Hughes Electronics would become largest single shareholder of XM Satellite Radio after Motient Corp. transfers its remaining stake in XM Class B common shares to senior secure debt guarantors, led by Hughes. Exchange will eliminate all remaining shares of XM Class B common and transfer those shares as Class A stock to Hughes and other guarantors.
Consumers who visit Circuit City stores Nov. 26-Dec. 31 can videotape 30-sec. holiday greetings and expressions of support to troops stationed overseas in “Message from America” promotion announced Tues. by Sonic Solutions. Messages from general public will be sent to USO and Armed Forces Network for distribution to military personnel and will be edited by CBS for public service announcements to be aired during prime time, sports and other programming. Moreover, family members of military personnel on active duty will have option of recording personal messages up to 5 min. long for transfer onto DVD using Sonic Solutions software. Discs can by mailed directly to troops in field. Besides CBS, Circuit City and Sonic Solutions, “coalition” of 20 corporate supporters includes Sony Electronics.
Right Start is continuing to expand chain with proposed acquisition of F.A.O. Schwarz from Vendex International for $55 million in stock and debt. Right Start, which operates 68 stores under own name and another 187 with recently acquired Zany Brainy, will issue Vendex 5 million common shares worth $27 million and $18 million in 4-year notes. It also will assume $10 million in Vendex liabilities. Deal is scheduled to close in Jan. Right Start will buy 22 of 40 Schwarz stores, including flagship 5th Ave. location in N.Y.C. It also gets Internet and catalog operations as well as rights to F.A.O. Schwarz name. Right Start CEO Jerry Welch said that while companies had “same discerning customer,” each chain focused on “a different product offering and a different positioning with this customer.” Indeed, while Right Start and Zany Brainy have targeted educational products, former has focused on infants and toddlers, while latter carries electronic learning aids, videogames and PC software designed for kids 4-12 years old.
Acclaim Entertainment said its Acclaim Max Sports shipped its first Game Boy Advance title, Dave Mirra BMX 2. Versions also are available for PlayStation 2 and GameCube and will be available later this month for Xbox.
Total retail dollar sales of videogame hardware, software and accessories climbed 33% to $4.3 billion in Jan.-Sept. despite weak economy, NPDFunworld said in survey released Mon. It said unit sales in same period were up 12%, led by increases of 62% in consoles, 35% in portable video accessories, 23% in portable video software, 19% in console accessories, 17% in handhelds. NPDFunworld said new record sales were “likely” for videogame industry in 2001, given debuts this month of GameCube and Xbox and fact that 4th quarter typically accounted for half of industry’s annual volume.
ATI Technologies’ Xilleon set-top box IC with high- definition decoder will start volume production in first quarter, spokesman says. Xilleon 220H and 220S, which handle standard definition signal, have 300 MIPs processor and can support Linux, Windows CE and VxWorks embedded operating systems. Chip has 2 separate display paths that can drive 2 display devices, and up to 3 GB per sec. memory bandwidth. Price hasn’t been set.
Joint reference design kit said to enable rapid cost- effective development of products combining DVD playback with personal video recording (PVR) functions was introduced by ESS Technology and Stream Machine. Encore reference design combines Stream Machine’s SM2288 MPEG AV codec chip with ESS Technology’s Vibratto single-chip DVD processor device. Kit is available now, pricing undisclosed.
Worldwide license agreement to publish interactive games based on BattleBots Comedy Central TV show was announced Mon. by THQ. Games will be released for all consoles and PC and under terms of agreement, THQ has right of first refusal to publish games for wireless Internet phones and PDA devices. BattleBots games for PlayStation 2 and GameCube currently are under development for release in 2002, THQ said.
Samsung is said to be briefing dealers on DVD player that can upconvert disc’s 480 line progressive scan (480p) signal to 720p for display on HD-ready sets.
Silicon Image expects new version of Digital Visual Interface (DVI) with audio support by early 2002, delay in plan of having it by year-end, company said. Silicon Image’s first demonstrated PanelLink A/V technology at CES in Jan., implementing it using pair of transmitter and receiver chips. Lack of audio support has been one sticking point in way of DVI’s broad acceptance. By developing technology that supports digital audio data within existing DVI electrical and physical layer, Silicon Image is seeking to position Panel A/V as interface whose 5 Gb per sec. bandwidth can accommodate uncompressed digital data like high-definition video. DVI, which has battled IEEE-1394 to be interface of choice for CE manufacturers, has gained design wins in high-end JVC and Thomson products. It also has received backing of DirecTV, which has required that interface be added to satellite receivers.