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AT&T, QWEST, VERIZON WIN US GOVERNMENT TELECOM CONTRACT
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Rachelle Younglai]
The U.S. General Services Administration cast Sprint Nextel aside and picked AT&T, Qwest and Verizon on Thursday for the largest-ever federal telecommunications contract. Government agencies are expected to spend at least $20 billion on the contract over 10 years, the GSA estimates -- a move that will overhaul the government's telecommunications services. Under terms of the GSA contract, called Networx Universal, agency spending could be increased to as much as $48 billion. The announcement comes after weeks of anticipation and years of preparation. The four companies have spent millions of dollars preparing bids and called on thousands of their employees to develop proposals and hammer out the details. The failure to include Sprint is seen as a huge upset as it has provided telecommunication services to U.S. government agencies for 18 years.
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSWAT00723320070329
* Largest Ever Network Services Acquisition Awarded (GSA press release)
http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/contentView.do?pageTypeId=8199&channelI...
* Government Telecom Deal Omits Sprint
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/29/AR200703...
AT&T, Qwest, Verizon win U.S. Govt Telecom Contract
XM-SIRIUS MERGER CONSTITUTES A MONOPOLY
[SOURCE: Consumer Coalition for Competition in Satellite Radio press release]
Gregory Sidak of Criterion Economics has concluded a study which demonstrates that the proposed merger between XM and Sirius would create a monopoly, constituting a likely violation of the antitrust laws. Sidak, a former Deputy General Counsel for the FCC, was asked by the Consumer Coalition for Competition in Satellite Radio to determine whether subscription-based satellite digital audio radio services ("SDARS") are a relevant product market for antitrust purposes, and to assess the unilateral pricing effects of the proposed merger in the relevant product market. Sidak finds that 1) SDARS are a distinct antitrust product market; 2) The proposed merge would be anti-competitive as (i) it constitutes a monopoly under the most reasonable market definition and (ii) even under a more expansive market definition the proposed merger would increase seller concentration ratios to unacceptably high levels; 3) The majority of efficiencies identified by XM and Sirius would not benefit consumers; and 4) The conditions offered by XM and Sirius would not preserve consumer welfare.
http://www.contentagenda.com/articleXml/LN591301420.html?nid=3039
* Consumer Coalition for Competition in Satellite Radio
http://www.c3sr.org/index.asp
http://www.contentagenda.com/articleXml/LN591301420.html?nid=3039
PRESIDENTS SAY MEDIA NOW HARSHER ON POLITICIANS
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Sinead Carew]
Former Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton said on Thursday media coverage of politicians had grown harsher and warned that this could have a detrimental effect on future leaders as the 2008 election draws near. Bush, the 41st U.S. president and father of the current president, described what he called an increasingly adversarial relationship between the press and politicians that is "even tougher, uglier" than he remembered. "I'm afraid it will turn off a lot of good people from politics," he said. Clinton said he and Bush had received their share of tough questions when they were in office, but cited a blurring of the lines between sensationalism and mainstream journalism. Clinton said a more even discussion of politics could come from Internet sites and Web blogs. He cited the tendency of blogs to scrutinize one or two subjects rather than a full plate of issues. "They can do research and get the facts and don't have to bad-mouth people. Sometimes they do, but they don't have to," Clinton said. "I think all these blog sites are creating a whole new opportunity for public debate that may revitalize our politics in an old fashioned way." Clinton said that sensational news coverage could interfere with the ability of politicians to make good decisions. Clinton and Bush lauded the role telecommunications and technology can play in improving healthcare, spreading individual freedoms and eradicating poverty. And as for personal technology, the former presidents said they were dedicated to using cell phones or wireless devices. "The hour I'm here is about the longest I can be away from my Blackberry," Bush said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN2919944120070329
Bush/Clinton say media now harsher on politicians
