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vivendi
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Vivendi
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vivendi
online video
Adult-film producer threatens world of online porn
Vivid has taken the first steps by the porn industry to protect their content using the courts, following in the footsteps of Hollywood and the record labels. The adult-film producer is suing the companies behind PornoTube for copyright infringement. Vivid is making the same argument as Viacom has against Google's YouTube — with one significant exception that may have broad consequences for porn on the Web. More »
activision blizzard
Robert Kotick clueless about online games
The merger between Vivendi's games division and Activision is a big deal in the videogame business. The industry's Davids now have not one but two Goliaths to sling stones at. More importantly, console makers have two equal-sized publishers to play against each other. But it wasn't Activision CEO Robert Kotick's dream of forming a company to rival Electronic Arts that convinced him to form Activision Blizzard with Vivendi — it was World of Warcraft. According to accounts in both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, Kotick was "eager" to get into online games — multiplayer online worlds are all the rage right now. More »
acquisitions
Vivendi, Activision form videogame conglomerate
Vivendi is forking over $1.7 billion to take a controlling stake in videogame publisher Activision. With their powers combined, they'll create a new game-publishing goliath, Activision Blizzard, ostensibly worth $18.9 billion. In size, it will rival longstanding industry leader Electronic Arts. The deal pairs Vivendi-owned Vivendi Games and Blizzard, the folks behind online multiplayer game World of Warcraft, with Activision's portfolio of Tony Hawk-licensed skateboarding games and Guitar Hero.
online video
Zaoza! Name is the only thing entertaining about Vivendi site
Wowza, everyone wants a piece of the YouTube market. During its third-quarter earnings call, Vivendi revealed plans to test a new content platform dubbed Zaoza that will mash together social networking and entertainment products together into an indistinguishable pulp. The running suspicion is Vivendi is setting up a site akin to the NBC Universal/News Corp. venture Hulu — never mind that Vivendi already has an interest in Hulu, through its 20 percent stake in NBC.
digital music
Everybody hates iTunes
Well, maybe not everyone. But the tide is certainly turning against Apple's music and video store, which has held a near-monopoly on digital media distribution. Vivendi says the contract between its Universal Music Group and Apple is "indecent." We like the sound of that, but somehow it doesn't sound like Vivendi meant it as a compliment. Like NBC Universal, in which it holds a minority stake, Vivendi wants more control over pricing — the option to charge more for new, in-demand content than old library tracks. While Apple has a few stalwart supporters, like Fox, at the moment, it's likely that many content providers are waiting for enough key players to take the plunge before determining whether to abandon ship or demand more flexibility. Particularly if they're getting a better deal from Apple's new competitor, AmazonMP3.
Vivendi announced that its Universal Music Group unit's digital music sales during the first half of 2007 have doubled over the past year. Despite that, it ran a $102 million loss. World of WarCraft, Vivendi's popular online game, boosted the company's videogames divisional profit to $162 million, almost double the same period last year. [PaidContent]
