EchoStar accused Ultimate TV owner WebTV of violating their contract in a suit filed Thurs. in U.S. Dist. Court, Colo. It alleges that WebTV had violated 1998 agreement to develop and produce the first satellite receiver/decoder capable of receiving DISH network and WebTV’s online Internet service. EchoStar said WebTV had financial interest in seeing that DISHPlayer failed in marketplace and conspired with its competitor DirecTV to make sure it did. EchoStar said it had invested a “significant” amount of time, money and resources in developing system hardware, manufacturing products and peripherals and coordinating design and engineering of device. WebTV wasn’t available for comment.

First PlayStation game from NovaLogic will be Delta Force: Urban Warfare from British developer Rebellion. Calabasas, Cal.- based NovaLogic up to now has focused on developing and publishing computer games. Title, to ship in May, is being developed with what NovaLogic called “new and unique AI system for the PlayStation.” NovaLogic International Mktg. Dir. Georgina Petrie said: “We decided it was time to bring this popular franchise to the console market, but it was just a question of fitting it into the development cycle.”

Sim2 Seleco USA will ship high-end front projector based on Texas Instruments’ 2nd generation Digital Light Processing (DLP) chip in Nov. at $14,999. New projector has single 0.8W DLP chip with 1,280x720p resolution, 1,100:1 contrast ratio, 600 lumens and anchors high end of Sim2’s DLP line. New model, which also has Sage’s Faroudja video enhancer and deinterlacing chip, was assembled at Sim2’s parent Seleco’s factory in Pordenone, Italy, using Fuji optical engine, Vp Daniel Drook said. Among other things, HT300 has optical engine that eliminates need for filters, move designed to boost lamp life to 5,000 hours from 2,000, company said. It also uses 6-segment color wheel. As it introduced HT300, Sim2, which entered U.S. with Grand Cinema line last year, cut price on existing HT200 DLP projector (800x600 resolution, 800 lumens and 600:1) to $7,000 from $8,999, Drook said. While Sim2 has focused on front projectors, it also is weighing adding DLP-based rear-projection TV, although such product isn’t likely before 2003, Drook said. In expanding DLP line, Sim2 is continuing to maintain CRT-based Millennium projectors topped by SVD 800 HD, which has 7” tube, 1,280x1,024 resolution, 1,050 lumens, $20,000 price. While Drook conceded that Sim2’s midpriced CRT projectors had suffered most from lightweight DLP and LCD-based models, he said company had no plans to abandon market. Seleco, which controls 33% of Sim2 subsidiary, says it has 26% share of global market for CRT front projectors, followed by Sony (23%) and Barco (18%). “To our eyes CRTs still deliver the best picture, but Sim2 has taken on the goal of matching the performance of CRTs” with DLP, Drook said. In focusing on DLP and CRTs, Sim2 has no plans to add LCD projector, he said, and current price war has driven low-end models to $2,000.

Nintendo of Europe (NOE) spokeswoman insisted Fri. that GameCube rollout still was on track for next spring despite British news reports there could be delay until as late as Sept. If GameCube were indeed delayed in Europe until Sept. and competing Xbox began shipping there as scheduled March 14, Microsoft could end up with 6-month head start there.

Arizona Diamondbacks topped N.Y. Yankees 4 games to 2 in videogame maker 3DO’s annual High Heat Major League Baseball simulation of World Series. Company’s High Heat series features games for Game Boy Advance, PC, PlayStation, PS2 platforms.

Matthew Gill, ex-Viewsonic, joins Philips Consumer Electronics as vp and chmn. of Professional Products Div. in N. America, which includes PC monitors, drives, PC audio, projectors. He replaces Simon Barmbach, who will return to Netherlands at year-end… InterTrust Vice Chmn. David Lockwood named pres., replacing David Ludvigson, who resigns effective Nov. 1… Dwayne Vasquez advanced to Bel Fuse vp-sales.

