Mergers
AT&T and British Telecom Merge Overseas Operations (NYT)
AT&T and BT to Form World-Wide Alliance (WSJ)
British Telecom, AT&T Join Forces (WP)
Bell Atlantic, GTE Hold Merger Talks (WSJ)
Legislation
Senate's Internet Legislation Under Fire (NYT)
BYTES: Wired for the 2000 Census (WP)
House, Senate Find Compromise on Bill Lifting Visa Limit on
High-Tech Workers (WSJ)
Internet
State Legislators Oppose Internet Regulation (TelecomAM)
Identifying the Audience for Online News (NYT)
Got Ad Space? Run a Public Service Banner (CyberTimes)
Infrastructure
Roadblocks slow progress toward high-speed phone lines
(Chicago Trib)
Television
Forget Bang: Fall TV Lineup Barely Musters A Whimper (NYT)
Broadcasters Cry 'Foul" Over V-chip Sets (B&C)
Honey, they shrunk the kids syndication market (B&C)
Cable Scores Win on Leased Access (B&C)
Make or Break for wireless cable (B&C)
Info Tech/Privacy
Companies Prioritize Toll-Free Customers (WP)
Philanthropy
AT&T Tops Philanthropy List (TelecomAM)
** Mergers **
Title: AT&T and British Telecom Merge Overseas Operations
Source: New York Times (A1)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/07/biztech/articles/27att.html
Author: Seth Schiesel
Issue: Mergers
Description: AT&T and British Telecommunications PLC have announced a deal
to merge most of their international operations into a jointly owned company
that will have $10 billion in revenue. The new company's target market will
be multinational corporations -- serving far-flung offices by seamlessly
connecting advanced data networks. "This is about following our customers
into a world that is opening its markets," C. Michael Armstrong, AT&T's
chairman, said Sunday in an interview. "This puts meat underneath the
concept that we would be doing everything that we could to enable a global
universal service."
Title: AT&T and BT to Form World-Wide Alliance
Source: Wall Street Journal (A3)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Gautam Naik
Issue: Mergers
Description: AT&T Corp. and British Telecommunications PLC announced plans
to form a global phone venture to provide low-cost voice, data and video
services to multinational customers. Executives from both companies have
expressed confidence that the currently unnamed venture will serve as a
platform for both carriers' aspirations. If the plan works, it will help to
revive AT&T's "flagging international strategy" while providing BT with
"added firepower to invade foreign markets in the wake of its failed
attempt" to acquire MCI Communications Corp. "We are going to build a
world-wide network for the 21st century. It's a proud, historic moment,"
said John D. Zeglis, president of AT&T, at a news conference in London.
Title: British Telecom, AT&T Join Forces
Source: Washington Post (A1, A14)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-07/27/146l-072798-idx.html
Author: Mike Mills
Issue: Mergers
Description: Yesterday, British Telecom and AT&T Corp. announced plans to
join in a global alliance that will provide $10 billion a year in telephone,
Internet and data services to multinational business clients. The new
partners plan to spend $1 billion annually to upgrade their networks. The
deal must be approved by British regulators, the European Union, and the
U.S. Department of Justice.
Title: Bell Atlantic, GTE Hold Merger Talks
Source: Wall Street Journal (A3)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Steven Lipin
Issue: Mergers
Description: Bell Atlantic Corp. and GTE Corp. have been discussing a
possible merger valued between $52.5 billion and $55 billion, according to
people close to the talks. The combined companies would be the latest in a
series of megamergers that are reshaping the telecommunications landscape.
The merger would create a company with "$53 billion in revenue, 62 million
local telephone lines and give Bell Atlantic a springboard for entering
coveted long-distance markets."
