TELEVISION
Wait-and-see TV (ChiTrib)
CBS News Division Cuts About 7% of Work Force (NYT)
CBS Talking Heads Spared the Budget Ax (WP)
ELECTRONIC COMMERCE
Attention Internet Shoppers: No New Taxes (NYT)
Senate Passes Moratorium On New Internet Taxation (WP)
Focus on Productivity and Profit at Internet World (CyberTimes)
A flood of Web Patents Stirs Dispute Over Tactics (WSJ)
INTERNET
Internet Domain Names (NTIA)
MERGERS
Clear Channel to Buy Jacor For $2.8 Billion in Stock (NYT)
Zell Tunes In To Radio Mergers in $4 Billion Deal (ChiTrib)
ADVERTISING
Media Companies Paying to Get Noticed (NYT)
COPYRIGHT/PRIVACY
House and Senate Agree on Complex Copyright Bill (CyberTimes)
Strict European Privacy Law Puts Pressure on U.S. (CyberTimes)
MAGAZINES
Canada Tries to Protect Market for Magazines (WP)
Canada Proposes Ban on Local Advertisements in
Foreign MagazineS (WSJ)
==========
TELEVISION
==========
WAIT-AND-SEE TV
Issue: Television
In July 1974, more than 7 out of 10 homes tuned in for one or more committee
sessions as Congress weighed impeachment of President Nixon. Broadcasters
are uncertain if they will air impeachment hearings this time around. "Gosh,
I wish I knew," said Lane Venardos, executive producer of special events at
CBS News. "We don't know if they'll be a week, two weeks, a month, or a
series of months of excruciating detail that will make your head hurt. Not
much is known about this." Even PBS which ran around-the-clock coverage in
'74 is not sure how much coverage it will make available: "it's a totally
different world now," a PBS spokesperson said. True -- in 1974 the broadcast
networks owned the world of television then. Now 50% of the television
audience watches cable networks. If broadcasters let cable provide the
coverage, however, what about the 30% of households that don't have cable?
"The only thing we can say for sure is we see it (the hearing) as a very,
very serious deliberation...and we'll cover it as thoroughly and completely
as we can," said Bob Murphy, senior vice president of hard news at ABC News.
"This is a constitutional process that has only been done two other times.
You can't state it any other way than in serious
terms," Murphy said. "Would we do wall-to-wall every day? I would say that
will be unlikely," said Wheatley. "But there probably would be particular
times when it is newsworthy."
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (Sec 3, p.1), AUTHOR: Tim Jones]
http://chicagotribune.com/textversion/article/0,1492,ART-16312,00.html
CBS NEWS DIVISION CUTS ABOUT 7% OF WORK FORCE
CBS TALKING HEADS SPARED THE BUDGET AX
Issue: Television Economics
CBS will save close to 40 million by firing about 7% of its news staff. The
network lost money last year and is expected to again this year -- largely
as a result of higher prices for entertainment shows and football games. No
bureaus were closed and no correspondents were let go. "We are consolidating
management functions in our hubs in New York, Washington, Los Angeles,
London and Tokyo," Andrew Heyward, President of CBS News wrote in a
memorandum to the news division Thursday. "This means fewer people in
Dallas, Miami, Tel Aviv and Moscow, but our core news gathering strength in
those places remains intact and is expected to increase elsewhere as this
system evolves." The new system will rely on communications technology --
satellites, cell phones, and computers -- to link correspondents and
producers in the field to supervisors in the hub cities.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C4), AUTHOR: Lawrie Mifflin]
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/cbs-reorg.html
[SOURCE: Washington Post (D7), AUTHOR: Lisa de Moraes ]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-10/09/096l-100998-idx.html
===================
ELECTRONIC COMMERCE
===================
ATTENTION INTERNET SHOPPERS: NO NEW TAXES
SENATE PASSES MORATORIUM ON NEW INTERNET TAXATION
Issue: Electronic Commerce
In a 96 to 2 vote, the Senate passed the Internet Tax Freedom Act yesterday,
agreeing to make the Internet a tax-free zone for the next three years. "Let
it grow out of its infancy before we let the tax man put his teeth into
various parts of its anatomy," Senator Joseph I. Lieberman (D-CT) said in
debate on Wednesday. But Senator Dale Bumpers (D-AK) who voted against the
bill, complained in debate, "I'm for computers, I'm for technology, but I'm
not for allowing them to erode the tax base of this country." The bill will
