JOURNALISM
News in Future Tense (NYT)
TV News Wary of Lawsuits, Study Says (NYT)
TELEVISION
FCC Sets The Price For Digital (B&C)
Easing The Digital Path (B&C)
Diller's Latest Tele-Vision (NYT)
A Year of Living Dangerously (NYT)
OWNERSHIP
LMA Threat Scares Broadcasters (B&C)
Don't Change Horses (B&C)
INTERNET
Online Campaign Contributions Still a Promising Experiment (CyberTimes)
Chicago Seen As Information-Highway Hub (ChiTrib)
Internet Retailers Take On Amazon.com With Shopper Connection
Online Mall (WSJ)
CABLE
Smaller Cable Companies Homing In on the Internet (NYT)
Wired In to One-Stop Shopping (WP)
INTERNATIONAL
American-Made Satellite to Offer Uncensored TV in Russia (NYT)
A Call From the Heavens Above (WP)
MERGERS
Netscape Bid Seen By America Online (NYT)
ANTITRUST
Judge Rejects Microsoft Requests to Halt Piecemeal Presentation of
Gates Videotape (WSJ)
Live Testimony by Gates Would Pose Risks for Both Sides at Antitrust
Trial (NYT)
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JOURNALISM
==========
NEWS IN FUTURE TENSE
Issue: Journalism
(Opinion) Feiler comments on how journalism is increasing about what will
happen tomorrow more than what happened today. He says reporters are
switching places with weather forecasters -- since predicting is so hard,
reporters are often wrong now while aided by science and satellites, Wally
the Weatherman is more often right on target. Lessons of the past -- "Dewey
Defeats Truman" -- don't seem to register anymore -- "Republicans to Gain 5
to 15 Seats." The explosion of news outlets may be one cause for the trend
-- you can beat the competition if you report on something that has not
happened yet -- but there are other reasons: polls showing Americans want
more "service" from their information outlets and pretending that
predictions offer some sort of service; and reporters hating to be scooped
by their colleagues. Feiler concludes: "If reporters feel that the Who,
What, When and Where of most stories have already been covered by the time
they file, then the way to attract audience -- and respect -- is to
speculate less on the Whatnots of the future and focus more on the Hows and
Whys of the moment."
[SOURCE: New York Times (A23), AUTHOR: Bruce Feiler, Author of "Dreaming Out
Loud"]
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/oped/23feil.html
TV NEWS WARY OF LAWSUITS, STUDY SAYS
Issue: Journalism
The Center for the Advancement of Modern Media at the University of Miami
School of Communications has recently released the results of a survey that
finds that one out of every five television news directors around the
country have declined to air some news reports because of fear of possible
lawsuits. Another 28% of the news directors omitted key information from
reports out of similar concerns. 38% of the news directors reported being
sued for libel in the last three years. However, at the same time, stations
have felt increasing pressure to pursue riskier stories in order to grab
attention: 63% of television news programs use hidden camera and microphone
tactics as a means for collecting information.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C9), AUTHOR: Pamela Mercer]
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/tv-news-lawsuits.html
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TELEVISION
==========
FCC SETS THE PRICE FOR DIGITAL
Issue: DTV
Last week, the Federal Communications Commission introduced new public
interest obligations on broadcast stations. To the disappointment of
broadcasters, the FCC announced a 5% fee on digital television stations'
revenue from subscription services. The broadcast industry had argued for a
2% charge on any service for which they receive profits other than from
advertising. The public advocacy group Media Access Project, on the other
hand, had called for the charge to be as high as 10%. The commission also
will require digital broadcast satellite (DBS) providers to set aside 4% of
their channel capacity for public interest programming. DBS providers,
however, will be free to determine which public interest programmers to
offer. Additionally, the FCC proposed a return of the minority recruiting
requirements that were struck down by a federal court earlier this year.
