EDTECH
Free Computers for Schools: An Offer Too Good to Last (NYT)
JOBS
Entertainment Web Company Expects Job Cuts (NYT)
'Watermarks' on Music Files Tested (WP)
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
The Napster Deal (NYT)
POLITICAL DISCOURSE
The Ad Campaign: Emotional Appeal Urges Blacks to Vote (NYT)
JOURNALISM
In Close Race, Newspapers Face Election-Night Scramble (WSJ)
Tribune and Knight Ridder Plan Joint Venture (NYT)
OWNERSHIP
Disbelief in the Air at BET (WP)
WIRELESS
Appeals Court Rulings Question FCC's Next Move on NextWave (WSJ)
EDTECH
FREE COMPUTERS FOR SCHOOLS: AN OFFER TOO GOOD TO LAST
Issue: EdTech
ZapMe is getting out of the free computer business. Schools around the
country are getting notices that equipment they thought would be delivered
free of charge (in return to exposing kids to advertising) will now come
will a bill. ZapMe says it has given millions of students access to the
Internet in 2,000 schools nationwide; a total of 15,000 had signed up for
the service. But now the company is refocusing on selling its technologies
for high-speed Internet access and services via satellite to business. It
says, meanwhile, that it is trying to find ways to keep the school network
alive without forcing the schools to pay. "We are exploring many
opportunities," said the company's founder and chief executive, Lance
Mortensen, "including -- but not limited to -- partnerships, the outright
sale of the network, joint ventures and alternative options to schools that
would allow them to keep the labs, which means, obviously, for pay."
[SOURCE: New York Times (A1), AUTHOR: John Schwartz]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/02/technology/02COMP.html)
(requires registration)
JOBS
ENTERTAINMENT WEB COMPANY EXPECTS JOB CUTS
Issue: Jobs
Urban Box Office Network, one of the largest Internet companies specializing
in hip-hop and Latino entertainment, may be the latest Internet casualty.
The company has announced plans to lay off between 70 percent and all of its
300 employees by tomorrow, said Adam Kidron, the chief executive of the
network. While there are several so-called urban entertainment sites on the
Internet, the Urban Box Office Network had planned a wide array of original
content, including situation comedies, dramatic series, talk shows and
animation. Aside from the loss of jobs, the collapse of the company will be
a setback for economic development efforts in Harlem, where it had planned a
$12 million building renovation.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A29), AUTHOR: Terry Pristin]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/02/technology/02STAR.html)
(requires registration)
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
THE NAPSTER DEAL
Issue: Intellectual Property
[Editorial] While deal between Napster, the 18-month-old upstart music site,
and Bertelsmann, the giant media conglomerate, may not please the 40 million
Napster users, the New York Times believes the deal will ultimately benefit
consumers. Five major recording companies sued Napster for permitted users
to copy each other's music CD's over the Internet without charge. Under the
deal, Bertelsmann will provide money for Napster to devise a way to charge
a fee for its service, part of which will be turned over to the recording
companies as royalties. The editorial contends that the Napster/Bertelsmann
agreement balances the need to support copyright holders while leaving room
for technological development.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A30), AUTHOR: NYT Editorial Staff]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/02/opinion/02THU1.html)
(requires registration)
See Also:
WEB COMPANY WILL SELL ASSETS TO SETTLE SUIT ON MUSIC FILES
[SOURCE: New York Times (C1), AUTHOR: Matt Richtel]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/02/business/02SCOU.html)
'WATERMARKS' ON MUSIC FILES TESTED
Issue: Intellectual Property
A coalition of software and recording industry executives recently announced
that a way to embed a digital watermark onto music files has been developed to
prevent people from copying the files over the Internet. Members of the Secure
Digital Music Initiative (SDMI) are so confidant in the progress that they
have offered a $10,000 reward to anyone who could defeat the technology. A
team of researchers from Princeton University, Rice University and Xerox
Palo Alto Research Center have declared their own victory in hacking
through the software. Edward Felten, an associate professor of computer
science at Princeton and his team cracked the code as part of a three week
"Hack SDMI" contest sponsored by SDMI. No other group or individual has
claimed success. The SDMI committee evaluating the hacks will not release
results until next week. To be considered successful, SDMI requires that
the hack must effectively remove the digital watermark and pass a
listenability test. The hacked file must have the same or better quality
sound as a typical MP3
file.
[SOURCE: Washington Post (E01), AUTHOR: Mike Musgrove]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58605-2000Nov1.html)
POLITICAL DISCOURSE
THE AD CAMPAIGN: EMOTIONAL APPEAL URGES BLACKS TO VOTE
Issue: Political Discourse
The NAACP began a $2 million advertising campaign last week intended to
urge African-Americans to vote. A TV ad features the daughter of James Byrd
Jr, the Texas man who was chained to a truck and dragged to his death.
Broder scored the ad: The NAACP, and dozens of other independent groups
from all parts of the political spectrum, is pulling out the stops in the
final days of the campaign to ensure that like- minded citizens vote. This
advertisement is designed to motivate African-American citizens to vote by
reminding them that some Republican politicians, including Governor Bush,
have blocked hate crimes laws at the state and federal level.
