Bell Atlantic/NYNEX Merger
NYT: Bell Atlantic And Nynex: A Match Made In...Where?
WP: Bell Atlantic-Nynex Deal Gets FCC Approval
TelecomAM: FCC Approves Bell Atlantic/NYNEX Merger
FCC: FCC Approval of Bell Atlantic/Nynex Merger
Subject to Market-opening Conditions
Competition
TelecomAM: Hundt Slaps Work Order on Congress
to Speed Up Competition
Internet Content
WP: Cyber-Libel And the Web Gossip-Monger
WP: Credit Reports Made Available Online
NYT: www.internet.anarchy
Television Economics
WSJ: TV Networks Face Pressure to Trim Budgets
Magazines
WSJ: Publications Aimed at On-Line Users Face
Shakeout After Two-Year Boom
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* Bell Atlantic/NYNEX Merger *
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Title: Bell Atlantic And Nynex: A Match Made In...Where?
Source: New York Times (C1)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/phone-marketplace.html
Author: Mark Landler
Issue: Mergers
Description: The Federal Communications Commission has approved the merger
of Baby Bells NYNEX and Bell Atlantic. Now that the marriage is official,
the question is Can they live together? The new local telephone giant will
have a service area that stretches from maine to Virginia. Recently, many
NYNEX executives have been resigning and Bell Atlantic's Raymond Smith has
hinted that he may not let NYNEX's Ivan Seidenberg run the combined company
as planned. Some worry that executives may worry too much about jockeying
for position rather building a better mouse trap.
Title: Bell Atlantic-Nynex Deal Gets FCC Approval
Source: Washington Post (D2)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPcap/1997-08/15/014r-081597-idx.html
Author: Mike Mills
Issue: Mergers
Description: The Federal Communications Commission gave final approval
yesterday to the second-largest merger in US history: Bell Atlantic's $25.6
billion purchase of neighbor NYNEX. FCC Chairman Reed Hundt said, "the real
meaning of the Bell Atlantic decision is that we are substantially
discouraging future mergers among Bells and [long distance] carriers." In
the future, the FCC will give greater weight to question of whether a
company would have been a potential competitor to the one it is merging
with. The region controlled by the new company is the biggest local and long
distance market in the country. "Competition will only develop if the new
Bell Atlantic does what they promised, by opening up their local market and
making it easier to compete. And that chapter hasn't been written yet," said
one industry observer.
Title: FCC Approves Bell Atlantic/Nynex Merger
Source: Telecom AM http://capitol.cappubs.com/am/
Issue: Mergers
Description: The FCC approved the merger, but with conditions to ensure that
competition can still come to the service area. The new company must 1)
provide operations support systems (OSS) and network performance monitoring
reports to competitors, the states and the FCC; 2) must develop an effective
OSS interface for the entire region within 15 months and allow competitors
to test it; 3) offer interconnection, unbundled network elements and
transport termination at competitive, forward looking rates; and 4) offer
minute-by-minute priced shared transport routed in the same manner as its
own traffic.
At the FCC http://www.fcc.gov
FCC Approval of Bell Atlantic/Nynex Merger Subject to Market-opening
Conditions [ News Release
http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/News_Releases/1997/nrcc7059.html
| Word Perfect
http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/Orders/1997/fcc97286.wp Version
| Text Version
http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/Orders/1997/fcc97286.txt ].
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* Competition *
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Title: Hundt Slaps Work Order on Congress to Speed Up Competition
Source: Telecom AM http://capitol.cappubs.com/am/
Issue: Competition
Description: "The Telecom Act is not the Ten Commandments," FCC Chairman
Reed Hundt said, since,
unlike the Ten Commandments, legislation is subject to judicial review.
"Legislation ... is the work of mere humans and so mere humans can keep
writing and rewriting it until the courts finally submit to its direction."
Chairman Hundt offered four ways that Congress can improve the Telecom Act
and speed up competition: 1) define the word cost as set forth by the FCC;
2) give deference to the FCC for any reasonable interpretation of
congressional intent; 3) consolidate judicial review so court appeals aren't
done piecemeal; and 4) allow states and companies 60 days to resolve
interconnection-related complaints and giving the FCC authority to enforce
this or to impose sanctions on those who don't meet it. Sen. John McCain
(R-AZ), chairman of the Senate Commerce Commission, agrees that the Telecom
Act needs to be strengthened to encourage Competition. He plans hearing and
additional legislation early next year: "the only real competition we are
seeing is that between communications lawyers trying to garner more billable
hours." But Sen. McCain does not agree with Hundt, he doesn't "think that
giving the FCC more authority to regulate is the answer."
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* Internet Content *
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Title: Cyber-Libel And the Web Gossip-Monger
Source: Washington Post (G1)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-08/15/046l-081597-idx.html
Author: Howard Kurtz
Issue: Internet Content/Journalism/Old vs New Media
Description: "the genius of Matt Drudge is that he refuses to play by the
rules." But the rules of journalism, if ignored, have a way of coming back
to bite you in the . Drudge accused a White House aide of having a
history of spousal abuse, but it wasn't true and he retracted the story and
apologized the next day. He now faces a libel suit. Drudge, who publishes
his own work on the Internet, would have been stopped by layers of editors
and lawyers. Instead, his once harmless rumor-retelling evolved into
reputation-ruining attacks.
Title: Credit Reports Made Available Online
Source: Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/frompost/features/aug97/privacy15.htm
Author: Robert O'Harrow Jr and Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Issue: Privacy
Description: Experian (formally TRW Information Systems and Services) began
offering customers credit reports over the Internet for $8 each on Wednesday
(8/13). Information available includes loans, payment patterns, former
addresses and other personal data that has been available via mail for
years. Such information is checked routinely by lenders, landlords, and
automobile dealers. See Experian's website http://www.experian.com.
Title: www.internet.anarchy
Source: New York Times (A38)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/editorial/15fri3.html
Author: NYTimes Editorial Staff
Issue: Internet Content
Description: "The span and the speed of cyberspace make it the perfect
vehicle for sloppy reporting and unsubstantiated theories." A number of
recent high profile episodes -- the Kurt Vonnegut commencement address, the
Drudge Report, Pierre Salinger and TWA flight 800 -- point out that content
is still racing to catch up to technology. Internet writers should start
exercising more self-restraint. Internet users should realize that
everything that crosses their computer screen ain't necessarily so.
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* Television Economics *
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Title: TV Networks Face Pressure to Trim Budgets
Source: Wall Street Journal (B1)
http://www.wsj.com/
Author: Kyle Pope
Issue: Television Economics
Description: Declining viewership, the cost of the transition to digital TV,
and pressure from parent companies are forcing television networks to cut
costs. ABC has fired or retired 200 employees, CBS employees are being told
to prepare for cut backs, and even NBC, the most profitable network in the
country, is facing an "internal quality control" program inherited from
sugar daddy General Electric. "The future is going to be very different,"
says an NBC executive. "This is all about survival." Sports rights and
big-name talent continue to command top dollar, however.
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* Magazines *
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Title: Publications Aimed at On-Line Users Face Shakeout After Two-Year Boom
Source: Wall Street Journal (A9A)
http://www.wsj.com/
Author: Nick Wingfield
Issue: Magazines
Description: After a two-year explosion, general-interest Internet magazines
are facing a shakeout. In June, NetGuide shut down and last week The Net
magazine was suspended. At least a dozen Internet-related magazines have
ceased publication between 1995 and 1997: many may be victims of the medium
they promote. Many of these publications act as great "training wheels" for
new users, but as they become more savvy, they learn to find information on
their own just by surfing.
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