Several dozen CEOs of consumer electronics and other high- tech companies wrote Congress Fri. backing HR-2341 by House Internet Caucus Co-Chmn. Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Boucher (D-Va.) in effort to forestall what they called “a dramatic increase in frivolous class action lawsuits.” HR-2341, with 33 co-sponsors, aims to block frivolous lawsuits “without erecting barriers to the plaintiffs’ legitimate claims,” group said, backed by U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Bill would require judicial scrutiny of coupon settlements to ensure they were fair for class members while at same time requiring that notices “be written in plain English,” executives said, as well as allowing cases in different states to be consolidated in federal court. Among signatories were Intel CEO Craig Barrett, Hewlett-Packard Vp-Govt. & Public Affairs Gary Fazzino, Compaq Vp-Deputy Counsel Daniel McCarthy, eBay Senior Vp-Legal Affairs Michael Jacobson, Westell Technologies CEO Van Cullens and CEA. Pres. Gary Shapiro.
DivX compression for Internet video is coming to Broadway. Web portal BroadwayOnline.com, owned by Broadway TV Network, is licensing MPEG-4-based codec from DivXNetworks to begin video-on- demand delivery of stage events through broadband. Companies said secure, high-resolution downloads from www.broadwayonline.com would cost $5.95 for 5-day rental and would include Broadway hits Jekyll and Hyde: The Musical and Smokey Joe’s Caf?: The Songs of Lieber and Stoller. DivX compression creates efficient AV file that can be transmitted quickly over Internet. DivXNetworks said system used “progressive download” technology that enabled recipient to begin viewing shortly after download had begun.
Report on DVD Multi (CED Nov 9 p2) should have read “minimum requirement is that read-only drives play recordings made in DVD- RAM, DVD-R and DVD-R decks.”
Infogrames started shipping CD-ROM PC game Tonka Monster Trucks at $19.99. E-rated (Everyone) game was designed for Windows 95/98/Me.
Best Buy Fri. celebrated grand openings of 3 stores in metropolitan Hartford, chain’s first Conn. outlets. Stores in Orange and Manchester are 45,000 sq. ft. each, while W. Hartford outlet is 30,000 sq. ft. and is prototype for communities with populations of 250,000 or less.
Tecmo Pres. Isamu Fukada denied accuracy of rumors that Xbox game Dead or Alive 3 would be available on another videogame system: “Despite rampant speculation, Tecmo has no plans to produce Dead or Alive 3 for other consoles. Dead or Alive 3 was designed to take full advantage of and play exclusively on Xbox.” T-rated (Teen) game started shipping at $49.99 in time for rollout of Microsoft’s console. Tecmo Mktg. Dir. John Inada said company was able to ship title “a week earlier than expected,” adding: “This gives all retailers a chance to have the game available on shelves in time for the November 15 launch of Xbox. We anticipate demand will peak when [Microsoft’s] multimillion- dollar TV ad campaign kicks off” Nov. 11. Tecmo said title could “be best appreciated on a high-definition TV” because it supported 480 progressive display format.
Competition for PVR maker TiVo in U.K. is about to come from party that warmly endorsed set-top PVR and service just last year. New opponent is News Corp.’s BSkyB satellite service, which has introduced rival Sky+ set-box made by Pace. Besides challenge from Sky, TiVo is facing other difficulties in U.K. market owing to unreliable nature of British programming schedules -- upon which its timer-recording function depends to acquire telecasts and store them on hard disc.
Amazon.com made all-stock, noncash investment in Altura International, Cal. company that operates CatalogCity.com Web site. E-tailer disclosed investment in SEC filing, saying it issued 717,316 shares of common stock based on Nov. 8 closing price of $6.97, valuing investment at $5 million. CatalogCity provides easy access to leading catalog products and merchants, Amazon said. E-tailer said that as part of accompanying commercial agreement, CatalogCity merchants would be featured at Amazon’s Web site and, in return, Amazon’s books, DVDs, music and VHS tapes would be included at CatalogCity site, www.CatalogCity.com. Separately, Amazon said its CFO, Warren Jenson, would speak Nov. 13 at Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown 2001 Technology Conference in Baltimore, 7:30 a.m.
LucasArts Entertainment began shipping T-(Teen) rated PC game Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds at $49.99.
NVidia posted $54.7 million in Microsoft xBox-related revenue in 3rd quarter, 15% of its overall total as it geared up for shipment of new videogame console this week.