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Show The Salt Lake Tribune’ BUSINESS B12 Tuesday, May 9, 2000 Cable Execs Want Broadcast Law Changed Rules favor networks, operators contend BY KALPANA SRINIVASAN THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEWORLEANS — Still sting- in seven cities after the two companies failed to reach agreement ona transmission deal. The mediagiants were sparring over how much money Time Warner must compensate The Walt Disney Co., ABC’s corporate parent, for the right to carry some ofits cable channels. ing from last week's highlypubli- Disneysays that the price it is cized spat between ABC and Time askingforits cable channels is fair since Time Warner gets ABC for free. ABC and Time Warner agreed Warner, cable executives who gathered for their annual convention Monday said the laws governing their transmission deals with broadcasters need to be re-examined. “The law should never have to extend their negotiations until mid-July. Broadcasters are guaranteed the right to have their signals car- permitted this,” Time Warner boss ried onlocal cable systemsforfree. Gerald Levin said of the showdown thatleft 3.5 million of his custom- broadcasters the option instead to ers without a local ABCsignalfora dayanda half. The system is “just bad public policy and weaim to changeit,” he said, drawing applause at the National Cable Television Association meeting. A week ago, ABCservice was cutoff for Time Warner customers But the 1992 Cable Act also gave hammerout private retransmis- sion agreements with cable companies. basic cable networksalso carried on cable systems. But cable operators say this provision of the law has given the broadcasters too much leverage in negotiations and puts them in an untenable position as they try to hold down cable rates for their customers. “Our friends in the broadcast industry however do not seem to understandthis simple fact: cable consumers are unwilling to foot the bill for whatever price a broadcaster demands for the carriage ofa signal thatis distributed for free overthe air,” said Robert Sachs, NCTA’spresident. ABC had no immediate commentandfederal officials said they would haveto study the matter. Theideal situation would be for the marketplace to workthese issues out and for the companies to “negotiate their deals seamlessly,” In thelatter case, the two sides said Deborah Lathen, chief of the muststrike a deal before cable opcable services bureau at the Federators can carry local channels. have . eral Communications Broadcasting companies Commission. used this arrangement to seek Last week, the bureau compensation like having new Microsoft Lawyers Exploring Cooperatives Responses to Breakup Plan People overprofits THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson SEATTLE Microsoft Corp. is exploring a number ofdifferent responses to the government's plan for a company breakup, including the possibility of allowing computer makers more flexibility in installing and altering the Windows operating system. According to media reports, Microsoft mayalso submit a plan breaking up the company — directly addressing his finding that there is a remedy — short of to offer a version of Windows without the Internet Explorer Web browsertiedto it — oneofthefirst chargesleveled at the company by the U.S. Justice Department and 19 state attorneys general. Under the proposal submitted April 28 by federal prosecutors and 17 states, Microsoft would be divided into two companies. One would produce the Windows operating system, and another would make software programs suchasthe Microsoft Office site of spreadsheet, word processing and other business appli tions, including the Internet Explorer Web browser. Microsoft violated antitrust law. Under its reported proposal, Microsoft would «provide open, timely and complete access to the parts of the Windows operating determined that Time Warner had violated the law by dropping ABC signals during the period known as “sweeps” and pledged proper en- forcement action would be taken. Public interest groups have used the snafu to further their po- sition that Time Warner’s proposed merger with America Online would give it too much power in the online world — allowingit to block out rival Internet providers trying to get onto the company’s high-speed pipes. Levin reasserted that the giant marriage between the two businesses would not squelch out other companies and that it would also makeits programming available to all providers. “There is no gatekeeper in this new media age,” Levin said. “Content diversity is the rule of law.” Regulators so far have been unwilling to regulate Internet service carried over high-speed cable lines.“I don’t think there is a need at this point to talk about regulation,” Daley said. Cheryl Gerber/The Associated Press Gerald Levin of Time Warner speaks at the opening of the National Cable TV Association convention in New Orleans on Monday. @ Continued “It is a great movement,” Edward Filene, a Boston merchant and philanthropist said. “It is worthy of great deeds, deservingof greatloyalty.” Given Filene’s New En; system code used by independent software companies to design ap- plications to run on Windows. To address the finding that Mi- crosoft broke the law by tying the Internet browser to the Windows operating system, Microsoft in- tends to proposeoffering a version of Windowsthat “hides” browser access, the Post reported. Bill Gates, Microsoft chairman and co-founder, made a case against the breakupofMicrosoft in this week's issue of Time magazine, saying that viruses, such as the Love Bugthatstruck last week, would be harder to protect against if his companyissplit in two. New versions of the Windows operating system and Office appli- cations software that could offer protection from outside attacks vhat Microsoft will sday, whenit is due to submit its response to the govern- ment proposal. “Weplan to submit a response which will address the specific concerns voicedinthe judge's rulings, many of which we do not agree with andwill appeal,” Mur. ray said. “These will be measured responses and will not go as far afield as the Justice Department didinits filing.” The Associated Press has learned that the company may ask the courtto disregardat least part of the Justice Department’s plan becauseit goes beyondthe scope of what was p) nted at trial. Other r led reports of the company “speculative.” specific plans The Washington Post reported Sunday that the Microsoft proposal is meant to show U.S. District Uhave securities Broker Dealer ownership experience, Maybe I can help you recover yourlosses. RANDALL R. HEINER) ATTORNEY AT LAW 801-366-5200 (SLC) for more information about me, see: www.heiner-law.com would “be much harder for computer usersto obtain,” Gates wrote in “Viewpoint.” The “Love Bug” virus invaded computers across the world last week in an e-mail with the opening line: ILOVEYOU.Thevirus, which only affected computers running on Microsoft's Windowsoperating system, was spread inadvertently by millions of people using the company’s Outlook e-mail program. Thefrontline of defense against such sophisticated viruses is a continually evolving computeroperating system that attracts the efforts of eager software develop- ers, Gates said. Thatrelationship would suffer because the Justice Department’s proposal for breaking up the company would result in fewer innovations of Windows programs, he said. ProTel, inc. Utah's oldest and largest ais INT=R-T=L phone system dealer 485-1107 www.protelutah.com Lease a Real Network for $299/Mo. 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