|
Television
With No Borders / We Preserve The Moment /
TVI Magazine is not responsible for the content of
external InterNet sites
FISHRGAME
_____________
Feature
Stories -
032005-03
/ Week
Convergence
Ending January, 14 2004
Stocks Buffeted by Oil
Prices,
Earnings
-----A jump
in crude oil prices, largely mediocre earnings and
a mix of economic data roiled the stock market last
week, as investors held off on any major
investments until a better view of the economy
could be
discerned.
-----On
Friday, however, the markets staged a modest rally
after the Labor Department reported a
larger-than-expected drop in wholesale prices,
staving off fears of
inflation.
-----For
the week, the Dow Jones industrial average fell
0.4%, the Standard & Poor's 500 index was down
0.1% and the Nasdaq lost 0.03%.
Storm Cuts Railroad's
Capacity by a
Third
-----Union
Pacific Corp. said track damage from floods and
washouts caused by punishing storms in California
and Nevada might cut the number of trains serving
Los Angeles by as much as a third for an "extended
period."
-----The
nation's largest railroad is making arrangements
for rerouting some of the 90 trains that typically
operate in the region each day, a spokeswoman said.
----- Union
Pacific is bringing in contractors as well as
workers from other regions to repair tracks and
signals.
----- The
railroad has no estimate of the financial effect of
the Southern California flooding, the spokeswoman
said. Union Pacific said the timing for restoring
service on blocked routes depended on weather and
the progress of repairs.
Oracle to Lay Off 5,000 as
Takeover Takes
Hold
-----A week
after acquiring PeopleSoft, business software maker
Oracle Corp. announced that it would lay off 5,000
employees -- most of whom probably work for its
former rival, analysts said. Though details of who
would be cut and when were not announced, rumors
swirled through the
industry.
-----By
some accounts, Oracle Chief Executive Larry
Ellison's famously cutthroat management style will
be on full display: Pink slips may be delivered by
express mail to employees at home over the
weekend.
-----The
widely expected purge by the Redwood City,
Calif.-based company comes as the battered Silicon
Valley job market just begins to recover from the
crash of 2000.
Boeing to Shut Down
Commercial Jet
Plant
-----Boeing
Co. said it would close the last commercial
airplane production line in Southern California
because of slow sales of its 717 passenger jet.
----- The
shuttering of the sprawling Long Beach plant next
year will have only a modest economic effect,
because most of the 800 union workers will be
transferred to jobs at a nearby Boeing factory that
makes the C-17 military transport plane. But the
plant's closing will mark the symbolic end of a
chapter in the area's aerospace manufacturing
history.
-----
Separately, the U.S. and Europe averted a
multibillion- dollar trade war -- for now -- by
agreeing not to seek formal action from the World
Trade Organization over claims of unfair government
subsidies to Boeing and rival aircraft maker
Airbus.
-----Instead,
trade representatives said they would hold three
months of talks.
State Farm Insurance Settles
Overtime
Suit
-----State
Farm Insurance Cos. agreed to pay $135 million to
settle a lawsuit alleging that it failed to pay
overtime to 2,600 claims adjusters in
California
-----The
settlement, approved by a Los Angeles County
Superior Court judge, is the latest
multimillion-dollar payout in a wave of
white-collar overtime lawsuits in California, where
the laws governing this area are stricter than in
other
states.
-----Lawyers
for the adjusters said the average award for each
plaintiff would be $34,000, although those who
worked for the company for eight years would
receive an average of
$64,000.
-----The
State Farm adjusters, who filed their suit in 2000,
said they worked an average of six to seven hours
of overtime a week, including weekends, without
premium pay.
Flying J Agrees to Buy Shell
Oil
Refinery
-----Shell
Oil Co. said it would sell its Bakersfield refinery
to one of the largest truck-stop chains in the
U.S., giving a surprise reprieve to California
motorists.
