MEDIA & SOCIETY
Video-Game Violence Is Under Attack As Issue Heats Up
Before Sales Season (WSJ)
INTERNET
Author Finds Solid Sites for Children Amid Marketing Glut (CyberTimes)
Banner Ads Deliver More Punch And Purchases Than Thought (WSJ)
AT&T's Carrot-and-Stick Lobbying Efforts Raises Issue Over Access to
Cable-TV Lines (WSJ)
TELEPHONE
Speech: Bismarck Field Hearing on Rural Telecom (FCC)
AT&T Plans Local Push With Wireless Twist (WP)
CWA Blasts AT&T Plan to End Toll-Free Directory Assistance (CWA)
TELEVISION
GE Denies Hawking NBC To Rival (USA)
Murdoch: Fox is likely Out of Chris-Craft Deal (USA)
MEDIA & SOCIETY
VIDEO-GAME VIOLENCE IS UNDER ATTACK AS ISSUE HEATS UP BEFORE SALES SEASON
Issue: Media & Society
Senators Joseph Lieberman (CT-D) and Herb Kohl (WI-D) and an
antiviolence lobbying group, the National Institute on Media and the Family,
released an annual report on video game violence that takes on the game
makers for creating violent games with no socially redeeming value.
Meanwhile, the state legislature in New York held hearings on video-game
violence. The issue appears is heating up again because various state
legislatures from Washington to Pennsylvania have started to debate bills
aimed at curbing game violence. Todd Hollenshead, chief executive of Id
Software, said "we make it clear that the game has violent subject matter.
If a parent is going to buy the game, they should know that from the rating
that is on the box." Doug Lowenstein, president of the Interactive Digital
Software Association, said the group has begun running ads featuring TV
spots with golf star Tiger Woods to educate parents and store clerks about
the ratings system. David Walsh, director of the Minneapolis Institute,
noticed some improvement: about 75% of store clerks were aware of the
video-game ratings system this year, in contrast to only 43% last year.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Dean Takahashi]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB943404955430655073.htm)
See Also:
VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES WITHIN KID'S REACH
[SOURCE: USA Today (1D), AUTHOR: Mike Snider]
(http://www.usatoday.com/life/llead.htm)
INTERNET
AUTHOR FINDS SOLID SITES FOR CHILDREN AMID MARKETING GLUT
Issue: Children & Media
Jean Armour Polly has updated "The Internet Kids & Family Yellow Pages"
(Osborne McGraw-Hill). In the first edition compiled four years ago, she had
to stretch the term "children's site." Most of the 1,800 listings in her
first book were sites designed for adults. Polly selected them because they
were written in simple language or covered interesting subjects like
photography or astronomy. In the new edition, for each of the 4,000 or so
entries in the 820-page book, she rejected about 10 sites. But a new concern
is commercialization. "There are more and more sites aimed at kids. Along
with that came more and more marketing messages," said Polly. She ended
dropping many entries from the first edition because the ads were starting
to drown out the content: "Too much noise versus signal." See Net-Mom
(http://www.netmom.com/), a site Polly maintains.
[SOURCE: CyberTimes, AUTHOR: Pamela Mendels (mendels( at )nytimes.com)]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/11/cyber/education/24education.html)
BANNER ADS DELIVER MORE PUNCH AND PURCHASES THAN THOUGHT
Issue: Advertising
An Andersen Consulting study to be released today will report that 25% of
the Internet users said they went shopping on a Web site after seeing a
banner ad, compared with 14% of the users who said they clicked onto a site
after seeing a television or magazine advertisement. About 4% of the
Internet users who went to a Web site to shop were drawn in by a radio
commercial, the survey found. Internet users "may be jaded about banner ads
but relative to other forms, they seem to be responding," said Mary Tolan,
Andersen's managing partner for retail. Andersen interviewed 1,500 Internet
users for the study. Charlene Li, a senior analyst for new media at
Forrester Research, said her firm's research shows similar results. She said
consumers respond when banner ads are placed in the right context and when
specific information about a product such as price or style is provided.
"Banner ads aren't dead," she said. Anderson also asked what Internet users
want from their online shopping experience: 62% of those interviewed wanted
to shop at sites that have merchandise in stock and provide quick delivery,
and 79% favored sites with good values. Internet users who were deterred
from shopping online were scared away by concerns over their privacy,
delivery costs and the difficulty of returning purchases.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Kathryn Kranhold]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB943403278846940276.htm)
AT&T'S CARROT-AND-STICK LOBBYING EFFORTS RAISES ISSUE OVER ACCESS TO
CABLE-TV LINES
Issue: Mergers/Broadband
This year AT&T faced the prospect of a number of cities requiring the
company to open its cable lines to rival Internet companies as a condition
to approving its acquisition of MediaOne. The threat never really
materialized. Why not? It depends on whom you ask. Local officials and AT&T
rivals say the company used tactics such as -- Go along with us and you can
have system upgrades; oppose us and you will face costly lawsuits and won't
get high-speed Internet service via cable lines. Rivals, AOL and the Baby
Bells, have launched their own lobbying effort aimed at requiring AT&T to
open these pipes. AT&T also faces other potential challenges as several
states are considering open-access ballot initiatives or legislation. Some
cities are asking AT&T for specific deployment arrangements. Brockton,
Massachusetts Mayor Jack Yunits, said they told AT&T: "This is what we want.
