CYBERLAW
Streaming Raises Licensing Question (SJM)
Is Linking Illegal? (NYT)
MERGER
AOL's Merger Worry: Shareholders (WP)
SATELLITES
Murdoch Sees Satellites as Way to Keep News Corp. Current (NYT)
INTERNET
America Online Submits Plan Allowing Rivals Open Access to Instant
Messaging (WSJ)
ADVERTISING
Consumers Have Advertisers Afraid (WSJ)
CYBERLAW
STREAMING RAISES LICENSING QUESTION
Issue: Internet/Copyright
Television broadcasters and movie studios argued on Thursday at a
congressional hearing that Internet companies should not be eligible for the
special licenses that satellite and cable companies have to carry broadcast
programming. Internet businesses argued that they are forced to operate on
an uneven playing field as they attempt to stream network TV and radio
programming over the Internet. As technology improves, "the law must evolve
as well to protect the intellectual creations and to provide a convenient
means of access to those creations for consumers," said Rep. Howard Coble
(R-N.C.), who chairs the House Judiciary's Subcommittee on Courts and
Intellectual Property.
Current law allows cable operators and satellite companies to get special
blanket licenses so they can retransmit broadcast programming without
getting individual consent from each company. Internet businesses, however,
must get permission from each copyright holder individually if they want to
stream broadcast programming or other content on their site.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Kalpana Srinivasan (Associated
Press)]
(http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/merc/docs/F.htm)
See Also:
SUIT SHUTS DOWN INTERNET TV SITE
[SOURCE: Washington Post (Christopher Stern), AUTHOR:E3]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3253-2000Jun15.html)
IS LINKING ILLEGAL?
Issue: Internet
Film industry attorneys have asked U. S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan to
stop a Web publisher from linking to hundreds of sites that offer DeCSS,
contending that the software threatens their industry with piracy and
violates federal law. Attorneys for the defendant, Eric Corley, publisher of
"2600: The Hacker Quarterly," argue that a link merely instructs a person
where to go to acquire information, and therefore, a link is a form of
speech protected by the First Amendment. Legal experts are predicting that
the judge's decision will set a significant precedent in cyberlaw.
"Liability for a person's linking to alleged wrongful content is really the
next big thing" in cyberlaw, said Mark Sableman, a St. Louis attorney who
specializes in cyberlaw. A trial in the NY DeCSS case is scheduled to begin
on July 17.
[SOURCE: New York Times (CyberTimes), AUTHOR: Carl S. Kaplan ]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/06/cyber/cyberlaw/16law.html)
INTERNET
AOL'S MERGER WORRY: SHAREHOLDERS
Issue: Merger
America Online is eagerly campaigning its shareholders, many of whom are
employees, to approve its proposed acquisition of Time Warner. At meetings
next week in Virginia and New York, the two companies shareholders will
cast ballots on their $183 billion marriage. While deal is expected to be
approved, AOL has employed some aggressive tactics to raise support in the
face of dropping stock price and tough scrutiny from regulators. Recently,
companies involved in mergers and acquisitions have become more concerned
with maintaining investor confidence, as more than half of such deals now
involve some exchange of stock. Deals are rarely vetoed, but the industry
has become more cautious since shareholders put an end to the proposed
merger between USA Networks and the portal Lycos, the only other time a
large media company that has attempted to join forces with an Internet
company. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission, which along with the
Federal Trade Commission still must approve the merger, has begun to
investigate complaints by AOL rivals about the company's instant-messaging
service.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A1), AUTHOR: Ariana Eunjung Cha]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1206-2000Jun15.html)
SATELLITES
MURDOCH SEES SATELLITES AS WAY TO KEEP NEWS CORP. CURRENT
Issue: Satellites
Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation is hedging its bets that as cable and
satellite systems move to digital transmission, the channel-changing box
will turn into a specialized computer that can deliver interactive
information games and shopping over the television screen. To take advantage
of these changes, News Corporation has plans to consolidate its vast
interests in global satellite television systems, which collectively reach
100 million homes in 60 countries, into a single new holding company. "The
average household spends seven hours in front of the television," said Peter
Chernin, the president of News Corporation. "Imagine what we can do if we
change the relationship from one way to two way." There are hopes that
set-top box could become residential network hubs, linking household
devices from telephones to power meters. The creation of the News Corp.'s
new satellite giant has as much to do with fear as with new technology. Time
Warner's removal of Disney's ABC from it's cable systems last month sent a
shock wave through the industry. "In a world moving to five, six seven
major media companies, you don't want to be in a position where you have to
count on others," Mr. Chernin said. "You need to have enough marketplace
dominance that people are forced to deal with you."
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: SAUL HANSELL]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/financial/061600rupert-consolidate.html)
INTERNET
AMERICA ONLINE SUBMITS PLAN ALLOWING RIVALS OPEN ACCESS TO INSTANT MESSAGING
Issue: Internet
America Online made its first gesture toward allowing open access to its
wildly popular messaging system, a week after federal antitrust enforcers
began investigating the online giant. The company released a proposal that
outlines how other systems could eventually connect to AOL's Instant
Messenger, but offers no time line for when that would happen. The
conciliatory gesture comes as regulators are reviewing AOL's proposed $113
billion purchase of Time Warner Inc., leading competitors to speculate that
it was a more political than technical move. "I'm afraid it might be a
stalling tactic to get through the merger," said Russ Begally, chief
executive officer of Tribal Voice Inc., a CMGI Inc. unit with about eight
million users of its own instant-messaging product. America Online
executives described the proposal as a "first step" toward enabling the
Internet Engineering Task Force, a group of volunteers who develop Internet
standards, to resolve instant-messaging compatibility issues. AOL says its
main concern about opening up the messaging system is that it might allow
hackers or other intruders to reach their users.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (A3), AUTHOR: Julia Angwin]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB961105428657947058.htm)
ADVERTISING
CONSUMERS HAVE ADVERTISERS AFRAID
Issue: Advertising
The digital revolution has created a monster. That monster -- better known
as the consumer -- has the whole communications industry shaking in its
boots, says Reimer Thedens, chairman and chief executive of OgilvyOne.
Consumers, he adds, don't realize yet the power they have to dictate the
rules of communication in the future, given their increasing choices as to
the media they watch or listen to. A conference of executives in Dublin
concluded that unlike the 1980s, when advertising agencies controlled the
relationship with consumers through costly mass media campaigns on
television, the next 10 years of advertising will be dominated by agencies
trying to match the changing whims of "the anarchic consumer," according to
Mr. Thedens. In today's multichannel world there are simply many more
outlets competing for people's attention, making consumer behavior far more
erratic. This makes ad agencies' tasks that much more difficult. Given the
newly diverse media environment, advertising agencies increasingly have been
looking for new ways to build relationships with consumers.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, (Interactive), AUTHOR: Sarah Ellison]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB961094755683805224.htm)
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