Mergers
FCC head: No ring of certainty for deal (ChiTrib)
In Phoneland, It Gets Lonely At the Middle (NYT)
Rivals say merger is windfall (ChiTrib)
Universal Service
Limits on U.S. Wiring Plan Worry Schools (CyberTimes)
Antitrust
Appeals Court Favors Microsoft (WP)
Antitrust Action Against Microsoft Is Called Imminent (NYT)
US Sues MCI and News Corp. on Primestar (NYT)
U.S. Sues To Block Satellite TV Merger (WP)
Legislation
Senate Backs Halt to Phone Service Switching (NYT)
Slamming Bill Passes Senate (WP)
New Encryption Legislation Billed as Compromise (CyberTimes)
Advertising
An anti-award ceremony that seeks to bury Madison
Avenue, not to praise it (NYT)
Free Speech
Reasserting freedom of the press (ChiTrib)
Telecommuting
Families, Communities Can Benefit From Rise in
Home-Based Work (WSJ)
Television
Pitcher may help Cubs fans catch more games (ChiTrib)
** Mergers **
Title: FCC head: No ring of certainty for deal
Source: Chicago Tribune (p.1)
http://chicago.tribune.com/business/businessnews/article/0,1051,ART-8485,00
.html
Author: Tim Jones & Frank James
Issue: Mergers
Description: Federal Communications Commission Chairman Bill Kennard said
SBC and Ameritech will have "a high burden" to prove their proposed merger
is in the best interest of consumers. Just because the FCC has approved the
SBC-PacTel and NYNEX-Bell Atlantic mergers, don't expect easy sailing for
the latest proposal. "Anyone who says that hasn't carefully read the
commission's decision," Chairman Kennard said. "If you look at the order
which approved, with conditions, the Bell Atlantic-NYNEX merger, the
commission was careful to say that the decision should not be read to
approve future (Baby Bell) mergers. In fact, the decision said quite the
opposite, that the commission didn't contemplate further mergers between" RBOCs.
Title: In Phoneland, It Gets Lonely At the Middle
Source: New York Times (C1)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/phone-assess.html
Author: Seth Schiessel
Issue: Mergers
Description: Ameritech Chairman Richard Notebaert looked into the future and
decided that a company with 20 million customers, a market value of $50
billion, revenues of $16 billion and profits of $2.3 billion per year just
wasn't big enough. The motto in today's telecommunications industry seems to
be: Go global or go home. Even though Ameritech is a strong company with
good management, and produces value for its shareholders, the Midwestern
local phone company feel victim to institutional shareholders that demand
long-term plans for strong growth. An industry consultant said: "This
rebuilds the natural scale of this industry...Like airlines should be big
and global to work, so should phone companies."
Title: Rivals say merger is windfall
Source: Chicago Tribune (Sec 3, p.1)
http://chicago.tribune.com/business/businessnews/article/0,1051,SAV-9805130
117,00.html
Author: Jon Van
Issue: Mergers
Description: Workers at NextLink Illinois, a small local phone company, are
happy to here that Ameritech wants to merge with SBC. "We don't try to
attract customers by offering better technology or lower prices. We attract
them by offering service." The small and medium size businesses that
NextLink Illinois targets appreciate a smaller company that will pay more
attention to them. Word that Ameritech is getting bigger and will be run by
a company based in Texas may mean more customers for NextLink.
** Universal Service **
Title: Limits on U.S. Wiring Plan Worry Schools
Source: New York Times (CyberTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/05/cyber/education/13education.html
Author: Pamela Mendels
Issue: Universal Service/E-Rate
Description: Many educators that were counting on federal financing to
subsidize telecommunications services are now concerned that their schools
will receive less money due to funding cut-backs in the e-rate program. In a
report to Congress last Friday, the FCC announced that the e-rate program
could only provide $1.67 billion in subsides as opposed to the initial
amount of $2.25 billion. "Any reduction is really going to make it difficult
for us," said Denise M. Funfsinn, a teacher in rural Illinois that had been
looking forward to a major wiring project this summer that would have
connected the school's classrooms to the Internet. "I feel really cynical.
Once again, the government and business are saying 'Education is important
and we are going to help schools.' And then they turn around to say they are
not going to fulfill what they said they would." The FCC is now seeking
comment on whether they should raise additional money or if the reduced fees
should stand. If the FCC moves to raise additional money, it could result in
increased customer phone bills.