have to go to a conference committee to work out minor differences between
the House version of the bill -- both call for a three-year moratorium on
Internet taxes by state and local governments and for a panel to study the
matter.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C3), AUTHOR: Matthew Wald]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/yr/mo/biztech/articles/09net.html
[SOURCE: Washington Post (G12), AUTHOR: Curt Anderson (Associated Press)]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-10/09/123l-100998-idx.html
FOCUS ON PRODUCTIVITY AND PROFIT AT INTERNET WORLD
Issue: Electronic Commerce
The focus of the 1998 Fall Internet World trade show is profitability, not
being "cool." The buzzword this year has been "portal" and Lycos and AOL
made announcements on how they will improve as portals. AOL and seven portal
sites, including Infoseek, Yahoo, Lycos, Excite, Netscape, Snap and
Microsoft will donate $3 million worth of banner advertising to TrustE's
Privacy Partnership campaign, which will promote the responsible use of
personal information gathered online. Internet telephony was also
prominently displayed at the show. as heavyweight AT&T announcement its
Global Clearinghouse service, which will enable Internet service providers
and small telecommunications carriers to offer phone-to-phone Internet
telephony service to 140 countries.
[SOURCE: New York Times (CyberTimes), AUTHOR: Matt Lake]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/10/cyber/articles/09iworld.html
A FLOOD OF WEB PATENTS STIRS DISPUTE OVER TACTICS
Issue: Internet
Many online companies are racing to patent online versions of familiar
practices in the physical world. There are now patents for online processes
ranging from frequent buyer programs to "reverse" auctions, where buyers
name prices for airline tickets. As cyberspace makes things patentable that
weren't before, it is likely that companies will demand fees from Web
Merchants for the completion of everyday transactions. Instead of
encouraging innovation, some fear that e-patents might just cause holdups in
cyberspace.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal(B1), AUTHOR: Scott Thurm]
http://wsj.com/
========
INTERNET
========
INTERNET DOMAIN NAMES
Issue: Internet
NTIA has posted the October 6 Negotiated Amendment to the Cooperative
Agreement between the Department of Commerce and NSI.
[SOURCE: NTIA]
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/domainname/proposals/docnsi100698.htm
=======
MERGERS
=======
CLEAR CHANNEL TO BUY JACOR FOR $2.8 BILLION IN STOCK
ZELL TUNES IN TO RADIO MERGERS IN $4 BILLION DEAL
Issue: Mergers/Radio
In a deal that will link 855 radio stations in the US, Clear Channel will
pay $2.8 billion for Jacor Communications. The combined company will rank
behind CBS and Chancellor Broadcasting as the biggest radio ownership
groups. Clear Channel will also assume $1.5 billion in Jacor debt. You want
synergy from your mergers? Jacor has 40% of its radio stations where Clear
Channel has "forests" of billboards, but Clear Channel radio stations are
mostly in other markets. The combined company will have two or more radio
stations in 6 of the top 12 largest markets in the US.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C5), AUTHOR: Allen Myerson]
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/radio-merger.html
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (Sec 3, p.3), AUTHOR: Tim Jones]
http://chicagotribune.com/textversion/article/0,1492,SAV-9810090162,00.html
===========
ADVERTISING
===========
MEDIA COMPANIES PAYING TO GET NOTICED
Issue: Advertising
Media companies like ESPN, Time Inc, and USA Today will pay an estimated
$100,000 each to sponsor the three daily sessions of the Association of
National Advertisers conference. "A national convention should probably not
be bought out by sponsors," said a Hearst executive who complained of last
year's sponsorship of the conference by ABC, CBS, and FOX, "and ideally
ought to be a neutral forum for thinking about where the business is going."
But since you can't beat 'em -- you join them: Hearst is sponsoring a
general session at this year's conference. (Can anyone say The Media Will
Eat Itself?) The chief executive of ANA said: "We've had nothing but
positive responses to the format we established last year and the attendance
this time looks like another all-time record high" at about 550 registrants.