** Legislation **
Title: Senate's Internet Legislation Under Fire
Source: New York Times (C5)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/07/biztech/articles/27congress.html
Author: Jeri Clausing
Issue: Legislation
Description: Last week a number of Internet-related bills moved thru the
Senate: 1) Sen John McCain (R-AZ) offered his Internet filtering bill as an
amendment to the $33 billion spending plan for the Departments of Commerce,
State and Justice -- the bill would require schools and libraries receiving
Federal funds to discount connections to the Internet to install filtering
software on computers that provide access to the Internet; 2) attached to
the same spending bill was the "Communications Decency Act II," a bill
offered by Sen Daniel Coat (R-IN) that would make it a crime or commercial
websites to distribute material that is harmful to minors; 3) Sen Lauch
Faircloth (R-NC) offered legislation that would give the Federal Bureau of
Investigation access to the customer information records of Internet Service
Providers without a court order while investigating pedophilia; and 4) Sen
Jon Kyl introduced a bill that would ban Internet gambling. All the bills
promised to protect children. Opponents say they raise complicated free
speech, privacy, censorship and regulatory issues. Only Sen Kyl's bill was
debated on the Senate floor. "It is an election year coming up, and let's be
kind and say they like to put on a good face to their community, even if
they do things that damage their community in the long run, which these do,"
said Dave Farber, a professor of computer science at the University of
Pennsylvania and a board member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "But
there are nicer ways to protect our children than doing things that take
away their rights when they grow up."
Title: BYTES: Wired for the 2000 Census
Source: Washington Post (F5)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-07/27/017l-072798-idx.html
Author: Washington Post Staff
Issue: Internet/Demography
Description: Rep. Rick White (R-Wash.) and Dan Miller (R-Fla.) have
introduced legislation that would add two questions about access to
information technologies to the Census Bureau's 2000 "long form" survey. The
questions would ask if households have a personal computer and if it is
connected to the Internet.
Title: House, Senate Find Compromise on Bill Lifting Visa Limit on
High-Tech Workers
Source: Wall Street Journal (B5)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Majorie Valbrun
Issue: Jobs
Description: The House and Senate have reached an agreement that would allow
high-tech companies currently experiencing labor shortages to hire skilled
foreign workers on a temporary basis. Among other things, the compromise
requires companies to prove that they are not hiring specialized foreign
workers, such as engineers and computer programmers, to replace better-paid
U.S. workers. The new agreement includes more job protection for American
workers and oversight of companies that rely heavily on H-1B visas,
renewable visas granted for three-year periods. Senator Spencer Abraham
(R-MI), chairman of the Judiciary Committee's immigration subcommittee, said
about the bill: "There is probably no more important legislation that the
Congress will pass this year that will create jobs and continue the enormous
growth of our high-tech and computer industries."
** Internet **
Title: State Legislators Oppose Internet Regulation
Source: Telecom AM
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Internet Regulation
Description: "Advanced technologies, including encryption, that empower
people to protect themselves, should be available in the marketplace without
onerous government controls, restrictions, technical mandates or threats."
So reads a resolution adopted by the National Conference of State
Legislatures (NCSL). The resolution endorsed the Internet tax legislation
pending in the House that calls for a three-year moratorium. In addition,
NCSL said, the federal government should "rigorously protect freedom of
speech" on the Internet. It said new digital technologies "adequately enable
individuals, families and schools to protect
themselves and students from communications and materials they deem
offensive or
inappropriate."
Title: Identifying the Audience for Online News
Source: New York Times (C9)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/yr/mo/biztech/articles/27news.html
Author: Felicity Barringer
Issue: Internet
Description: "Like a photograph developing in the darkroom, the identity and
habits of Internet news audiences is not changing so much as it is becoming
clearer with every new crisis and every new computer user. By and large, it
is made up of younger men with college degrees and professional jobs. They
check in on the news from work, not home, and even if they are drawn into a
site by a crisis, they stay around to pursue very particular individual
interests." Big news events -- like the shooting at the Capitol building on
Friday -- draw a large number of readers to a site for breaking news."It's a
huge difference," said Scott Woelfel, editor in chief of cnn.com. "Until
recently, the only news that penetrated into the workplace was radio. Now
they go in and spend what could be hours during the day" checking into the
news. "It's no surprise they don't watch the nightly news when they go
back," he added. "They heard or read all those stories hours before." Story
continues with statistical look at who get news online and what they are
looking for.
