RealNetworks shares have spiked more than 10 percent this morning, on zero news.
TheStreet.com notes that there has been “heavy upside options activity” in the shares, asserting that “volume was nothing short of explosive” in both the stock and the options.
The news this week that Napster is relaunching with a $5-a-month subscription plan that includes 5 free MP3 downloads would appear to be a troubling development for RealNetworks’ rival Rhapsody service, which will set you back $13 a month for a streaming service that lacks the free MP3s. It is also no doubt irritating to Real that it comes from a company that is now a unit of Best Buy: in the past, the Best Buy digital music store was a re-branded version of Rhapsody, which came pre-loaded on non-Zune, non-iPod music players sold by the retailer.
After writing about how Napster renegotiated its deals with record labels to offer its music subscription service at a lower price, I called RealNetworks, which offers the Rhapsody service, to see if its executives were excited about cutting similar deals that would allow it to offer its own $5-a-month music service.
RealNetworks is upping the ante in litigation seeking to prevent it from distributing DVD-copying software.
Internet streaming media software developer RealNetworks this evening reported Q1 sales of $140.8 million, down 5 percent year over year, and in line with analysts’ estimates, and a net loss of 10 cents per share, worse than the 6-cent loss expected.
Starting late last year, movie studios began peddling premium-priced DVDs that come with the right to download a digital copy of the movie onto a computer.
Now a federal judge will weigh in on whether the studios are the only ones who can legally make those copies, or if other companies can jump on the bandwagon.
RealNetworks, which has previously professed its supposedly neutral position in the copyright controversy over the popular Facebook app Scrabulous, is now sneaking itself into the mix: It is quietly introducing a version of Scrabble on Facebook, called “Scrabble by Mattel,” through its subsidiary Gamehouse. The Mattel version is only available for users outside the U.S. and Canada, though as this New York Times story says, it relies on users to be honest about their location to make that distinction.
At D5 last week, we announced our new RealPlayer, which makes it easy for anyone to download video from the Internet and keep it for personal use. But what I want to discuss today are the divergent reactions to the product and the ideas behind it–it’s basically a Rorschach ink-blot test for how people feel about Internet media and consumer choice.
This is a section of the All Things Digital Web site featuring posts from around the Web, from other Dow Jones properties and also original pieces we solicit. The section is now explicitly labeled that it comes "from other Web sites."
We are fully aware of the controversies around how linking and aggregating is done on the Web and we, in no way, are attempting to "scrape" original content created by others. Instead, regarding third-party posts, we are trying to point readers of this site to other posts from around the Web that we admire and are trying to do so in the quickest manner possible.
The Internet is full of terrific content that is not ours and we want to help our readers find it by making editorial suggestions--Look, Mom, no algorithm!--of posts we think are worth their time.
That is why we have made even more changes to Voices to ensure we do this in the most transparent and timely way. While we don't expect that everyone will agree with our policies, we have made changes that reflect our intent in pointing to content outside our site.
So here is exactly what we do:
Because the site is wholly owned by Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal, we aim to adhere to the journalistic standards of the best of the mainstream media. But, because it is run autonomously as a small online startup, we aim to exhibit the fresh thinking and nimbleness of the best of the new media. We want to be first, and sassy, but also well sourced and accurate. We will offer lots of opinion and analysis, but plenty of fact as well.
D is unlike any other executive conference. Since its debut in 2003, D has brought to life the energy and excitement of the digital revolution in an unscripted, upfront and unparalleled way. Read more »
Don't miss a post! Sign up for our Daily Email and get AllThingsD.com delivered each day.
Get columns, blogs and video from D and All Things Digital on your iPhone. Download now »
