Communications-related Headlines for 9/12/97

Johnson, TCI Make Bid for BET
WP: Johnson, TCI Make Offer To Buy All of BET Holdings
WP: A Powerful Partnership Pays Off

Digital TV
WSJ: Hype Definition: Waiting for HDTV? Don't Go
Dumping Your Old Set Just Yet

Internet Infrastructure
WSJ: Is the Internet Outgrowing Its Volunteer Traffic Cops?

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* Johnson, TCI Make Bid for BET *
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Title: Johnson, TCI Make Offer To Buy All of BET Holdings
Source: Washington Post (E1)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-09/12/079l-091297-idx.html
Author: David Segal
Issue: Ownership/Cable
Description: BET founder Robert Johnson and corporate partner Liberty Media
(owned by cable giant TCI) have offered to buy the 6 million shares of BET
they don't own and make it a private company. BET will set up a special
committee of board members to consider the deal. If successful Mr. Johnson
and Liberty would become the owners of the Black Entertainment Network
(which reaches 50 million households), restaurants, a pay-per-view network,
a jazz channel, and Emerge magazine.

Title: A Powerful Partnership Pays Off
Source: Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-09/12/082l-091297-idx.h...
Author: Paul Farhi
Issue: Ownership/Cable
Description: Robert Johnson and TCI's John Malone are long-time partners.
Mr. Johnson represented TCI while he worked at the National Cable Television
Association. And when Mr. Johnson needed seed money for his idea of a cable
channel targeted at black viewers, Malone's TCI came up with $500,000. The
partnership continues as TCI and Mr. Johnson try to buy the remaining shares
of BET.

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* Digital TV *
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Title: Hype Definition: Waiting for HDTV?
Don't Go Dumping Your Old Set Just Yet
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (A1)
Author: Kyle Pope & Mark Robichaux
Issue: Digital TV
Description: Rarely in the history of American business has there been a new
technology that promised so much -- and delivered so little. Broadcasters
worked for ten years for the Government to approve HDTV. In the 1980s the
idea of HDTV was born to by the broadcast community to keep valuable
broadcast spectrum from being parceled out to paging and data services
companies. Convinced that TV air space was there right, broadcasters argued
that they needed spectrum for advanced television technology, which they
said would guarantee free, over-the-air TV forever. Now that they've won the
war, they are backing out of promises to deliver High Definition Television
(HDTV) which makes possible nearly three-dimensional images and
crystal-clear sound on digital television sets. "This whole digital
transition has been left to the engineers until just about six months ago,"
says Michael Jordon, the chairman of CBS parent Westinghouse Electric. "All
of a sudden we got this thing approved, and nobody knows has a clue what
they are going to do." [For more information, see The Debate Over the Future
of Television http://www.benton.org/Policy/TV/].

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* Internet Infrastructure *
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Title: Is the Internet Outgrowing Its Volunteer Traffic Cops?
Source: Wall Street Journal
http://wsj.com/ (B6)
Author: Rebecca Quick
Issue: Internet/Infrastructure
Description: All the Internet traffic in the world depends on 13 "root
servers" that are supervised by 8 volunteers. This system seemed to work
fine when the Internet was a casual research tool, but as it has grown in
importance -- and July's "Jelly Donut" fiasco -- some think that a
professional solution should be found. Network Solutions Inc, the company
that controls the domain name system and supervises four root servers, has
asked the Department of Commerce to support employment contracts for
root-server operators.
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...and swoosh. We are outta here! KT's gone next week, so our pinch-hitters
will be stepping up to the plate again.