If you'll give it to us, we'll drop open access." About 15% of localities
reviewing MediaOne transfers have written open-ended review options into
their agreements with AT&T, which has actively offered this as a solution in
certain cases. In the end, that approach might only be delaying the problem
for AT&T. "They've won the battle but lost the war," says Gene Kimmelman,
co-director of advocacy group Consumers Union. "Even if a number of cities
didn't mandate open access, AT&T can't hide from it -- they will have to
open up."
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Kathy Chen]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB943398328902440483.htm)
TELEPHONE
SPEECH: BISMARCK FIELD HEARING ON RURAL TELECOM
Issue: Rural/Universal Service
Chairman Kennard's Opening Remarks at the Bismarck Field Hearing: When you
hear about telecommunications you hear a lot of talk about competition,
about how it's overtaking the country and transforming the lives of
Americans everywhere. But I know that this is not always the case.
Competition does not come to all people and all parts of America at the same
time.
Congress understood this when it passed the 1996 Telecommunications Act, and
so it created an Act that rested on two fundamental pillars. The first
pillar, as we all know, was competition, but the second pillar, universal
service, was just as important. For the first time in history, this country
has a federal law that says that all Americans rich, poor, urban, rural, people
with disabilities must have equal access to advanced telecommunications
services.
[SOURCE: FCC]
(http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Kennard/spwek940.html)
AT&T PLANS LOCAL PUSH WITH WIRELESS TWIST
Issue: Competition
AT&T will enter the "fixed wireless" business, hedging its bet on cable
telephony and high-speed Internet access. At a cost of $1.2 billion next
year, AT&T will make a major push to provide local telephone service and
high-speed Internet access with wireless technology. The company's plan is
expected to be announced December 6 at a Wall Street analysts' meeting.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (E1), AUTHOR: Peter S. Goodman]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/business/A39716-1999Nov23.html)
CWA BLASTS AT&T PLAN TO END TOLL-FREE DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE
Issue: Telephone
On November 12, 1999, AT&T announced plans to eliminate its toll-free
800-number directory assistance, effective March 31, 2000. This is the only
service that allows customers to obtain 800 numbers, free of charge. AT&T's
plan to shift to an Internet directory will deny many consumers access and
harm businesses that depend on their toll-free connection to their
customers. Only one-quarter of all Americans are connected to the Internet;
the rate drops to around 10 percent for low-income, African-American,
Hispanic, and older Americans. The FCC is taking comments on this change
through Dec. 8. Reference "NSD File Number W-P-D-443" and send comments to:
Office of the Secretary, Federal Communications Commission, 445 12th St
S.W., Room TW-A325, Washington, D.C. 20554 (Also send 2 copies of your
comments to: Network Services Division, FCC, same address, Room 6-A207.)
[SOURCE: Communications Workers of America]
(http://www.cwa-union.org/news/pr_dynam.asp?id=135)
TELEVISION
GE DENIES HAWKING NBC TO RIVAL
Issue: Merger
News Corporation CEO Rupert Murdoch announced Tuesday night that General
Electric is offering to sell its NBC television operation to Time Warner
for $25 billion."One or two well-known people on the board are very much in
favor of buying it, and the rest are very much opposed to it," Murdoch told
his Fox News Channel. GE denied the story and Time Warner denied it
received an offer. Any such deal would face regulatory hurdles that bar a
company from owning a TV station in the same market where it owns the local
cable system and in New York Time Warner owns the cable system that serves
Manhattan while NBC has its flagship station, WNBC. Broadcasting companies
are also barred from owning two broadcast networks, such as NBC and WB.
Combining rival all-news cable channels CNN and MSNBC, which is half owned
by Microsoft, and business news competitors CNNfn and CNBC would raise
anti-trust questions. Time Warner, one of the most prolific movie and TV
producers, has talked with NBC about merging since the mid-1980s.
[SOURCE: USA Today (1B), AUTHOR: David Lieberman]
(http://www.usatoday.com/money/digest/md1.htm#mds3)
MURDOCH: FOX IS LIKELY OUT OF CHRIS-CRAFT DEAL
Issue: Mergers
Fox will not try to buy Chris-Craft's television stations unless the price
of the stations falls "dramatically," News Corporation CEO Rupert Murdoch
said. Chris-Craft, which owns a 10-station group and half of UPN, is worth
about $2.4 billion. Murdoch speculated that Tribune or Viacom will
likely end up buying Chris-Craft. Fox investors feared that an extravagant
station sale might delay substantial profit gains for Fox, which had a net
profit of $205 million on revenue of $8.1 billion in the fiscal year that
ended in June.
[SOURCE: USA Today (3B), AUTHOR: David Lieberman]
(http://www.usatoday.ckom)
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...and we're outta here.