OWNERSHIP
FCC To Host Forum On Women- And Minority-Owned Businesses (FCC)
Murdoch tries to sweeten bid for DirecTV (USA)
Market Place: USA Networks May Sell Stations (NYT)
TELEVISION
Advertising: Cocktail Hour Returns to TV (NYT)
Coverage is costly -- but who's counting? (USA)
CONVERGENCE
After 50 Years of Effort, Interactive TV Arrives (WSJ)
Web-Video Issue Is a Pain In the Net for Olympics (WSJ)
TELEPHONY
No 10-Digit Dialing for Local Calls (NYT)
OWNERSHIP
FCC TO HOST FORUM ON WOMEN- AND MINORITY-OWNED BUSINESSES
Issue: Ownership/Diversity
FCC Chairman William Kennard and Commissioner Gloria Tristani will host a
policy forum on market entry barriers faced by small, women- and
minority-owned businesses in the communications industry on Tuesday,
December 12, 2000, from 9:30 AM to 1:00 PM. The Policy Forum will be held in
the FCC's Commission Meeting Room, TW-C305. Findings of a series of studies
which examine the extent, if any, to which small, women- and minority-owned
firms in the communications industry experience market entry barriers will
be presented at the public forum.
[SOURCE: FCC]
(http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/OGC/Public_Notices/2000/da002712.html)
MURDOCH TRIES TO SWEETEN BID FOR DIRECTV
Issue: Mergers
News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch is trying to raise $8 billion to sweeten his
cash and stock offer to buy Hughes Electronics' DirecTV from General Motors.
Sources familiar with the situation say that Murdoch as enlisted the help of
Chase Manhattan Bank, Microsoft and Liberty Media's John Malone. Murdoch
needs cash because Hughes Electronics, wants liquid and stable currencies
for the assets that analysts say are worth more than $40 billion. Hughes is
wary of taking shares in Murdoch's new satellite subsidiary, Sky Global
Networks, because assessing the value of that venture is difficult. The
company's are also considering alternative arrangements, such as folding Sky
Global into Hughes. Unresolved is the Hughes equity he'd get in return.
Estimates range from 30% to 49%.
[SOURCE: USA Today (1B), AUTHOR: David Lieberman]
(http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20001207/2896308s.htm)
MARKET PLACE: USA NETWORKS MAY SELL STATIONS
Issue: Ownership/Television
After two years of trying to program its 12 television stations with local
formats, USA Networks has announced that it is putting the stations up for
sale or seeking a joint venture for them. Altogether, USA's station group
lost $60 million last year on revenue of $8.6 million. Though the company
did not name a buyer, a person close to the talks said USA was in serious
negotiations with Univision, the Spanish- language television company. The
acquisition would give Univision duopolies in seven markets, including New
York.
[SOURCE: New York Times (Online), AUTHOR: Geraldine Fabrikant]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/07/business/07PLAC.html)
(requires registration)
TELEVISION
ADVERTISING: COCKTAIL HOUR RETURNS TO TV
Issue: Advertising
The hard liquor industry, which has operated under a self-imposed radio and
television advertising ban since shortly after the repeal of Prohibition,
quietly dropped its own broadcast prohibition in 1996. Since then, with
little public notice, the nation's top distilled spirits companies have
increasingly turned to the airwaves to promote their products. While the
national television nelworks continue to ban liquor advertising, media
buyers have been getting on the air by buying advertising directly from
local station affiliates or cable system operators. There has yet to be a
public outcry about such advertising, but George Hacker, director of the
Alcohol Policies Project at the Center for Science in the Public Interest in
Washington, said that it lacks public support. According to a 1998 national
poll by Michigan State University, half the public favors banning liquor
commercials on television.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: Patricia Winters Lauro]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/07/business/07ADCO.html)
(requires registration)
COVERAGE IS COSTLY -- BUT WHO'S COUNTING?
Issue: Journalism
Two months after Election Day, coverage of the 2000 presidential campaign
continues, and networks are feeling the financial pinch. "We've spent in the
millions of dollars, overall, in this extra month of election coverage,"
says Bill Wheatley, NBC News vice president. While the prolonged political
drama has been a boon to ratings, it has not translated into higher prices
for commercials. The good ratings coming at a time of weakening ad sales,
says Jack Myers, who publishes a media industry newsletter. "They can't
capitalize on it as much," he says. A report Monday in Daily Variety
estimated the cost of the presidential coverage since Election Day at $2
million for each network. News executives, however, say they have not
reached the point where current costs will hinder future coverage.
