Communications-related Headlines for 4/21/99

TELEVISION
'Adrenaline Television' Dramatizes the Horror,
While It's Happening (ChiTrib)
NBC's News Machine Marches To War (WP)
Fox to Become Newsier (ChiTrib)
Speech: From the Vast Wasteland to the Vast Broadband (FCC)
Speech: The Digital Mosaic (FCC)

INTERNATIONAL
Sowing Technology's Seeds In Developing Countries (CyberTimes)

ECOMMERCE
E-Commerce Experts' Exhortation: Webify (ChiTrib)
Lycos Tops Yahoo in Internet Ratings (SJ Merc)
VerticalNet Launches Web Auctions for Businesses (SJ Merc)

INTERNET
Tragedy Pulls People Online (WP)
New FTC Rules Aim To Protect Kid Web Privacy (WSJ)

TELEPHONEY
Wireless Cable Gets Boost (B&C)
Phone Giants Say Merger Hinges On Role of Germany (NYT)
AT&T Plans Local Service In New York (WSJ)

TECHNOLOGY
New Technologies Can Help the Elderly Stay More Connected (WSJ)

SAFETY
Public Safety National Coordination Committee (FCC)

TELEVISION

'ADRENALINE TELEVISION' DRAMATIZES THE HORROR, WHILE IT'S HAPPENING
Issue: Coverage of Disasters
The Trib's media and television writers provide a quick review of the media
coverage of the Colorado school shooting. Cable news channel CNN and
Denver-area broadcast outlets provided live coverage of the disaster --
coverage some may feel went too far. Media outlets were providing
information about where students were hiding throughout the school while the
gunmen where still in the building; they also provided live video of
students escaping from the building -- making their route obvious to those
inside. Cell phones also played a role in coverage as one student called
into a local television station to report his situation.
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (Sec 1,p.10), AUTHOR: Tim Jones & Steve Johnson]
(http://chicagotribune.com/textversion/article/0,1492,SAV-9904210094,00.html)

NBC'S NEWS MACHINE MARCHES TO WAR
Issue: Journalism
"Most correspondents leave 90 percent of their stuff on the floor after
doing a two-minute spot for 'Nightly News' and a minute-30 for 'Today,'"
says Jeff Zucker, executive producer of NBC's "Today" program. But not at
NBC today. NBC is the only news operation able to cover the war in
Yugoslavia on a broadcast network and a 24-hour cable network, as well as on
the Internet. The battle over Kosovo has provided a showcase for the news
machine built by NBC News President Andrew Lack: the top-rated morning show,
the top-rated nightly newscast, the top-rated Sunday talk show and in
"Dateline," a highly rated newsmagazine airing five nights a week. Lack uses
all of those network outlets to provide war coverage. Cable channel MSNBC,
founded on the Big Story approach, has been carefully following the action.
Since the NATO bombing began, MSNBC's rating are up 103%. Kosovo has been a
boon to the MSNBC Web site, which is run from Microsoft headquarters in
Redmond, WA. It has its own staff in Yugoslavia and uses MSNBC material.
TheWeb site also has featured "chats" with Yugoslav and Serbian leaders. The
site is drawing as many as 1.4 million visitors a day, an increase of more
than 30% since the war began. Even cable business channel CNBC runs regular
live updates on the war.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (C1), AUTHOR: Howard Kurtz]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-04/21/081l-042199-idx.html)

FOX TO BECOME NEWSIER
Issue: Journalism/Television Economics
"The news business is a good business to be in," said Stacey Marks-Bronner,
vice president and general manager of WFLD-TV. The Chicago affiliate of the
Fox network will expand local news coverage by 90 minutes/day starting in
July. Facing increased competition from syndicated shows -- like The
Simpsons and Friends -- and cable, the prime-time local news audience is
shrinking in Chicago and across the country. Other Chicago stations are
actually cutting back on newscasts with declining ratings. WFLD will add the
coverage in the early AM hours and begin a noon news broadcast to compete
with the one other station that does so now.
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (Sec 3, p.1), AUTHOR: Tim Jones]
(http://chicagotribune.com/business/businessnews/article/0,1051,SAV-99042103
10,00.html)