Title: Got Ad Space? Run a Public Service Banner
Source: New York Times (CyberTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/07/cyber/articles/26advertising.html
Author: Bob Tedeschi
Issue: Advertising/Nonprofits
Description: A growing number of public service advertisements are being
distributed on the Web by the Advertising Council, a nonprofit organization
that has created and distributed public service communication to print and
broadcast media for years. "Until recently, Web sites have been extremely
slow to use PSA's, but industry analysts say that with revenues growing,
more sites can now afford to turn their attention to such community-minded
initiatives." "There's been an overwhelmingly positive response to the idea
of PSA's," said Eduardo Samame, director of business development at
NetGravity and a member of the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), a trade
group that promotes Internet advertising. Noting the IAB's request this past
December for members to donate 5 percent of excess ad space to PSA's, he
said, "It's just a matter of time before we see more of them." According to
the Ad Council, in part as a result of the IAB's initiative, the value of
donated online advertising space is expected to double to over $120 million
this year. Some analysts say that it may be a tough climb given that most
sites are currently focusing on how to be profitable. But the Ad Council is
working diligently to capture that market. It launched a new version of its
Web site on Monday that is designed to enable other sites to use PSAs more
easily. And along with the IAB, the Ad Council has increased its efforts to
more aggressively recruit sites for PSAs.
** Infrastructure **
Title: Roadblocks slow progress toward high-speed phone lines
Source: Chicago Tribune (Sec 4, p.2)
http://chicagotribune.com/textversion/article/0,1492,SAV-9807270006,00.html
Author: Jon Van
Issue: Infrastructure
Description: With cable operators (soon to include #1 long distance provider
AT&T) planning on rolling out high-speed Internet hook-ups on their systems,
local phone companies are turning to Digital subscriber line technology
(known as DSL) to compete. But there may be problems. Local phone companies
are not sure which of their customers' phone lines are ready to switch to
DSL. GTE has created technology that examines the company's infrastructure
and has found that 60-70% of its customers can be upgraded. Wiring inside
homes presents another challenge.
** Television **
Title: Forget Bang: Fall TV Lineup Barely Musters A Whimper
Source: New York Times (C1)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/tv-comeback-media.html
Author: Bill Carter
Issue: Television
Description: Summer ratings are at an all-time low, viewers continue to
defect to cable -- broadcast television needs a big boost from the fall
schedule. But the schedule is unlikely to deliver: "The quality of the new
shows this year is absolutely horrible," the executive said, speaking on the
condition of anonymity in part because he pointedly included programs that
he had decided to put on the air. "There is exactly one outstanding pilot
that got made, and that was on the WB" network. An executive at Fox is
suggesting changes in the industry that would foster programming development
throughout the year and create more original programming for the summer months.
Title: Broadcasters Cry 'Foul" Over V-chip Sets
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p14)
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
Author: Chris McConnell
Issue: V-Chip/TV Rating System
Description: "Set manufacturers -- specifically Thomson with others
appearing to be ready to come on board -- have said they will include a
feature in new V-chip enabled digital TV sets that would allow viewers to
block unrated programming, such as news and sports." Angry broadcasters and
an upset cable industry, immediately discredited the idea, calling it a
threat to the new ratings system that was established last summer by an
industry coalition and family advocates. "The proposed action by the
consumer electronics industry goes beyond an agreement between the
entertainment community and children's advocacy groups," said NAB President
Edward Fritts. "As a result of the FCC's failure to implement a separate
agreement between the entertainment community and television set
manufacturers, this action could place the TV program rating system in
jeopardy." In March the FCC left open whether sets could block unrated
programming. "[W]e will not prohibit features that allow the user to
reprogram the receiver to block programs that are not rated," the FCC wrote
in its March decision. Gary Shapiro, president of the Consumer Electronics
Manufacturers Association, says that if broadcasters "don't like the FCC
rulings, I don't know why they didn't challenge it." A broadcast source says
that broadcasters "Thought at the time that we had an understanding with the
manufacturers, but we did alert the commission" that this problem of
blocking unrated content might come up.