"These conferences are very difficult and expensive to put together," he
added. "The sponsorship fees enable us to produce a meeting of the proper
caliber. Everything we're talking about" at the conference "is totally
consistent with a marketer trying to build business by building brands and
reaching the changing consumer."
[SOURCE: New York Times (C5), AUTHOR: Stuart Elliott]
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/ad-column.html
=================
COPYRIGHT/PRIVACY
=================
HOUSE AND SENATE AGREE ON COMPLEX COPYRIGHT BILL
Issue: Copyright
The House and Senate have reached agreement on a compromise version of the
Digital Millennium Copyright Act
http://ftp://ftp.loc.gov/pub/thomas/c105/h2281.ih.txt. The bill is
designed to implement World Intellectual Property Organization
http://www.wipo.org treaties for protecting music, software and written
works on the Internet. But the bill goes farther than those 1996 WIPO
agreements, making it illegal to circumvent technologies used to protect
digital works. "Congress could have, if it really wanted to strike a balance
in the most even-handed way, said, 'Okay, we're going to make it illegal for
someone to go through these digital wrappers... for the intent of what we
would call digital piracy,'" said Adam Eisgrau, legislative counsel for the
American Library Association in Washington. "They could have said, 'But you
are permitted to go through a digital wrapper if you are doing something
other than digital piracy. What we ended up with, is that it is illegal,
flat out, to go through a digital wrapper."
[SOURCE: New York Times (CyberTimes), AUTHOR: Matt Lake]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/10/cyber/articles/09wipo.html
STRICT EUROPEAN PRIVACY LAW PUTS PRESSURE ON US
Issue: Privacy
On October 25, the European Union's Data Protection Directive comes into
effect. Based on the notion that privacy is a fundamental human right, it
establishes a common minimum standard of data privacy protection in Europe.
"The directive has raised the visibility of privacy law in the U.S.," said
Peter P. Swire, a law professor at Ohio State University. "Some of the least
defensible corporate practices in the U.S. are coming under pressure," Prof
Swire said, noting that in recent months the Federal Trade Commission has
worked hard to protect children's privacy on the Internet and an increasing
number of Web sites in the United States have posted privacy policies. "I
don't think the timing is a coincidence." The European law requires that
citizens be told what their personal data will be used for, have access to
data about themselves in companies' files, have the ability to correct false
information and be given notice and the opportunity to opt out before
personal data is transferred to a third party. "The fact is, we have a very
strong tradition of privacy protection," said Marc Rotenberg, director of
the Electronic Privacy Information Center,. "What we don't have are adequate
techniques for enforcement, and we don't have a coherent approach to private
sector protection -- we have a patchwork quilt of laws. I think the E.U.
directive is a reminder that we have more work to do in the U.S. to protect
privacy."
[SOURCE: New York Times (CyberTimes), AUTHOR: Carl Kaplan]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/10/cyber/cyberlaw/09law.html
=========
MAGAZINES
=========
CANADA TRIES TO PROTECT MARKET FOR MAGAZINES (WP)
CANADA PROPOSES BAN ON LOCAL ADVERTISING IN FOREIGN MAGAZINES (WSJ)
Issue: Magazines
In a move to help protect Canada's culture from domination by that of its
larger neighbor, the USA, the Canadian government has introduced legislation
today that would make it illegal for American magazines to sell advertising
in editions directed at Canadian audiences. "We can't afford to let the
cultural underpinnings of our country be cut down by people whose only
interest is to sell advertising," said Sheila Copps, Canada's heritage
minister. Copps argues that without protection, Canadian consumers and
advertisers would wind up with fewer choices, not more, as hundreds of
Canadian magazines are driven out of business by American competition. The
magazine dispute -- the latest in a series of trade conflicts - has caused
U.S. officials to fear that, if allowed to stand, the magazine restrictions
could set a precedent that would work against other key American export
industries, such as television and movies, software and Internet services.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A40), AUTHOR: Steven Pearlstien]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-10/09/053l-100998-idx.html
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B9), AUTHOR: Wall Street Journal Staff]
http://wsj.com/
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Congratulations to Nobel Prize for Literature winner Jose Saramagoes and CRH
staffer Ted Tate who is off to get married this weekend.
...and we are outta here. We'll see you *Tuesday* -- enjoy the holiday.