[SOURCE: Broadcasting and Cable (p5), AUTHOR: Bill McConnell]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
EASING THE DIGITAL PATH
Issue: DTV
Regulators, broadcasters and equipment manufactures gathered for the Dawn of
Digital summit last Monday to discuss the future of digital TV. FCC Chairman
William Kennard outlined the agency's role in fostering a rapid deployment
of DTV to the American public. "Government can facilitate resolution of
obstacles that arise in the buildout," said Chairman Kennard, but he made
clear that the FCC would not have the role of imposing technical standards.
Broadcasters expressed concerns about reaching a voluntary solution with the
cable industry over "must carry" and urged the FCC to step in and require
cable carriage of all digital signals.
[SOURCE: Broadcasting and Cable (p48), AUTHOR: Bill McConnell]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
DILLER'S LATEST TELE-VISION
Issue: Television
Barry Diller built the FOX network on "Married...With Children" and "A
Current Affair" and then ran the QVC shopping network. Now he is turning his
attention to local television starting with WAMI in Miami. Programming
includes "10" -- a show that visits the beaches of Miami and lets the
audience vote for their favorite bods (yes, Virginia, that's the promise of
interactivity) -- and a 11pm newscast that reduces talking heads to simple
"Lips," a woman's roughed mouth reading headlines in a sultry voice. Two
shows, "The Times" and "City Desk: The Herald," offer more conventional,
investigative news. The focus in television programming of late has been
cable where national advertising and subscription dollars are available. But
Diller's theory, Fabrikant reports, is that local broadcast programming has
been ignored and that people want a sense of what is going on in their local
communities. Diller's USA Networks owns 12 other local stations around the
country so this new approach to programming may be coming to a small screen
near you.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A1), AUTHOR: Geraldine Fabrikant]
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/diller-localtv-media.html
A YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY
Issue: Television
The average audience for the UPN network has shrunk 40%. The network will
likely lose $200 million this year after losing $180 million last year. But
the venture's owners -- Viacom and Chris-Craft -- insist they are committed
to the network for the long haul. They say the network will exist until the
local stations are shut down. But for many of these stations, having UPN as
a programming partner is worse than going it on their own. The bad ratings
for UPN shows means lower rating for their local news and the syndicated
shows that follow. And studios seem less inclined to work with UPN now
because it is not as likely that shows will become hits and be syndicated
down the line -- when the studio makes the big dollars.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C9), AUTHOR: Lawrie Mifflin]
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/upn-tv-losses.html
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OWNERSHIP
=========
LMA THREAT SCARES BROADCASTERS
Issue: Ownership
As part of new plans to revamp media ownership rules, the FCC has proposed
an elimination of local marketing agreements (LAMs). While the broadcast
industry welcomes other measureS that will relax ownership restrictions, they
are concerned about the impact on stations if LMAs are forced to disband.
Broadcasters have long used LMAs, which allow one station to control another
without actually owning it, as a way to get around the ban on owning two
stations in the same market. Representatives from the broadcast industry
have argued that the ownership restrictions hinder competition, but FCC
Chairman William Kennard is concerned that the 1996 Telecommunication Act,
which lifted limits on the number of stations one company can own, has
already resulted in excess consolidation.
[SOURCE: Broadcasting and Cable (p6), AUTHOR: Bill McConnell]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
DON'T CHANGE HORSES
Issue: Ownership
(EDITORIAL) The FCC's ban of local marketing agreements would cause "major and
unnecessary disruption to the affected broadcasters and to the public they
serve," according to the authors. They believe that elimination of LMAs is
not the only way to avoid excessive consolidation in broadcasting. Instead,
the authors argue that the FCC should relax ownership rules to allow the
ownership of two stations in the same market.
[SOURCE: Broadcasting and Cable (p74), AUTHOR: B&C Editorial Staff]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
========
INTERNET
========
ONLINE CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS STILL A PROMISING EXPERIMENT
Issue: Campaigns
Using the Web to collect campaign contributions pulled in less than 1% of
total contributions in the last election. Sen Barbara Boxer's campaign, for
example, collected $25,000 online of $20 million total. But the 25k more
than paid for the campaign's website and the banner ads placed around the
Internet. And contributions that come in through the Web tend to be more
than through direct mail and phone solicitations. It is also cheaper to
collect money through the web -- as low as $0.10-$0.15 for every dollar
collected vs $0.40 to $0.50 to even $0.90 per dollar raised via more
traditional means. "The bulk of these [online] donors probably would not
have donated without this," said Rob Arena, Campaign Solutions'
http://www.campaignsolutions.com/ Vice President for Internet Services.
