK. You can sign up for regular newsletters at tuck.listbot.com.

 

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