** Antitrust **
Title: Appeals Court Favors Microsoft
Source: Washington Post (A1,A12)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-05/13/138l-051398-idx.html
Author: Rajiv Chandrasekaran & Elizabeth Corcoran
Issue: Antitrust
Description: A federal appeals court ruled yesterday that Microsoft's
Windows 98 operating software is exempt from restrictions placed on an
earlier version of Windows. This ruling deprives the Justice Dept. of a
"potentially" important weapon in its antitrust case against the software
giant. It also means that if the Justice Dept. wants to block the scheduled
release of Windows 98 it will have to file a separate lawsuit and not rely
on the initial injunction against Windows 95. [See also Chicago Tribune, Sec
3, p.1 "Windows decision sets up new fight" by Andrew Zajac
http://chicago.tribune.com/business/businessnews/article/0,1051,SAV-9805130
122,00.html]
Title: Antitrust Action Against Microsoft Is Called Imminent
Source: New York Times (A1)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/yr/mo/biztech/articles/13microsoft.html
Author: Joel Brinkley
Issue: Antitrust
Description: Perhaps as early as Thursday, the Federal Government and
Attorneys General from at least 12 states plan to file new, broader
antitrust suits against software giant Microsoft. Windows98 is set to be
released in three days, but the legal action may delay shipping of the new
operating system and could hamper Microsoft's ability to add new features to
future generations of the product. The new round of suits are said to be
aimed at prohibiting Microsoft from requiring that computer manufacturers
ship their machines with MS's web browser already installed and from
requiring the manufacturers to set up machines so MS's default desktop comes
up when the machine is started.
Title: US Sues MCI and News Corp. on Primestar
Source: New York Times (C7)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/critics-ad-column.html
Issue: Antitrust
Description: The Justice Department filed a civil antitrust suit to block
MCI's and Newscorp's $1.1 billion plan to sell satellite assets to
Primestar, owned by the nation's largest cable television companies. "Direct
Broadcast Satellite [DBS] presents the first real threat to the cable
monopoly," said DoJ's Joel Klein. "In most cases, we have a choice of only
one cable company and we are seeing constantly rising prices. Unless this
acquisition is blocked, consumers will be denied the benefits of competition
-- lower price, more innovation, and better services and quality." Cable
television has 67 million oh-so-happy subscribers; DBS has 5 million. [See
also Chicago Tribune, Sec 3, p.1, "US opposes satellite TV deal" by Naftali
Bendavid
http://chicago.tribune.com/business/businessnews/article/0,1051,SAV-9805130
118,00.html]
Title: U.S. Sues To Block Satellite TV Merger
Source: Washington Post (C9,C12)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-05/13/059l-051398-idx.html
Author: Paul Farhi
Issue: Antitrust
Description: Alleging violations of antitrust law, the Justice Dept. filed
suit yesterday to block plans by MCI Communications Corp. and Rupert
Murdoch's News Corp. to merge their satellite TV company with one owned by
major cable TV companies. "Rather than compete, [the companies] decided to
merge. That's bad for competition and bad for consumers," said Joel Klein,
the Justice Dept.'s top antitrust official at a news conference yesterday.
Klein added: "It's clear as a matter of logic and fact that one group has no
interest in eroding cable's monopoly in the U.S., and that is the cable
industry."
** Legislation **
Title: Senate Backs Halt to Phone Service Switching
Source: New York Times (A18)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/washpol/senate-phones.html
Author: Allison Mitchell
Issue: Telephone Regulation
Description: In a 99-0 vote, the Senate approved a bill that authorizes
stiff fines and penalties for the practice know as "slamming." The vote gave
senators on both sides of the aisle a popular consumer vote to campaign on
in an election year. [I stopped the slam, is the catchy motto for one
senator seeking reelection.] Slamming is the practice by some long distance
companies to switch consumers' long distance service without their consent.
Instances of slamming have risen as greater competition in the long distance
market have made verification procedures less stringent.
Title: Slamming Bill Passes Senate
Source: Washington Post (C9,C12)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-05/13/061l-051398-idx.html
Author: Mike Mills
Issue: Long-Distance
Description: Legislation aimed at cracking down on "slamming," the practice
of switching a customers long-distance telephone carrier without their
permission, passed unanimously in the Senate yesterday. The legislation
would impose new penalties on slammers, with fines ranging from $40,000 for
a first time offense to $250,000 for repeat offenders. The bill also seeks
to eliminate common slamming methods. "The message will get out to the
slammers that the cost of playing poker has gone up dramatically, and if
they want to gamble they will lose a lot," said Sen. Richard J. Durbin
(D-IL), an early advocate of anti-slamming laws. "The FCC had been toothless
in dealing with them, and we haven't taken it as seriously as we should have."
