BROADBAND
U.S. Consumers Seek Open Internet On Cable (SJ Merc)
Pulsing with Promise (USA Today)
FILM
Hollywood, Chastened By High Costs, Finds A New Theme: Cheap
(WSJ)
TELEPHONY
Telecom Italia Plan Fails To Win Support (WSJ)
How One Man Used Corporate Affermative Action in Ameritech Deal
(NTY)
Miracle of The Bells: The Simplified Phone Bill (WSJ)
JOURNALISM
Retooling Columbia Journalism Review (NYT)
BROADBAND
U.S. CONSUMERS SEEK OPEN INTERNET ON CABLE
Issue: Cable/Internet
A coalition of consumer and communications advocacy groups Friday sent a
letter to Congress asking cable television companies be prevented from
keeping exclusive control of high-speed Internet services offered over
cable. The effort came only days before a Senate Commerce Committee hearing
on Tuesday on some of the issues raised by cable Internet services. The
Federal Communications Commission looked at the issue recently and
determined it was a nascent industry and should not be regulated at this
time. The complaint by the Consumers Union, Center for Media Education, the
Media Access Project and other groups is that people who access the Internet
over ordinary telephone lines are allowed to choose any Internet service
provider, but the same rule does not apply to cable companies. Customers of
AT&T's high-speed Internet service, for example, must use AtHome Corp. as
their Internet service provider. Analysts are expecting millions will
convert to cable for Internet access as the service becomes more widely
available. Cable companies argue they need the revenues generated from
Internet services to make the price charged for high-speed access more
affordable.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Reuters]
(http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/internet/docs/324637l.htm)
PULSING WITH PROMISE
Issue: Information Technology
Imagine transmitting information wirelessly, but not using radio waves. A
Huntsville, AL company named Time Domain is working to do just that with
radio energy, fired out at 10 million to 40 million pulses a second. The
experimental pulse technology, sometimes called ultra-wide band (UWB), can
digitally handle phone calls, data or video. The pulses carry information
or media as fast as the speediest corporate Internet connection. The pulse
technology has other advantages, including opening up the radio spectrum,
requiring much less power for transmission, and providing excellent message
security. Larry Fullerton has been working on the technology since 1976 and
got his first patent for it in 1987. It has taken off in the few years
because IBM came up with a silicon germanium chip that is great for this
application and costs little and because money has come pouring in. Time
Domain is now building prototypes. Mass-market products are still years
away. [The Web version of the story optimistically was called "Technology
Could Revolutionize Life."]
[SOURCE: USA Today (4/9/99), AUTHOR: Kevin Maney]
(http://www.usatoday.com)
FILM
HOLLYWOOD, CHASTENED BY HIGH COSTS, FINDS A NEW THEME: CHEAP
Issue: Movies
"The film industry is in a funk." With the exception of mega-hits like
"Titanic," the return on films produced has slipped to almost nothing.
According to the Motion Picture Association, the average cost of a film has
doubled since the beginning of the nineties -- from $26 million to $52 million.
The film industry is decreasing the number of films produced as well as cutting
costs, looking for financial partners to help with the bills, and putting a
halt on giving in to demands of highly paid actors, directors and writers.
After the hiring boom between 1990 and 1997 in jobs for actors to
special-effects technicians, layoffs are on the rise. "We're in a recession in
the film business, and it's having a broad impact on virtually every company in
the entertainment business," says Tom Srickler, of talent agency, Endeavor.