[SOURCE: New York Times (A20), AUTHOR: John Broder]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/02/politics/02ADBO.html)
(requires registration)
See Also:
ENTERTAINERS JOIN GROUPS IN AD EFFORT TO LIFT GORE
[SOURCE: New York Times (A20), AUTHOR: Peter Marks]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/02/politics/02ADS.html)
(requires registration)
AN AD AND SEVERAL MAILINGS CREATE PROBLEMS FOR LAZIO
[SOURCE: New York Times (A27), AUTHOR: Murphey & Nagourney]
(http://www.nytimes.com/pages/nyregion/index.html)
(requires registration)
JOURNALISM
IN CLOSE RACE, NEWSPAPERS FACE ELECTION-NIGHT SCRAMBLE
Issue: Journalism
Who's going to lose on Election Day next Tuesday? Newspapers. If the
race remains so close all evening that it comes down to the last votes
counted in California, the moment of truth could come after 1 a.m. Eastern
time on Wednesday -- past the late deadlines of many East Coast newspapers.
Some of the medium's largest players -- the New York Times, the Washington
Post, USA Today, and The Wall Street Journal -- can't guarantee that their
Wednesday editions will introduce the new president. A "Too Close to Call"
headline the morning after Election Day would be a major embarrassment,
irrelevant almost as soon as it is printed. "If the reader says, 'Gee, they
can't even tell me the outcome,' then there's going to be far less interest
in being faithful to that newspaper" in the future, says James Naughton,
president of the Poynter Institute for Media Studies in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Less than a week before Election Day, the race between Al Gore and George
Bush appears so close that it may well hinge on California, which has 54
electoral votes -- more than any other state. To prepare for that scenario,
newspapers in the central and eastern time zones plan to push back deadlines
and production on Election Night. Nobody wants to make the call in a close
contest based on inconclusive results and repeat one of the biggest
journalism gaffes of all time, "Dewey Defeats Truman," the infamous headline
the Chicago Tribune's predecessor, the Chicago Daily Tribune, printed the
day after Election Day in 1948.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (B1), AUTHOR: Patricia Callahan]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB973122964593902238.htm)
(requires subscription)
TRIBUNE AND KNIGHT RIDDER PLAN JOINT VENTURE
Issue: Journalism
The nation's second-and third-largest newspaper companies are teaming up to
create what they hope will be a world leader in digital content management
and distribution. Tribune Media Services, a unit of the Tribune Company,
and Knight Ridder will combine Tribune Media's online content delivery
agency, NewsCom, with Knight Ridder's online photographic delivery agency,
PressLink. "We plan to use this platform and our combined editorial and
technology capabilities to develop new and better products and services for
the media industry," said Maryann Grau, NewsCom's president and the
executive named to lead the new organization. Both companies already
provide Web-based access to a broad range of news and feature photos,
informational graphics, text and other editorial products. Combined, they
distribute content from more than 50 providers to more than 8,000 media
customers worldwide, with NewsCom largely serving international clients
while PressLink serves mostly domestic customers.
[SOURCE: New York Times (C4), AUTHOR: Associated Press]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/02/business/02ONLI.html)
(requires registration)
OWNERSHIP
DISBELIEF IN THE AIR AT BET
Issue: Mergers/Ownership
Many employees learned of the possibility of BET being sold to Viacom in an
e-mail from President Debra L. Lee, who told them the company had no comment
on the report. Outsiders say the impact of such a deal, estimated at over
$3 billion, would reach far beyond their 400 full time employees. A sale
would end Robert Johnson's twenty year quest to build an independent media
empire aimed at African Americans. It could however, give Johnson the
financial muscle to push through his latest venture: DC Air. Johnson could
make about $2 billion from the deal. Johnson has received criticism
in the African American community regarding BET's programming which is heavy
on music videos, recycled sitcoms and movies. "This kind of consolidation
is undermining diversity throughout the communications industry," said James
L. Winston, executive director of the Washington-based National Association
of Black Owned Broadcasters. "We see it in radio station and TV station
ownership, where a small number of companies are consolidating ownership
across the country... And we have always had only one independent African
American voice in the cable industry, and it sounds like we may be about to
lose that as well. So that would be a very, very unfortunate development."
On the other hand, any such deal with Viacom could open up a new range of
possibilities for black artists as a whole to make an impact on television,
said actor and director Tim Reid, who has worked with both Johnson and
Viacom over the years.
[SOURCE: Washington POST (E01), AUTHOR: Schneider & Schafer]
(http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60697-2000Nov1.html)
See Also:
BET IS NEAR SALE TO VIACOM
Issue: Media Ownership
[SOURCE: Washington Post (A01), AUTHOR: Christopher Stern]
{http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58607-2000Nov1.html}
WIRELESS
APPEALS COURT RULINGS QUESTION FCC'S NEXT MOVE ON NEXTWAVE
Issue: Wireless
Two strikingly different opinions in federal appeals-court cases raise
questions concerning the Federal Communications Commission's move to
auction off
wireless licenses once held by NextWave Telecom of New York. Can the FCC,
having auctioned off valuable wireless-communications licenses to a company
that then filed for bankruptcy protection, take the licenses back and
re-auction them to another company? How the legal situation shakes out
will answer the question of whether federal agencies can be considered
licensors -- entitled to take back licenses won by companies such as
NextWave that might struggle to pay for them - rather than creditors, which
would allow companies in NextWave's situation to keep and possibly sell the
licenses like any other asset. The licenses once held by NextWave are among
the most prized in the industry and further delay affects potential buyers
such as Nextel Communications, as well as equipment makers who would help
build the spectrum. For its part, NextWave has offered to pay the full price
and has received backing from Global Crossing Ltd., AT&T's Liberty Media
Group and Texas Pacific Group. The FCC has rejected NextWave's offer,
arguing that NextWave violated terms of the original auction and therefore
shouldn't be allowed to obtain the licenses.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (Interactive), AUTHOR: Steven Lipin]
(http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB973117082554851982.htm)
(Requires subscription)
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