RealNetworks will target women with advertising-enabled, downloadable casual games in a partnership with Lifetime Television, the companies said. The Lifetime Presents titles, debuting this summer, will display targeted ads and promotions for Lifetime programming, offering players more free game play the more they view contextual ads “that appear between levels or during natural pauses in the game,” the companies said. The first game, Sally’s Salon, goes online July 25. Women are the bulk of the audience for both RealNetworks’ downloadable games and Lifetime programming, including its LifetimeTV.com Games section. RealNetworks has doubled its ad-enabled game portfolio to 24 games the past six months, tallying 9 million downloads; the Lifetime game site has tripled traffic since a November redesign, powered by original Web-based and downloadable games. The companies have collaborated since 2004 on casual games for LifetimeTV.com.
Disney’s Buena Vista Home Entertainment (BVHE) paid swift attention to Internet reports that alleged some Blu-ray discs suffer from so-called “laser rot” that makes them freeze or pause fail to play at all when inserted in a PS3 or other hardware. BVHE, replying to our query, issued a statement late Thursday advising consumers to phone its hotline to report any problems.
A Super Bowl promotional period cited as one of Best Buy’s strongest ever for TV sales may have been among the main reasons for its lackluster first quarter earnings, senior executives told analysts in a conference call Tuesday.
A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on cyber vulnerabilities on Department of Homeland Security (DHS) networks hit a nerve at DHS, whose CIO strongly disagreed with its core findings at a Wednesday House Homeland Security Cybersecurity Subcommittee hearing. Agency officials sparred over the GAO report’s timeliness, as subcommittee members warned DHS CIO Scott Charbo his job is on the line for what the panel deems a weak response to myriad security incidents.
DVD’s content-protection leaders seem to be in for a fight when that body convenes tomorrow (Wednesday, June 20) to rewrite rules on what home networking servers can and can’t do about distributing movies through home networks. Kaleidescape, a high-end supplier of such servers, served notice Friday to the DVD Copy Control Association that it will sue the consortium of studios, CE makers and PC makers for anti-trust if it approves an amendment to its licensing agreement that essentially will “put Kaleidescape out of business.”
DVD’s content-protection sachems and solons seem to be cruising for a bruising when that body convenes tomorrow (Wednesday, June 20) to rewrite rules on what home networking servers can and can’t do about distributing movies through home networks. Kaleidescape, a high-end supplier of such servers, served notice Friday to the DVD Copy Control Association that it will sue the consortium of studios, CE makers and PC makers for anti-trust if it approves an amendment to its licensing agreement that essentially will “put Kaleidescape out of business.”
LodgeNet Entertainment signed a new multi-year licensing deal with NBC Universal enabling LodgeNet to distribute select Universal movies to hotel rooms via the Signeture HD platform. Terms weren’t disclosed. Guests in hotel rooms with LodgeNet HD video on demand (VoD) systems will be able to watch Universal titles including Georgia Rule and Hot Fuzz. All Universal titles will feature LodgeNet PowerPlaySM media playback controls, with pause, skip and save (bookmarking) flexibility. The deal “marks a new phase in our long and valued relationship with Universal,” said Steve Truckenmiller, senior vp-programming & content management. LodgeNet, which has distributed HD programming to select hotel rooms since 2003, now delivers HD VoD content from various movie studios and distributors. The firm also delivers Nintendo GameCube games on demand. Its Signeture HD systems integrate Pro:Idiom, an open standard content security solution by LG Electronics that it said protects content as it is distributed digitally. Despite the positive news, LodgeNet shares were down 0.7% at $33.96 in early afternoon trading Tues.
Viacom Q1 revenue beat analyst forecasts, but comments by CEO Philippe Dauman in a Thurs. teleconference gave investors pause. Ad sales are running only 5% higher year- over-year this quarter, Dauman told investors. For Q1, Viacom’s top-line numbers were rosier, helped by acquisitions. Sales grew 16% from last year to $2.75 billion. Profit fell 36% from last year to $202 million on higher operating expenses and interest charges.
Microsoft Wed. made a spring update available online for Xbox 360. As previously announced, the update adds Windows Live Messenger to Xbox Live, allowing 6 million-plus members of Microsoft’s online game service to swap instant messages with gamers on PCs and mobile phones. With Instant Messenger, Xbox Live members can interact with up to 20 contacts in a chat and carry on up to 6 different conversations with people on PCs, mobile phones and other 360 consoles, Microsoft said. Users can instant message while playing games, listening to music or watching movies and TV shows downloaded from Xbox Live Marketplace, it said. Also included in the spring update were enhanced family settings allowing different defaults for video/voice chat, faster access to a free trial version of Xbox Live Arcade games through an improved auto downloads feature and the ability to fast forward, pause and rewind video as it’s downloaded on Marketplace.
Microsoft Wed. made a spring update available online for Xbox 360. As previously announced, the update adds Windows Live Messenger to Xbox Live, allowing 6 million-plus members of Microsoft’s online game service to swap instant messages with gamers on PCs and mobile phones. With Instant Messenger, Xbox Live members can interact with up to 20 contacts in a chat and carry on up to 6 different conversations with people on PCs, mobile phones and other 360 consoles, Microsoft said. Users can instant message while playing games, listening to music or watching movies and TV shows downloaded from Xbox Live Marketplace, it said. Also included in the spring update were enhanced family settings allowing different defaults for video/voice chat, faster access to a free trial version of Xbox Live Arcade games through an improved auto downloads feature and the ability to fast forward, pause and rewind video as it’s downloaded on Marketplace.