U.K. retailers can start taking preorders for Xbox Nov. 15, same day videogame system starts rolling out in N. America and there will be no restrictions on quantities, British news report said. Microsoft spokesman didn’t comment by our deadline. Report quoted Richard Teversham, Microsoft’s U.K. head of Xbox marketing, as saying: “We want retailers to build demand. It’s simple. The more preorders they take, the more Xbox stock will be allocated to the U.K. for the Day One ship-out on March 14.” Comment also was unavailable from Microsoft on how word that Xbox manufacturing partner Flextronics would be reducing its global work force 15% might be affecting production of videogame console. Singapore-based contract manufacturer Flextronics said it would be “reducing head count by 10,000.” It also said it would be “eliminating 4 million square feet of manufacturing space” as it tried “to reduce excess capacity in response to the current economic downturn.” News came as Flextronics reported loss of $329.8 million (-69? per share) for 2nd quarter ended Sept. 30 vs. $49.9 million (10?) profit year ago. Revenue inched up 5% to record $3.24 billion from $3.08 billion year ago.

Cobra Electronics will enter high growth product category at CES in Jan. as it forms partnerships with “some significant” U.S. companies, CEO James Bazet told analysts in conference call, declining to disclose details. Cobra, which markets Family Radio Service (FRS) devices, radar detectors and CB radios, has sought to expand business through acquisitions in past, but agreements with Beltronics and Lowrance Electronics collapsed. Providing hint of new strategy, Cobra said 3rd quarter net income declined to $1.3 million from $1.9 million year ago and revenue to $36.2 million from $38.5 million. Downturn in revenue was related to “significant shortfall” in radar detectors, with some retailers “backing off” earlier orders, Bazet said. Drop in radar detectors was partly offset by gains in FRS category, which benefitted from introduction of models based on General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) standard. Latter extends transmission distance to 5 miles from 2 miles. GMRS devices typically are priced $30-$45 more than FRS models, which retail for $40-$60. Cobra also has signed distribution deal in Italy for Private Mobile Radio (PMR) service, version of FRS targeted at Europe. PMR business in Europe operated at “slightly above break-even” in 3rd quarter and would have had better results had sales not been halted in Belgium, where authorities are weighing licensing requirements for PMR, Bazet said. In long term, Europe could represent $30-$35 million in PMR sales, he said.

As Samsung ships 15” ($749) and 17” ($1,299) LCDs with optional HDTV tuner ($99), it’s expected to unveil 40W at Comdex in Nov. and is adding 5th production line to build larger sizes, company said. SyncMaster 15” and 17” have 1,280x1,024 and 1,024x768 resolutions, respectively, and connector that allows optional tuner to slip into back of panel. While Samsung is debuting 40W in U.S., no delivery date or specs have been set. Display represents significant leap over Samsung’s 28” LCD, which has been shown several times but never delivered. Samsung also will add 19” LCD monitor at Comdex, filling gap that existed between its 17” and 21” models. New 19” has 1,280x,1024 resolution, 400:1 contrast ratio.

Valley Media, reeling from financial difficulties, said Fri. it was temporarily cutting back operations at 330,000-sq.-ft. Louisville warehouse, resulting in layoff of 400 workers. Additional 25 employees in sales, marketing, purchasing and support positions at Woodland, Cal., hq. and in field offices in Fla., N.J. and N.Y. also were laid off. Valley, which sold video rental distribution business in April, has been losing major sellthrough accounts in recent weeks due to inability to fill preorders. Among those were Pathmark and Rite-Aid, both of which recently defected to Ingram Entertainment. Valley officials have confirmed difficulty filling preorders, but denied it had cancelled any purchase orders. Rather, they said, Valley is being more “selective” in titles it buys. Valley officials confirmed that banks had tightened credit terms recently, major reason it has struggled to fill preorders starting with Oct. 9 releases. Valley, whose e-commerce customers include Amazon.com and BestBuy.com and brick-and-mortar retailers Blockbuster and Toys “R” Us, declined comment on Video Business report that it was negotiating possible sale of company to Alliance Entertainment. In selling video rental business, Valley returned to audio distribution roots while retaining video as sellthrough business. It entered video rental market with acquisition of Star Video Entertainment in 1997.