"You're looking at bringing in new people and younger people." But with the
potential windfall also comes potential problems with campaign finance rules
and processing credit card transactions. These problems will have to solved
before these systems can take off.
[SOURCE: New York Times (CyberTimes), AUTHOR: Rebecca Fairley Raney
rfr( at )nytimes.com]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/11/cyber/articles/22campaign.html
CHICAGO SEEN AS INFORMATION-HIGHWAY HUB
Issue: Internet
"Just as Chicago has been a hub of transportation, it will be a hub of the
information superhighway," said Joel Mambretti, director of the
International Center for Advanced Internet Research, based at Northwestern
University. Mambretti and other networking experts from the Chicago region
assembled last week at the Digital Network Infrastructure Forum to discuss a
recently released report by the Metropolitan Planning Council
www.metroplanning.org. The report and the discussion last week see the
Chicago region as a possible major hub of the information superhighway.
Chicago is connected to major research networks like the Metropolitan
Research and Education Network (MREN) and Internt2. And suburban Evanston is
planning a community-wide high-speed network to increase bandwidth into the
home.
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (Sec4, p.8), AUTHOR: Mark LeBien]
http://chicagotribune.com/textversion/article/0,1492,SAV-9811230040,00.html
INTERNET RETAILERS TAKE ON AMAZON.COM WITH SHOPPER CONNECTION ONLINE MALL
Issue: Electronic commerce
They aren't calling it an "online mall," but nine major Internet retailers
today are launching Shopper Connection, a network of Web sites offering a
variety of services. A major goal is to slow the product expansion of
Amazon.com which benefits from having a large customer base who like to shop
online. In recent months Amazon.com has added compact disks and videos to
its traditional lineup of books and has begun to experiment in toy sales.
The Shopper Connection alliance includes online companies that provide
music, movies, computer software, travel, brokerage, toys and other
services. The companies have agreed to cross-promote the service at their
Web sites and to create a frequent shopper program to reward buyers with
points redeemable for merchandize.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B9), AUTHOR: Thomas E. Weber]
http://www.wsj.com/
=====
CABLE
=====
SMALLER CABLE COMPANIES HOMING IN ON THE INTERNET
Issue: Cable
Over the next few weeks smaller, rural cable companies may be able to begin
offering Internet access. Cable companies and local telephone service
providers are vying to be the first to offer widespread, high-speed Internet
access. Softnet Systems will offer cable operators high-speed Internet
service through satellites and technology developed by Intelligent
Communications. And At Home Corp is expected to announce a ready-made
solution for small and medium size cable operators at a trade show next week.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C2), AUTHOR: Seth Schiesel]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/yr/mo/biztech/articles/23net.html
WIRED IN TO ONE-STOP SHOPPING
Issue: Broadband
Bell Atlantic is beginning to get competition from Jones Communications for
local phone service in Alexandria, Virginia and other suburbs of Washington,
D.C. Jones is the largest cable provider in the Washington area serving
430,000 households. They now claim 8,000 cable customers also have either
phone or Internet service following their $30 million upgrade of their
system last year. The phone and Internet service is not being offered
beyond apartment buildings or other multi-family dwellings presently because
Jones says it is not cost effective. One customer, Raquel Powell, says
Jones' phone service has performed flawlessly in the 10 months she has had
it. Her bundled price for local phone service and expanded basic cable is
$42.80 and includes call waiting, three-way calling and interior wire
maintenance. She estimates phone savings at $10 to $15 per month.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (F5), AUTHOR: Paul Farhi]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-11/23/007l-112398-idx.html
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INTERNATIONAL
=============
AMERICAN-MADE SATELLITE TO OFFER UNCENSORED TV IN RUSSIA
Issue: International
"It is an unusual moment. I would dare to call it quite a revolution," said
Vladimir Goussinsky, chairman of Media Most. The company is responsible for
the first Russian satellite to be manufactured and launched in the United
States. With 200,000 potential subscribers in western Russia and Israel, the
satellite, BONUM-1, is also the first privately owned Russian satellite not
subject to military or Government control. In early 1999, the satellite will
begin broadcasting 50 channels of news, movies, sports (lots and lots of
hockey, no doubt), and children's shows.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A15)]
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/national/rocket-russia-tv.html
A CALL FROM THE HEAVENS ABOVE
Issue: Satellite
A Washington Post reporter tested and reviewed performance of the new
Iridium satellite phone. It left him "optimistic about its potential."
