[BusinessTeam] Daily Media Digest

Message-ID: <6B75EF096AE0BE428B8CEDEA89C5F6327823A3@exchange01.lab49.com> · Tue Apr 10 14:32:49 2001 UTC

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                        I N S I D E . C O M 
                D A I L Y   D I G E S T : M E D I A 
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April 10, 2001 10:21 a.m. ET             - http://www.inside.com - 

BYE-BYE TO THE "I" 

NBCi's protracted death in the portal space is nothing new among 
network players trying to get into the Yahoo, AOL and MSN-dominated 
territory. Earlier to go were Disney's ABC.com and Viacom's CBS.com. 
MSNBC, a Microsoft-NBC joint venture, reports that shuttering the site 
had been on the table -- along with less drastic alternatives like 
merging -- since the beginning of the year, and that most of the 300 
employees will be axed. The Wall Street Journal (subscription 
required) reports that the buyout would not have an adverse impact on 
the network's earnings for the second quarter. The buyout "probably 
means the end of NBCi's non-programming related assets, which include 
Snap.com, Xoom.com and VideoSeeker.com," according to The Deal. 
Meanwhile, a shareholder lawsuit was filed yesterday alleging that the 
offering price of $2.19 a share -- a 46 percent premium on the current 
market price of $1.50 -- was too low, according to the New York Post. 
Digging deeper, TheStreet.com chronicles the riches departing CEO Will 
Lansing may get to keep, including a $4 million loan he received from 
NBCi last year to buy a house in the San Francisco Bay area. Lansing 
also refused to take any responsibility for the stock's performance: 
"Am I sorry that the stock has fallen? Absolutely ... I did everything 
I could to make it go up. We built a great product ... I think 
strategically we made all the right decisions, and I feel we're 
victims of a market that came apart." 

http://www.msnbc.com/news/556756.asp 
http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB986819370568297443.htm 
http://www.thedeal.com/cgi-bin/gx.cgi/AppLogic+FTContentServer?pagename=Fu
tu 
reTense/Apps/Xcelerate/Render&c=TDDArticle&cid=TDDWOVEWBLC&preview=true 
http://www.nypost.com/technology/28330.htm 
http://www.thestreet.com/tech/internet/1382907.html 

NOW, WHAT WAS THAT BUSINESS ABOUT ECOMPANY AGAIN? 

The hard-to-find-for suitor for Business 2.0 may well be eCompany Now, 
reports Inside. The deal is expected to be sealed in a matter of days 
and may mean giving up the eCompany Now brand name. "ECompany Now, 
which has a nice imperative tang but also carries with it the stench 
of a bankrupt business era, could become Business 3.0, a post-modern, 
post-correction book aimed at a younger demo than Fortune, but hewing 
to the same journalistic values," according to the story. AOL Time 
Warner's magazine division may pay between $30 million to $50 million 
for the deal, according to Folio. The merger would mean layoffs, 
reports the New York Daily News (middle of the page), and "eCompany 
Now would be the dominant title." 

http://www.inside.com/jcs/Story?article_id=28146
<http://www.inside.com/jcs/Story?article_id=28146&pod_id=7> &pod_id=7 
http://industryclick.com/magnewsarticle.asp?newsarticleid=193478
<http://industryclick.com/magnewsarticle.asp?newsarticleid=193478&magazine
id=> &magazineid= 
125&SiteID=20 
http://www.nydailynews.com/today/News_and_Views/Media_and_Business/a-10669
6. 
asp 

'SQUARENESS' + 'HIPSTER FEEL': THE BRILL'S/INSIDE STORY 

Can Brill's and Inside get along? Tim Carvell, the senior editor at 
eCompany Now (oh, the irony) takes a stab at answering the question in 
Slate. "If the magazine's editors can somehow reconcile Brill's 
squareness with Inside's hipster feel, they'll deserve a medal," 
writes Carvell. Mediaweek also weighs in on the issue; a Brill's 
executive notes in the article, "How much time do people have to spend 
reading about media information-between newsletters, publications and 
the Internet? ... That is the challenge here, but (the merger) may be 
the only shot (we've) got." 

ttp://slate.msn.com/code/PressBox/PressBox.asp?Show=4/9/2001&idMessage=746
4 
http://www.mediaweek.com/mediaweek/daily_news/article_display.jsp?vnu_cont
en 
t_id=822106 

ALSO... The New York Times and NBA have settled a lawsuit regarding 
the use of images for commercial purposes, according to reports in the 
Wall Street Journal (subscription required). Under the agreement, "The 
Times would display an N.B.A. logo on its Web site and in any 
advertisements for the photographs. The Times Web site will also 
include a link to the N.B.A.'s (site)," according to the Times story. 
The settlement comes after a recent wave of disputes between sports 
leagues and news organizations; Major League Baseball began asserting 
new rights to control pictures and reports about its games last month. 

http://nytimes.com/2001/04/10/technology/10TIME.html 
http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB986865823636704109.htm 

TOP STORIES ON INSIDE: April 10, 2001 

CBS DECLARES LEGAL WAR ON FOX, CLAIMING BOOT CAMP 'RIPPED OFF' 
SURVIVOR Copyright infringement suit makes things all too real the 
reality TV world. Does Survivor  own the "kick-'em-off-the-island" 
formula? 

http://www.inside.com/jcs/Story?article_id=28157
<http://www.inside.com/jcs/Story?article_id=28157&pod_id=11> &pod_id=11 

TIME INC. CLOSE TO SCOOPING UP BUSINESS 2.0 Looking to add subscribers 
to eCompany Now, AOL Time Warner's magazine group negotiates to buy 
Imagine Media's business title. Will a name change for the merged 
publication -- can you say Business 3.0 -- be far behind? 

http://www.inside.com/jcs/Story?article_id=28146
<http://www.inside.com/jcs/Story?article_id=28146&pod_id=7> &pod_id=7 

SAG'S EX-AFFIRMATIVE ACTION CHIEF ACCUSES GUILD OF COOKING THE BOOKS 
ON DIVERSITY Patricia Metoyer sues the embattled union, saying she was 
fired in retaliation for complaining about forged racial statistics. 
She also claims defamation. 

http://www.inside.com/jcs/Story?article_id=28156
<http://www.inside.com/jcs/Story?article_id=28156&pod_id=10> &pod_id=10 

JURORS TELL JUDGE THEY LEFT OFF A ZERO IN THEIR DAMAGE AWARD AGAINST 
MP3.COM What seemed like a rare legal victory for the online music 
service may only have been the product of an arithmetic error that 
turned $3 million into $300,000. Rakoff interviews the confused panel 
while considering what to do next. UPDATE 

http://www.inside.com/jcs/Story?article_id=28140
<http://www.inside.com/jcs/Story?article_id=28140&pod_id=9> &pod_id=9 

BOX-OFFICE REPORT: SPY KIDS HEADS TOWARD THE $100 MILLION TRACK With 
another $17.1 million under its belt, the Miramax/Dimension kid flick 
looks like blockbuster. 

http://www.inside.com/jcs/Story?article_id=28158
<http://www.inside.com/jcs/Story?article_id=28158&pod_id=10> &pod_id=10 

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More Daily Digests: 

Books:   http://www.inside.com/pods/index?pod_id=8 
Digital: http://www.inside.com/pods/index?pod_id=13 
Film:    http://www.inside.com/pods/index?pod_id=10 
Media:   http://www.inside.com/pods/index?pod_id=7 
Music:   http://www.inside.com/pods/index?pod_id=9 
TV:      http://www.inside.com/pods/index?pod_id=11 

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