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Communications-related Headlines for 5/7/97

forgrabs-l@cdinet.com

At This Site, Russian Nerds Get Together, Virtually

Parent Volunteers Give Affluent Schools an Advantage Hard to Duplicate

GTE Discloses 3 Big Deals in Growth Bid

2 Phone Companies Deny Report on 10,000 Job Cuts

FCC Expected to Back Off On Business Phone Line Fee

AT&T Could Lose $350 Million in 2001 To Calls Via Internet

Reaching Out To Pass Over Someone

FCC (Daily Digest)

GTE to Buy Internet Firm BBN Corporation

1 in 6 U.S. Adults Regularly Online, Study Indicates

*********************************************

Title: At This Site, Russian Nerds Get Together, Virtually
Source: New York Times (A4)
Author: Michael Specter
Issue: International
Description: While real world cafes are still slow to catch on in Russia,
cybercafes are tres chic. Virtual World is a popular Internet access point
with big skylights, cold beer, and some cafe lattes. It is frequented by
international students, business people, and kids.

Title: Parent Volunteers Give Affluent Schools an Advantage Hard to Duplicate
Source: New York Times (A28)
Author: Abby Goodnough
Issue: Education/Low-Income
Description: The number of parent-volunteers in schools is rising, but
rising much faster in wealthy districts. Poor districts don't have enough
people to provide the services once covered by government. In New Jersey,
Governor Whitman has put a cap on how much wealthy districts can spend on
education in the hopes that this limit will let poor schools catch up.
Experts argue, however, that suburban parents "will not let that happen
because they will always pitch in to provide the special programs their
school budgets cannot cover." Low-income parents would be more likely to
spend time at schools if the schools provided day care for other children
and free meals. Other experts argue that poorer districts just don't do a
good enough job recruiting volunteers.

Title: GTE Discloses 3 Big Deals in Growth Bid
Source: New York Times (D1)
Author: Seth Schiesel
Issue: Media Mergers
Description: The country's biggest local phone carrier, GTE, is going to
pay $616 million to buy the BBN Corporation, one of the country's biggest
Internet providers. GTE is also buying a chunk of a nation-wide fiber
optic network constructed by QWest and is entering a partnership with Cisco
Systems, a producer of networking equipment.

Title: 2 Phone Companies Deny Report on 10,000 Job Cuts
Source: New York Times (D4)
Author: Mark Landler
Issue: Media Mergers
Description: Bell Atlantic and Nynex announced that their merger would not
result in loss of 10,000 jobs as reported in news stories yesterday. The
companies said they plan to cut only 3,000 management jobs within three
years of the deal.

Title: FCC Expected to Back Off On Business Phone Line Fee
Source: Wall Street Journal (A2)
Author: Dow Jones News Service
Issue: Universal Service
Description: As part of its reorganization of universal service subsidies,
the FCC is expected to accept a plan that would charge business $2.75 for
each telephone line. Originally, the agency had planned to charge $4 a
line, but pressure from businesses made the FCC back off. The costs of the
$2 fee are supposed to be offset by drops in long distance charges.

Title: AT&T Could Lose $350 Million in 2001 To Calls Via Internet
Source: Wall Street Journal (B7)
Author: WSJ Staff Reporter
Issue: Industry Trends/Internet
Description: Currently there are 12 million US citizens on line. In four
years there should be 44 million, and many of these people could be using
the Internet to make international phone calls. In the year 2001, long
distance companies could lose between $620 and $925 million in
long-distance charges.

Title: Reaching Out To Pass Over Someone
Source: Washington Post (C10)
Author: Michelle Singletary
Issue: Low-Income
Description: When NationsBank customers call the bank's toll free service
number, the system assesses which customers are very lucrative for the bank
(lots of accounts, loans, etc.) and passes those callers along to specially
trained service representatives. Regular customers may have to wait a
little bit longer to talk to someone. "Using new technology, bankers are
increasingly gauging customer profitability and are tailoring their service
levels and marketing accordingly. . . Those [customers] with accounts that
don't generate much income or non customers will find it tougher to get
service or may be charged higher fees . ." Other banks think that
Nations tactics are not good for the community and are trying to use
new technologies to serve the average customer better.

Title: FCC (Daily Digest)
Source: Washington Post (C10)
Author: WP Staff
Issue: Universal Service
Description: The FCC is expected to vote today to charge businesses $2.75
per month per phone line as part of its reorganization of universal service
policies.

Title: GTE to Buy Internet Firm BBN Corporation
Source: Washington Post (C10)
Author: Mike Mills
Issue: Media Mergers
Description: Big telephone company, GTE, is going to buy BBN, "one of the
companies that founded the Internet, having helped develop common software
technology for the network 28 years ago . ."

Title: 1 in 6 U.S. Adults Regularly Online, Study Indicates
Source: Washington Post (C10)
Author: Elizabeth Corcoran
Issue: Internet
Description: Close to 1 in 6 adults, greater than 31 million Americans, use
the Internet regularly. Users rank the Internet as everything from
indispensable to very difficult to use (though those terms are not
necessarily mutually exclusive). "About 35 percent of Internet users said
that they are watching less television. More than 25 percent of Internet
users are spending less time on long-distance telephone calls. Sixteen
percent of Internet users say they spend less time with magazines,
newspapers, and other personal computer applications." Also, using the
Internet seems to make people not get as much sleep.

