Avvasi Lands $14 Million for Mobile Video Monetization

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
1

Waterloo,
Canada –
Avvasi, a provider of mobile video monetization services, announced on Monday
that it has raised about $14 million in its second round of venture capital
financing, co-led by Celtic House Venture Partners and Tech Capital Partners.

New investor Ontario Emerging Technologies Fund also participated in the round,
proceeds from which will be used to accelerate the company’s product release
schedule.

Waterloo, Ontario-based Avvasi provides mobile carriers with tools
that help them measure and monetize their mobile video services.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/u8sti

http://www.avvasi.com

Bollywood Film to Premiere on YouTube Same Day as Theaters

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Los Angeles
– "Striker," a Bollywood film directed by Chandan Arora, will be the
first in its genre to premiere on Google’s (NASD: GOOG) YouTube on the same day as its
theatrical release on Feb. 5, Variety reported. U.S. viewers will be charged an undisclosed
fee to rent the film via YouTube, while it will be available free of charge in
the rest of the world.


 

Related Links:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118014454.html

MediaNet Served 200 Million Song Downloads in December

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

New York
– MediaNet, the digital music service that powers music delivery for other
services including iLike, HMV, MOG and Tesco, said on Friday that it delivered
a record 200 million downloads and 150 million on-demand plays during the month
of December. The company said the download figure represents a 124% increase from
the same period a year earlier. The top albums of 2009 via MediaNet included
Tim McGraw’s "Southern Voice" and the "Avatar" soundtrack,
while top tracks included "Tik Tok" by Ke$ha and "Fire
Flies" by Owl Cities.


 

Related Links:
http://www.prweb.com/releases/MediaNetGrowth/MusicDownloads/prweb3535504.htm

http://www.mndigital.com

French Streaming Service Deezer Names New CEO

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Paris
– France-based streaming music service Deezer has named Axel Dauchez as its new
CEO, replacing Jonathan Benassaya, who was recently ousted by investors,
TechCrunch reported. Dauchez was previously chief executive at animation firm
Moonscoop. "Deezer is already a fantastic success but is still far from
having exploited its full potential," Dauchez said in a statement.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/u83xm
(TechCrunch)

http://www.deezer.fr

Nearly 1.3 Million Watch Obama's State of the Union Online

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Washington
– Nearly 1.3 million people watched the live Internet video feed of President
Obama’s State of the Union address Wednesday night, the White House announced.
The video was available on WhiteHouse.gov, as well as through a link available
on numerous other websites and blogs.

Some sites that streamed the feed
included YouTube, the Huffington Post and Blogher.com.

The White House has so
far been unable to confirm the number of people who viewed the speech on its
newly released iPhone app, but added "we are able to see that nearly a
terabyte of data was served to iPhones with the application during the
event."

After the speech, more than 50,000 people also watched and took
part in a live chat on Facebook with administration officials.

And so far more
than 9,900 questions have been submitted for a live online interview with
President Obama on YouTube’s CitizenTube channel.

 

Related Links:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/01/28/your-response-state-union

http://www.youtube.com/citizentube

Southwest Airlines to Begin Installing Wi-Fi on All Planes

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Dallas, Texas – In a major boon to area business
travelers, Southwest Airlines announced on Friday that it is set to begin
rolling out its new onboard wireless Internet (Wi-Fi) service this spring, with
the carrier’s full fleet of 540 plans expected to be outfitted by early 2012.

"We ended the equipment ‘testing’ phase and signed an equipment purchase
contract with our Wi-Fi provider, Row 44. That means we now begin the process
of getting equipment ordered and aircraft scheduling in place to begin our full
fleet installation," Southwest said in a blog post.

The company plans
to install equipment on 15 planes a month initially, with the goal of
increasing that number to around 25.

No price for the access has been
announced, with Southwest saying that it is testing a variety of price points.

Wi-Fi is now being offered by several carriers, including Air Canada, AirTran, American, Continental, Delta, United, US
Airways and Virgin America.

 

Related Links:
http://blogsouthwest.com/blog/it-is-official-wi-fi-is-on-the-way

Report: "Three-Strikes" Part of Intl. Trade Agreement Talks

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
1

New York
– Nations involved in talks around the anti-counterfeiting trade agreement
(ACTA) are "secretly" discussing the possibility of enacting
"three-strikes" measures that would sever the Internet connections of
repeat file-swappers, the Financial Times reports, citing leaked drafts of the
agreement. If ratified, the pact "would transform copyright law in the U.S. and European Union," analysts told FT.

EuroISPA, an Internet service provider (ISP)
trade group with 1,700 members, told FT that the three-strikes proposal is
"severe and wide-ranging, including the possibility of users being
disconnected from the Internet."

"Proposals include fines and
imprisonment for non-commercial file sharing, increasing the liability of
internet service providers for copyright infringements by their customers and
much more," Duke University law professor James Boyle told FT.

Diplomats involved in the talks told FT that the
ACTA can’t impose new legislation on signatories, but "could mandate new
obligations as far as punishing Internet users that breach existing laws."

 

Related Links:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/aeecd740-0c55-11df-8b81-00144feabdc0.html

Video Ringtone Firm Vringo Files for $64.3 Million IPO

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

New York
– Vringo, a provider of mobile video-sharing and video ringtone services, has
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for an initial public
offering (IPO) that aims to raise $64.3 million.

Founded in 2006, New
York-based Vringo has to date raised a total of $17.5 million, from investors
including Warburg Pincus.

The company plans to move from its current free model
to a subscription offering, where users will pay a monthly fee for a basic
service and additional fees for premium content.

Vringo will use the expected
$10.3 million in proceeds from the offering for capital expenditures; cost of
revenue; research and development; sales and marketing; and general corporate
purposes, including repayment of part of a loan facility.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/u837l
(PaidContent)

http://www.vringo.com

Carl Icahn Increases Stake in Game Publisher Take-Two

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

New York
– Activist investor Carl Icahn has purchased an additional million shares of
video game publisher Take-Two Interactive (NASD: TTWO), Silicon Alley Insider reported,
citing a regulatory filing.

Icahn previous paid about $70.6 million for 9.1
million shares and an 11.3% stake in Take-Two, saying that he believed the
company was undervalued.

In recent days, Icahn paid about $9.20 for the
additional shares, and now owns about 12.3% of Take-Two.

Icahn also recently
won the right to seat three directors on the company’s board.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/u82o9
(Silicon Alley Insider)

http://snipurl.com/u82of
(DMW previous coverage)

http://www.take2games.com

Social Network for Gay Men Fabulis Lands Financing

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

New York
– Fabulis, a start-up social network targeting gay men, has raised $625,000 in
its first round of financing, from investors including The Washington Post Company.

Also participating in the round were Fabulis founder and CEO Jason Goldberg,
angel investors Allen Morgan, Lars Hinrichs and Don Baer, and several investors
in Goldberg’s previous company, Socialmedian.

New York-based Fabulis aims to be
"a website and mobile service that helps gay men discover and share where
to go, what to do and who to meet."

The company will use the financing to
prepare for its upcoming launch in the spring.

 

Related Links:
http://blog.fabulis.com/post/359842440/announcing-the-first-fabulis-financing

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