INTERNET
Protest Portal Unites Activists Under One URL (CyberTimes)
Get Off Internet, Get Involved is Daley's Volunteerism Push
(CyberTimes)
MERGERS
California Regulators Approve MCI-WorldCom Merger (TelecomAM)
Austrian Bid Shows Ameritech's Freedom (ChiTrib)
ANTITRUST
U.S. Faults Depositions of Microsoft's Executives (NYT)
U.S. Adds To Case vs. Microsoft and Gates (WSJ)
TELEVISION/VIDEO
TV Programmers Drop 'Black-Block' Lineups (WSJ)
Video Stores: Are They Headed To The Bottom? (WP)
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INTERNET
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PROTEST PORTAL UNITES ACTIVISTS UNDER ONE URL
Issue: Online Activism
We're here. We're digital. Get used to it. Political organizers had hailed
the Internet as a great potential tool. But the grim reality was that you
can't find an audience if you don't have a catchy URL, a fat publicity
budget or a major Web site to carry your link. Evan Henshaw-Plath has
created Protest.Net http://www.protest.net/ to provide a central source of
information about current issues and upcoming events. "It's like finding the
protest du jour," said David Ronfeldt, senior social scientist at the RAND
Corporation. "Folks across the conflict spectrum are resorting to network
strategy and technology to help dispersed individuals link up and act
jointly. This Web
site fits that model."
[SOURCE: New York Times (CyberTimes), AUTHOR: Bob Tedeschi]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/09/cyber/articles/02protest.html
GET OFF INTERNET, GET INVOLVED IS DALEY'S VOLUNTEERISM PUSH
Issue: Offline Activism/Volunteerism
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley thinks some of us are spending just a little too
much time with our computers. "If people took 20 percent off the time on the
computer and helped a child it would be amazing," he declared. "You wouldn't
know what to do with all the volunteers." Warming further to the subject,
Daley added, "I think people have to get out of their homes and off
computers and start listening to people and working with younger people.
That is my personal opinion." Mayor Daley was at an event celebrating $1.7
million in corporate contributions for good causes by Allstate Insurance.
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (Sec 2, p.6), AUTHOR: Gary Washburn]
http://chicagotribune.com/textversion/article/0,1492,SAV-9809020113,00.html
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MERGERS
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CALIFORNIA REGULATORS APPROVE MCI-WORLDCOM MERGER
Issue: Mergers
The California Public Utility Commission (PUC) has unconditionally approved
the MCI-WorldCom merger: "On balance, [the merger] is in the public
interest." The PUC also ruled that it cannot require MCI-WorldCom to pass on
merger savings to consumers because it does not have such authority over
traditionally unregulated companies. The Federal Communications Commission
is one of the few regulatory bodies that still needs to rule on the $37
billion deal. The FCC is expected to approve the deal -- as early as this week.
[SOURCE: Telecom AM]
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
AUSTRIAN BID SHOWS AMERITECH'S FREEDOM
Issue: Ownership/Mergers
Ameritech has announced a bid to acquire 25% of Austria's phone company. The
move "demonstrates the Chicago firm's commitment to acting independently
despite its pending takeover by SBC Communications Inc," Van reports. The
proposed merger could take as long as one year and in the meantime,
Ameritech would follow its own strategies -- including expanding its
European holdings. Ameritech has found success in buying minority interests
in European phone monopolies and using its expertise to improve performance.
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune (Sec 3, p.3), AUTHOR: Jon Van]
http://chicagotribune.com/textversion/article/0,1492,SAV-9809020334,00.html
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ANTITRUST
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U.S. FAULTS DEPOSITIONS OF MICROSOFT EXECUTIVES (NYT)
U.S. ADDS TO CASE VS. MICROSOFT AND GATES (WSJ)
Issue: Antitrust
The antitrust case against Microsoft is scheduled to go to trial on
September 23. After the software giant recently requested that the case be
dropped, the Department of Justice has submitted new evidence and asserted
that Microsoft executives are showing "an astonishing lack of recall."
"Executives who are stated to be the author of documents claim not to
remember writing them," government lawyers wrote. "Executives who are the
stated recipients of documents claim not to remember receiving them. And
both authors and recipients claim not to know what the documents mean." [Is
this so extraordinary? Happens in my office all the time.] The new evidence
includes allegations that Microsoft bullied competing companies including
Intel, Apple, Real Networks, and Intuit.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: Joel Brinkley]
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/09/biztech/articles/02microsoft.html
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (A3), AUTHOR: John Wilke and Don Clark]
http://wsj.com/
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TELEVISION/VIDEO
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TV PROGRAMMERS DROP 'BLACK -BLOCK' LINE UPS
Issue: Minorities/ Television
This season, African-American viewers will have to look a little harder to
find shows targeted at black audiences. Of the top-20 shows among blacks
last season, only 13 will be appearing this fall. The reported cause of the
programming change is that these show are no longer drawing the numbers they
were just a few years ago. While the No.1 black show in 1994, "Living
single," drew about 8.5 million households each week, last year's top black
show, "Between Brothers," only had about 4.9 million viewers each week.
Programmers are hopping that new shows with leading black characters in
racially integrated context, such as this fall's pilot sitcom depicting a
black man living in the Lincoln White House, will regain some of the
declining viewership.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B1), AUTHOR: Leon Wynter]
http://wsj.com/
VIDEO STORES: ARE THEY HEADED TO THE BOTTOM?
Issue: Video/Business
The video release of the film "Titanic" has caused speculation on more than
the fall of Western civilization. The next generation of home video,
called "video-on-demand," offers viewers the ability to order the
three-hour epic from home, whenever they choose to view it, without braving
lines of screaming teenage girls. It even offers "pause" and "rewind"
functions. "In seven years, you're going to see a significant erosion of
video rentals [from stores]," says Julie Wainwright of www.reel.com, an
Internet video sales and rental service, "If you fast-forward,
video-on-demand is where the industry is going." Not everyone in the
industry is sold on the new technology. "Just the fact that technology
exists to do something doesn't mean the studios are anxious to migrate to
it," says Larry Gebrandt, senior analyst with Paul Kagan Associates, a
media research and consulting group.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (p.D1), AUTHOR: Frank Ahrens]
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