SPEECH: FROM THE VAST WASTELAND TO THE VAST BROADBAND
Issue: Digital Television
"We are entering what I believe will be the most exciting era [of
television] ever. Audiences will be empowered in ways never done before to
paint their own landscapes of entertainment and discovery," FCC Chairman
Kennard said in an address to the National Association of Broadcasters.
"Internet companies are taking the step to jump from the PC platform to the
TV platform. That's why some say that these companies will in the long run
end up putting all of you broadcasters out of business. Once again, people
are writing the obituary of the broadcasting industry." Digital television
is the key to unlocking new partnership opportunities, the Chairman
suggested. "With the onrush of technology making convergence more and more
possible, inevitable, really, you must understand that convergence is not
synonymous with consolidation. Convergence means more choices. It means new
media companies like Yahoo will be bursting onto the scene. It does not
mean that these new industries will be controlled by a handful of giant
conglomerates."
[SOURCE: FCC]
(http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Kennard/spwek914.pdf)

SPEECH: THE DIGITAL MOSAIC
Issue: Digital Television
Commissioner Ness' speech before the NAB Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada:
"Conversion from analog to digital television is one of the most complex but
critical undertakings this industry has experienced. The technology is new;
The business strategies are new; The programming is new; And the delivery
mechanisms are new. It is like an intricate mosaic -- magnificent, but hard
to decipher at first. But as each new tile is laid, the design takes shape
and substance." Commissioner Ness addresses What's Working and Where
Improvement is Needed concerning the transition. She concludes: "A
successful digital deployment can be measured in terms of whether consumers
understand and embrace digital television. More directly, it will be whether
consumers are willing to put down their hard-earned dollars for digital
receivers and set top boxes. That is going to require compelling programming
-- the best that the industry has to offer -- and enough of it to attract
consumers and advertisers. It will also take time -- time to solve the
compatibility issues. Time to produce captivating programming and must-have
services. That time is now. We have seen a revolution of epic proportions in
the growth of digital and the Internet. The same can be true of digital
television if we all work together to resolve these issues. The defining
tiles of the mosaic have been laid. Let all of the industries redouble their
efforts to complete this tableau for the benefit of the American public and
the world."
[SOURCE: FCC]
(http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Ness/spsn907.html)

INTERNATIONAL

SOWING TECHNOLOGY'S SEEDS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Issue: International/Internet
Three groups have pulled their efforts in bringing educational technology
services to 20 developing countries. The initiative, called Alliance for Global
Learning, is made up of World Links for Development, Schools Online and
International Education and Research Network (I*EARN). By helping countries,
such as Lebanon, Peru and Zimbabwe, gain equipment and training to use the
Internet the Alliance hopes to make the Internet a more interesting place and
less dominated by Western ideas and content. The project is broad in that it
seeks to provide equipment, teacher training and content. Michael Chertok,
director of Schools Online, says the basic problem of getting schools wired
will be a challenge because many buildings don't have telephone service or a
steady electric current. Touraj Rahimi, president of Schools Online says that
Internet access is very expensive in developing countries. For example, he said
a school he visited in Uganda has a computer lab with 20 machines but was only
able to get online for an hour each day. Alliance members say if telephone
service is a problem, they will look into using wireless technology. The
project will be developed in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French. One of
the organizers said: "The Internet should not be an English-only medium. It
should be a way for students and teachers around the world to be able to
communicate."
[SOURCE: CyberTimes, AUTHOR: Pamela Mendels]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/04/cyber/education/21education.html)

E-COMMERCE

E-COMMERCE EXPERTS' EXHORTATION: WEBIFY
Issue: E-Commerce
A report from the Spring Comdex convention in Chicago. "Productivity demands
will force every company on the planet to Webify their processes," Rick
Roscitt, president and CEO of AT&T Solutions. "Ultimately, networking
enables new ways of doing business and reaching customers."
Another speaker at the convention, Interworld's Steve Rabin, identifies the
four key components to a successful e-commerce site: 1) Fast, accurate
searching. "These are things like having a catalog, doing pricing and
promotions, doing sophisticated personalization and having a very
sophisticated search engine so that when a customer queries on a particular
search, he gets a response from a search that closely matches what he was
looking for rather than 120 things that don't really match." 2) Order
management. "You have to be more than just placing an item in a basket. You
want to have examples, address books and you may want to have gift
registries." 3) Account management. "These are things at a high level, like
authentication and authorization. Since all customers aren't going to be
allowed to do the same thing, how do I authorize them to do the right
things? 4) Order fulfillment. "That's the inventory component, the pick,
pack and ship, so that when a customer orders something it actually gets to
the customer in the right quantity, at the right time at the right price at
the most economical cost."
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (Sec 3, p.1), AUTHOR: Darnell Little & Jill Blackman]
(http://chicagotribune.com/business/businessnews/article/0,1051,SAV-99042103
11,00.html)

