TELEPHONY
Big Loss for Phone Giant (NYT)
Long-Distance Price War on Hold, at Least for Now (NYT)
NONPROFITS
Bush Unveils 'Faith-Based' Initiative (WP)
BROADCASTING
'Nothing I Can Do,' Putin Tells NTV Staff (WP)
Super Bowl Ads Stir Violence Debate (WP)
JOBS
Disney Red-Lights Go.com Site (WP)
Dot-Coms May Need Crash Course In Labor Law Amid Broad Layoffs (WSJ)
ANTITRUST
Microsoft Says Judge Jackson Made 'Indefensible' Comments (WSJ)
TELEPHONY
BIG LOSS FOR PHONE GIANT
Issue: Telephony
The nation's largest long-distance company, AT&T, reported a fourth-quarter
loss of $1.7 billion yesterday. The company has been burdened high costs
related to its high-speed Internet holding, Excite( at )Home, and the erosion of
revenue from long-distance operations. Despite concern over AT&T's debt and
the decline of revenue from long-distance operations, investors and analysts
were optimistic about prospects at the company's fastest-growing division,
AT&T Wireless. In the fourth quarter, revenue at AT&T Wireless climbed 39
percent.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: Simon Romero]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/30/technology/30PHON.html)
(requires registration)
LONG - DISTANCE PRICE WAR ON HOLD, AT LEAST FOR NOW
Issue: Telephony
The price war among U.S. long-distance phone companies that has brought down
both consumers' rates and carriers' revenues has slowed for the time being,
industry executives and analysts said. The big carriers, such as AT&T,
WorldCom and Sprint have kept their rates stable or dropping at a slower
rate. A break in the price war is good news for companies that have seen
their share prices and voice revenues drop as they fight for long-distance
customers. "If it (stable pricing) is even going on, it may just be the calm
before the storm," said Robert Gensler, portfolio manager of media and
telecoms funds at T. Rowe Price. Genesler believes that high-speed fiber
optic networks such as the one being built by Level 3 Communications could
attract customers with even lower rates.
[SOURCE: New York Times (Online), AUTHOR: Reuters]
(http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/technology/tech-telecoms-rates-d.html)
(requires registration)
NONPROFITS
BUSH UNVEILS 'FAITH-BASED' INITIATIVE
Issue: Nonprofits
President Bush has taken steps to launch a broad governmental effort to
invigorate the activities of nonprofit organizations and religious charities
in the battle against the nation's social problems. "Government will never
be replaced by charities and community groups," Bush told an assembly of
interfaith and community service leaders at the White House. "Yet when we
see social needs in America, my administration will look to faith-based
programs and community groups, which have proven their power to save and
change lives." Specifically, President Bush created an Office of Faith-Based
and Community Initiatives in the White House, which will work with centers
in five agencies -- Justice, Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human
Services, Labor and Education -- to ease regulations that inhibit religious
charities and to promote grass-roots efforts. Today, President Bush plans to
turn the initiative into an official legislative proposal. While the
proposal has brought objections from both civil liberties groups and from
some religious leaders who are worried that government would become
entangled in religion, others in the service arena praised the effort. "This
is a great day for civic renewal in this country," said former senator
Harris Wofford (D-Pa.), a former head of the national service corporation
(www.cns.gov).
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A01), AUTHOR: Dana Milbank]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64391-2001Jan29.html)
BROADCASTING
'NOTHING I CAN DO,' PUTIN TELLS NTV STAFF
Issue: Television
President Vladimir Putin said today that while he opposes removing the
editorial team at NTV, Russia's main independent television network, he is
powerless to stop the legal and financial campaign being waged against it by
his own subordinates. A delegation of NTV journalists received a rare
audience with Putin. The journalists pleaded with him to put an end to eight
months of searches, arrests and lawsuits. The journalists said he told them:
"There is nothing I can do. I am glad to help, I will try, but they do not
obey me."