[SOURCE: USAToday (4A), AUTHOR: Martha T. Moore]
(http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20001207/2896271s.htm)
CONVERGENCE
AFTER 50 YEARS OF EFFORT, INTERACTIVE TV ARRIVES
Issue: Convergence
Interactive TV is supposed to be technology's next big thing but the concept
itself is hardly new. Attempts at interactive TV go back almost to the dawn
of commercial television. "Winky Dink and You," a kids' show about a little
blond cartoon boy and his adventures, is said to be the first interactive
TV, according to Edwin Brit Wyckoff. To interact with the show, viewers
bought a kit that included a piece of plastic to cover the TV screen and a
Magic Crayon, but there were technical problems during the development stage
of the show. Today, the same kinds of problems dog the advent of true
interactive television. When Warner Chairman, Gerald M. Levin unveiled the
Full Service Network in Orlando, Fla. in 1994, he promised that its 4,000
users could get VCR-like controls over movies, play interactive gin rummy
with other customers and order pizzas in between. Mr. Levin hailed the
network as "nothing short of miraculous." But the companies found it hard to
prove the value of interactive-TV services to consumers. Now, start-ups TiVo
Inc. and Replay TV Inc. allow consumers in this country to pause live TV and
record shows onto low-cost hard drives with the click of a button. Even more
ambitious ideas are on the drawing boards. AOL Chairman Steve Case said this
week that reinventing TV is one of the top goals of AOL Time Warner.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B1), AUTHOR: Jared Sandberg]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB97613991783939931.htm)
(requires subscription)
WEB-VIDEO ISSUE IS A PAIN IN THE NET FOR OLYMPICS
Issue: Convergence
Adjusting from brick and mortar to the Internet hasn't been easy, at least
according to the International Olympic Committee and its broadcasting
partners. Since before this year's Summer Games in Sydney they have been
weathering a tempest incited by their decision to ban virtually all video
images of Olympic events from the Internet. The ban is meant to protect the
value of broadcasting rights that the IOC and its partners fear could be
jeopardized by online Olympic video clips. While the IOC don't want to
sacrifice the 3.7 billion television viewers for the 25 million visitors who
log on to their sites on the Net, many Net executives balk at the idea that
a few square inches of low-quality, online video could actually damage the
value of prime-time broadcasts of the Olympic Games. "I understand what the
advertising revenue means to them," says Peter Clifton, project leader for
the BBC Sport Online section of British Broadcasting Corp.'s Web site. "But
one downside to that is there are a whole range of ways you could spread the
Olympic spirit to all corners that are just withering on the vine." The BBC
itself is an Olympic broadcast-rights holder. "You can Web-cast and
broadcast without hurting either medium," contends Rick Gentile, a member of
the IOC's Radio and Television Committee.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (Interactive), AUTHOR: Jeanette Borzo]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB976114642488494810.htm)
(requires subscription)
TELEPHONY
No 10-DIGIT DIALING FOR LOCAL CALLS
Issue: Telephony
Today the FCC is expected to not order the use of the three-digit area code
when making local calls, a move that could have made more than a billion new
telephone numbers available. Instead, the FCC is expected to consider
proposals to ensure telephone carriers are efficiently using the numbers
they already have and whether to charge companies a fee to obtain more
numbers. While a demand for new telephone numbers has increased with the
spread of mobile phones and second home lines for Internet access, the FCC
will decline ordering 10-digit dialing at Thursday's open meeting. Models
have shown the North American Numbering Plan could run out of numbers
between 2006 and 2012 if no action is taken, but capacity could be increased
by 25 percent if 10-digit dialing became a reality, according to the FCC
officials. Despite this, the FCC will weigh whether there should be a
threshold that carriers must cross in terms of utilizing the numbers they
have been allocated before they can seek more allocations of telephone
numbers.
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Reuters Wire]
(http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/technology/tech-telecoms-numbers.html)
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