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Communications-related Headlines for 4/25/97

forgrabs-l@cdinet.com

Merger of NYNEX and Bell Atlantic Clears U.S. Hurdle

Political Spotlight Shines on Volunteer Conference

Bell Atlantic-Nynex Deal Moves Forward

Foundation Plans to Leave Internet-Name Oversight

Justice Approves Bell Atlantic, Nynex Merger

Kids and Computers

Chorus of Boos Greets TV Rating System

Witnesses Assail NTIA Infrastructure Grants Program
*********************************************
Title: Merger of NYNEX and Bell Atlantic Clears U.S. Hurdle
Source: New York Times (A1)
Author: Mark Landler
Issue: Mergers
Description: The US Justice Department announced on 4/24 that it will not
attempt to block the merger of local telephone companies Nynex and Bell
Atlantic. The merger, originally announced a year ago, will create a $22
billion corporation serving 39 million customers in 13 states and the
District of Columbia. The merger was opposed by many consumer advocates
because the size of the new company may deter local competition in the
service area (Maine to Virginia). The deal still needs approval from the
Federal Communications Commission.

Title: Political Spotlight Shines on Volunteer Conference
Source: New York Times (A25)
Author: R.W. Apple Jr.
Issue: Civic Participation
Description: The Presidents' Summit for America's Future opens next week in
an attempt to promote the benefits of volunteerism. "Volunteerism is
becoming a core value in America," says a Democratic pollster. "It is a
response to the need for a rebuilt sense of community. People are waking up
to the fact that they communicate around the world on the Internet and yet
don't know their neighbors." The Summit is seen as a way for President
Clinton to restate smaller government themes and for 2000 presidential
hopefuls to vie for the spotlight. The summit has it critics: one
government official says that on the scale of what they can do to solve
problems volunteers are a 1 and the government is a 10. Rush Limbaugh says
the event is all about "fleecing corporations" in "an incremental little
approach to more socialistic attitude."

Title: Bell Atlantic-Nynex Deal Moves Forward
Source: Wall Street Journal (http://www.wsj.com/) (A3)
Author: John R.Wilke and Leslie Cauley
Issue: Media Mergers/Phone Regulation
Description: The Justice Department approved the $23 million merger between
Bell Atlantic and Nynex. This deal is the second largest merger in history
and establishes a communications company with customers from Maine to
Virginia. Critics of the merger believe that the Telecommunications Act,
which was supposed to promote competition, is just leading to the formation
of megacompanies. Other recent large media mergers include: Time Warner
and Turner, Disney and Capital Cities/ABC, US West and Continental
Cablevision, SBS Communications and Pacific Telesis. The Justice
Department's approval of this AT&T deal bodes well for MCI and British
Telecom and their proposed merger.

Title: Foundation Plans to Leave Internet-Name Oversight
Source: Wall Street Journal (http://www.wsj.com/) (B6)
Author: WSJ Staff Reporter
Issue: Internet
Description: The National Science Foundation has decided not to renew
Network Solution's contract to register domain names for the Internet.
Network Solutions, a private company, has been awarding domain names for 4
years and contends that it will continue to do so after the contract
expires.

Title: Justice Approves Bell Atlantic, Nynex Merger
Source: Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/) (D1)
Author: Mike Mills
Issue: Phone Regulation/Media Mergers
Description: The Bell Atlantic - Nynex merger has been approved by the US
Justice Department and the Superfriend's Hall of Justice. The new company
will run under Bell Atlantic and will maintain 39 million phone lines,
greater than a quarter of the nation's total phone lines. Bell Atlantic
will have 138,900 employees -- second in size only to AT&T as far as phone
companies go. After this merger, there will be five Baby Bells.

Title: Kids and Computers
Source: Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/) (Weekend p. 33)
Author: WP Reporters
Issue: Children
Description: Special segment of weekend section on kids and computers --
filtering software, good CD-ROMs, appropriate web sites.

Title: Chorus of Boos Greets TV Rating System
Source: Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/) (G2)
Author: Paul Farhi
Issue: V Chip
Description: In the last month, more than 800 organizations have filed
comments with the FCC protesting the current TV rating system. All twenty
six positive comments came from network affiliated stations. Jack Valenti,
who led the development of the rating system, claims that all the protests
are coming from inside the beltway people.

Title: Witnesses Assail NTIA Infrastructure Grants Program
Source: Telecommunications Reports Daily
Issue: Budget Issues
Description: Testifying at a National Telecommunications and Information
Administration (NTIA) reauthorization hearing, Washington telecom lawyer
Kenneth Robinson identified 14 other programs in President Clinton's 1998
budget that would fund similar projects as NTIA's Telecommunications and
Information Infrastructure Assistance Program (TIIAP). Former FCC Chief of
Staff Peter Pitsch said, "it appears unlikely that TIIAP can pass a
cost-benefit test." NTIA Administrator Larry Irving answered the criticisms
by arguing that "only the best of the best" proposals are funded. Mr.
Irving is seeking Congress' blessing of TIIAP: "I think it deserves
authorization and I don't want to have an unauthorized program." House
Commerce Chairman Thomas Bliley (R-VA) and House Telecommunication
Subcommittee Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-LA) are considering cutting NTIA's
budget.
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Communications-related Headlines for 4/24/97

forgrabs-l@cdinet.com

Foundation To Announce New Structure And Grants

FCC Auction of Airwaves Draws Weak Bidding

Network Solutions Dropped as Registrar of Internet Domains
*********************************************
Title: Foundation To Announce New Structure And Grants
Source: New York Times (A28)
Author: Judith Miller
Issue: Philanthropy
Description: After a yearlong reorganization, the Ford Foundation will
announce $50 million in new grants today including $20 million to fight
poverty. Ford is the nation's largest private grant-making institution.
Ford plans to give away more than $407 million in grants this year in three
program divisions: asset-building and community development; peace and
social justice; and education, media, arts, and culture.

