ANTITRUST
Justice Leaning Toward Microsoft Breakup (USA)
TELEPHONY
Phone Companies Work To Simplify Billing (USA)
BROADCAST
Who Needs The Sweeps? (NYT)
Believe Your Eyes? Ads Bend Reality Digital Images Appear Real To
TV Viewers (USA)
Despite Other Voices, Limbaugh's Is Still Strong (NYT)
INTERNET
New Children's Privacy Rules Pose Obstacles for Some Sites (WSJ)
For Russian Net Firms, The Long Winter Is Over (WSJ)
The Next Internet Race (Editorial) (WP)
INFOTECH
Chips Promise Digital Images At Lower Cost (NYT)
ANTITRUST
JUSTICE LEANING TOWARD MICROSOFT BREAKUP
Issue: Antitrust
The Justice Department is likely to ask Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson to
split Microsoft into at least two separate companies, one devoted to
operating systems and one devoted to everything else. The breakup, if it is
upheld by higher courts, would take up to two years. In the meantime,
prosecutors will probably also suggest that strict limits be placed on the
company's business practices. The strategy of asking for all the possible
remedies gives the government nothing to lose. It could make it easier to
force Microsoft to accept one or the other, though a breakup is likely not
to be upheld by higher courts.
[SOURCE: USA Today (1A), AUTHOR: Paul Davidson]
(http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20000424/2191759s.htm)
See Also:
U.S. OFFICIALS MAY SEEK SALE OF MICROSOFT'S OFFICE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal Interactive, AUTHOR: John Wilke]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB956522191591428605.htm)
BROADCASTING
WHO NEEDS THE SWEEPS
Issue: Television Economics
Archaic, silly, destructive, and hopelessly inaccurate. This is how the
television ratings sweeps are described by network and advertising
executives. "It is such an antiquated way of doing business," said
Leslie Moonves, the president of CBS Television. "On the edge of a technical
revolution, we're using a system that belongs to the dinosaurs. It's
ludicrous." Some $24 billion in local advertising rides on the sweeps system
-- three special ratings periods in November, February and May when Nielsen
measures all 210 television markets across the country. The sweeps capture
specific audience demographics and are for the benefit of local stations,
mainly the smallest which reach less than 40% of the total television
audience. These stations pressure the networks to stockpile
originalprogramming into the sweeps, hoping for a spillover audience onto
their local newscasts. Producing only 22-24 new episodes of a show each
year, 12 of the best episodes are shown during sweeps -- another five are
shown at the beginning of the TV year (September). The result is but 5-7
original episodes of shows to fill the entire months of December, January,
March and
April. Why stick to the system: no better reason than that's the way
business has always been done.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: Bill Carter]
(http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/sweeps-week.html)
BELIEVE YOUR EYES? ADS BEND REALITY DIGITAL IMAGES APPEAR REAL TO TV
VIEWERS
Issue: Advertising
If one were watching the Super Bowl on television in say, Iceland, this
year, one would have seen fans in the stands holding signs that spelled
out "Schwab," as in the brokerage. This didn't really happen. The signs
were digitally placed in those fans hands for the international
broadcast of the game. This is part of a new trend in digital
advertising that is worth less than $10 million now but will likely
swell to $1 billion in the next five years. Advertisers like the digital ads
because they are cheap to produce, and because technology is making it more
and more possible to block the 30 second spots that have been standard for
so long. The advertiser can have a sign or even a product inserted into a
program. Theoretically, there could be one brand of soda in an actor's hand
in Tulsa and another brand in that hand for viewers in Akron. Critics are
not happy. "It's about lying and cheating," says George Gerbner, Temple
University communications professor. "It takes advantage of the public's
belief that a broadcast of a real event actually conveys what's going on."
[SOURCE: USA Today (1B), AUTHOR: Bruce Horovitz]
(http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20000424/2191535s.htm)
DESPITE OTHER VOICES, LIMBAUGH'S IS STILL STRONG
Issue: Radio
While talk radio was once considered an important media force, it now
must compete for listeners with cable news channels, Internet chat rooms and
online columnists. Amidst the changing media landscape do personalities like
Rush Limbaugh matter that much anymore? According Limbaugh himself, he
matters as much as ever. "I'm part of the landscape of America," he said.