Disney has cut its movie budget by $500 million in the past year. According to
Rob Moore, the studio's executive vice president says that instead of trying to
go for more hits, they are trying to make sure that profits get applied to the
bottom line. Also changing the picture -- companies such as Warner and Disney
don't need to solely depend on movie profits as they have television production
arms to compensate. Stars have less leverage than they once had. For example,
Universal won't give Kevin Costner usual $20 billion for his next film, "For
the Love of the Game," He has to see how the film will sell before he gets
paid.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (A1), AUTHOR: Bruce Orwell and John Lippman]
(http://wsj.com/)
TELEPHONY
TELECOM ITALIA PLAN FAILS TO WIN SUPPORT
Issue: International
Telecom Italia shareholders failed to reach quorum at a meeting on Saturday to
vote on a restructuring plan that would have fended off the takeover from
Olivetti that has been threatening for months. An Olivetti company statement
claimed victory: "[Saturday's meeting demonstrates] the lack of interest and
serious doubts in the market as to the measures Telecom's management has
proposed." Franco Bernabe, Chief Executive of Telecom Italia said, of Europe's
most hostile takeover in history, he is not giving up. He is looking for an
investor that will step in to fend off Olivetti. Two likely candidates, SBC
Communications and British Telecommunications, say they are not interested.
Olivetti Chief Executive Officer, Roberto Colaninno said they would have
walked away from the deal if Telecom Italia's restructuring deal had been
approved by shareholders.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (A17), AUTHOR: Deborah Ball and Anita Raghavan]
(http://wsj.com/)
HOW ONE MAN USED CORPORATE AFFIRMATIVE ACTION IN AMERITECH DEAL
Issue: Telephony/Minorities
Georgetown Partners, a Maryland investment firm, may have benefited from
some corporate affirmative action when it received a portion of Ameritech's
wireless business. SBC Communications, which is trying to win FCC approval
for its acquisition of Ameritech, pushed for Georgetown's participation in
the deal. Some say that the Maryland company benefited from SBC's desire to
win favor with FCC chairman William Kennard, who is eager to increase
minority presence in the telecommunications industry. Jesse Jackson, who
also would like to increase minority participation in high-tech industries,
helped SBC and Ameritech develop a list of minority companies to do business
with. When asked whether being black gave him a leg up in the Ameritech
deal, Georgetown's managing director, Chester Davenport, responded: "I think
if I were white, I would own one of these damn telephone companies, OK?"
Davenport said that "all the time and money I've spent here, whatever money
I have now, if I were white...I would have 100 times more money than I have
now, OK?"
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: Seth Schiesel]
(http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/davenport-race.html)
MIRACLE OF THE BELLS: THE SIMPLIFIED PHONE BILL
Issue: Telephony/Regulation
The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) is expected to propose guidelines
this week that would require phone companies to have clearer phone bills.
Despite the proliferation of services, taxes and surcharges, bills have not
been overhauled in a while. Even FCC Chairman Kennard admitted having
trouble reading his Bell Atlantic bill. Increasing the urgency for the bill
guidelines
are the 25,000 complaints the FCC received last year for "slamming" -- changing
long-distance price without customer's approval and "cramming" -- a charge for
a service not requested by the consumer. Larry Strickling, FCC chief of telecom
policy says that the new guidelines will require phone companies to clearly
state what services the customer is paying for, what company is providing those
services and whom to contact with questions. Ameritech has already launched a
new "consumer friendly" bill that reduces the number of pages, is printed on a
bigger page with larger print. Bell Atlantic is testing a new bill format as
well. Baby Bell executives say with the advent of competition, tailoring bills
to meet customer needs is a must. Bell South is also planning to revamp its
bill. They plan on using the bills as marketing tool as well. The left margin
of the bill will be used to explain new services and promotions.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B1), AUTHOR: Kathy Chen]
(http://wsj.com/)
JOURNALISM
RETOOLING COLUMBIA JOURNALISM REVIEW
Issue: Journalism
The publisher of the Columbia Journalism review, since 1988 will step down on
July 1 and David Laventhol, former publisher of the Los Angeles Times, editor
of Newsday and president of Times Mirror will come on. Tom Goldstein, dean
of Columbia University's Graduate School of journalism says this hire is a step
toward shifting the focus of the media criticism magazine. He says that
journalism has changed since the advent of the magaine in 1962 and the
proliferation of popular media criticism on the Internet and magazines like
Brill's Content, has persuaded Columbia Journalism Review to rethink their
magazine. Goldstein says ideas include, a Web presence, change in size and
frequency.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C8), AUTHOR: Alex Kuczynski and Felicity Barringer]
(http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/media-talk.html)
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