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Audio Video News
Nesmith Wins $47 Million in Suit Against PBS
Barry Willis  |  Feb 06, 1999

Michael Nesmith could soon be back in the business: The former Monkee has been awarded $47 million by a jury in a Los Angeles Federal-court case. The judgment came Tuesday, February 2, after the jury found the <A HREF="http://www.pbs.org">Public Broadcasting Service</A> guilty of fraud, breach of contract, and contract interference over a video-distribution deal it signed with Nesmith's now-defunct Pacific Arts Corporation in 1990. Malfeasance by PBS caused the demise of Pacific Arts, jurors decided.

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Linn AV 51 System
Michael Fremer  |  Feb 03, 1999

Even before you listen, you can see that the Linn AV 51 has an attitude. It stares back at you with a smirk. It's not a defiant Robert DeNiro "You talkin' to <I>me</I>?" but more of a Jack Nicholson "Wait'll you get a load of this."

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Other Tech
Get 6.1 Channels Now!
David Ranada  |  Jan 31, 1999
I felt as stupid as Dorothy must have felt near the end of The Wizard of Oz when Glinda, the Witch of the North, tells her that she always had the power to get back to Kansas.
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Audio Video News
TiVo Inks Deals with HBO, Showtime, and The Weather Channel
Jon Iverson  |  Jan 31, 1999

Amid a flurry of activity last week, <A HREF="http://www.tivo.com">TiVo</A> announced new agreements with several content providers to help support its new hard-disk-based A/V recording and playback system. As reported during last month's Consumer Electronics Show <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/shownews.cgi?338">coverage</A>, TiVo and rival start-up <A HREF="http://www.replaytv.com">Replay</A> intend to market digital devices with sophisticated software that finds and time-shifts TV programming, giving viewers more control over selecting and watching television content.

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Audio Video News
ProjectorCentral Prepares to Light Up
Jon Iverson  |  Jan 31, 1999

In a world of Amazon.coms and Wal-Marts, it takes a well-funded, compelling idea---or a very sharply defined niche market---to successfully set up shop. In the spirit of tightly defining a selling space, a new website has been launched by <A HREF="http://www.projectorcentral.com">ProjectorCentral</A>. The site is designed to create a very "vertical" Internet-based marketplace for buyers and sellers within the A/V and projection industry. It's intended as a "community environment" where industry professionals can trade ideas and information as well as products and services.

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Audio Video News
DTV Driving Market for New Video Productions Tools
Barry Willis  |  Jan 30, 1999

The market for advanced television equipment is growing, thanks to the <A HREF="http://www.fcc.gov/">Federal Communications Commission</A>'s digital TV mandate. But the changeover will be slow. According to a study conducted by research and consulting firm <A HREF="http://www.frost.com/">Frost & Sullivan</A>, industrial users of television equipment are likely to opt for converting their existing gear rather than replacing it during the transition, and they will move to software solutions for their production and editing needs.

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Audio Video News
A Bug's Life to be Offered in Four Flavors
 |  Jan 30, 1999

When is a choice not a choice at all? When the same product comes in different packages. In April, the Disney/Pixar computer-animated hit movie <I>A Bug's Life</I> will hit the stores in four different boxes. Each box will highlight a different character from the film. The intention is to grab the children's-video market by its eager eyeballs.

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Audio Video News
First USSB, now PrimeStar
 |  Jan 24, 1999

Late last week, <A HREF="http://www.hughes.com">Hughes Electronics</A> announced that it had reached an agreement with <A HREF="http://www.primestar.com">PrimeStar</A> to acquire the 2.3-million-subscriber PrimeStar direct broadcast satellite (DBS) medium-power business and Tempo high-power satellite asset in two transactions valued at approximately $1.82 billion. The combination of <A HREF="http://www.DirecTV.com">DirecTV</A> and PrimeStar---along with United States Satellite Broadcasting (USSB), the multichannel movie service that agreed to merge with Hughes last month ($1.3 billion in cash and stock)---makes DirecTV one of the top three television subscriber services in the US.

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Audio Video News
Koyaanisqatsi Arrives on a Computer Near You
 |  Jan 24, 1999

On January 19, <A HREF="http://www.filmscouts.com">Film Scouts</A> announced the Internet premiere of the legendary film <I>Koyaanisqatsi</I>, which will occur at 7 pm PST, Sunday, February 7, 1999. Originally released in 1983, the film was produced by Francis Ford Coppola and directed by Godfrey Reggio, and it features a score by Philip Glass. The Web debut of <I>Koyaanisqatsi</I> is presented by Film Scouts in collaboration with the Internet Protocol Multicast Initiative (IPMI) as the centerpiece of the IP Multicast Summit, an event showcasing advancements in IP multicast technology.

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Audio Video News
Connecting the Home Networking Dots
Jon Iverson  |  Jan 24, 1999

Last week, <A HREF="http://www.philips.com">Philips</A>, <A HREF="http://www.sony.com">Sony</A>, and <A HREF="http://www.sun.com">Sun Microsystems</A> formally announced plans to collaborate in connecting Sun's Jini technology with the <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/shownews.cgi?317">Home Audio-Video interoperability</A> (HAVi) architecture, which is being developed by several consumer-electronics manufacturers. According to a joint statement, the companies plan to provide a solution that links HAVi-compliant appliances in the home to services provided by Jini technology over a network.

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