CNM Update

CNM update, February 07, 2006 Yahoo launches Canadian music serviceYahoo Canada officially rolled out the Canadian version of its music download service on January 31. Yahoo Music Unlimited was first launched in the US last August, and Canada is the first foreign market for the service. "We want our service to truly reflect the music community in this country, and basically speak to Canadians with their tastes and involving the artists they want to hear that are home-grown and out there," says Andy West, music content producer at Yahoo Canada. Yahoo Music Unlimited incorporates Yahoo’s Messenger offering to allow users to share recommendations, as well as a Yahoo Music Engine that manages tracks and other content. The service features several payment options, ranging from a $13.99-a-month "music to go" plan that allows users to move tracks to mobile devices, to a $6.99-a-month pre-paid annual subscription, to a $0.99 single-track download option. Subscription plans must be maintained or the tracks expire. Sympatico sports fashion weekThe Sympatico.msn.ca portal has a front-row seat during the Olympus Fashion Week, being held now in New York’s Bryant Park locale. Users can browse, search and view clips of catwalk shows as well as interviews, commentaries and breaking news on the world of haute couture. Olympus Fashion Week runs until February 10, and designers who’ll be showing off their work during the event include Oscar de la Renta, Vera Wang, Michael Kors and Baby Phat. Latest Telefilm winners announcedFifty-one firms out of the 113 that applied for Telefilm Canada New Media Fund monies by the October 19, 2005 deadline were successful. Out of the 37 English-language and 14 French-language projects, traditional website-based projects dominated with 16 wins, followed by convergent website properties (13), wireless (9), console games (6), and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM offerings (4). One multimedia installation project, Painting the Myth – billed as "an interactive biography" chronicling the life of painters – won funding for the market research stage. Sixteen projects hailed from the Quebec region, 15 each from the Ontario/Nunavut and Western regions, and five from the Atlantic region. Virgin discovers Joy of TextJust in time for Valentine’s Day, mobile virtual network operator Virgin Mobile Canada has launched a promotion called "The Joy of Text" that promises to spice up mobile phone users’ love lives with text messaging secrets. Enlisting the aid of BC Lions fan-turned-Baywatch babe Pamela Anderson, the firm rolled out a book touting the benefits of "textual intercourse" last week. Virgin’s research shows that more than 40% of Canadians between the ages of 18 and 29 think it’s OK to ask someone out on a date via text messaging, a considerably larger percentage than south of the border where only 7% of teens and young adults would contemplate such a move. "The Joy of Text" is available at Chapters/Indigo bookstores across Canada. D-Box gets into video gamingLongueuil QC-based D-Box Technologies Inc. is broadening its product line to include video game installations in arcades with its latest announcement. The firm has sold a number of its motion simulator chairs to a multinational video game firm, which plans to set up motion-enabled games in 10 locations worldwide. The move is a bit of a departure from D-Box’s core market, which is high-price-tag home entertainment installations. "This is our first major penetration of the video game market, which generates sales of over $23 billion per year," said D-Box president and CEO Claude McMaster in a media announcement, adding the firm "aims to establish our technology as the new entertainment industry standard for home theatres and video games." Parlay picked up by UK bingo siteLeading UK gaming and wagering shop Littlewoods Gaming recently announced it has chosen Oakville ON’s Parlay Entertainment Inc.’s online bingo software to power its Littlewoodsbingo.com site. Parlay’s St. Minver Bingo Network subsidiary will develop a private-label solution for the UK firm, which traces its lineage back to 1923 when it started as a sports bookmaker. Littlewoods Gaming boasts more than 1.7 million users today, and is specifically targeting younger female users with its Internet bingo products.

CNM Update

Broadcast | February 7, 2006

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