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A12 ), AUTHOR: Baker and Glasser]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62707-2001Jan29.html)
SUPER BOWL ADS STIR VIOLENCE DEBATE
Issue: Violence and Media
Only a few months after Hollywood pledged to take steps to stop marketing
violent movies to underage children, film studios used the Super Bowl, with
its huge family audience, to launch marketing campaigns for some
particularly bloody movies. R-rated (and anticipated R-rated) movies,
"Hannibal," "Valentine," "Exit Wounds" and "Swordfish" all got their 30
seconds of family-time airplay. The Super Bowl "is a family activity, and
many parents will be very alarmed to see this kind of graphic violence
advertised," said Kathryn Montgomery, president of the Center for Media
Education, a public interest group that favors restrictions on Hollywood's
marketing efforts. Industry executives disagreed because the big game's
audience is predominately adult. "You can't avoid some spillover whenever
you are dealing with broadcasting," said MGM spokesman Craig Parsons. "We
are not interested in reaching" children under 17, he said. Motion Picture
Association of America President Jack Valenti said yesterday that the
studios are complying with guidelines issued by his organization in response
to a recent FTC report on the entertainment industry's practice of marketing
violence to youth.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (E01), AUTHOR: Christopher Stern]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63904-2001Jan29.html)
JOBS
DISNEY RED-LIGHTS GO.COM SITE
Issue: Internet
Walt Disney Company is abandoning its Go.com Web portal. The company will
lay off 400 employees and put the Go.com search engine up for sale. The
death of Go is part of a broader trend in the dot-com sector, which has been
hit hard by a slowdown in online advertising. The retrenchment has struck
media outlets across the board, from CNN to the New York Times. Disney,
however had said that building an Internet enterprise was central to its
vast Media enterprise. "It was difficult for Disney to make the online media
business work in its present form," said Jordan Rohan, a media analyst with
Wit SoundView, an investment bank in New York. "So folding the online
business into the parent company makes a lot of sense. It was the right
decision, albeit a tough one." Disney launched Go.com in early 1999 to
compete with Yahoo and other general-interest portals. But Disney's dot-com
approach didn't work, Rohan said, in part because the company was a
latecomer to the portal world.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (E12), AUTHOR: Alec Klein]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64668-2001Jan29.html)
DOT-COMS MAY NEED CRASH COURSE IN LABOR LAW AMID BROAD LAYOFFS
Issue: Jobs
Until recently, few New Economy workers had heard of the Worker Adjustment
and Retraining Notification, or WARN, Act- or that it applies to all
employees -- not just blue-collar workers. WARN requires a company with 100
or more employees to give 60 days notice before it can implement mass
layoffs or plant shutdowns. If a company doesn't give sufficient notice,
employees are entitled to 60 days back pay and compensation for benefits.
Companies may have to pay state fines. Earlier this month, Connecticut's
attorney general sued Walker Digital Inc. for allegedly failing to comply
with WARN. The Connecticut attorney general's office alleged that the
company violated the WARN Act in November when it laid off 80% of its staff,
or about 100 employees. Labor experts say that while the law was designed to
protect blue-collar workers, there's no indication that lawmakers intended
to exclude other types of employees. Those that aren't familiar with the
statute, plan to be. "I've never been told by my lawyers about it, I've
never heard about it, and none of my other friends have ever heard about
it," says Bill Cockayne, who co-founded Scout Electromedia, a wireless
company that layed off 80 employees last October after shutting down. "It's
the first thing on my 'ask my lawyer' list," says Mr. Cockayne, who is now a
director at Eastman Kodak Co.'s venture group.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (Interactive), AUTHOR: Stephanie Miles]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB979856682263520309.htm)
(requires subscription)
See Also:
MANY TECH WORKERS RELUCTANT TO JOIN UNIONS
[SOURCE: USA Today (Online), AUTHOR: Associated Press]
(http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2001-01-29-tech-unions.htm)
ANTITRUST
MICROSOFT SAYS JUDGE JACKSON MADE 'INDEFENSIBLE' COMMENTS
Issue: Antitrust
In court papers filed Monday, Microsoft again urged a federal appeals court
to reverse a landmark ruling that would split the software maker in two,
arguing that government trustbusters failed to make their case. Microsoft
argues that the trial judge who heard the case "demonstrated an animus
towards Microsoft so strong that it inevitably infected his rulings."
Microsoft pointed to interviews Judge Jackson gave to the media, including
comments cited in a new book written by Ken Auletta, which quotes judge
Thomas Penfield Jackson criticizing Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates for having
"a Napoleonic concept of himself and his company." The company also said
that if parts of the case must be retried, the appeals court should appoint
a different judge to preside. Microsoft's latest legal salvo comes as the
company, the Justice Department and 19 states prepare to argue before the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Feb. 26 and Feb. 27.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B11), AUTHOR: Scott Ritter]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB980789916299344605.htm)
(requires subscription)
See Also
MICROSOFT ARGUES AGAINST BREAKUP ORDER
[SOURCE: USA Today (2B), AUTHOR: Associated press]
(http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2001-01-29-microsoft-filing.htm)
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