LYCOS TOPS YAHOO IN INTERNET RATINGS
Issue: Internet
Lycos has been saying it was going to number one. In March that is what
happened according to Media Metrix, the most trusted pollster on top Web
sites. Lycos beat out rival Yahoo by 51.8% to 50.8% for Web supremacy. That
means 51.8% of the nation's Internet users visited a Lycos Web site last
month, including the Tripod and Angelfire Web site hosting services, the
WhoWhere Internet directory service, the Wired Digital news service, and the
Lycos and Hotbot Internet search sites. In contrast Yahoo builds all of its
traffic around a single core site. Lycos is presently moving to close its
controversial deal to merge with the media properties of USA Networks.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Boston Globe]
(http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/merc/docs/082066.htm)

VERTICALNET LAUNCHES WEB AUCTIONS FOR BUSINESSES
Issue: Electronic Commerce
Business Web site operator VerticalNet has a new angle for online auctions.
On Tuesday the company announced the launch of a business-to-business Web
auction service. Under the auction service, firms that use VerticalNet Web
sites will now be able to auction off excess inventory or other merchandise.
Buyers can browse the auction and fixed-price categories free of charge and
place bids on items of interest. Sellers pay commission when the items are
sold. VerticalNet offers 35 electronic commerce and information sites
covering businesses ranging from pulp and paper to wireless design.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Reuters]
(http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/merc/docs/083204.htm)

INTERNET

TRAGEDY PULLS PEOPLE ONLINE
Issue: Journalism
Television carried information about yesterday's shooting at a suburban
Denver high school around the globe within moments. Just as quickly the
Internet carried news and gossip around the world. By early afternoon Web
users filled up the hastily set up discussion forums, or "chat room." As in
past disasters, the Internet yesterday became a strange cross between an
instant information conduit and a sounding board. In a weird mixing of old
and new technologies, most of the news that was traded in the chat rooms
came from television. Many of the chatters were not seeking news but were
seeking the opportunity to let off steam or make a point. The comments
sometimes got heated, spawning arguments and not a small amount of foul
language.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (C1), AUTHOR: Michael D. Shear]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/april99/chat21.htm)

NEW FTC RULES AIM TO PROTECT KID WEB PRIVACY
Issue: Privacy
The Federal Trade Commission is expected to propose new rules that would
require parental approval before Web sites could collect personal
information from children. A FTC study last spring determined that 89% of
children's Web sites collected personal data, while only 23% asked kids for
parental permission before doing so. The new rules are an important step in
the implementation of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act passed by
Congress last fall. The FTC proposal, however, dose not specify a particular
means for gathering parental consent. "Industry has tried to weaken the
rules, pushing for consent through email alone, " said Katerina Kopp, senior
policy analyst at the Center for Media Education. "We're concerned that this
will undermine the intent of the law." Absent in the proposal are also
provisions that would protect kids from sites that are not aimed
specifically at children. Web sites that do not cater to kids and do not ask
for their ages do not have to seek parental permission before gathering
personal information. The FTC's proposed rules will be released today and
will be available for public comment. Finalized rules are expected in October.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B1), AUTHOR: John Simons]
(http://wsj.com)

TELEPHONEY

WIRELESS CABLE GETS BOOST
Issue: Wireless
Last week, the deal between People's Choice TV (PCTV) and Sprint rekindled a
market for wireless cable deals. The deal between Sprint and PCTV ensures
"last-mile access" into consumers home for Sprint in key markets, including
Chicago, Detroit, and Houston. People following the deal say that more wireless
acquisitions are likely. Internet service providers who are looking for
alternatives to Baby Bells may be likely buyers. Experts say what has been
called the wireless cable industry is now really focused on high-speed data.
Other likely buyers of wireless spectrum are long-distance providers, like
Sprint and MCI WorldCom. "The issue really is that they have to defend their
long-distance brands," said an industry source. The Sprint/PCTV deal may
disprove what the AOL-led alliance, OpenNet proposes -- that cable holds a
monopoly in high-speed data. Using wireless technology for high-speed data
transmission doesn't have the same restrictions of phone companies' DSL
service. It can offer speed similar to cable modems.
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable (p. 88), AUTHOR: Price Colman]
(http://www.broadcastingcable.com/)

