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What a dismal future looms ahead for music lovers, if online subscription services turn out anything like promised. Real Networks already has a pay-per-view model – and its own Digital Rights Management framework – in place. And in Napster, the industry has a ‘brand’ name everyone’s heard of, which likewise is gearing itself for a subscription-based model. Yesterday Real Networks announced that it would roll its clients into one application – combining Player and Jukebox – in a textbook exercise in gigantism it calls RealOne. Player has been getting ever more bloated since its debut – although by using it… Read more »

From a chair that looked as if it belongs on the starship Enterprise, Hugh Panero flipped a switch Tuesday and formally launched XM, the first of the nationwide satellite radio services to go on the air. While the ceremony marked XM’s official start, it will not be a national service for some months because the signal is being beamed from the company’s two satellites – “Rock” and “Roll” – to San Diego and Dallas. The company plans to roll out service to the southern half of the United States within a month and to the rest of the nation in… Read more »

Key Capitol Hill politicos on Wednesday sent a letter urging colleagues to reject legislation that would force recording labels to offer the same price and terms when cutting licensing deals with Internet ventures. The measure in question was introduced this summer by Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.), who’s concerned that the major labels will control the flow of songs on the Internet by giving special permission to those online services they back. But some of Boucher’s colleagues on the House Internet Subcommittee say it’s far too early in the game to regulate the Internet. Those signing the letter opposing Boucher’s bill… Read more »

XM Satellite Radio today received from the Federal Communications Commission nationwide terrestrial network authority necessary to commence commercial operations and has rescheduled launch of the first U.S. digital satellite radio service for Tuesday, Sept. 25. XM had originally scheduled its launch for Sept. 12, but postponed it following the tragic events of last Tuesday in Washington, where the company is based, and in New York. Those events also led to federal shutdown and interruption in the FCC’s repeater network authorization process. “We are grateful that the FCC has moved so expeditiously in the face of the tragic events that have… Read more »

Satellite radio company XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. said on Tuesday it postponed the launch of its commercial service in San Diego and Dallas, scheduled for Wednesday, in the wake of hijacked airplane attacks on New York and Washington. XM Satellite had planned to launch the service on Sept. 12 and expand nationally by November. It aimed to provide U.S. car listeners with 100 channels of digital music, news, sports and talk channels via satellite. “Due to today’s national tragedy, XM Satellite Radio has postponed the launch of its commercial service,” the company said in a statement. XM Satellite has… Read more »

In one of the last weeks before the new season, all four major networks for the first time finished with the same share among young adults for the Sept. 3-9 period – another sign of how hotly contested the upcoming season could be. (However, Tuesday’s terrorist attacks mean the new season, scheduled to start next Monday, could be delayed.) NBC won for the 20th time in 21 weeks in the coveted adults 18-49 demographic (3.3 rating, nine share), according to Nielsen, but second-place CBS (3.1/9) and third-place ABC and Fox (who tied at 3.0/9) were all within three-tenths of the… Read more »

MTV personality Carson Daly is suing Motorola, claiming the company reneged on a $1 million deal to promote cell phones, pagers and other products. The breach-of-contract lawsuit, filed Thursday in state Supreme Court in Manhattan, accuses Motorola of breaking a promise to renew a contract with the host of “Total Request Live” because of economic woes. The company, “motivated by declining earnings and the effect of the same on its advertising budget, reneged on its agreement,” the suit says. Daly claims that as part of a tentative agreement reached in January, he agreed to not make commercials for any of… Read more »

National Association of Broadcasters president and CEO Edward Fritts came out with guns firing as he lambasted satellite radio technology and asked the FCC to deny separate requests by XM and Sirius to operate land-based signal repeaters to enhance coverage areas. Fritts also urged the satellite radio providers to “at long last” provide the FCC with specific business plans. Terrestrial repeaters are “a crutch for a technology that is not up to the task of providing the seamless, mobile coverage promised by proponents,” the NAB told the FCC. “The time for subterfuge by XM Radio and Sirius Radio is over,”… Read more »

Backstreet Boy Brian Littrell and his wife Leighanne have formed a music label and entertainment production company called BriLeigh Productions in association with Insight Entertainment Group – a Los Angeles-based management company. Leighanne, the president of BriLeigh, explained: “BriLeigh will be built upon traditional values that allow passionate, talented artists to freely express themselves in a safe and secure environment. We want to be a label that considers its artists part of the family, to nurture the creative side of the relationship as well as the business and marketing aspects necessary in launching a successful project.” BriLeigh will initially concentrate… Read more »

Nearly two weeks after Mariah Carey’s emotional and physical breakdown, the studio releasing her new movie has announced that the release date has been pushed back to next month. “Glitter,” which stars Carey as an aspiring pop singer, was to open Aug. 31. But 20th Century Fox said Monday it would now open Sept. 21. Studios delay release dates regularly. A Fox spokesperson did not immediately return a call seeking details on why the film’s release was delayed. Carey had canceled her publicity tour for the film, along with other public appearances. Her new album, also titled “Glitter,” was scheduled… Read more »