Title: FCC Auction of Airwaves Draws Weak Bidding
Source: Wall Street Journal (http://www.wsj.com/) (A2)
Author: Bryan Gruley
Issue: Spectrum
Description: Television broadcasters are thrilled because the FCC's latest
round of spectrum auctions is not going all that well. Broadcasters want
the auctions to be unsuccessfully because that increases their chances of
being able to hold on to their analog channels longer. FCC Chairman Hundt
says he's not that surprised by the subpar bidding because the FCC didn't
give the industry enough advanced notice about this auction.

Title: Network Solutions Dropped as Registrar of Internet Domains
Source: Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/) (E1)
Author: David S. Hilzenrath
Issue: Internet
Description: The National Science Foundation announced that it will not
renew Network Solutions' contract to register Internet domain names.
Network Solutions, however, declared that it would not give up its
exclusive hold of .com and other established addresses. A coalition of
groups led by the Internet Society is trying to start a movement where many
companies can register addresses not just Network Solutions. Allowing for
competing firms to register domains, users could see lower prices and
better services. Domain names act as the Zip-code of the Internet, enabling
users to address email and locate pages on the World Wide Web.
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Communications-related Headlines for 4/22/97

forgrabs-l@cdinet.com

TCI to Buy Kerans-Tribune in $627 Million Deal

Net Worth?

Sixth Report And Order on Advanced Television Systems and Their Impact Upon the
Existing Television Broadcast Service
*********************************************
Title: TCI to Buy Kerans-Tribune in $627 Million Deal
Source: Wall Street Journal (B8)
Author: Jonathan Welsh
Issue: Media Mergers
Description: Telecommunications Inc. Announced that it was going to buy
Kearns-Tribune, the publisher of five newspapers including the Salt Lake
Tribune, for $627 million. TCI cable systems serve about 213,000 Utah
customers.

Title: Net Worth?
Source: Washington Post (Health p. 12)
Author: John Schwartz
Issue: Health
Description: (Tres big article on health information on the Internet.)
Thirty seven percent of the US use the Internet to investigate health
issues. There are 10,000 consumer health information web sites, but how
should users evaluate the quality of the information available? A recent
study found that more than 50% of 160 health information web sites had
"inaccurate or biased information." Here are some good gateway sites --
National Library of Medicine's Visible Human Project
; Healthfinder
; FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research
; American Cancer Society .

At the FCC
Chairman Hundt's 4/17/97 Speech before the Association of National
Advertisers in Washington,
D.C.

Sixth Report And Order on Advanced Television Systems and Their Impact Upon
the Existing Television Broadcast Service (FCC 97-115, MM Docket No.
87-268).

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Communications-related Headlines for 4/21/97 Deluxe Monday

LICY@periplum.cdinet.com

AT&T Seeks Global Reach and Partners

New Guidelines on Net Ads for Children

Who uses the Internet and how?

Software Lets Marketers Target Web Ads

BT, MCI Detail Pact with Telefonica

Two German Cases Show How Europe Still is Struggling to Regulate Internet

Libraries Urged to Nip Internet in the Buff

ANSER to the Call for Help

Got a Minute?

Scrap Program Ratings, Diller Says

Commerce Committee to look at 'safe harbor'

McCain wants to lock-in channel to give-back in 2006

Hard-Liquor ads: A mere drop in the keg

Sky's Modest Proposal

TV debate moving beyond ratings

We've heard this song before

*********************************************

Title: AT&T Seeks Global Reach and Partners
Source: New York Times (D1)
Author: Seth Schiesel
Issue: International
Description: AT&T's plans to control the global telecommunications market
received a set back last week when Telefonica de Espansa chose to split
from AT&T's international affiliation and make a deal with British Telecom
and MCI.

Title: New Guidelines on Net Ads for Children
Source: New York Times (D5)
Author: Lawrie Mifflin
Issue: Internet Regulation/Children
Description: Last year the FTC challenged advertisers to come up with a set
of voluntary guidelines for Internet ads aimed at children. The Children's
Advertising Review Unit, an Industry group, has expanded the guidelines for
TV ads for kids to include Internet ads. The Consumer Federation of
America and the Center for Media Education have also developed an
alternative set of guidelines for the FTC. The industry guidelines urge
advertisers to make a reasonable effort to see that children get their
parents' permission before ordering products or supplying advertisers with
personal information. CME's guidelines believe that no information should
be solicited from children.

Title: Who uses the Internet and how? We'll get back to you on that if
someone figures it out
Source: New York Times (D5)
Author: Laurence Zuckerman
Issue: Internet Sales/Services
Description: Advertisers may be staying away from the web until there is a
more effective way to study who is on the Internet and when. As a result,
"dozens of companies are now competing to become to the web what A.C.
Nielson and its ratings are to television (Nielson itself, of course, is
one of them)." In the industry, gathering information about web visitors
and web visitors' habits is called "usage analysis."

Title: BT, MCI Detail Pact with Telefonica
Source: Wall Street Journal (A19)
Author: Gautam Naik, Carlta Vitzhum
Issue: International
Description: Friday's deal between Spain's Telefonica SA and British
Telecommunications-MCI will "give the trio an enviable position in three of
the world's richest markets -- North America, Europe, and Latin America."
Right now the Latin American market is worth about $35 billion. In the
next three years, it is expected to be worth $60 billion.

