Music publishers say they'll fight last week's ruling that establishes a compulsory licensing model for ringtones. The U.S. Copyright Office granted a request by the Recording Industry Association of America Inc. to simplify the licensing of mastertones-10- to 30-second snippets of original, full-length tunes-and...
WASHINGTON—Music publishers say they’ll fight a federal copyright ruling that establishes a compulsory licensing model for ringtones. The U.S. Copyright Office earlier this week granted a request by the Recording Industry Association of America Inc. to simplify the licensing of mastertones—10- to 30-second snippets...
Editor's Note: Welcome to a new weekly feature at RCRNews.com, Analyst Angle. We’ve collected a group of the industry’s leading analysts to give their outlook on the hot topics in the wireless industry. In the coming weeks look for columns from Current Analysis’ Peter...
NEW YORK—Motorola Inc.'s iRadio service is the latest to woo music lovers with unreleased content, with the vendor inking a deal with Sony BMG to allow subscribers to access "leaked" albums before they hit the shelves. The music company has created a channel at...
Nokia Corp. announced five new GSM phones-the company insists the devices are "multimedia computers"-for the United States, but did not announce any accompanying carrier deals. Three of the devices-the N70, N73 and N91-are optimized for music. The devices include enhanced memory with 1 GB,...
As a growing number of companies make efforts to take their workforces mobile, new stories are emerging as to how companies are actually making use of wireless technology in the real world. Claims adjusters and utility companies already are well-known for making use of...
LOS ANGELES—NBC Universal and mobile entertainment company I-play are offering on-demand scenes from the NBC comedy series "The Office" on mobile platforms. The agreement with NBC's Universal Mobile Entertainment makes one- and two-minute scenes from "The Office" available in North America later this year....
LOS ANGELES--In the heart of the world's entertainment capital, Paul Reddick told content providers it was time to show him the money.The vice president of business development and product innovation at Sprint Nextel Corp. took to the stage at last week's MECCA event prior...
VeriSign Inc. finally jettisoned the bulk of its direct-to-consumer mobile content business, selling a 51-percent stake in its Jamba subsidiary to News Corp. for $188 million. The companies announced plans to form a mobile entertainment joint venture, with Fox Mobile Entertainment retaining the Jamster...
During the long flight from Los Angeles back to Denver, I realized that the CTIA Wireless I.T. and Entertainment show turned out completely different than I had expected.When I first arrived in Los Angeles last Tuesday, I had fully expected a press release from...
Here's what got the edit staff fired up this week: Did you see RCR Reporter Colin Gibbs' story about Sprint Nextel selling ad space on its mobile Web service? Like it promised, Sprint Nextel is transforming itself from a wireless carrier and into a...
RealNetworks Inc. is buying itself a bigger space on the wireless entertainment playground with a $350 million acquisition of South Korean-based developer WiderThan Co. Ltd. The Seattle-based digital media company said it will spend $17.05 per share to acquire WiderThan, which provides ringback tones,...
LOS ANGELES—Verizon Wireless and Alltel Wireless each announced that new search tools are available to their subscribers for free. Verizon Wireless said its Get It Now Search application, developed by Medio Systems Inc., lets subscribers search by voice or by typing. The service searches...
In the heart of the world’s entertainment capital, Paul Reddick told content providers it was time to show him the money. RCR @ CTIAClick here for complete coverage of the CTIA Wireless I.T. show. Click here for the latest headlines from the show.The vice...
Hello! And welcome to a special CTIA Wireless I.T. & Entertainment 2006 edition of our column, Worst of the Week. There's a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry—especially at trade shows—so this column is a chance for us at RCR...
LOS ANGELES—News Corp. and VeriSign announced plans to form a mobile entertainment joint venture in which News Corp. will have a controlling interest in VeriSign’s Jamba subsidiary. News Corp. said it plans to pay $188 million for the ability to combine Jamba with Fox...
SINGAPORE—Mobile storefront operator CellCity Pte Ltd. said it has inked a deal to offer content from Asian aggregator WooWorld Pte Ltd. CellCity offers a vast portfolio of content and applications for businesses and consumers through its Web site Thecellcity.com. WooWorld sells games, ringtones and...
BURBANK, Calif.—Warner Music Group Corp. subsidiary Rhino Entertainment said it will provide music-based content for HBO Mobile. Rhino, which develops and promotes content from WMG's catalog, plans to deliver ringtones and ring-back tones to support HBO's mobile content services to Cingular Wireless L.L.C. subscribers....
More than one-third of wireless customers have some sort of data plan as part of their wireless subscription, according to research by The NPD Group. However, the retail and consumer information company concluded that "consumer adoption of most data services has remained steady through...
REDWOOD SHORES, Calif.-Hudson Entertainment said it has partnered with The Orchard in a publishing deal that aims to offer mobile content from Delicious Vinyl to mobile phones. The companies said the agreement includes the rights to master ringtones for artists such as Tone-Loc, Young...
REDWOOD SHORES, Calif.—Hudson Entertainment said it has partnered with The Orchard in a publishing deal that aims to offer mobile content from Delicious Vinyl to mobile phones. The companies said the agreement includes the rights to master ringtones for artists such as Tone-Loc, Young...
BURBANK, Calif.—Warner Music Group Corp. subsidiary Rhino Entertainment said it will provide music-based content for HBO Mobile. Rhino, which develops and promotes content from WMG’s catalog, plans to deliver ringtones and ring-back tones to support HBO’s mobile content services to Cingular Wireless L.L.C. subscribers....
Why is everybody in wireless chasing the youth demographic? To steal a line from bank robber Eddie Sutton, that's where the money is. Today's average 10-year-old will spend nearly $30,000 on wireless services over the course of his lifetime, according to new figures from...
The days of charging consumers $3 for a 30-second ringtone may be coming to an end. But for carriers, record labels, artists and software developers, there is still plenty of money to be made in mobile music "personalization." Analysts long have predicted the demise...
