N.Y. metro CE retail chain The Wiz said Wed. that panel of judges led by Little Steven of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band selected grand prize winning band from 655 garage rock bands that entered Cavestomp Garage Rock Band Search. Winning band was The Priests of Rochester, N.Y. Contest, sponsored by Cablevision’s retail chain subsidiary, was started in July and 43 store locations participated. In addition, 18 finalists will be announced later this month whose music will be included on compilation CD to be sold at Wiz stores in Dec., chain said, with proceeds from sale of CD to be donated to charity supporting World Trade Center Relief efforts.
Electronic Arts (EA) started shipping “E"-rated (Everyone) game Madden NFL 2002 for Xbox at $49.95. Versions of title for Game Boy Color, Nintendo 64, PC, PlayStation and PS2 had been made available earlier by Redwood City, Cal., game maker. It also started shipping CD-download version of “M"-rated (Mature) suspense game Majestic at $39.99, offering full season of 5 episodes packaged for continuous play, shorter registration process than its online counterpart, no lengthy download process. Also featured in CD version are special features including interviews with game’s creators, exclusive Prima Games Strategy Guide, 6 exclusive music tracks by John Kelley and Electric Skychurch. EA said online subscriptions to game were being “suspended, although current subscribers will experience no difference in their game and will not need to purchase the CD.” Consumers who buy CD won’t pay monthly subscription fee for 5- episode season. Company said it was “considering plans for a 2nd season of Majestic in 2002,” but players would be able to access all elements of first 5 episodes “for several months to come.” EA revealed in Sept. that it would start marketing CD version of game after being disappointed by title’s inability to lure subscribers since its July introduction online. Spokesman told us then: “Majestic is not generating the number of subscriptions we'd like to see,” attracting only 10,000-15,000 subscribers through Sept. He told us research indicated players “absolutely love the game” but “don’t like the lengthy registration process [and] don’t like waiting 30 minutes for the online download.”
Electronic Arts development studio Origin Systems signed agreement with director/producer and Spawn creator Todd McFarlane to create characters exclusively for new version of Ultima Online game. Ultima Online: Lord Blackthorn’s Revenge will ship in Feb., company said. Origin also is collaborating with McFarlane and McFarlane Toys to develop line of 6 action figures based on new creatures from game and 2 comics based on game.
Las Vegas CES will take all “reasonable” steps to provide “safe haven” for attendees and exhibitors, CEA Pres. Gary Shapiro and other senior officials told reporters Tues. Shapiro and Karen Chupka, CEA vp-events & conferences, avoided disclosing details, but indicated security measures would be somewhat less restrictive than those outlined earlier same day by officials at Comdex (CED Oct 31 p1), which opens Nov. 12 in same Las Vegas Convention Center. Most obvious difference between CES and Comdex policies is rule on carrying of bags onto show floor. Comdex management says it’s intent on strict enforcement of “no bags” rule, except for women’s handbags and somewhat looser restrictions that will apply to reporters. Comdex also plans to provide no facilities for checking or storing bags and therefore is advising general attendees to leave them in their hotel rooms.
Recoton said it expected to report breakeven results for 3rd quarter, compared with $1.93 million loss in same year-earlier quarter. However, it said it anticipated 13.7% lower revenue of $136 million on sluggish economic environment and impact of “horrific” events Sept. 11. Chmn. Robert Borchardt said company still expected profitable 4th quarter and year, but “we anticipate these same factors could also adversely affect our results for the final 3 months of 2001.” He said Recoton estimated 4th quarter revenue would fall to range of $210-$215 million, up slightly from $209.57 million year earlier. He said on that revenue base, net profit for quarter should increase to $8.5-9.5 million range compared with year-ago profit of $7.9 million.
Concord Camera ended 7-year legal battle with former CEO Jack Benun, having received $1.13 million arbitration award plus $45,175 interest. Concord had sought $1.5 million in filing arbitration claim in 1994 that alleged Benun had embezzled corporate funds. Benun was paid $202,740 for loan to Concord plus interest. In Aug., N.J. Superior Court judge granted Concord’s motion for summary judgment and dismissed suit in which Benun sought $4 million for stock options and guarantee fees. He had filed suit in April that also sought to reduce $1.1 million arbitration award. Meanwhile, Concord, hampered by bankruptcy of major customer Polaroid, reported first quarter loss of $868,175, reversing year-earlier profit of $6.2 million, as sales plunged to $35.2 million from $62.7 million. In connection with Polaroid’s bankruptcy filing, Concord recorded $1.6 million and $1.7 million provisions for accounts receivable and inventory, respectively. Polaroid had sourced single-use and digital cameras from Concord. Concord also incurred $302,000 in payments in earlier restructuring plan in which it closed single-use camera labeling factory in China and cut 2,000 jobs from overall manufacturing operations there. It also trimmed 71 jobs outside China. Concord had taken $1.4 million charge against 4th quarter earnings to cover most of restructuring.
TiVo formed new technology business unit and laid off 40 employees as it sharpens focus on licensing and continues to lessen reliance on hardware sales. Technology business unit, which is charged with seeking licensing deals for TiVo’s personal video recorder (PVR) technology, will be headed by Senior Engineering Vp Tai-Wei Chien. As part of new strategy, TiVo recently signed 7-year agreement with Sony that gave CE giant greater access to its PVR patent portfolio and expand technology to other products. Sony also supplies MPEG-2 encoder for TiVo PVRs. TiVo is said to have had discussions with Philips on new licensing pact.
In report to FCC, NCTA said CableLabs released specifications for digital TV set that would allow interactive services. Set won’t require set-top box for compatibility. NCTA also said consumers with current generation DTV sets could receive broadcast digital or HDTV programming over their cable systems where cable companies and broadcasters had reached carriage agreements. In those cases, cable operators provide set-top boxes to subscribers. This was NCTA’s 3rd progress report on compatibility between cable systems and consumer electronics equipment. Report was filed in response to FCC order asking for progress reports on DTV compatibility issues every 6 months until Oct. 2002.
Wal-Mart exclusively licensed Polaroid brand for 35 mm photographic film. Wal-Mart signed pact with Agfa, which controls some rights to Polaroid name. While Wal-Mart previously sold Polaroid film, it now has exclusive right to sell brand. Polaroid filed for bankruptcy protection in Oct.
Federal court ruled Mon. that AOL probably committed copyright infringement by using and distributing computer software owned by PlayMedia Systems without latter’s audio player “WINAMP.” In Oct. 29 order granting preliminary injunction against AOL, U.S. Dist. Judge Howard Matz, L.A., said PlayMedia was likely to succeed in proving that: (1) AOL exceeded terms of license given by PlayMedia to Nullsoft -- company later acquired by AOL -- for AMP software that decoded digital audio files compressed in MP3 format. (2) AOL, even if it were using AMP source code in conjunction with WINAMP, violated licensing agreement by sublicensing AMP in object code form other than for use in conjunction with WINAMP only. (3) PlayMedia had suffered irreparable injury and was entitled to injunctive relief. AOL reportedly has said it will seek stay of injunction and appeal it.