Title: France Telecom's Privatization Spurs Service Makeover
Source: Wall Street Journal (A19)
Author: Douglas Lavin
Issue: International
Description: France Telecom SA is suddenly teaching its customer-service
agents to be nice and making other public-relations investments because, as
France's phone market becomes privatized, France Telecom is going to have
to compete for customers.

Title: Software Lets Marketers Target Web Ads
Source: Wall Street Journal (B1)
Author: Thomas E. Weber
Issue: Internet Sales/Services
Description: New software is available to tap into consumer databases and
gather information so that web advertisers can target their ads as
specifically as junk mail is targeted. A user would come to a site, enter a
small amount of personal info to enter the site, the little rabbit inside
the site would run over and use this personal info to pull up a full
profile from a consumer database, then the little site-master cyberrabbit
would run back and display an ad on the site for the peanut butter-olive
cookies that the user has an insatiable addiction to as known from past
credit records.

Title: Two German Cases Show How Europe Still is Struggling to Regulate
Internet
Source: Wall Street Journal (B9B)
Author: Silvia Ascarelli and Kimberley A. Strassel
Issue: Internet Regulation/International
Description: After a couple of not very successful attempts to penalize
Internet service providers for the content of some of the sites they
support, European governments are beginning to view Internet service
providers like phone companies in that they shouldn't be held liable for
"criminal conversations conducted over telephone lines."

Title: Libraries Urged to Nip Internet in the Buff
Source: Washington Post (B1)
Author: Amy Argetsinger
Issue: Libraries/Internet Regulation
Description: Anne Arundel County Library is debating whether to "restrict
patron's access to the more lurid offerings of the unregulated Internet."
The president of the libraries board of trustees stated that, "We can't
really pull the plug on something because we don't appreciate the subject
matter. We have to respect people's rights to access what they want to
access." But he went on to say that, "when you have people going into the
library and seeing objectionable pictures on the screen, I can understand
why they're upset." Greater than half of the nations libraries expect to
offer Internet service by the end of this year.

Title: ANSER to the Call for Help
Source: Washington Post (p.17 in Wash Etch)
Author: Paul Farhi
Issue: Info-Etch
Description: ANSER, a nonprofit Arlington-based research organization, has
developed a computer software called HART (humanitarian assistance
requirement tool) which helps relief workers assess the damage of natural
disasters or civil disruption and keep track of who needs aid and what
supplies have gone where. The program can categorize data on demographics
like pre-war population or prison population and estimate supply needs like
how much maize, salts, fat/oil is available. Relief workers say that this
type of program that can keep tracks of lots of fragments of information is
much needed.

Title: Got a Minute?
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p.4)
Author: Chris McConnell
Issue: Digital TV/Public Service Announcements
Description: In a speech to the National Association of Advertisers, FCC
Chairman Reed Hundt stated that TV networks should dedicate 60 seconds of
prime time per night for public service announcements in exchange for their
spectrum to transition to digital TV.

Title: Scrap Program Ratings, Diller Says
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p.4)
Author: BC Staff
Issue: V Chip
Description: Barry Diller, the chief of Silver King station group,
commented in a speech that content-based ratings for TV shows would be
"loony" because they would be plagued with inconsistencies and the amount of
TV programming would make them impossible to implement. Diller also asked
broadcasters to support free-time for candidates.

Title: Commerce Committee to look at 'safe harbor'
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p.7)
Author: Heather Fleming
Issue: V Chip
Description: Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz) has
agreed to let the committee evaluate the 'safe harbor' bill which would let
broadcasters choose between content-rating shows with sex, violence, and
objectionable language or moving shows with high scores in these categories
to times when kids are less likely to watch them.

Title: McCain wants to lock-in channel to give-back in 2006
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p.6)
Author: BC Staff
Issue: Digital TV
Description: Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz) is
contemplating legislation which would require that broadcasters give back
their old spectrum after the transition to digital television by 2006.

Title: Hard-Liquor ads: A mere drop in the keg
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p.14)
Author: Heather Fleming
Issue: Advertising
Description: In 1996 hard liquor television ads, which the liquor industry
started producing after a very long voluntary ban, only equalled about .1%
of what's spent on beer and wine advertising. The alcoholic beverage
industry spent $664,745,000 on TV ads last year. Distilled spirits spent
$678,000. House Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-La) would like beer,
wine and spirits industries to organize a voluntary code of conduct for TV
alcohol advertising. The article has chart with a break down of
different companies' advertising expenditures.

Title: Sky's Modest Proposal
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p.22)
Author: Heather Fleming
Issue: Satellite
Description: Executives of Sky, Rupert Murdoch's satellite TV project, are
circulating draft legislation on Capitol Hill which proposes that satellite
carriers transmit local broadcasting signals in designated markets, but does
not require carriers to retransmit all local broadcasters.

Title: TV debate moving beyond ratings
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p.22)
Author: Heather Fleming
Issue: V-Chip
Description: For the past three months lawmakers have argued and listened
to arguments about the television ratings system. In a debate last week,
several lawmakers wanted to refocus the debate away from the type of
ratings system to the content of the programming. Senator Mike
DeWine (R-Ohio) stated that "TV holds up certain things as the norm in
society. The reality or norm that TV portrays is a different America than I
accept, I see . . and I know." Former Senator Paul Simon created
legislation which gave broadcasters an anti-trust exemption from 1990-1993
to evaluate TV content. According to the President of the PTA, the
broadcasters never produced a national code for content.