-----The
deal with Ogden, Utah-based Flying J Inc. came
weeks before the facility's planned March 31
closure. It could spare supply-strapped California
the loss of 2% of its gasoline supply and 6% of its
diesel.
-----Terms
of the sale to closely held Flying J's refining
subsidiary, Big West Oil, weren't disclosed. But
sources familiar with the transaction said Shell,
which had planned to spend $200 million to clean up
and dismantle the facility, would receive $130
million for the 73-year-old
refinery.
-----Hopes
for a sale had been dashed last month when Shell
said it had broken off negotiations with its
leading suitor, New York investment firm Kelso
& Co. Flying J was among a short list of
earlier bidders.
IPod Sales Send Apple Profit
Off the
Charts
-----The
popularity of iPod digital music players helped
Apple Computer Inc. blow past Wall Street's
expectations when it reported that quarterly profit
more than
quadrupled.
-----Although
strong holiday demand for iPods led Apple's
performance, the company said sales of its iMac
desktop computers nearly doubled, lending
credibility to its strategy of leveraging iPod to
lure customers to its other
products.
-----Cupertino,
Calif.-based Apple reported a profit for its first
quarter of $295 million, or 70 cents a share, well
ahead of the consensus estimate of 49 cents by
financial analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call.
Revenue for the quarter that ended Dec. 25 was $3.5
billion
-----That
compared with profit of $63 million, or 17 cents,
on revenue of $2 billion a year
earlier.
-----Just
before its earnings announcement, Apple unveiled a
$99 iPod and a $499 version of the Macintosh
computer that will compete more directly against PC
giants Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co.
Edward Jones Discloses
Payments by Fund
Firms
-----Los
Angeles-based American Funds and six other mutual
fund firms paid a total of $82.4 million to
brokerage Edward Jones & Co. for selling their
products through the first 11 months of last year,
records showed.
----- The
unusual disclosure was demanded by the Securities
and Exchange Commission and other federal
regulators, who said the St. Louis brokerage failed
to tell customers that the funds on its "preferred
list" paid millions of dollars to be there.
----- In
addition to American Funds, a unit of Capital Group
Cos., the preferred families are Federated
Investors Inc.; Goldman Sachs Group Inc.; Hartford
Financial Services Group Inc.; Lord Abbett &
Co.; Putnam Investments, a unit of Marsh &
McLennan Cos.; and Van Kampen Investments Inc.,
owned by Morgan Stanley.
----- The
incentive payments are legal. But the SEC said
Edward Jones violated securities law by failing to
inform investors that it was being paid
"undisclosed compensation" for recommending the
mutual funds, creating potential conflicts of
interest.
-----The
brokerage agreed in December to disclose the
arrangements and pay $75 million in penalties and
restitution, which will be returned to
customers.
-----Edward
Jones is also the target of a civil securities
fraud suit by California Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer
over the incentive payments. The brokerage has
vowed to "vigorously defend itself" against the
suit.
-----
NEWS
CONVERGENCE
January
10, 2005 /
NBS100
Wireless Telephone updates its Stubblefield records
to show that Cisco Systems Inc. is acquiring
Airespace to Expand its Wireless Firewire or Wi-Fi
Efforts, based on the NBS 1908
patent. / YES90 / Reuters /
January 13,
2005 -
Internet equipment maker
Cisco Systems Inc. said Wednesday that it would
acquire privately held Airespace for $450 million
in stock and assumed options, a move that expands
Cisco's offerings in the growing market for
wireless data
transmission.
-----San Jose-based
Airespace makes equipment for wireless fidelity, or
Wi-Fi, a technology that allows users to connect to
the Internet or other networks without cumbersome
cables, through the use of short-range signals.
----- Cisco, also based in
San Jose, said the deal was subject to regulatory
approval. It is expected to close in the company's
2005 fiscal third quarter, which ends in
April.
-----The expanding Wi-Fi
market, which is dominated by Cisco, has become
increasingly complex as corporate customers require
more sophisticated systems and services to help
them install multiple access points with varying
levels of
security.