PHONE GIANTS SAY MERGER HINGES ON ROLE OF GERMANY
Issue: Internationl/Merger
Telecom Italia and Deutsche Telekom made a "tentative" agreement to merge
Tuesday night. The final deal depends on assurance that the German
government, which would retain a 45% stake in the new company, would reduce
its voting rights. The tentative approval came after Deutsche Telekom said
it would support Telecom Italia's demand that the German government not
interfere with the structure of the new company. The merger would create a
huge company, worth $180 billion. That's larger than the proposed merger
between Ameritech and SBC Communications that is worth $173 billion. German
newspapers reported that the government favors reducing its voting rights to
equal that of the Italian government, which holds 3.4% in the company.
Critical of the deal, a spokesperson for Schroder's Social Democratic Party,
said that German antitrust officials should stop the merger. Executives of
Mannesmann, Telecom Italia's biggest domestic rival is also critical of the
merger.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: John Tagliabue]
(http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/telecom.html)

AT&T PLANS LOCAL SERVICE IN NEW YORK
Issue: Local Telephony
AT&T has plans to enter the local telephone market, with the help of Bell
Atlantic's phone network, in the state of New York. Bell Atlantic has agreed
to lease its local network to competitors, like AT&T, for a deep discounts
as a way to gain regulator approval for entering the long distance market.
AT &T''s desire to enter the local phone business prompted it to purchase
TCI and begin negotiation with other cable operators. TCI, however, does not
have cable lines in New York, and even in location that AT&T does have
access to cable lines it will take nearly two years to upgrade those lines
for two-way telephone service.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (A3), AUTHOR: Stephanie Mehta]
(http://wsj.com)

TECHNOLOGY

NEW TECHNOLOGIES CAN HELP THE ELDERLY STAY MORE CONNECTED
Issue: Health/Tech
New products are being developed to help provide greater safety and
connection to elderly individuals who may be living alone. One of the more
ambitious projects is Cozer-Keystone Health System's plan to use Wed-TV and
cameras to connect older people at home to health care and social service
workers. The Commerce Department provides funding for Crozer-Keystone and
others to experiment with using technology to aid in the care of elderly and
other home bound or isolated patients. "Technology is simply a means to
build relationships that enable old people to live independently," said
Edward Baum of Crozer-Keystone. While the current costs of such high-tech
products are prohibitively expensive for many consumers, prices of
interactive technologies are quickly falling.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B1), AUTHOR: Sue Shellenbarger]
(http://wsj.com)

SAFETY

PUBLIC SAFETY NATIONAL COORDINATION COMMITTEE
Issue: Public Safety
The FCC has established the Public Safety National Coordination Committee,
pursuant to the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, to advise
the Commission on a variety of issues relating to the use of the 24 MHz of
spectrum in the 764-776/794-806 MHz frequency bands (collectively, the 700
MHz band) that has been allocated to public safety services. The first
meeting of the committee will be April 29, 1999; 10:00 a.m.--5:00 p.m at the
Federal Communications Commission, Commission Meeting Room, Room TW-C305,
445 Twelfth Street, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20554. Agenda includes: 1.
Introduction and Welcoming Remarks, 2. Approval of Agenda, 3. Committee
Charter and other administrative matters, 4. Committee Structure, and 5.
Work Program/Organization of Work. The NCC will have an open membership. For
Further Information Contact: D'wana R. Terry, Chief, Public Safety and
Private Wireless Division, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, FCC and
Designated Federal Officer of the Public Safety National Coordination
Committee (202-418-0680). See the NCC homepage
(http://www.fcc.gov/wtb/publicsafety/ncc.html)
[SOURCE: FCC]
(http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Wireless/Public_Notices/1999/da990643.html)

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