TRIBUNE SUITOR IS USED TO BUCKING TRENDS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Sarah Ellison sarah.ellison@wsj.com and Dennis K. Berman]
Like other real-estate swashbucklers, Sam Zell is proud to be a contrarian. It's just as well. To complete his come-from-behind effort to buy Tribune Co., he'll have to be. As Tribune's special committee gathers today for a lengthy meeting that could decide the future of the company, the leading proposal is an aggressively leveraged offer from Mr. Zell, who proposes buying the company and transferring control to an employee stock ownership plan, an approach rife with tax benefits. Like a lot of other real-estate investors, he's comfortable buying distressed, unfashionable properties, often by taking on a substantial debt load and providing relatively little equity compared with other businesses. Then he spruces up the properties and waits for the market to cycle back. But the newspaper industry, pounded by Internet competition for readers and advertisers, has been riven by doubts about whether its problems are not cyclical but permanent. In this case, Mr. Zell is expected to put in less than $300 million of equity, a fraction of the company's total value of about $7.9 billion, not counting Tribune's existing $4.5 billion of debt. While details of his offer remain subject to negotiation, the structure would involve a few steps. In the first step, Mr. Zell would invest his equity and receive convertible preferred stock in Tribune. Then Tribune, using borrowed funds, would pay out about $17.50 a share to shareholders. In the next step, Tribune would create an employee share ownership plan. Tribune's ESOP could then roll future company contributions to employee 401(k) funds into the ESOP, effectively providing capital for the buyout without increasing Tribune's debt. (At the end of 2005, Tribune's retirement-savings plans included at least $2.3 billion, of which $610 million, or 26%, was already invested in company stock.) Mr. Zell's strategy for Tribune isn't known, although he has said he doesn't plan to break up the company, whose assets include a string of TV stations and the Chicago Cubs baseball team as well as the newspapers. What's clear, say real-estate experts, is that he isn't making a play for the real-estate assets held by Tribune, including the buildings that house the Tribune and Los Angeles Times newsrooms. The value of Tribune's properties -- estimated at less than $700 million -- simply isn't big enough to justify being the driver of the deal.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117521471477853968.html?mod=todays_us_ma...
(requires subscription)
* Broad, Burkle Up Offer for Tribune Co.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/29/AR200703...
* L.A. duo reenters Tribune auction
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-tribune30mar30,1,2348...
* Will Tribune extend deadline again?
[SOURCE: Associated Press]
As Saturday's self-imposed deadline looms for Tribune Co. to announce how it plans to increase shareholder value, speculation continued Thursday that the company might postpone announcing a possible sale, spinoff or reorganization.
http://chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=24416
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117521471477853968.html?mod=todays_us_marketplac…
GRASS ROOTS PLANTED IN CYBERSPACE
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Jose Antonio Vargas]
If there's a social networking site that John Edwards is not a part of, we'd like to know what it is, pronto. No one's sure exactly what role these sites -- a.k.a. socnets -- will play in the upcoming election. But whatever it is, Edwards isn't taking any chances. The man's flooding the zone. He's on the big ones: Flickr, YouTube, Facebook, et al., but he's also on some of the most obscure sites -- Blip.tv, 43Things.com. In fact, the former senator is signed up in at least 23 socnets -- more than any other presidential candidate. And that's not counting John Edwards One Corps, his own networking site that campaign officials say has 20,000 members and 1,200 chapters across the country. All the presidential hopefuls are online. Everyone's got a Web site. A few hired full-time bloggers and videographers. Most have MySpace profiles, just a click away from "friending" a supporter. Yet Edwards has taken his Internet presence a step further, fully exploiting the unknown possibilities (and known pitfalls) of the social Web, online strategists say. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), judging by the number of friends on MySpace or number of views of his YouTube videos, may be the most popular online candidate, Republican or Democrat. But Edwards arguably has the most dynamic Web presence -- he's everywhere, doing everything.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/29/AR200703...
