MEDIA OWNERSHIP
Univision, Hispanic Merger Criticized
21ST CENTURY SKILLS
US to Sharply Cut Number of High-Tech Visas
INTERNET
A Veri Bad Scene
Microsoft Goes After Google
EVENTS
The P3 Conference
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MEDIA OWNERSHIP
UNIVISION, HISPANIC MERGER CRITICIZED
Critics say the $3.1 billion merger between Univision Communications Inc.
and the Hispanic Broadcasting Corp. creates a Spanish-language media
conglomerate with too much control over news and entertainment in the
growing Latino market. The Justice Department approved the merger in
February after Univision agreed to reduce its 27 percent ownership of
Entravision Communications Corp. to less than 10 percent over the next six
years. The FCC voted 3-2 to accept the deal. The FCC's three Republicans say
the deal "will give Hispanic media a better opportunity to compete against
big media companies, capturing more advertising revenue to allow it to
expand unique language and cultural offerings to its audiences." However,
the two FCC Democrats contend that the merger would hurt competition and
limit choices for Spanish-speaking Americans. "The company is aptly named
Univision -- 'one vision' -- because that describes what is likely from
Spanish-language media from now on," Commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and
Michael Copps wrote in a 22-page dissent. This merger now gives Univision
control over the top Spanish-language broadcast TV network, cable channel,
record label, Internet site and radio network, as well as the largest group
of television and radio stations.
SOURCE: Newsday; AUTHOR: David Ho, Associated Press
http://www.newsday.com/business/nationworld/ats-ap_business13sep23,0,316...
.story?coll=sns-business-headlines
21ST CENTURY SKILLS
U.S. TO SHARPLY CUT NUMBER OF HIGH-TECH VISAS
The number of H1-B employment visas offered to highly qualified foreign
workers will be cut from 195,000 to 65,000 unless Congress acts by the end
of the month. The change will automatically take effect on October 1.
Employers, especially technology companies, argue that this change will hurt
their businesses, not to mention the economy. The H1-B visas are used to
bring high-tech experts, especially South Asia, to work in the US for up to
three years. "The fact that Congress doesn't seem anxious to act reflects
the political climate, with a lack of jobs for Americans," said New York
immigration lawyer Cyrus Mehta. Although this is the reality, the plea for
American jobs might not outweigh the demand for qualified high tech
expertise. "In the near-term, we simply must have access to foreign
nationals," said Elizabeth Dickson, director of immigration services for the
Ingersoll-Rand Company, speaking on behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
"By sending them home, we are at best sending them to our own foreign plant
sites, and at worst to our competitors."
SOURCE: Yahoo! News; AUTHOR: Alan Elsner
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030922/us_nm/life_us...
migration_dc_4
INTERNET
A VERI BAD SCENE
VeriSign, which runs the master domain name servers for all sites ending
with .com and .net, has launched a controversial new service that redirects
Internet users who mistype a Web address. Instead of returning a standard
"site not found" error message, the Site Finder system forwards mistyped and
non-existent URLs to a VeriSign webpage that includes pay-for-placement
topic links. Critics claim that VeriSign is overstepping its authority and
hijacking certain common Web searches. Site Finder has also been criticized
because it makes even bogus emails appear to come from a valid domain,
meaning spam may get through a company's spam filters. The Internet
Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has asked VeriSign to
suspend its service until it can gather more information. VeriSign
competitors Netster.com and Go Daddy Software have filed lawsuits against
the company. In response to complaints, VeriSign is creating a committee of
"Internet leaders" to advise it on technical matters, although it plans to
continue offering Site Finder.
SOURCE: USA Today; AUTHOR: Reuters
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2003-09-22-verisign-uproar_...
m
MICROSOFT GOES AFTER GOOGLE
Microsoft has shaped much of its growth by buying and investing in
everything from small business software to video games, but recently, a new
industry has caught its eye: Web searching. In February, company executives
met to decide on whether building an advanced searching platform or buying
one would be the focal point of their strategy; building became the
priority. Furthermore, the goal would be to build the top Internet search
destination, eventually surpassing Google's ability to sift through the Web
and return highly relevant results. "The decision to build or buy came down
to our ability to innovate," said Kirk Koenigsbauer, strategy manager at
Microsoft's MSN Internet portal. "Our ability to innovate is predicated on
our ability to own the platform." Analysts believe that Microsoft will
incorporate this new technology in its new version of Windows, which is its
main cash crop, running on more than 95 percent of the world's PCs. This
type of innovation could leverage their control over the operating systems
market. Microsoft's Bill Gates has promised that Longhorn, the new version
of Windows expected to launch in 2005 or 2006, will include database
technology to make it easier for users to track and find information.
SOURCE: CNN; AUTHOR: Reuters
http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/09/19/microsoft.google.reut/index....
EVENTS
THE P3 CONFERENCE
Public Private Philanthropic: The Power of Fusion Conference (P3) will be
held at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia on October 14, 2003. P3
will bring together some of the region's foremost experts from the public,
private and philanthropic sectors to develop stimulating, innovative and
creative solutions to meet social and community responsibilities. Themes
will include collaboration, technology tools and entrepreneurship. Speakers
and panelists include representatives of AOL Time Warner Foundation, Fannie
Mae Foundation, USA Freedom Corps, Timberland Corporation and Deutsche Bank.
The conference is organized by George Mason University, Northern Virginia
Technology Council (NVTC), the Stargazer Foundation and Washington
Grantmakers.
SOURCE: P3 Conference
http://www.p3conference.org
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