"They don't talk about Pike's Peak every day. They don't talk about Mount
Rushmore every day. But it's there." Others, however, question his continued
impact. "He has lost his buzz," said Michael Harrison, editor of Talkers, a
radio industry trade magazine. "This is not a slam against Limbaugh. He's
not where the action is because there ain't no action." Despite the
dwindling media attention, Rush Limbaugh remains the top-rated radio talk
show host in America. An average minimum of 14.5 million listeners tune into
"The Rush Limbaugh Show" every week. His continued success may be as
much a testament to the endurance of radio, as the loyalty of his audience.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: Jim Rutenberg]
(http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/rush-limbaugh.html)
INTERNET
NEW CHILDREN'S PRIVACY RULES POSE OBSTACLES FOR SOME SITES
Issue: Privacy
For some children's sites, the cost of meeting the new Children's Online
Privacy Protection Act of 1998 is just too high. The act requires sites to
obtain "verifiable parental consent" before collecting any personal data
from children. The consent can take the form of a physically signed note, a
credit-card number, or an e-mail with a password. For the next two years,
sites that don't plan on sharing information with third parties may accept
an e-mail message from a parent, as long as the site operator receives
another e-mail, letter or telephone call from a parent confirming the
consent. Some online firms find that they can't afford an extra staffer to
sort through all the permission forms from parents. They are shutting
down existing accounts of children who identified themselves as being under
13 and turning away new users in that age bracket during the Web site's
registration process. Some children are steamed about the changes at their
favorite Web sites. ECrush.com's Karen DeMars said she has received e-mails
from children complaining of discrimination and "unconstitutional" behavior.
One e-mail read, "This is stupid. I LOVED e crush. Fine, I guess I must
[sic] as well lie about my age."
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal Interactive, AUTHOR: Julia Angwin, Nick
Wingfiled and Khanh Tran]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB956522408384270258.htm)
FOR RUSSIAN NET FIRMS, THE LONG WINTER IS OVER
Issue: INTERNET
Encouraged by its stabilizing political landscape, large population and
growing Internet use, investors have taken a number stakes in Russian
start-ups. Port.ru, which owns mail.ru (www.mail.ru),the nation's most
popular Russian-language e-mail site, and Moscow Telecommunications
Corp., which is planning on building a high-speed cable and Internet network
here, are just some of the Russian companies that have benefited from
investment dollars. Boris Yeltsin's exit from the Kremlin has helped foster
the investor interest in Russia's Internet sector. "With [Vladimir] Putin
coming to power, a lot of people began to discount the risk usually
associated with Russia," says Peter Kirkow, senior economist for ICE
Securities Ltd. In London. Russia represents a large potential market of
Web-surfers and e-consumers, especially as more Russians get online. About
1.6% of Russia's
146 million population use the Net today. In two years time, that figure is
expected to rise to as much as 8%. So Russian could be the place for the
next Internet goldrush, "Think back in the U.S. Internet about five years,"
says Hermitage Capital's Mr. Browder. "That's about where we are in Russia."
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal Interactive, AUTHOR: Jeanette Borzo]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB956322901250205977.htm)
THE NEXT INTERNET RACE
Issue: Internet/Wireless
(Editorial) The Post notes that many large wireless companies are
lobbying the FCC to remove regulations such as the cap on the amount of
spectrum available to any one company, or the spectrum that is set aside for
mid-sized companies. There is a growing gap in wireless Internet use between
the U.S. and the rest of the world, but the Post also wonders whether the
removal of regulations is the best way to close this gap. The Post argues
that the spectrum set asides for mid-sized companies are a misguided attempt
to determine the best course for the industry; "The regulators should not be
in the business of prejudging what size of company is better; they should
end them set-asides." But it also understands that caps on ownership are not
a bad thing. "[I]n most parts of the country, the two leading firms have
locked up two-thirds to three-quarters of the customers. This suggests that
competition, though vigorous, cannot be taken for granted. The cap rule
should stay." Essentially the Post's editorial argues that only what it sees
as "pro-competition policies" will close the wireless Internet gap.
[SOURCE: The Washington Post (A24) AUTHOR: Post Editorial Staff]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/opinion/A2322-2000Apr23.html)
TELEPHONY
PHONE COMPANIES WORK TO SIMPLIFY BILLING
Issue: Telephony
"It's too confusing. You've got 40 pages of useless mumbo jumbo," says
New York resident Derik Van Alstyne of his monthly phone bill. "I take the
bottom line and give the rest to my wife, since she makes most of the
calls." Services such as call waiting and the Internet have made phone bills
bigger, and more expensive than ever. While the average household spent $325
on telecommunications in 1980, the yearly total had jumped to $830 by 1998
(the latest year for which figures are available), says the Bureau of Labor
Statistics. As carriers clamor to offer an ever-fuller menu of services
that, the phone bill could soon look more like the phone book. Many of the
charges that appear on phone bills are dictated, often acronym by acronym,
by federal regulators and local or state governments. FederalCommunications
Commission is working on guidelines that will help standardize and explain
many charges.
[SOURCE: USA Today (3B), AUTHOR: Shawn Young]
(http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20000424/2191527s.htm)
INFOTECH
CHIPS PROMISE DIGITAL IMAGES AT LOWER COST
Issue: InfoTech
Within several years, the cost of high-resolution digital cameras will
fall from hundreds of dollars to near the cost of today's computer memory
chips -- a few dollars apiece. Once that happens, some expect digital photo
capabilities will become part of all sorts of consumer electronics like cell
phones and digital assistants. But before this happens, an international
technology battle will be waged -- pitting the low-cost solution of
STMicroelectronics vs the makers of the more costly sensors that now
dominate digital comeras (Sony and Matsushita and others).
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: John Markoff]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/04/biztech/articles/24chip.html)
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