Wireline and wireless providers should pay FCC regulatory fees under one umbrella, said the Independent Telephone & Telecommunications Alliance. In comments on an FCC rulemaking, ITTA and others urged it to recalibrate fees so they better reflect technology convergence and agency organizational changes.
Initial signs are promising for iPhone as a gaming platform, Glu Mobile CEO Greg Ballard and THQ CEO Brian Farrell said in separate presentations at Thursday’s Goldman Sachs conference in New York. “We really like what we see” on the iPhone and smartphone market in general, Farrell said.
Initial signs are promising for iPhone as a gaming platform, Glu Mobile CEO Greg Ballard and THQ CEO Brian Farrell said in separate presentations at Thursday’s Goldman Sachs conference in New York. “We really like what we see” on the iPhone and smartphone market in general, Farrell said. THQ is seeing “some traction” for iPhone games and “we just can’t buy” the “cool factor” that comes with being on Apple’s App Store, he said. IPhone is a “legitimate handheld platform,” but it’s “still a small market,” said Farrell.
Intel seeks consensus among cable operators and consumer electronics companies in favor of a proposal it recently revived for the FCC to require that HD set-top boxes have Internet protocol connections, a key Intel executive told us.
Intel seeks consensus among cable operators and consumer electronics companies in favor of a proposal it recently revived (CD July 23 p10) for the FCC to require that HD set- top boxes have Internet Protocol connections, an executive said. Company executives have recently spoken with counterparts in the two industries to see if common ground can be reached, said Intel Content Policy Director Jeffrey Lawrence. He said officials from both industries have shown “some interest” in Intel’s plan, talked up in recent FCC meetings and at the commission’s Monday hearing on broadband.
Google wants to index the space-time continuum and make “expertise” popular on the veracity-challenged Internet, CEO Eric Schmidt told the Economic Club of Washington Monday. Schmidt pitched the crowd, many older than Schmidt and wearing suits, on his “culture of ‘yes'” business philosophy and open platforms’ superiority. “We could run our country” on Google’s “relatively scalable values,” the Washington-area native said, not elaborating. He mostly left unspoken Google’s sprawling policy agenda, aided by a ban on reporters asking questions or buttonholing Schmidt after the event.
Ongoing litigation hurt Jakks Pacific in its Q1 ended March 31 as profit slid to $877,000 (3 cents per diluted) from $3.2 million (12 cents) a year ago, it said Wednesday. The earnings were influenced by $2.6 million in pre-tax litigation costs, along with product testing costs of about $800,000 and about $600,000 in restructuring costs, Jakks said.
SAN FRANCISCO -- Videogame consoles in their current form will be gone by 2020, predicted Alex St. John, CEO of online game company WildTangent, in a panel that concluded the MI6 Conference Wednesday. As game content becomes even more accessible through a variety of delivery methods, today’s console no longer will be “a game-enabling device,” but rather a piece of hardware that’s designed “to prevent you from playing games unless you paid for them,” St. John said.
SAN FRANCISCO -- Videogame consoles in their current form will be gone by 2020, predicted Alex St. John, CEO of online game company WildTangent, in a panel that concluded the MI6 Conference Wednesday. As game content becomes even more accessible through a variety of delivery methods, today’s console no longer will be “a game-enabling device,” but rather a piece of hardware that’s designed “to prevent you from playing games unless you paid for them,” St. John said.
THQ has “prevailed” in a dispute brought by Jakks Pacific before the California Court of Appeals to disqualify potential arbitrators, THQ said Monday. Jakks, THQ’s partner in the World Wrestling Entertainment videogame franchise, disclosed late last week in a 10-K SEC filing that the Court of Appeals affirmed Los Angeles Superior Court’s ruling that disclosure wasn’t required in its court battle with THQ until after the court named an arbitrator (CED March 4 p8). The companies dispute the preferred return rate in the distribution period for WWE games July 2006 through December 2009. “Following numerous delays” by Jakks, THQ said, it filed in the Superior Court to compel arbitration and name an arbitrator. A trial judge named an arbitrator, but “Jakks petitioned the California Court of Appeals to disqualify all but one of the potential arbitrators considered by the judge, based on its interpretation of when potential arbitrators were required to complete disclosure questionnaires,” said THQ. The Court of Appeals now has “denied” Jakks’s petition, “which will allow the arbitration process to move forward,” THQ said. Jakks claims arbitration has lagged for “a host of reasons,” but THQ Executive Vice President of Business and Legal Affairs James Kennedy said “the sole cause of delay has been Jakks.” THQ believed Jakks’s position in its petition from the judge’s appointment of an arbitrator “was wrong, and the Court of Appeals has now agreed,” he said. “We look forward to moving the arbitration process forward expeditiously,” he said. THQ challenged statements by Jakks on a Feb. 20 conference call about the economics of the videogame joint venture and expectations for WWE videogame sales, saying the remarks “do not reflect the views of THQ or the THQ/Jakks Pacific joint venture.” Under the joint venture operating agreement, THQ is responsible for joint venture operations, THQ said, saying Jakks “is not currently actively involved in joint venture operations.” Therefore, THQ said, Jakks’ statements on the venture’s economics and its expectations of joint venture performance “are not based on any active involvement in the business operations of the joint venture.” THQ CEO Brian Farrell called WWE “a tremendous brand,” saying “we have consistently grown this franchise in the videogame space on a global basis, with life-to-date sales of more than $1 billion.”