Katz Media

**Katz Media** was a French-Norwegian company that was founded in 1996 to market the Pippin-compatible Katz Media Player 2000 console in Europe. **Katz Media SARL** was based in Boulogne-Billancourt, France and was focused on hardware. Its parent company, Katz Media Holding Limited, was founded on March 28, 1996 and based in Dublin, Ireland. **Katz Media AS** was a subsidiary of Olympia Finans AS of Oslo, Norway and was focused on software.

## History

On June 4, 1996, Katz Media became the second company to sign a license agreement with Apple Computer to distribute Pippin systems. Katz Media had projected sales of about NOK 35 million kr (approx. US$ 5,350,000 in June 1996). Bandai supplied initial consoles as an OEM. Katz Media partnered with Alps Electric to carry out final assembly and warehousing of future units in Ireland. The Katz Media Player 2000 began shipping in Europe on March 17, 1997 with a focus on industry segments such as hotels, health care, travel, government, and education. Accétéra handled distribution in the French mass retail market.

During Marché international des Inforoutes et du Multimédia in May 1997, Groupe Arborescence announced a partnership with Katz Media to develop and market the Arborescence Network Centric computer for the Canadian market. It was to have been based on the KMP 2000 with a custom Pippin Expansion Unit as part of a "Arborescence/Katz Media Pippin package" to be targeted towards Canadian consumers who did not have internet access. Though prototyped by Primetech Electronics, it was not publicly released.

### Titles

*See also: Category: Katz Media titles*
Katz Media SARL announced in September 1996 that leading publishers had committed to Pippinizing their existing multimedia titles, including:

* Hachette Filipacchi Multimedia: *ELLE Cooking*.
* Headbone Interactive: *Elroy Goes Bugzerk*, *Elroy Hits the Pavement*.
* Microfolie's: *Commander Blood* series.
* Montparnasse Multimedia SARL: *Le Louvre*, *Musée d'Orsay*, and *Michel Ange* series.
* Navigo Multimedia GmbH: *Janosch* series.
* Organa: *Le Livre de Lulu*, *P.A.W.S.: Personal Automated Wagging System*.
* 3ème Vague: *Katz Pippin Demo CD*.
* 7th Level GmbH: *Monty Python's Complete Waste of Time''*.

Katz Media AS stated in 1997 that it had acquired publishing rights to about 40-50 CD-ROM titles, including:

* *DigiZINE* (Win/Mac)
* *Interpose* (DOS)
* *Grandpa & Me!* (DOS)
* *Seaside Sam* (Win 3.1/Mac)
* *Twigger* (DOS/Win 95)
* *Whitworth's Planet Earth* (Win 3.1/Mac)

However, only a small number were being developed for the Pippin platform, due to cost. It is uncertain which titles had ever been ported or released as Katz Media was also seeking distribution partners at the time.

> **“We had rights to about four or five titles, but it turned out to be very expensive to get companies to develop games for the console. I remember I was in touch with LucasArts at the time.”***— Pål Høiås
> General Manager, Katz Media*

### Closure

With the return of Steve Jobs at Apple in 1997, further development on the platform was cancelled. A department was opened in Paris in an attempt to salvage the KMP 2000 business by utilizing the consoles in kiosks, but Katz Media went bankrupt in 1998. Only about 1,000 units are believed to have been sold by the time Katz Media's websites went down in 1999, Remaining inventory was sold off to DayStar Digital. Katz Media Holding Limited has since been liquidated and is not affiliated with other companies presently operating under similar names.

## References

1. ↑ Company Backgrounder, Katz Media SARL. Archived 1997-07-01.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Profile: Katz Media Holding Limited, Kompany. Accessed 2018-01-21.
3. ↑ Katz Media continues with Pippin, Telecom.paper. 1997-07-25.
4. ↑ Apple Grants Katz License To Use Pippin Technology by Richard Hudson, *The Wall Street Journal*. 1996-06-05.
5. ↑ Katz Media Signs Worldwide Licensing Agreement for Apple's Pippin Technology, Katz Media SARL. 1996-06-04. Archived 1997-07-13.
6. ↑ Katz Media AS Signs Worldwide Licensing Agreement of Apple's Pippin Technology to make the world's best multimedia technology available to "the rest of us.", Apple Computer. 1996-06-05. Archived 1999-02-20.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 About Katz Media AS, Katz Media AS. Archived 1997-10-23.
8. ↑ U.S. Dollar to Norwegian Krone Spot Exchange Rates for 1996 from the Bank of England, PoundSterling LIVE. Accessed 2018-06-18.
9. ↑ Bandai and Katz Media announce cooperation to develop European Pippin Market, Katz Media SARL. 1997-01-29. Archived 1997-07-13.
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Katz Media Announces Product Strategy and Cooperation with Strategic Partners for Pippin Platform, Katz Media SARL. 1996-09-18. Archived 1997-07-13.
11. ↑ Katz Media Begins Shipping Pippins in Europe, Katz Media SARL. 1997-03-17. Archived 1997-07-13.
12. ↑ Press: Arborescence launches the first Canadian-content Network Centric computer, Katz Media. 1997-05-22. Archived 1997-07-13.
13. ↑ Arborescence Launches KMP 2000 with New Peripherals, The Arborescence Group. 1997-05-22. Archived 1998-01-29.
14. ↑ Arborescence introduce the first COMBO Pippin doc/base module! by Joe Kudrna, O'Grady's PowerPage: Pippin NewsPage. 1997-08-03. Archived 1998-02-07.
15. ↑ Katz Media Announces Partnerships with Multimedia Developers and Publishers for Pippin Platform, Katz Media SARL. 1996-09-18. Archived 1997-07-13.
16. ↑ *DigiZINE*, Katz Media AS. Archived 1997-10-23.
17. ↑ *Interpose*, Katz Media AS. Archived 1997-10-23.
18. ↑ *Grandpa & me!*, Katz Media AS. Archived 1997-10-23.
19. ↑ *Seaside Sam*, Katz Media AS. Archived 1997-10-23.
20. ↑ *Twigger*/Win95, Katz Media AS. Archived 1998-07-02.
21. ↑ *Whitworth's Planet Earth*, Katz Media AS. Archived 1997-10-23.
22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 This is a Norwegian game console developed for Apple (Norwegian) by Martin Gramnæs, PressFire. 2015-03-11.
23. ↑ Distributors Wanted, Katz Media AS. Archived 1997-10-23.
24. ↑ For the good of the company? Five Apple products Steve Jobs killed by Casey Johnston, Ars Technica. 2011-08-25.
25. ↑ *The Ultimate Guide to Classic Game Consoles* (p.64-66) by Kevin Baker, Google Books. 2013-05-23.
26. ↑ Apple's Folly by Adam Volk, The Gameological Society. 2013-06.

## See also

* Groupe Arborescence
* List of Pippin titles: Europe

## External links

* Katz Media AS (archived 1998-07-02)
* Katz Media AS at MobyGames
* In The News at Katz Media SARL (archived 1998-04-15)
* The PIPPIN from Katz Media (archived 1998-04-15)
* Norwegian game console (Polish) at MojaNorwegia (2015-03-14)
* Apple Pippin: Katz Media Player 2000 at Wikipedia