Title: We've heard this song before
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p.90)
Author: Editorial Staff of Broadcasting and Cable
Issue: Digital TV
Description: Broadcasting and Cable comes out against Hundt's suggestion
of 60 public service announcements in prime time. The article warns that
"there's no end to this list" of requirements.

At the FCC

REMARKS OF CHAIRMAN REED HUNDT BEFORE THE ASSOCIATION OF NATIONAL
ADVERTISERS, WASHINGTON, D.C., APRIL 17, 1997.

"COMMUNICATIONS AND THE HEALTH CARE OF TOMORROW" - REMARKS OF CHAIRMAN REED
HUNDT BEFORE THE FRIENDS OF THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE/PARTNERSHIPS
FOR NETWORKED CONSUMER HEALTH INFORMATION 1997 JOINT SESSION, WASHINGTON,
DC, APRIL 15, 1997.

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Communications-related Headlines for 4/18/97

LICY@periplum.cdinet.com

Free Minutes Fly as War of Wireless Phones Heats Up

British Telecommunications Enters Pact

AOL is Now Looking at Compuserve Bit by Bit

*********************************************

Title: Free Minutes Fly as War of Wireless Phones Heats Up
Source: New York Times (C1)
Author: Mark Landler
Issue: Wireless
Description: A cellular call in New York now can cost as little as $.50 or
$.60 per minute because of the price war going on between such wireless
providers as Bell Atlantic Nynex Mobile, AT&T Wireless, and Omnipoint
Communications. The ads for cellular service seem to promise almost
limitless free minutes of calling time. The New York Attorney General is
reviewing the advertising blitz to make sure customers are aware of all the
strings attached to the bargain rates. Since the companies can't
indefinitely survive an all-out price war, they are hoping to lure
customers other ways -- like getting their regular phone customers to sign
up for wireless.

Title: British Telecommunications Enters Pact
Source: Wall Street Journal (B7)
Author: Gautam Naik
Issue: International
Description: British Telecom has formed a key alliance with Telefonica de
Espansa, SA, the main Spanish phone carrier. This deal is another win for
BT in the war for the $650 billion world telecommunications market. Then
again, Sprint and France Telecom SA's venture, Global One, is also a strong
contender.

Title: AOL is Now Looking at Compuserve Bit by Bit
Source: Washington Post (G1)
Author: David S. Hilzenrath
Issue: AOL/Media Mergers
Description: AOL is rumored to be more interested in buying sections,
chunks, or extra thin slices of Compuserve than buying the company all at
once.

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Communications-related Headlines for 4/17/97

LICY@periplum.cdinet.com

Web Site Offers Details On Taxes' Destination

New Jersey Telephone Plan Neglects the Poor, Critics Say

Bell Atlantic Says Approval Near for Merger With Nynex

For WNET, A New Fund And New Security

Major Newspapers Try to Adapt Personas To New Web Format

Bell Atlantic, Nynex Brace for Rejection

Seeking Online Privacy For a Nine-Digit Number

D.C. Library's Miscues Have a Net Effect

*********************************************

Title: Web Site Offers Details On Taxes' Destination
Source: New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/) (A30)
Author: David W. Chen
Issue: Access to Government Information
Description: The New York City Independent Budget Office has opened a new
website called Tax Receipt which lets users input their tax information and
see "how much they contribute to city, state, and federal programs." The
site uses the motto "No taxation without explanation." People who don't
live in NYC can use the program to calculate their state and federal
contributions. The site is at www.ibo.nyc.ny.us

Title: New Jersey Telephone Plan Neglects the Poor, Critics Say
Source: New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/) (A31)
Author: Melody Petersen
Issue: Universal Service/Low-Income
Description: New Jersey's ratepayer advocate filed a complaint with the
state utility board that Bell Atlantic, which promised to wire every home
and business with fiber optic cable, has so far only done the suburban
areas and has bypassed the poorer urban enterprise zones. Bell Atlantic
says it is wiring the areas with the most demand first and that the whole
state will be done by 2010. "While the poor are assured access to low
rates for basic phone service through a Federal policy known as universal
access, so far there is not a clear policy to help low-income people into
the Information Age."

Title: Bell Atlantic Says Approval Near for Merger With Nynex
Source: New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/) (D1)
Author: Mark Landler
Issue: Phone Regulation/Media Mergers
Description: The federal Justice Department yesterday told Bell Atlantic
that it is unlikely to block Bell Atlantic's $22 billion merger with Nynex.
The government could always decide to sue later if it felt that the merger
stifled competition.

Title: For WNET, A New Fund And New Security
Source: New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/) (B1)
Author: Lawrie Mifflin
Issue: Public Television
Description: New York's WNET's capital campaign has raised more than $70
million, "far more than has ever been raised by a public television station
before, with nearly two-thirds of it going into the station's first
endowment." The money will primarily be spent on development for Internet
educational services and programming and research.

Title: Major Newspapers Try to Adapt Personas To New Web Format
Source: Wall Street Journal (http://www.wsj.com/) (B1)
Author: Walter S. Mossberg
Issue: Journalism/Old vs New Media
Description: How are three of the biggest papers doing on the web? The
Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and the New York Times are
performing an online balancing act: "They must offer all of their
high-impact print content in a design that somehow conveys the authority of
their famous personas, while still finding a way to offer extra features
and benefits on the Web, with some of the design flair possible on a
computer." The article has a nice compare and contrast of the three
papers' sites.

