TELEVISION
From Luxury Good to Expensive Wrapper (NYT)
Teens Starting to Rule Networks' Programming (WP)
Tuning In to Latino Viewers (WP)
INTERNET
How to Beat the Bandwidth Blues -- Right Now (AD)
How Web Use Changes Over Time (And How to
Use It to Your Advantage) (AD)
Microsoft Expands Sidewalk Online Guide (WP)
Sidewalk Shifts Focus From Entertainment to Shopping (CyberTimes)
EDTECH
Distance Learning to Receive Some Federal Aid (CyberTimes)
INTERNATIONAL
Utsumi Takes Over UN Telecom Union (WP)
ANTITRUST
Microsoft Defiant in First Response to Antitrust Case (NYT)
Microsoft Lawyers Grill U.S. Witness (WP)
Experts: Harsh Portrayal of Microsoft Poses Risks (WP)
Microsoft Blasts Prosecution as "Return of the Luddites" (WSJ)
Microsoft Strikes Underdog Pose (ChiTrib)
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TELEVISION
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FROM LUXURY GOOD TO EXPENSIVE WRAPPER
Issue: Television/Journalism
The recent trend in cutbacks at the networks has meant a push toward
tightened news budgets. As a result viewers are seeing less hard news and
more soft stories. This trend is especially disturbing at election time,
when the news provides little help in wading through the barrage of
negative campaign advertising. One hope for improvement is a proposal that
stations would set aside five minutes of prime time for "candidate centered
discourse" in return for the gift of free additional spectrum to accommodate
the transition to digital technology. The free time for candidates -- which
could come in the form of interviews, debates, or public statements -- might
help cut through the "you-are-worse-than-I-am" discourse of the current
election, and help preserve the integrity of network news institutions.
[SOURCE: New York Times (B7), AUTHOR: Walter Goodman]
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/arts/critics-notebook.html
TEENS STARTING TO RULE NETWORKS' PROGRAMMING
Issue: Content
With television audiences splintering into smaller segments because of the
availability of more channels, the teen audience remains a relatively
cohesive one. Television networks have taken notice and have created a
growing number of programs for people in their teens. They know that youth
can generate widespread support for a new show because of word-of-mouth.
Young people, a small portion of the overall population, can also attract
their parents to a particular program. Two of the emerging networks, WB and
UPN, have both tried to tap the youth market, especially girls, as
a way of gaining market share. Teens also have a large and growing amount
of disposable income, money that goes into movie tickets, CDs, clothes,
sneakers, video games, fast food and soft drinks. Advertisers on programs
like "Dawson Creek," "Boy Meets World" and "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch"
spend at rates which are well above typical rates for similarly rated
programs because they expect teenagers to respond to the advertising. Also
they suggest that teenagers can have an influence on their parents purchases
of larger items such as automobiles. The dangers to program producers and
advertisers are that the market will be saturated or that the fickle tastes
of teenagers will change rapidly. [That Dawson, he's sooo last year]
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A1), AUTHOR: Paul Farhi]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/frompost/oct98/teentv21.htm
TUNING IN TO LATINO VIEWERS
Issue: Content
Two television networks announced Tuesday that they will be transmitting
programming in Spanish within the next few weeks. ABC said that "Monday
Night Football" will have two broadcasters doing the play-by-play regularly
beginning next week. ABC will use the Secondary Audio Programming (SAP)
channel that is available on most modern television sets to send the Spanish
versions of the broadcasts in addition the regular English broadcasts. ABC
says movies and other sports events will follow. Nickelodeon will provide a
two-hour block of children's programming to Telemundo to be translated and
rebroadcast on the Spanish-language channel on weekday mornings. Hispanics
are the fastest-growing minority in the United States.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (D2), AUTHOR: Lisa de Moraes]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-10/21/081l-102198-idx.html
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INTERNET
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HOW TO BEAT THE BANDWIDTH BLUES -- RIGHT NOW
Issue: Bandwidth
Berst writes that it will be five years until mainstream Internet users have
high-speed access, but if you can't wait that long [heck, its taking the NYT
site that long to download this morning] here are five high-speed options
today. 1) Cable modems: the fastest/cheapest alternative right now, but you
may have to move to an area where the service is available -- and as more of
your neighbors choose this service, the slower your speeds will be. 2) ADSL:
with speeds 5 to 25 times faster than today's dial-up connections, DSL
technology is your next best bet, but again, it is not available in all
areas, technicians are not yet trained to install it properly, and it will
be expensive even if you can get it. 3) ISDN: faster than dial-up service,
but not real fast and its hard to install. 4) Satellite service: first,
contract with NASA to arrange a launch time....no, seriously, Internet via
satellite is available, but the promised speeds are for download only, you
need a separate line (regular modem) to send back up. Berst concludes, "do
think there's reason for some guarded optimism about bandwidth improvements.
I've heard estimates of half a million cable subscribers by year end and
150,000 ADSL modems in use. Curious thing though: ADSL is starting to show
up in the same markets as cable. Seems that when there's competition, the
phone companies can somehow figure out how to provide ADSL at a reasonable
cost. Hmmm."
