Despite rumors of cancellation, Comdex computer trade show will be held as scheduled Nov. 12-16 in Las Vegas, spokeswoman for organizer key3media told us. Plans for company’s other conventions around world also remain in place, she said. Comdex shows are planned for Tel Aviv in Dec., Norway, Greece and France this winter, Saudi Arabia in April, Egypt in May -- www.key3media.com.
Microsoft was IBeam’s top unsecured creditor at $1 million. Internet broadcaster filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this month, listing $118 million in assets, $41.9 million in debt. Microsoft invested $10 million in IBeam in 1998 in exchange for 5 million shares and Sony added $2 million for 1 million shares. In filing for bankruptcy protection, IBeam agreed to sell assets to Williams Communications for $25 million. Williams received 49% stake in IBeam in June in exchange for $20 million cash, $10 million in services. Williams was 2nd largest creditor at $747,772, followed by Broadwing Communications, $390,000; Tonic 360, $240,075; NEC, $212,390. Netscape Communications, whose parent AOL Time Warner invested $5 million in company, was owed $205,629. IBeam had struggled financially for much of year, posting $380.7 million loss in 4th quarter ended Dec. 31 and freezing hiring as it reduced capital spending for year to $15 million from $55 million. It also was hampered by slow sales from joint ventures with SES Astra in Europe and Pacific Century Cyberworks in Asia.
Digital still camera size of Zippo lighter is being marketed in Japan by Nichimen Corp. and NH Japan Holdings. New Che-ez! Spyz camera ($65) has aluminum body and weighs 1- 1/4 oz. excluding batteries and chain. It uses 350,000-pixel CMOS pickup and 4-layer glass lens. Capacity of internal memory is 26 sec. still or 28 sec. of video. Plans for export sales weren’t disclosed.
Audible.com is offering $50 rebate for new and existing users of Franklin Electronic Publishers’ eBookMan multimedia content device when they sign up for flat-rate AudibleListener Program. Service provides spoken audio downloads. Franklin Worldwide Sales & Mktg. Vp Bob Gartwaite said more than 25% of eBookMan owners have already downloaded audio content from Audible.com, and rebate offer will introduce new eBookMan users to its audio capabilities as well as provide savings on spoken word titles. EBookMan is sold at retailers including Amazon.com, Best Buy, J&R Electronics.
Retailers attending PlayDate product showcase in N.Y. expressed confidence Tues. that upcoming holiday shopping season would be strong one, helped in large part by videogame category.
World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWF) and DirecTV have parted ways after failing to reach agreement on extension of pay-per-view contract. WWF said it ceased offering PPV programming on DirecTV after companies couldn’t reach agreement on how revenue would be divided. They had been negotiating since previous agreement expired in Jan., and WWF had granted several extensions in hopes of reaching settlement on new pact, it said.
Exhibitors at Las Vegas CES are being asked to donate products for online auction on eBay to be held during show’s Jan. 8-11 run. CEA said 100% of proceeds from winning bids would benefit Big Brothers, Big Sisters.
David Margolese resigns as Sirius Satellite Radio CEO, will remain nonexecutive chmn., his duties to be assumed by CFO John Scelfo and Gen. Counsel Patrick Donnelly until permanent successor is found… Takeshi (Tim) Harada, onetime CEO of Capcom USA, appointed Warner Home Video managing dir. for Japanese operations… Hsing Tuan resigns as AU Optronics pres., plans unknown. Webster Howard, eMagin technology vp, promoted to chief technology officer… Andrew Smith ex- LiquidWit, named Dolby Labs global brand mktg. dir… Transmeta CEO Mark Allen resigns after 7 months on job, replaced by Chmn. Murray Goldman… Charles Brown promoted to Office Depot CFO from senior vp-finance.
Sharp Electronics had 86% share of worldwide market for LCD TVs in 2nd quarter as industry shipments rose 170% to 146,000 units, according to market researcher DisplaySearch. Sharp was followed by LG Electronics/Zenith (5%), Panasonic (3%), Sony (2%) and Sanyo (1%), DisplaySearch said. Sharp has been especially aggressive in marketing Aquos LCD TVs, recently cutting price across line of 10-20” models with first size moving below $1,000 for first time. LCD TV revenue rose 220% in quarter to $152 million, it said. Industry will hit 753,000 units and $630 million revenue by 2nd quarter 2003, DisplaySearch said.
Policy on parallel imports of Region 1 DVDs from N. American was published by U.K. piracy watchdog Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT). Group concedes there’s “no difficulty” in hacking Region 2 Europe players to run Region 1 discs and that practice isn’t illegal. FACT also said personal imports purchased abroad or by mail order don’t violate U.K. law, and conceded that “individual film enthusiasts are eager to obtain the latest titles”. But association said consumers should pay customs duty and value- added tax on imports, which would add 21% to cost of original purchase. It said collecting those tariffs would be at discretion of Customs officials. Meanwhile, importing Region 1 DVDs for resale or rental in U.K. is illegal on 3 counts, FACT said. Practice breaks copyright law because (1) movie studio hasn’t given permission for release in U.K., (2) movie parallel imports infringe on rights of authorized distributor and (3) movie imports violate British censorship laws. Unless imported title contains exactly same content as title legitimately available in U.K., it can’t be rated as “classified” by British Board of Classification. Selling unclassified videos is criminal offence under Video Recording Act 1984, which was passed to curb pornography. Penalty for selling unclassified videos can entail heavy fine and up to 2 years’ imprisonment.