Title: Bell Atlantic, Nynex Brace for Rejection
Source: Wall Street Journal (http://www.wsj.com/) (B8)
Author: Leslie Cauley
Issue: Phone Regulation/Media Mergers
Description: Bell Atlantic and Nynex are gearing up to have their merger
rejected by the Justice Department's anti-trust division. "Some observers
believe, in fact, there is a better than 50% chance that anti-trust
enforcers will sue to block the transaction." A decision is expected within
a week. To stop the merger, the Justice Dept. must have proof that the
merger stifles competition. Proof, in other words, that Bell Atlantic was
planning to compete with Nynex in New York, but now will not because of the
merger.

Title: Seeking Online Privacy For a Nine-Digit Number
Source: Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/) (A21)
Author: Barbara J. Saffir
Issue: Privacy/Access to Government Information
Description: Senators Feinstein (D-Calif) and Grassley (R-Iowa) have
introduced legislation which would make it illegal "for credit bureaus to
disseminate Social Security numbers, unlisted telephone numbers, birth
dates, mothers' maiden names," and game fowl in fruit trees. The proposal
would also make it illegal to use social security numbers commercially.
Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski has proposed legislation to "ban Social Security or
Internal Revenue Service records from being posted on the Internet without
an individual's written permission."

Title: D.C. Library's Miscues Have a Net Effect
Source: Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/) (D1)
Author: Steve Twomey
Issue: Libraries
Description: In his column Twomey describes the saga on the DC public
library's financial crisis. Yesterday was National Library Log-On Day, but
visitors to the DC Public Library site were greeted with the message "This
Web Site has been taken off-line due to non-payment." Apparently, this
unpaid bill is just the tip of the iceberg, and the library is plagued with
missing accounts.

At the FCC

*********

Communications-related Headlines for 4/16/97

forgrabs-l@cdinet.com

A Dangerous Medium

Microsoft Plans Big Digital-TV Push, Stressing Hardware and Programming

SEN. BURNS SAYS FCC MUST STAY FOCUSED ON UNIVERSAL SERVICE

Universal Service Decisions Will Flower in May

Digital Television: Opportunities, Realities and Challenges
*********************************************
Title: A Dangerous Medium
Source: Washington Post (A17)
Author: Michael Kinsley
Issue: Internet
Description: This op-ed by the editor of Slate magazine warns readers of
the dangers of paper as a communications medium. Stalin and Hitler both
used paper to spread their messages. Parents should be careful about
letting their children in the same room with it. People may spend hours
isolated from society reading books written on paper. Congress must
institute a paper decency act.

Title: Microsoft Plans Big Digital-TV Push, Stressing Hardware and Programming
Source: Wall Street Journal (B2)
Author: David Bank and Dean Takahashi
Issue: Digital-TV
Description: Microsoft, Intel, and Compaq were not phased when broadcasters
did not jump at their idea for PC-TVs. The companies are going to produce
PC-TVs and create programming for them if need be. Microsoft and Intel
representatives have been working around Hollywood and New York to develop
committments of proof of concept shows. With a web enhanced show, the show
would take up 2/3's of the screen and the remainder of the screen would
have buttons viewers could click for star bios, background information,
etc.

Title: SEN. BURNS SAYS FCC MUST STAY FOCUSED ON UNIVERSAL SERVICE
Source: Telecommunications Reports Daily
Issue: Universal Service
Description: Conrad Burns (R - Mont), Chairman of the Senate Commerce,
Science, and Transportation Committee's communications subcommittee, has
vowed to "remind" the Federal Communications Commission that the primary
purpose of the
universal service support system is to keep telephone rates low in rural
areas. Burns said that the FCC should not be searching for a cost proxy
model that
describes the circumstances in some "imaginary world."

At the FCC (http://www.fcc.gov)
Hundt Says Universal Service Decisions Will Flower in May, Decision Will Be
on Time and on Target; Also Speaks to Heath and Safety Issue of Hard Liquor
Ads.

Commisssioner Ness's 4/14/97 speech "Digital Television: Opportunities,
Realities and Challenges" before the Association of American Public
Television Stations
*********

Communications-related Headlines for 2/10/97

Communications-related Headlines for 2/10/97 (too long for words)

Service note:
Over the past couple of weeks, many subscribers have contacted us with
problems receiving Headlines. Team CPP has recently hired a number of
underemployed elves -- looking for post holiday work -- who are busy fixing
these problems and punishing the guilty. We hope to have our act together
soon. Thanks for your patience. [from does not equal twenty]

The puzzle of making the Internet into a competitive broadcast medium

Internet Venture Breaks the TV Mold

Intelligent Software Finding Niche

Instead of Flood of Competition, the Communications Act Brought a Trickle

About 700 On-Line Newspapers, but Only One Charges for Everything

A Wider Public for Noncommercial Radio

In the FCC.-required children's education programs, everything
old is new again

IRS Planning More Audits of Nonprofits

Ameritech Is Dealt a Setback by FCC In Its Filing for Long-Distance Service

Time Warner-Turner Deal Gets Final FTC Approval

State of the Union? Simpson-Obsessed

White House calls for "expediting" digital licenses

Clinton's Budget: $47B from spectrum

Hundt differs with Quello, Chong on ratings hearing

Campaign reform needs constitutional fix, senators say

Battle looms over leased-access

New FCC Cable Leased-access rules

THE 1996 TELECOM ACT -- ONE YEAR LATER
*********************************************
From=20New York Times (D5) (http://www.nytimes.com/)
Title: The puzzle of making the Internet into a competitive broadcast medi=
um
Author: Denise Caruso
Issue: Internet sales/services
Description: Even though there is not much demand for it, it can't yet be
done very smoothly, and it demands all of a user's attention, companies are
still promoting and designing streaming video products. Several
broadcasting corporations are supporting video on the Web in hopes of
developing the Web's capacity as a mass medium.