[SOURCE: ZDNet AnchorDesk, AUTHOR: Jesse Berst, Editorial Director]
http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/story/story_2627.html
HOW WEB USE CHANGES OVER TIME (AND HOW TO USE IT TO YOUR ADVANTAGE)
Issue: Internet
Strategies for growing traffic to your website and developing visitor
loyalty with an eye on new users who behave differently than people who have
been online for awhile. Forrester Research has found that the longer you
have been online, the more likely you are to view the Internet as your
preferred source for news, information and entertainment. The study also
found that experienced users: are more affluent, better educated, and
younger than recent online recruits; watch less TV and spend substantially
less time reading for pleasure, talking on the phone and writing letters;
and are far more likely to purchase products, bank and invest online. There
stages of Internet growth will probably determine visitors use of online
service. Stage 1 - Germination: new users are insecure, they lurk, dip their
toes in, but they don't sign up for things or dive into anything; they are
likely to use a portal service to structure their use. Stage 2 - Blossoming:
As users become more comfortable they begin bookmarking favorite sites,
registering there, maybe even start making online purchases for content.
Stage 3 - Maturation: Veteran users are comfortable online and making online
purchases; they may cancel home delivery of newspapers because they get news
online. How do you build trust through these stages? Hamilton suggests
follow the rule-of-thumb of broadcasters: Promote the people, not the
newscast. It is the No. 1 most powerful way to encourage loyalty. How is
media use changing? Hamilton also reports that news content sites, followed
by corporate sites, have overtaken search engines as the most popular port
of call for Internet users. And one million fewer viewers are watching the
Big Four broadcast networks than this time last year.
[SOURCE: ZDNet AnchorDesk, AUTHOR: Annette Hamilton, Executive Producer]
http://www.anchordesk.com/a/adt1021ww/2629.html
MICROSOFT EXPANDS SIDEWALK ONLINE GUIDE (WP)
SIDEWALK SHIFTS FOCUS FROM ENTERTAINMENT TO SHOPPING (NYT)
Issue: Electronic Commerce
Whether it is an "expansion" or a "redesign," Microsoft Corporation's
Sidewalk online entertainment guide (www.sidewalk.com) today becomes an
Internet buying service. The shopping service will give the site more of a
national feel as it moves from its ten local online guides to adding
information for more than 70 cities. The change is part of the online
advertising battles which include local newspapers and Internet companies.
Similar services exist on other Web sites; others are also are being
upgraded or modified. "Our goal is to help consumers make better spending
decisions and help them act on those decisions," said Sidewalk's national
business manager, Matt Kursh.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (C11), AUTHOR: Leslie Walker]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/longterm/microsoft/stories/19
98/sidewalk102198.htm
[SOURCE: New York Times (CyberTimes), AUTHOR: Matt Richtel]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/10/cyber/articles/21sidewalk.html
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EDTECH
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DISTANCE LEARNING TO RECEIVE SOME FEDERAL AID
Issue: EdTech
The Higher Education Amendments of 1998, signed into law by President
Clinton on October 7, will make it easier for students to pursue degrees in
distance learning programs by making them eligible for federal student grant
and loan programs. 15 institutions will be eligible and the legislation
singles out Western Governors -- a venture financed by public and private
funds that was launched by a group of governors from 10 Western states -- as
automatically eligible. Another 35 institutions can be selected in the third
year of the five-year program. "It simply helps level the playing field, so
just as full-time residential students have access to that aid, the
part-time distance learner does, too," said Robert C. Albrecht, chief
academic officer of Western Governors University. But there is some concern
that fly-by-night, correspondence-based schools may emerge offering
education of questionable quality and leading to higher default rates on
student loans.
[SOURCE: New York Times (CyberTimes), AUTHOR: ]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/10/cyber/education/21education.html
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INTERNATIONAL
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UTSUMI TAKES OVER UN TELECOM UNION
Issue: International
Yoshio Utsumi of Japan was elected Secretary-General of the International
Telecommunications Union Tuesday at a meeting of the group in Minneapolis.
"One of the most vital tasks of the ITU is closing the gap between
developing and industrialized countries in terms of access to
telecommunications," he said. The agency of the United Nations is meeting
for four weeks on global regulation and policy.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (WP website), AUTHOR: Associated Press]
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WAPO/19981020/V000255-102098-idx...
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ANTITRUST
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MICROSOFT DEFIANT IN FIRST RESPONSE TO ANTITRUST CASE (NYT)
MICROSOFT LAWYERS GRILL U.S. WITNESS (WP)
EXPERTS: HARSH PORTRAYAL OF MICROSOFT POSES RISKS (WP)
MICROSOFT BLASTS PROSECUTION AS "RETURN OF THE LUDDITES" (WSJ)
MICROSOFT STRIKES UNDERDOG POSE (ChiTrib)
Issue: Antitrust
Microsoft lawyers ardently defended the company and its chairman, William
Gates, in court yesterday. They claimed that Justice Department is trying to
"demonize" Mr. Gates for engaging in tactics that are not just industry norm,
but also good for the economy. John L. Warden, Microsoft's lead attorney
compared antitrust regulators to 19th-century "Luddites" who smashed
labor-saving machines "to arrest the
march of progress driven by science and technology." Outside the courthouse,
lead Justice Department attorney David Boies responded by saying that he was
"a little surprised that [Microsoft] did not deal with the evidence" that he
presented on Monday.
[SOURCE: New York Times (AI), AUTHOR: Steve Lohr and Joel Brinkley]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/10/biztech/articles/21microsoft.html
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A1), AUTHOR: Rajiv Chandrasekaran]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/longterm/microsoft/micro.htm
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A12), AUTHOR: David Segal]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/longterm/microsoft/stories/19
98/boies102198.htm
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B10), AUTHOR: John R. Wilke]
http://www.wsj.com/
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (Sec 1, p.1), AUTHOR: Andrew Zajac]
http://chicagotribune.com/textversion/article/0,1492,SAV-9810210137,00.html
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