MERGERS
FCC Attaches Conditions to Approval Of Merger Between GTE, Bell
Atlantic (WSJ)
EU Expands Inquiry Of AOL-Time Warner (WSJ)
INTERNET
Internet Surfers Listening Worldwide (USA)
One Aspect of Messages on the Internet to Be Delayed (NYT)
The Web Sets The News Agenda - Even In China (SJM)
TELEVISION
AOLTV Rolls Out Awaited Interactive Service (USA)
MERGERS
FCC Attaches Conditions to Approval of Merger between GTE, Bell Atlantic
Issue: Merger
The Federal Communications Commission approval of the merger between Bell
Atlantic and GTE comes with strings attached. FCC gave the green light for
the companies to blend into the new Verizon Communications, as long as GTE
divests most of its Internet backbone network, known as Genuity. GTE could
buy back Genuity within five years, if Bell Atlantic is able to persuade
regulators in all 13 states in which it provides local phone service to let
it offer long-distance service. If the two companies meet their obligations
as required by the FCC, the merger will create the nation's largest local
phone company and wireless-communications provider. "There will be those
that will claim this merger brings us closer to a re-emergence of Ma Bell,"
said FCC Chairman William Kennard, adding, but "the end result should
produce more competition, not less." Chairman Kennard justified the approval
of the merger by saying that the merger would accelerate deployment of
broadband, or high-speed, services, increase competition in local phone
markets and spark more investment in new markets.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (Interactive), AUTHOR: Jill Carroll]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB961367538221675696.htm)
EU Expands Inquiry of AOL-Time Warner
Issue: Merger
The mega-merger between America Online and Time Warner Inc. has hit another
hitch, and is headed for another four months of antitrust scrutiny. This
time, it is the Europeans who foresee potential anticompetitive impact on
the distribution of digital media if the merger is allowed to sail through.
The European Commission decision to scrutinize the merger was made last week
after it became clear that competitors customers remained concerned about
the prospect that the merged Internet and entertainment company could become
a gatekeeper with the ability to block services sold by third parties.
According to a person familiar with the situation, issues including vertical
integration had prompted the in-depth inquiry. But the two companies appear
unshaken by the vigorous scrutiny that has arisen since the announcement of
the merger. Time Warner Chairman Gerald Levin told a company-sponsored forum
in Paris last week that he remained confident the transaction would be
completed by this autumn. "AOL-Time Warner is a grand idea," he said,
adding, "There is no overlap" between the two businesses.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (A25), AUTHOR: Mitchener And Philip Shishkin]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB961358241167428024.htm)
INTERNET
INTERNET SURFERS LISTENING WORLDWIDE
Issue: Internet/Radio
More and more traditional radio broadcasters are beginning to send out their
signals online. According to George Bundy, CEO of BSR Media, a consultant
firm that advises stations on how to go online, around 3,500 stations are
already "streaming" their signals on the Internet. Bundy says the number is
growing by 100 to 120 stations a month. Some stations have almost doubled
their listener base by expanding on to the Web. According to market trackers
at Forrester Research, 16 million people listen to radio on the Internet, a
number analyst Jeremy Schwartz predicts will grow to 26 million in 2002.
Experts say that Internet radio is still a relatively small piece of the
pie. Sean Ross, editor of Billboard's Airplay Monitor magazine says "the
levels of listening are still very low. Nobody knows what the eventual
magnitude will be."
[SOURCE: USAToday (3D), AUTHOR: Jefferson Graham]
(http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20000619/2375692s.htm)
NEW ASPECT OF MESSAGES ON THE INTERNET TO BE DELAYED
Issue: Internet
In spite of instant messaging's popularity - a service which permits users
to send messages over the Internet that quickly pop up on a recipient's
screen - the fate of this service remains mired in technical and political
snags. It may now be more than a year before users from different services
will be able to communicate with one another. Last Thursday was the deadline
for proposals to an Internet Engineering Task Force, which has been charged
with creating standards to permit instant messages to be sent among users of
the dozen or so competing programs. Participation in the group is voluntary
and findings are nonbonding. AOL's competitors have asked the federal
government to look into AOL's dominant position in instant messaging as part
of its review of the merger with Time Warner. Some industry observers say
that the current situation, in which there is no interoperability, could be
compared to a telephone system in which different services, like Sprint and
AT&T, were unable to place telephone calls to one another. But AOL's
proposal won the day over all the others. V. J.Saraswat, co-chairman of the
instant messaging committee, said AOL's 18-page submission is a "document of
value" that requires serious analysis. For any solution that will let the
Instant messenger users to communicate, AOL says it wants to safeguard
security for its users by ensuring ways they can block messages from senders
they deem undesirable. Instant messaging has between 100 million and 120
million users. Forrester Research, a market research group in Cambridge,
Mass., reports that 36 percent of Fortune 1000 companies use instant
messaging, known in the industry as "IM," and project the number will grow
to 46 percent by the end of 2001.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: Matt Richtel]
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/06/biztech/articles/19onli.html)
THE WEB SETS THE NEWS AGENDA - EVEN IN CHINA
Issue: Internet
The Internet is becoming an increasing important vehicle for political
discourse in China. On the Web, people can find information and discussion
that would never make its way onto the pages of newspapers tightly
controlled by government information officials. While not all of the news
online has been found to be accurate, the Internet is giving many ordinary
Chinese a public place to speak out for the first time. From accounts of
gruesome crimes and official corruption to bouts of Japan-bashing, the
Internet is starting to set the news agenda. And the government is
scrambling to react to the new medium. So far, officials have depended on
individual Web sites to hire censors, "Big Mamas," to weed out potential
controversy. But earlier this month police arrested a man on suspicion of
subversion after he posted information on his Web site about the Tiananmen
Square events of 1989.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Matt Pottinger (Reuters)]
(http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/internet/docs/108967l.htm
)
TELEVISION
AOLTV ROLLS OUT AWAITED INTERACTIVE SERVICE
Issue: Interactive TV
America Online will announce the launch of its long-awaited interactive TV
service today. AOLTV will let subscribers send email, chat online and surf
the Web on the TV screen while watching a show. Some analysts predict that
AOLTV's potent brand and large subscribership base will jump start the
interactive TV market. Others, however, say the $249 set-top box is more
than most viewers will be willing to spend. As part of its antitrust review
of AOL's pending merger with Time Warner, the Federal Trade Commission is
concerned that AOLTV's interactive features could favor Time Warner
channels, such as CNN, and shut out rivals, such as ABC News. While AOL
executives claim that they will open the service to any broadcaster,
consumer advocate Gene Kimmelman challenges AOL to put that in writing.
[SOURCE: USAToday (8B), AUTHOR: Paul Davidson]
(http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20000619/2375628s.htm)
See Also:
AOL TO LAUNCH SET-TOP BOXES THAT LET USERS CHAT ONLINE WHILE WATCHING TV
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B13), AUTHOR: Julia Angwin]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB961362519698697717.htm)
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