From=20the New York Times (D5) (http://www.nytimes.com/)
Title: Internet Venture Breaks the TV Mold
Author: Steve Lohr
Issue: Internet Sales/Services
Description: The Mining Company, a start up business in New York, is
breaking the trend of offering a few big "channels" of information, a style
promoted by many of the large online service providers. The Mining
Company wants to use the Web's wealth of special interest information to
get users. It plans to offer users 500 sites to choose from, from
basketball to soap opera details. The company is hiring part-time site
leaders who would act as a human databases and offer online tips for where
to get the most reliable, interesting information on their topic.

From=20the New York Times (D5)(http://www.nytimes.com/)
Title: Intelligent Software Finding Niche
Author: John Markoff
Issue: Info/tech
Description: Research in artificial intelligence and smart software is
being done more by commercial and entertainment enterprises than by
traditional research organizations.

From=20the New York Times (D7)(http://www.nytimes.com/)
Title: Instead of Flood of Competition, the Communications Act Brought a
Trickle
Author: Mark Landler
Issue: Telecommunications Act of 1996
Description: The Telecommunications Act promised competition, but
delivered only millions of articles about how there is no competition.
Industry experts have stated that the bill was based on a faulty idea: "It
assumed that the cable industry was ready and willing to become a
full-fledged competitor to the telephone industry nationwide. Cable was to
be the blunt instrument that broke open the 80-year-old telephone monopoly.=
"
But Cable decided not to do that, and long-distance companies are having
difficulty leasing local lines to provide local service.

From=20the New York Times (D8)(http://www.nytimes.com/)
Title: About 700 On-Line Newspapers, but Only One Charges for Everything
Author: Iver Peterson
Issue: Internet Sales/Servce/Journalism
Description: The Wall Street Journal is the only online paper that charges
subscription fees to access its site. So far, the online version has
70,000 subscribers, and other newspapers are watching carefully. Users
say that they are willing to pay for the specialized information found in
the Journal. Advertisers are trying to decide if they want to reach a
small group of paid subscribers or lots of freeloaders.

From=20the New York Times (D8)(http://www.nytimes.com/)
Title: A Wider Public for Noncommercial Radio
Author: Andrea Adelson
Issue: Radio
Description: In response to shrinking Federal funds and a not-so-friendly
Republican congress, the Public Broadcasting System has upped the
requirements radio stations must meet to receive funding. These criteria
include a minimum audience size and evidence of local financial support.
In Los Angeles, three of the public radio stations were told that they had
not so far met these requirements, and each station is using different
techniques to gain listeners. Some radio supporters feel that the new
requirements will force radio stations to abandon innovative programming.
Others feel that the requirements make radio stations get their acts
together.

From=20the New York Times (D8)(http://www.nytimes.com/)
Title: In the FCC.-required children's education programs, everything
old is new again
Author: Lawrie Mifflin
Issue: Children's Television
Description: When the FCC decided to require broadcasters to show three
hours of educational kids' tv a week, Chairman Hundt was hoping for a world
where "the creative community can invent a whole new art form: the art of
teaching children with television." As broadcasters present their
children's lineup for 1997, however, the main art form on display is
reruns. Most broadcasters are sticking with old shows and reruns of old
shows. CBS, who has nothing to lose since their kids' shows aren't ranked
very high, is designing some new programs.

From=20the Wall Street Journal (A3) (http://www.wsj.com/)
Title: IRS Planning More Audits of Nonprofits
Author: Elizabeth MacDonald
Issue: Nonprofits
Description: The WSJ got ahold of an IRS plan which stated that the agency
will increase the number of audits on nonprofits, and that an audit could
be triggered by a group's high media profile. The IRS is interested in
those groups it suspects could be guilty of support or opposition to a
candidate running for office. The far right is unhappy because it feels
as though the IRS is investigating primarily conservative groups,
particularly conservative religious groups.

From=20the Wall Street Journal (B6) (http://www.wsj.com/)
Title: Ameritech Is Dealt a Setback by FCC In Its Filing for Long-Distance
Service
Author: Leslie Cauley and Bryan Gruley
Issue: Telephone Regulation
Description: The FCC has rejected a section of Ameritech's filing to provi=
de
in-region long-distance service -- almost guaranteeing that the company
will have to withdraw its application. The Justice Dept has asked the FCC
to reject the application, and the FCC must weigh carefully the Justice
Dept's advice.
In its application Ameritech stated that it had reached agreements allowing
AT&T access to Ameritech's local network. In reality, however, no such
state-approved pact had been reached.

From=20the Wall Street Journal (B8)(http://www.wsj.com/)
Title: Time Warner-Turner Deal Gets Final FTC Approval
Author: WSJ staff reporter
Issue: Media Mergers
Description: The FTC approved the $7.5 billion acquisition of Turner
Broadcasting System by Time-Warner. To avoid anti-trust violations, the
new megacompany will open many of its cable systems to a second news
channel to create competition for CNN.