-----Cisco said the deal
helped it to address a broader segment of the
market. Airespace's products include WLAN
controllers, Access Points, software and security.
----- "Airespace is a strong
technological and cultural fit with an outstanding
team," said Luca Cafiero, a Cisco vice president.
----- Cisco, whose appetite
for acquisitions peaked in 2000 with more than 20
deals, bought 12 companies last year. The last deal
of the scope of Airespace was Cisco's $500-million
purchase of Linksys Group Inc., a maker of
home-networking products, in March 2003.
----- Airespace in September
won a key partnership with IBM Corp. to offer Wi-Fi
systems to some of Big Blue's corporate customers.
At the time, some analysts considered the deal a
coup, given that IBM is among Cisco's largest
customers. Airespace was backed by about $60
million in venture capital.
///
Center
Page /
NEWS
CONVERGENCE
TIMELINE: Top Stories To
Start The Week With: 032005-03
IBM
to Free 500
Patents
-----
Yes90/ Reuters January 12,
2005-U.S.
patent leader IBM Corp. plans to donate 500 patents
for free use by software developers, marking a
shift in intellectual property strategy for the
world's top computer maker and a challenge to the
high-tech industry.
-----Jim
Stallings, IBM's vice president in charge of
intellectual property, said Tuesday that the move
was meant to encourage other companies to unlock
patent portfolios to spur technological
innovation.
-----As
the leading provider of computer services, IBM also
stands to benefit from helping other companies make
use of new technology developed under the open
licensing program.
-----The
500 patents cover areas such as storage management,
simultaneous multiprocessing, image processing,
database management and e-commerce.
-----IBM,
which over the last decade has stood out as a
leader among companies seeking to reap greater
profit from its patent portfolio, will continue to
receive royalties from thousands of patents it
holds on chips, supercomputers and other
products.
-----The
donation coincides with an announcement by the U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office that IBM topped the
list of annual patent recipients for the 12th
straight year in 2004, with 3,248 patents -- 1,314
more than No. 2-ranked Matsushita Electric
Industrial Co. of Japan.
-----IBM's
policy change puts it at the vanguard of a movement
to redefine patent laws in less restrictive
ways.
-----But
Florian Mueller, campaign manager of a group
lobbying to prevent software patents from becoming
legal in the European Union, dismissed IBM's move
as insubstantial.
-----
"In Europe, IBM is a driving
force behind the extension of the scope of
patentability with respect to software," Mueller
wrote on NoSoftwarePatents.com's website.
-----
IBM was not available for
comment on Mueller's remarks.
-----Shares
of Armonk-N.Y.-based IBM fell 68 cents to $95 on
the New York Stock Exchange.
///
China's
Trade Surplus in '04 Hits 6-Year
High
-----
Yes90/AP January 12, 2005 -
Surging exports helped push China's trade surplus
to a six-year high of $32 billion in 2004, the
Chinese government reported Tuesday.
-----
December's trade surplus of
$11.1 billion, the eighth straight month of
surplus, was up 92.7% compared with the same month
in 2003, the Ministry of Commerce said.
-----
China's exports rose 35.4%
in 2004 from a year earlier to $593.4 billion,
while imports climbed 36% to $561.4 billion, the
ministry said, citing customs statistics.
-----
The $32-billion surplus was
up 25.6% from that recorded in 2003 and the largest
surplus since 1998, when the trade balance hit
$43.4 billion.
-----
The resurgence in China's
trade surplus may revive pressure on Beijing from
trading partners, especially the United States, to
relax controls on its currency, the yuan.
-----China's
exchange rate policies restrict the value of the
yuan to a narrow band around 8.28 yuan per $1.
Critics argue that the yuan is undervalued, making
China's exports cheaper overseas and giving its
manufacturers an unfair advantage.
-----Despite
the surge in December's trade surplus, growth in
both exports and imports slowed in December from
the previous month and from the same month in 2003,
the figures show.
