this could be related to AXC...Warner Bros is a very important, lontime customer of AXC
Roll 'Em: Studios Think Portal
January 12, 1999
Inter@ctive Week via NewsEdge Corporation : Warner Bros. is gearing up efforts to offer an entertainment-oriented online portal, and rival Sony may not be far behind in expanding its presence in the navigation hub business.
Within six months, Warner Bros. plans to launch an Internet-based entertainment channel featuring content from multiple movie studios, television producers and recording companies. The service, to be called Entertaindom, will be positioned as a cobranded entertainment offering and will be distributed in partnership with high-traffic sites and access providers.
Meanwhile, Japan's Sony also is forging plans to expand its presence in the navigation hub business, viewing a high-traffic Web portal as a vehicle for promoting its Columbia TriStar movie and television studio as well as its music recording labels.
Sony is scouting for navigation hub alliances to increase distribution opportunities for online programming, and it is mulling an equity investment in a portal, industry executives said.
Despite previous missteps by other companies -- notably Microsoft -- in delivering entertainment-oriented programming on the Internet, now is the time for studios to expand their online presence, said Jim Moloshok, president of Warner Bros. Online.
"We have the opportunity not to make the same mistakes that studios have made media generation after media generation," Moloshok said. "We have the opportunity not to build somebody else's network with our programming. "
Warner Bros. (www.warnerbros.com) is negotiating revenue-sharing agreements with other studios and music labels interested in distributing movie-related clips, new music releases and other content via Entertaindom, he said.
"It's important for all studios to control their own destiny," Moloshok said. "It's a game of eyeballs, and studios have to look at the ways they'll be reaching viewers online."
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