From=20the Washington Post (D1)(http://www.washingtonpost.com/)
Title: State of the Union? Simpson-Obsessed
Author: Howard Kurtz
Issue: Journalism
Description: State of the media: OJ vs Bill Clinton. A look at the media
frenzy around the recent court decision and the commitment to air the State
of the Union address. Kurtz writes that OJ is the real news since the
address was only "C-SPAN verbosity." "For much of the public there is a
growing disconnect between Beltway news ... and their own lives." A second
page headline reads, "What's the Real Public Interest?"

from Broadcasting & Cable (p.7)(http://www.broadcastingcable.com/)
Title: White House calls for "expediting" digital licenses
Author: Heather Fleming
Issue: ATV/Digital TV
Description: Vice President Al Gore has restated the Administration's view
that "broadcasters are trustees of the public airwaves. Digital technology
will greatly enhance the opportunity available to broadcasters to utilize
multiple channels. The public interest obligations should be commensurate
with these new opportunities. President Clinton plans to convene a special
advisory group to study and make recommendations on what broadcasters'
public interest responsibilities should be. The group would make its
recommendations within one year. In the meantime, the Administration is
asking the FCC to move ahead on issuing digital TV licenses. House Telcom
Subcommittee Chairman Billy Tauzin agrees with moving forward, but predicts
he and the FCC will disagree on broadcasters' responsibilities. He favors
relieving broadcasters of all obligations and letting public broadcasters
pick them up.

from Broadcasting & Cable (p.8)(http://www.broadcastingcable.com/)
Title: Clinton's Budget: $47B from spectrum
Author: Heather Fleming
Issue: Spectrum
Description: In plans to balance the federal budget, the Clinton
administration will continue to auction spectrum and hopes to raise $47.2
billion by 2002. Some observers believe that those estimates are too high.

from Broadcasting & Cable (p.8)(http://www.broadcastingcable.com/)
Title: Hundt differs with Quello, Chong on ratings hearing
Author: CM
Issue: V-Chip
Description: FCC Commissioners James Quello and Rachelle Chong are
resisting Chairman Reed Hundt's call for a hearing on the new TV
content-ratings system. Their resistence is drawing fire from Rep. Ed
Markey (D-Mass.) and Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND).

from Broadcasting & Cable (p.)(http://www.broadcastingcable.com/)
Title: Campaign reform needs constitutional fix, senators say
Author: Heather Fleming
Issue: Freetime for candidates
Description: Senators Ernest Hollings (D-SC) and Arlen Specter (R-PA) say
that the Constitution needs amending to allow limits on campaign spending.
A version of an amendment will be introduced in both the House and the
Senate soon.

from Broadcasting & Cable (p.21)(http://www.broadcastingcable.com/)
Title: Battle looms over leased-access
Author: Chris McConnell
Issue: Cable: Leased Access
Description: "They've done it wrong a second time," says Media Access
Project President Andrew Schwartzman of the FCC's new cable leased-access
formula [see below]. The public interest group expects to take the new
rules to court.

At the FCC (http://www.fcc.gov)
IMPLEMENTATION OF SECTIONS OF THE CABLE TELEVISION CONSUMER PROTECTION AND
COMPETITION ACT OF 1992: LEASED COMMERCIAL ACCESS. Amended the
Commission's rules pertaining to cable television commercial leased
access, including the calculation of maximum leased access rates.
Addressed comments and petitions for reconsideration filed in response to
the Order on Reconsideration of the First Report and Order and Further
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. (By Second Report and Order and Second
Order on Reconsideration of the First Report and Order). Dkt No.: CS-
96-60. Action by the Commission. Adopted: January 31, 1997. (FCC No.
97-27). CSB

COMMISSION REVISES CABLE TELEVISION LEASED COMMERCIAL ACCESS RULES; ADOPTS
AVERAGE IMPLICIT FEE FORMULA -- CS DOCKET NO. 96-60, (REPORT NO. CS 97-5,
ACTION IN DOCKET CASE). The Commission has adopted an order (FCC 97-27)
revising its cable commercial leased access rules. Action by the
Commission January 31, 1997, by Order (FCC 97-27)
. News Media Contact:
Morgan Broman (202) 418-2358. CSB Contact: Rick Chessen at (202) 418-7200=

Communications-related Headlines for 2/7/97

Internet Service To Add Outlets; A Loss Is Posted

The Local Phone Monopolies Have a Strategy . . . (ad)

The Local Phone Monopolies Have a Strategy . . . (ad)

Summit Seeks to Pare Technology Worker Gap

*********************************************

Title: Internet Service To Add Outlets; A Loss Is Posted
Author: Steve Lohr
Issue: AOL
Description: AOL announced that it's adding up to 50,000 modems to help
customers hear something other than a busy signal. It also announced a
quarterly loss attributed to "one-time charges for operations and closed
offices, employees laid off and marketing materials."

Title: The Local Phone Monopolies Have a Strategy . . . (ad)
Author: MCI
Issue: phone reg
Description: Full page ad by MCI reads the "Local Phone Monopolies Have a
Strategy To Keep Their Monopolies For As Long As They Can. Here it is."
MCI lays out the eight-step hoarding strategy of local phone companies
including hoarding monopoly profits, arguing that there's no competition in
long distance, and claiming there's been an increase in long distance
rates.

From the Washington Post (A31) (http://www.washingtonpost.com/)
Title: The Local Phone Monopolies Have a Strategy . . . (ad)
Author: MCI
Issue: phone reg
Description: Same ad in NYT clip

From the Washington Post (G3) (http://www.washingtonpost.com/)
Title: Summit Seeks to Pare Technology Worker Gap
Author: Shortage of Employees Slows Area Businesses
Issue: Employment
Description: A March or April conference is in the works to discuss the
shortage of qualified technology workers in the DC area. A trade group
has estimated that as many as one out of every four jobs nationally is
unfilled. Locally, that could mean a 10,000-worker shortage. The
conference planners hope to increase the training programs at community
colleges and universities.

At the FCC (http://www.fcc.gov)

*********