And speaking of TCI they've just bought controlling interest in TV Guide from Corporate Art News Corp. for 2 billion (WSJ)... And CBS has divested itself of its last interest of its Nuclear Power division. It's all news/entertainment now, but will they finally be able to discuss nuclear power on CBS News? (WSJ)
CHILLY WILLY. Iceland is a country that takes its language very seriously. That language has changed so little that their grammar, vocabulary and spelling are now virtually the same as when the Vikings lived in the 9th century. And Iceland reasonably wants Microsoft's Windows 95 available in Icelandic. Iceland asked Bill Gates for the right to translate Windows into Icelandic. Microsoft refused saying it would allow the translator to go into the main operating system. Iceland then offered to pay Microsoft to do the translation. Microsoft refused. Iceland's minister of culture wrote directly to Microsoft and got back a letter saying no to `95 but maybe to `98. The president of Iceland will now enter the fray. (LA Times) The whole thing looks like a case of `ugly Americans' to me. Come on Mr. Richie Rich do the right thing and help Iceland preserve her heritage!
TV or WHERE IS SKY KING WHEN YOU NEED A GOOD PILOT: In the fall of 97 the TV networks financed between 100 and 150 pilots. 34 made the airwaves, 4 will return this year. Dick Wolf, producer of "Law & Order" says, "The pilot system is insane. No other industry in the world would accept this kind of failure rate." One cause for the insanity is that they are all due for sweeps month so every pilot is racing for the same small pool of talented actors and directors during the same 3 week period. (Advertising Age). Is this any way to run a business?
RADIO STATIC: Zine World reports this exchange with Richard D. Lee, Chief of the FCC's Compliance and Information Bureau: "(The FCC) conducted a state-by-state review of known FM pirates operating as of June 1, 1990. Guess what - there are only 112 left. And because we have been successful in shutting down over 200 FM pirate stations in the past 8 months, I'm happy to announce that 24 States are pirate free." Earlier this year 60 stations were raided and fined. For the alternate viewpoint, look up on the web, Free Radio Berkeley at www.freeradio.org. ZW also tells us that "World Radio is a new national non-commercial network, launched in May as an alternative to the domination of National Public Radio (NPR) and Public Radio International (PRI) as the source of most shows broadcast on licensed public radio stations." Musea salutes the newcomer. The more voices the better....And finally, speaking of the FCC, here is our monthly topic for discussion. We think the FCC has become a paper tiger. When was the last time they actually revoked a mainstream broadcasters' license for ANYTHING! What do you think?
BOOKS. After lawyer Leonard Garment got his memoirs published, Crazy Rhythm, he found out the real craziness was in the book selling and promoting biz. Here's a quote of his remarks from a recent Forbes mag: "Even as they may be digging their own graves, the chains are choking the independent booksellers. This change is taking bookselling away from organizations for which promoting literature is meaningful and giving it to organizations less devoted to the task.