-----Exports
grew 32.7% in December from the same month a year
earlier to $63.8 billion, outpacing a 24.6%
increase in imports to $52.7 billion.
////
ByLines:
Editors Note
Quincy
Jones
Bylines
TVI
Magazine ONLINE / IS YOUR INDUSTRY WEB SITE Ready
for the future?
-----
TVI
Magazine introduces here a new marketing forum for
the international television industry: a dynamic
online service on its YES90 and tvinews.net web
sites. TVI Magazine will now effectively serve the
new marketing needs of all entertainment companies
with a tool that offers almost instantaneous
promotion updates. Company promotional material
that appears on TVI Magazine's Web site can be
hyperlinked with the company's own URL. TVI
Magazine can also link the ads to a special Web
page for the advertiser and then link that page to
the advertiser's URL.
-----
To
ensure that visitors find their way to promotion
information and product updates, TVI Magazine is
listing TVI Magazine Online on more than 250 of the
world's most popular search engines and electronic
directories.
-----
Online
ad space can be purchased in monthly increments
(with a one-month minimum). At renewal time,
advertisers can change their ad and/or move it to
another space if one is available. The TVI Magazine
Web site will indicate the total number of hits on
the home page per month and per day, enabling
advertisers to monitor their reach and billings
regularly.
-----
TVI
Magazine has two key pages for ad placement: the
index page (home page) and the main page (main page
of articles). Less expensive ad space is available
on article pages. Advertisers can provide the
artwork and/or logo, either by submitting the file
electronically or via an existing graphic on the
Web that TVI Magazine's online team can
grab.
-----
Most
ads can be posted on the TVI Magazine site within a
few hours. However, in the event that any graphic
manipulation is required, one must allow more time
before the ad is posted, usually two to seven
business days for a static banner and up to 10
business days for an animated banner ad.
-----It
just goes to show you, says Troy about the TV and
Film industry -- "NOTHING IN THIS WORLD IS
PERMANENT" . . . so follow the
money -
- and
take some advice from a dinner-time chat with
"Stonehead" --
Disappointments Are Great! Follow
the Money . . . the Internet and the Smart- Daaf
Boys.
///
Return
ˆ
To
Top
Respectfully
Submitted
Josie
Cory
Publisher/Editor
TVI Magazine
TVI
Magazine, tviNews.net, Associated Press, Reuters,
BBC, LA Times, NY Times, VRA's D-Diaries, Press
Releases, They Said It Tracking Model, and
SmartSearch were used in compiling and ascertaining
this Yes90 news report.
©2004-2006. Copyright. All
rights reserved by: TVI Publications, VRA TelePlay
Pictures and Big Six Media Entertainments. Tel/Fax:
323 462.1099.
LookRadio.com
-
Do
it with movies, slide shows and
music!
-----
Smart90's
24-hour, 365 days-a-year Broadband S90tv
WebMagic
web page is the simplest way to add the WebMagic to
your existing web pages. It's an Exciting New Way
to Advertise.
-----
Advertise
Now on Smart90.com and utilize S90tv's Web Magic on
your own domain. Email
your insertion order and advertising copy or banner
requests to the attention of: Advertising Marketing
Director at
look@smart90.com™.
- -----To
get you started today, you can attach to your
Email, your logo, slides, transparencies,
illustrations, photographs or other computer
graphics. The materials will be forwarded directly
to our art department.-
- -----
Advertising
material must be received by the 10th of every
month to be included in the following scheduled
print magazine issue. In regards to our daily
tviNews.net edition, your banner, logo, web movie,
slide show or 60x500 animated banner, that is to be
headlined at the top of our featured news page, as
a linkonad or smartkudoad,
can be Emailed to us at your convenience.
- -----
Or
better yet, tell us where to go to fetch the
information -- this way it will be much quicker to
get you up and running. For Ad rates please click
on: TVI
Advertising Rates.
Please
read: "How
Do We Do Business?
We Preserve The
Moment
Returnˆ
To Top
|