Title: New Encryption Legislation Billed as Compromise
Source: New York Times (CyberTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/05/cyber/articles/13encrypt.html
Author: Jeri Clausing
Issue: Encryption
Description: Senators John Ashcroft (R-MO) and Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT)
unveiled an encryption bill yesterday that is being described as a
common-sense approach. The bill, dubbed the E-Privacy Act, balances the
privacy, economic and national security concerns that have kept the Clinton
administration from lifting its export controls on data-scrambling
technology in the past. "Fundamentally, the debate over computer privacy is
about the relationship of U.S. citizens to our government," Ashcroft said.
"There's been a push for legislation which would require individuals to hand
over the spare keys to their private files. Innocent citizens are expected
to trust the bureaucracy not to abuse their personal information, in spite
of actions to the contrary by agencies such as the IRS and the FBI. The
E-Privacy Act addresses these concerns by balancing privacy rights with
legitimate concerns of law enforcement."
** Advertising **
Title: An anti-award ceremony that seeks to bury Madison
Avenue, not to praise it
Source: New York Times (C7)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/critics-ad-column.html
Author: Stuart Elliott
Issue: Advertising
Description: The Schmios were awarded last night. The event was an effort to
mock marketers and to encourage a public discourse on advertising. "The
basic point is that we want you to be critical when you experience media,"
said host Neil Postman of New York University. The ceremony's theme this
year was "Kids for sale." The "Possessions Are Everything Award" went to
Sears for a scholarship contest advertised in Seventeen magazine. The ad
featured the headlines "You gotta stand up for yourself" and "You gotta
believe in your dreams," and concluded, "But you gotta have something to
wear. Gotta have the clothes."
** Free Speech **
Title: Reasserting freedom of the press
Source: Chicago Tribune (Sec 1, p.21)
http://chicago.tribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/article/0,1051,SAV-98051
30006,00.html
Author: Natalia Giannini, teacher, Lantana, Florida
Issue: Free Speech
Description: The winning entry of the Inter American Press Association's
Chapultepec Essay Contest is best summed in its own words: "If we don't
challenge the injustices that take place in our own countries, in our own
limited spheres, we could lose our voices, and to become silenced is the
beginning of the long and accelerating road to physical and intellectual
oppression."
** Telecommuting **
Title: Families, Communities Can Benefit From Rise in Home-Based Work
Source: Wall Street Journal (B1)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Sue Shellenbarger
Issue: Telecommuting/Family
Description: One in every eight U.S. households has an adult that works at
home, and this number is expected to rise to one in every five by 2002. This
growing trend could begin to transform both home and community life.
Visionaries have long hoped that this migration to home-based work would
strengthen families and neighborhoods weakened by long commutes and the
increasingly long work day. Interviews with telecommuters at
Hewlett-Packard, IBM and AT&T are suggesting that it can make a difference.
Kids can benefit from an increase in parental presence, they can pick up
healthy work ethics from parents working at home and the parents can feel
more involved in their family. Teleworkers can also help to knit
neighborhoods and communities together by taking a break during their day to
volunteer in the community (for things such as shoveling snow), and help out
and/or meet with neighbors and friends. While this all sounds good there are
still some kinks to be worked out. One is the self-imposed and employer
pressure on teleworkers to produce more and the effect this state of
"absent-while-present" can have on loved ones. The
other is that home-office technology can make it easier to ignore time zones
and geographic boundaries so that work begins to creep into nights and
weekends. "Teleworking does lead to flexibility. So you'd think that
teleworking would lead to better work-life balance. But what happens, on
average, is that people work so many more hours that on the whole, they're
not any better off." said telecommuter Jeff Hill, human-resource researcher
for IBM. "The key isn't is the practice," he says. "It's in the individual
making use of the practice to have a full life."
** Television **
Title: Pitcher may help Cubs fans catch more games
Source: Chicago Tribune (Sec 3, p.2)
http://chicago.tribune.com/business/businessnews/article/0,1051,SAV-9805130
126,00.html
Author: Jim Kirk
Issue: Television Economics
Description: Slumping ratings for baseball, the Tribune's stake in the WB
network and CLTV, and the priorities of advertisers all were factors in the
Tribune Company's decision to air some 62 Cubs games on cable station CLTV
instead of broadcast station WGN. And boy are some people pissed. Rookie
phenom Kerry Wood set the major league record for strikeouts in consecutive
games the other night, but Cubs fans that do not subscribe to cable could
not see it. If the Cubs -- and Wood -- stay hot, some of those Cubs games
may move back to WGN from cable. [Hey, we have different priorities here.]
[Also see ChiTrib, Sec 4, p.1, "Wood works havoc with TV decision" by
Michael Hirsley
http://chicago.tribune.com/sports/cubs/article/0,1051,ART-8503,00.html]
*********
Back to you, Betsy...