(requires registration)
Grass Roots Planted In Cyberspace
SIRIUS TO LAUNCH TV SERVICE IN CHRYSLER 2008 CARS
[SOURCE: Reuters]
Sirius Satellite Radio will launch its backseat television service exclusively in several DaimlerChrysler cars and minivans later this year. Sirius said three live child-themed TV channels would be available in 2008 model year cars in the Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge lines. Sales of those cars will start later this year. The satellite radio provider has been promising such a service since 2004, but at that time it said deals with manufacturers and content providers needed to be hammered out. Last November, Chief Executive Mel Karmazin said the service would launch in 2007. The system will cost about $470, which includes the first year of service, when packaged with Chrysler's rear seat entertainment system in new cars. Customers must subscribe to Sirius Satellite Radio. Channels on the service include Viacom's Nickelodeon, Walt Disney's Disney Channel and Time Warner's Cartoon Network. Asked about some of the evening shows broadcast on Cartoon Network that are aimed at adults, a Sirius spokesman said that the 24-hour programming in the car will always be suitable for children.
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN2919036120070329
* Chrysler, Sirius to beam kids' TV into '08 models
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20070330/1b_tvincars30.art.htm
Sirius to launch TV service in Chrysler 2008 cars
UNIVISION'S NEW OWNERSHIP TAKES OVER
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Meg James]
Los Angeles billionaire A. Jerrold Perenchio on Thursday waved adios to the business he has spent nearly 15 years building into the nation's foremost Spanish-language media company, Univision Communications. As expected, the sale of the Century City-based company for $12.3 billion closed Thursday, two days after winning the blessing of the Federal Communications Commission. The new owners, a consortium of investors including another Los Angeles billionaire, Haim Saban, paid $36.25 a share to buy out Univision stockholders, taking the company private. The 76-year-old Perenchio — a former talent agent, boxing promoter, and music, TV and movie producer — collected $1.3 billion for his 11.5% stake. That's a hefty return on the $33 million that Perenchio paid when he joined two Latin American media moguls to buy Univision from Hallmark Cards Inc. in 1992 for $550 million. Since then, the Latino population has grown to more than 42 million in the U.S. today. The company's flagship, Univision, has become the nation's fifth-largest television network, behind CBS, Fox Broadcasting, ABC and NBC.
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-univision30mar30,1,79...
(requires registration)
Univision's new ownership takes over
HISPANICS AND MEDIA
[SOURCE: Media Daily News/Online Media Daily]
Two articles based on new data from a Telemundo and Experian Simmons Research survey. 1) Online Hispanics consume media and technology at a higher rate than the general U.S. population. Some 80% of Hispanics with Internet access connect using broadband, and combining content from TV and the Internet is a key factor to enriching their media experience. 2) Hispanics are avid consumers of all media--more so, in fact, than the general U.S. population. And they expect TV and Internet content to be delivered in tandem.
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=57...
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=57...
FREECONFERENCE.COM SUES AT&T FOR BLOCKED PHONE CALLS
[SOURCE: TechDirt.com]
[Commentary] Earlier this month, we were surprised to hear that various mobile operators were blocking phone calls to services like FreeConference.com. When you get phone service, you expect that the phone service will work to any phone number, not the ones that your phone provider decides are okay. Oddly, given the attention the story received, the FCC has remained quiet about it. Apparently, the folks at FreeConference.com got tired of sitting around and waiting and have decided to sue AT&T, asking for an injunction against the company to get it to stop blocking calls to the FreeConference.com service. It's no secret that services like FreeConference.com are costing AT&T money, mainly through ridiculous termination fees set up by regulators protecting rural telcos. However, AT&T should take that up with the regulators, rather than simply blocking access to the service. Either way, it seems likely that both the FCC and the courts will soon be deeply involved in this issue.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20070327/154203.shtml
FreeConference.com Sues AT&T For Blocked Phone Calls
TIME WARNER CABLE CLARIFIES TESTIMONY
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
A Time Warner Cable official said Thursday that subscribers who buy just the basic tier and lease an HD set-top box have free access to local TV signals in HD, clarifying CEO Glenn Britt’s testimony before a House subcommittee the previous day. “As an operational point-of-fact, Time Warner Cable offers basic-only customers the opportunity to receive an HD-capable set-top box without any requirement to step up to the digital tier of services,†said Mark Harrad, senior vice president of corporate communications at Time Warner Cable. “With such a box, customers can get the HD signals of all channels they would otherwise get in standard-definition, including broadcast networks.â€
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6429385.html?rssid=108
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6429385.html?rssid=108