BROADBAND
AT&T Boosts Control Over Excite's Board (WP)
INTERNET
6 Health Plans Are Developing Online Venture (NYT)
DTV Digital-TV Panel Shows Willingness to Alter Industry Technical
Standard (WSJ)
ACCESSIBILITY
New Help for Disabled Math Students (NYT)
MERGERS
BellSouth, SBC Near Final Stages Of Talks to Merge Wireless Units
(WSJ)
Italy's Fininvest Charts Internet Course With IPO for Unit,
Challenges Merger (WSJ)
BROADBAND
AT&T BOOSTS CONTROL OVER EXCITE'S BOARD
Issue: Broadband
In a move meant to prop up Excite( at )Home, AT&T announced
yesterday that it has strengthened its control over the company and
that Excite's place within its empire is secure for the next eight
years. AT&T plans to use its cable television network, the largest in
the country, to offer high speed Internet access and is in a good position
to maintain Excite's existence. With AT&T now in control of the board,
Excite's fortunes seem better to investors, causing the company's stock
to jump nearly 10 percent yesterday. However, AT&T's control has
renewed concerns about open access. While AT&T has pledged to allow its
cable customers to be able to choose their own Internet service
provider, it has also stated that Excite At Home's Web portal will
continue to appear prominently on the first screen that customers see
when they log on. This drew criticism from Greg Simon, co-director of
the OpenNET coalition, a consortium of Internet service providers that
has lobbied to force AT&T to share its cable system with rivals. "That
is not open access," Simon said. "That will drive the [Federal
Communications Commission] crazy."
[SOURCE: The Washington Post (E2), AUTHOR: Peter S. Goodman]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40601-2000Mar29.html)
See Also:
AT&T ACTS TO GAIN CONTROL OF EXCITE FROM CABLE FIRMS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B6), AUTHOR: Rebecca Blumenstein, Don
Clark, Leslie Cauley]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB954337370394065992.htm)
AT&T TAKES FULL CONTROL OF AT HOME CABLE VENTURE
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: Seth Schisel]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/03/biztech/articles/30cable.htm
l)
INTERNET
6 HEALTH PLANS ARE DEVELOPING ONLINE VENTURE
Issue: Health/Internet
Several of the biggest health insurers are developing an online project
in an attempt to prevent Internet Web sites from usurping their
relationships with patients and doctors. The insurers -- Aetna U.S.
Healthcare, the Cigna Corporation, WellPoint Health Systems, Oxford
Health Plans, Foundation Health Systems and PacifiCare Health System -
- hope the project will make it easier for patients to enroll in health
plans and choose doctors and hospitals by allowing them to do it
online. The new initiative, tentatively called MedUnite, pits these
insurers against Healtheon/WebMD, the largest Internet health care
company. It is also hoped that the project can smooth relations with
disaffected physicians by speeding communications through use of the
Internet. "The health plan companies want to stake out their claim.
They have very important relationships with doctors and patients and
lots of data and information that they have aggregated," said Ed Kroll,
a health care analyst at SG Cowen. "They want to be participants in
this connectivity process, rather than risk being left out of the
loops."
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: Milt Freudenheim]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/03/biztech/articles/30health.ht
ml)
ACCESSIBILITY
NEW HELP FOR DISABLED MATH STUDENTS
Issue: Accessibility/EdTech
For individuals with visual or physical impairments, doing advanced
math can be nearly impossible because of the difficulty of converting
Braille or the spoken word into equations on paper. Henry Gray, a
professor of statistics and mathematics at Southern Methodist
University in Dallas, is creating software that aids the disabled
by allowing them to accept and read back mathematical symbols and
commands. Dr. Gray's software works in combination with other programs
to translate mathematical voice commands into corresponding expressions
on the computer and to help perform the computations. "There's a need
for this kind of software," said Richard Ring, supervisor of the
International Braille and Technology Center for the Blind, a division
of the National Federation of the Blind in Baltimore. "There aren't as
many people in the sciences in general because of the difficulty in
representing math in Braille."
[SOURCE: New York Times (E6), AUTHOR: Catherine Greenman]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/03/circuits/articles/30math.htm
l)
DTV
DIGITAL-TV PANEL SHOWS WILLINGNESS TO ALTER INDUSTRY TECHNICAL STANDARD
Issue: DTV
In a win for the Sinclair Broadcasting Group, the Advanced Television
Systems Committee (ATSC) has agreed to form a task force to review the
technical standards involved in the reception of digital signals.
Sinclair Broadcasting has complained for over a year to the ATSC and
FCC that the existing digital transmission standard can't be received
in dense urban areas and in moving vehicles. This disappoints the many
TV stations that are looking to offer mobile data services after they
convert to digital signals. If the digital TV technical rules change,
the 10,000 consumers who have already purchased digital TV receivers,
and the broadcasters who have started transmitting digital signals,
may be forced to replace or supplement their equipment. General Electric's
NBC and Walt Disney's ABC recently joined Sinclair in urging the ATSC
for a technical review. A review doesn't guarantee that a change in
technical standards will take place. It's the Federal Communications
Commission that ultimately decides digital TV technical rules. The
FCC adopted the current standard based on ATSC's recommendations in 1996.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B2), AUTHOR: Evan Ramstad]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB95436949566992861.htm)
MERGERS
BELLSOUTH, SBC NEAR FINAL STAGES OF TALKS TO MERGE WIRELESS UNITS
Issue: Merger
BellSouth and SBC could announce a deal which would merge the two
companies' wireless businesses as soon as next week. If completed, the
merger would create a wireless company with around 16.5 million
customers, making it second in size only to the pending venture of
Vodaphone AirTouch and Bell Atlantic, which will have more than 20
million customers. Wireless companies have sought to increase their
scope through mergers and joint ventures. The added reach of the
networks, they say, reduces the amount customers pay in "roaming" fees,
which are calls outside their home networks. The BellSouth/SBC merger
would create a network that covers a large portion of the country,
including 40 of the top 50 markets.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B4), AUTHOR: Nicole Harris]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB954374685784098118.htm)
ITALY'S FININVEST CHARTS INTERNET COURSE WITH IPO FOR UNIT, CHALLENGES
MERGER
Issue: Merger
Europe's $25.9 billion merger between the Italian Web portal Pagine
Gialle and the Internet access unit of Telcom Italia is facing a legal
challenge from Fininvest, the media empire controlled by Silvio
Berlusconi, who claims that the pending merger unfairly restricts
competition. The legal challenge comes on the heels of Fininvest's
announcement to expand Jumpy, the group's Internet business, into a
pan-European Web powerhouse. Plans call for Jumpy to be transformed
into a full-service Italian-language Web portal over the oncoming
months, soon followed by a Spanish-language, German-language and
French-language Jumpy portal. Fininvest already operates in Spain
through Telecinco, a Spanish TV network it controls, and has a joint-
venture agreement with the German media giant Kirch Group.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (A24), AUTHOR: Yaroslav Trofimov]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB954338932428026883.htm)
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