Mike Mills tried a dozen calls and reported one was dropped and several were
garbled. Iridium officials say 11 to 12 percent of calls are dropped today;
their goal is to have a 3 percent drop rate by the end of the year. Overall
quality was similar to a "mid-quality cellular phone." Iridium has 66
satellites presently in orbit 500 miles above the planet and is the first
low-Earth-orbit telephone system. The phones presently cost $3,395 with a
$69 monthly charge and $2 to $7 per minute charge for use. A pager that
uses the Iridium system is available for $695 for the unit and $39 to $199
per month. Four U.S. dealers sell the Iridium phones and pagers. (See
www.iridium.com.)
[SOURCE: Washington Post (F23), AUTHOR: Mike Mills]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-11/23/018l-112398-idx.html
=======
MERGERS
=======
NETSCAPE BID SEEN BY AMERICA ONLINE
Issue: Merger
Executives involved in talks between Netscape and America Online say the two
companies are lose to merging. In a complex, three-way deal, America Online
will by Netscape's popular website and browser software and enter a joint
marketing and development partnership with Sun Microsystems to strengthen
Netscape's server software. The deal is said to be worth about $4 billion.
AOL is the leading online service provider and now has over 14 million
subscribers.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A1), AUTHOR: Steve Lohr and John Markoff]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/11/biztech/articles/23netscape.html
AOL to Acquire Internet Software Pioneer Netscape in $4 Billion Deal (WP)
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A1), AUTHOR: Rajiv Chandrasekaran & Elizabeth
Corcoran]
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/washtech/daily/nov98/aol1123.htm
An Ascendant AOL Moves Close To A Deal To Aquire Netscape
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (A1), AUTHOR: Kara Swisher and Don Clark]
http://www.wsj.com/
=========
ANTITRUST
=========
JUDGE REJECTS MICROSOFT REQUESTS TO HALT PIECEMEAL PRESENTATION OF GATES
VIDEOTAPE (WSJ)
LIVE TESTIMONY BY GATES WOULD POSE RISKS FOR BOTH SIDES AT ANTITRUST TRIAL (NYT)
Issue: Antitrust
In a private conference with government and Microsoft lawyers late last
week, Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson rejected Microsoft's contention that the
videotaped testimony of Bill Gates was being misused by government lawyers.
The decision will permit the government to continue its use of the testimony
in short segments. Judge Jackson also called Gates' responsiveness into
question. Gates could be called as a live witness by either side but is not
on the current witness list. According to the New York Times, Gates could
bolster the Microsoft defense if called to appear live but he might come off
as a volatile, arrogant and unresponsive witness with something to hide.
The government's antitrust trial against Microsoft resumes this week with
testimony by Frederick Warren-Boulton, an economist for the government. In
a separate action, the Wall Street Journal reports, Japan's Fair Trade
Commission said it could not prove charges that Microsoft had abused its
power by promoting its Internet Explorer browser at rivals' expense.
Microsoft hailed the announcement as a victory and said that it proved the
U.S. case was "fundamentally misguided."
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B8), AUTHOR: Bryan Gruley & David P. Hamilton]
http://www.wsj.com/
[SOURCE: New York Times (C5), AUTHOR: Steve Lohr]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/yr/mo/biztech/articles/23soft.html
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Happy Monday!