Title: Honey, they shrunk the kids syndication market
Source: Broadcasting&Cable
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
Author: Joe Schlosser
Issue: Children's Television
Description: Hollywood syndicators have been hit hard by increasing
competition in the provision of children's programming. Children's cable
networks, Internet and home video all pose a threat to the future of
children's syndication. Last year's FCC mandate, of three-hours-per-week of
educational children's programming on TV stations, was expected to help
smaller syndicators. Instead, claim syndicators, their shows are having a
hard time staying alive because the networks will only air them during
non-economically viable time slots. Despite complaints from syndicators, the
FCC has no plans to require networks to carry children's programming during
more favorable periods.
Title: Cable Scores Win on Leased Access
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p12)
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
Author: Chris McConnell
Issue: Cable Regulation
Description: On Friday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in
Washington D.C. court rejected challenges to the FCC's rules for setting
cable leased-access rates. Last year, regulators adopted a new formula for
setting the leased-access rates in an effort to lower the rates the
programmers pay to lease capacity on cable systems. In their ruling, the
judges disagreed. "The commission's choice of the average implicit fee
formula was a reasonable means of accomplishing the [law's] purposes," the
court said. In the challenge, brought forth by low-power TV operators, they
insisted that regulators should have focused on promoting program diversity
instead of protecting the cable operators from financial hardship. But the
judges said that the commission took steps to promote program diversity.
"Many of the changes to its initial rulemaking were designed to improve
conditions for leased access," the court said. "These changes belie
petitioners' contention that the commission ignored the interests of
leased-access programmers."
Title: Make or Break for wireless cable
Source: Broadcasting&Cable
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
Author: Price Colman
Issue: Broadband
Description: Despite dismal stock performance, many wireless cable companies
are still optimistic about their future providing high-speed data services.
One reason for hope is the belief that the FCC will soon authorize two-way
digital transmission, which would significantly increase the value of
wireless spectrum. Like the rest of the telecommunications industry,
wireless cable providers see a future of bundled services, but they are
unlikely to have much success alone. According to John Mansell, wireless
analyst at Paul Kagan Associates, "The trick is to marry multiple technologies
and multiple frequencies to provide bundled services."
** Info Tech/Privacy **
Title: Companies Prioritize Toll-Free Customers
Source: Washington Post (A1, A9)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-07/27/152l-072798-idx.html
Author: Caroline E. Mayer
Issue: Info Tech/Privacy
Description: Thanks to new telephone technologies, businesses are
increasingly able to differentiate among customers calling in on toll-free
numbers. Through caller ID or client account numbers entered on their
telephones, companies are able to quickly address customers needs, like
directing Spanish-speakers to representatives who speak their language.
Firms also use customer information to prioritize calls. More lucrative
clients can expect faster service. "Democracy is great for countries, but
it's not appropriate for companies," says Max Fiszer, president of a company
that sells customer call center products. "Companies need to distinguish
between those customers that provide them with the greatest degree of
revenues and profits and those that provide only occasional sales." It may
be futile for customer to attempt to thwart this invasion of privacy by
programming their phones to bar caller ID. Dan Yates, of Pacific Corp.
electric company, warns that "Any time you call a toll-free number, the
company you're calling is very likely to know what your phone number is even
if you think you've blocked your caller ID, because the company paying for
the call has control over that."
** Philanthropy **
Title: AT&T Tops Philanthropy List
Source: Telecom AM
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Philanthropy
Description: Chronicle of Philanthropy survey finds that AT&T and NBC parent
GE were the biggest charitable cash givers in the telecom industry in 1997.
AT&T gave $52.7 million,
up 9.4% from 1996, while GE was just behind at $50.2 million, up 5.7%.
Microsoft, up 26%, gave $14 million and $45.2 million in noncash gifts such
as software. Trailing the list were Sprint, up 1.9% to $6.6 million, and
MCI, no change at $5 million.; TCI wasn't surveyed.
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We'll be back tomorrow with a new look.