Gamers Factory Nabs $3.9 Million, Goes Public in Stock Swap

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
1

Hunt Valley,
Md. – Gamers Factory, a company
that refurbishes used video games for the pre-owned market, announced on Friday
that it has secured $3.9 million through a private placement of its shares, and
completed a stock swap that will take the company public.

Gamers Factory did
the stock swap with City Language Exchange; the combined entity will be called
Game Trading Technologies (GTT) and trade on the OTC Bulletin Board under the
ticker symbol "GMTD."

Founded in 2003, Maryland-based Gamers Factory procures,
refurbishes and redistributes used video games for partners including GameStop,
Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Toys "R" Us, GameFly, Costco and Blockbuster.

The
company posted 2009 revenues of $36.7 million and net income of $1.74 million.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/uj8qa

http://www.gametradingtechnologies.com

Music Mastermind Gets $4.85M for Web-based Music Creation

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Los Angeles
– Music Mastermind, the provider of a Web-based music creation platform, has
raised $4.85 million in its first round of funding.

Details on investors were
not provided.

The two-year-old company was co-founded by former Virgin Records
America CEO Matt Serletic, and recently demonstrated its platform at the
Consumer Electronics Show.

The company says its technology "allows anyone
to create professional-quality music and even collaborate with famous artists
on a variety of platforms including web portals, mobile devices and gaming
consoles."

Music Mastermind will use the funds to further product
development and finalize strategic release plans.

 

Related Links:
http://www.music-mastermind.com/node/176

MOG Raises $9.5 Million, Plans Music Service Launch in U.K.

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Berkeley,
Calif. – MOG, the operator of a
network of user-penned music blogs, announced on Friday that it has raised $9.5
million in new funding, led by Menlo Ventures.

New investor Balderton Capital
also participated in the round, proceeds from which will support the
development of mobile applications, partnerships with consumer electronics
makers, and the company’s U.K.
launch.

Founded in 2005, Berkeley, Calif.-based MOG recently launched a
subscription-based music service, MOG All Access, and said it is seeing
"an incredible 17% user conversion from the free trial" to the paid
service.

The company plans to launch the music service, which offers a library
of 7 million songs, in the U.K.
in the second quarter of the year.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/uj863

http://www.mog.com

Baidu Secures $50 Million to Launch Video Portal in China

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Beijing – Baidu (NASD: BIDU), China’s
leading search engine, announced on Friday that it has received a new $50
million investment from Providence Equity Partners for its new online video
portal venture.

The ad-supported video portal, Qiyi.com, will be majority-owned
by Baidu.

"The online video market has great potential for growth in China," said Baidu CEO Robin Li.

"Providence is our ideal
partner in this space as it has rich experience in investing in and managing
businesses that distribute licensed content online. With Baidu’s strong ability
to drive traffic and offer innovative products that suit user needs, we are
very excited about the future prospects of this new company."

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/uj7a9

http://snipurl.com/uj7c1
(DMW previous coverage)

http://www.baidu.com

http://www.qiyi.com

Lady Gaga Videos Generating 25% of All Vevo Traffic

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

New York – Lady Gaga is
currently generating 25% of all of its traffic on Vevo, the music video portal
joint venture between Universal Music, Sony Music and EMI, according to remarks
made by Interscope/Geffen head of digital Ted Mico at Digital Media Wire’s
Digital Music Forum East conference in New
York, CNET News.com reported. Vevo attracted a total
of 35 million unique visitors last month, according to comScore data.


 

Related Links:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-10459262-261.html

http://www.vevo.com

CBS Adds U.K. Broadcaster Five to TV.com VOD Service

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

New York – CBS (NYSE: CBS) has signed a
deal to include programming from U.K. broadcaster Five on its TV.com
video-on-demand service, PaidContent reported. Five, the producers of CBS’
"CSI" franchise, will bring shows including "Neighbours,"
"Home and Away" and "The Gadget Show" to TV.com, making
programs available shortly after their broadcast.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/uil90
(PaidContent)

http://www.tv.com

NBC Taps Ancestry.com for "Who Do You Think You Are?"

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Provo, Utah – Online family history resource
Ancestry.com said on Thursday that it has partnered with NBC to provide
research for and sponsor its upcoming series, "Who Do You Think You
Are?" The company said it helped trace the roots of the seven celebrities to
be featured on the series, and collaborated to build a Web presence on NBC.com
for the series, which debuts on March 5.


 

Related Links:
http://www.ancestry.com

http://www.nbc.com/who-do-you-think-you-are

Brighcove to Power Web Video Delivery for Virgin Media

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

London
– Brightcove, a provider of Internet video delivery services, announced on
Thursday that U.K.-based Virgin Media will use its services to deliver video
across Virginmedia.com. The site draws around 11 million unique monthly
visitors.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/uill2

http://www.virginmedia.com

http://www.brightcove.com

IAC's Match.com Acquires Dating Site Singlesnet

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
2

Dallas
– IAC’s (NASD: IACI) dating site Match.com announced on Thursday that it will acquire fellow
dating site Singlesnet.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Founded
in 1998, Singlesnet counted around 3 million unique visitors in January.

"While
Singlesnet’s traffic is currently in decline, we believe that by applying our
category expertise we can reverse that trend, increase the site’s profitability
and improve the overall user experience," said Match.com CEO Greg Blatt.

"This is more of a value acquisition than a strategic one, and Singlesnet
will predominantly be run as a standalone business."

"Singlesnet
boasts a vibrant user community where members are constantly emailing and IMing
each other, and I believe working with Match.com will enable us to re-start
growth in the business," added Singlesnet founder and CEO Quinn Lipin.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/uikvd

http://www.match.com

http://www.singlesnet.com

Cablevision to Begin Deploying Remote Storage DVR in April

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

New York
– Cablevision (NYSE:  CVC), the nation’s fifth-largest cable TV provider, plans to begin deploying
its controversial Remote Storage Digital Video Recorder service in April and
expects it to be available to all of the company’s 3 million subscribers by
year’s end, Multichannel News reported. Speaking on a conference call to
discuss earnings Cablevision COO Tom Rutledge said the set-top box-free service
would initially offer the ability to pause live TV, before a digital video
recorder service with limited functionality is rolled out in April.

Instead of
storing recorded programs on a set-top box in subscribers’ homes, Cablevision’s
RS-DVR service will store them on the company’s own servers — and then stream
them on-demand to subscribers’ televisions.

The company initially planned to
launch the service back in 2006, but was sued by broadcasters who see the
service as providing unauthorized retransmissions of their programs.

A federal
court judge agreed with broadcasters, but that ruling was overturned on appeal
in 2008.

The U.S. Justice Dept. sided with Cablevision in a court filing, and in June 2009 the Supreme
Court declined to hear an appeal from the broadcasters.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/uik4g
(Multichannel News)

http://snipurl.com/uikn7
(DMW previous coverage)

http://www.cablevision.com

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