I 1 IBusinies SCRANTON, PA TUESDAY, MAY 13, 1997 PAGE 22 (She Scranton (Hmc0 TV -System Not Pie ini Sky M.nvWh retreat- ble. EchoStar has about 500,000 cust has Murdoch ble. EchoStar has about 500,000 custom 4 I i -r Grs His experience in Britain probably led Murdoch to believe that direct broad casting satellites could unseat cable, Henderson said. I think now he realizes hes wrong and that is why he wants out of the EchoStar deal. The forced resignation two weeks age of Murdochs one-time satellite broad casting chief, Preston Padden, could be viewed as an olive branch to cable oper ators, who have been furiously fighting Murdoch since he announced the Echo Star deal.
But many in the media industry are still betting that Murdoch is in the satel lite giant and simply ratcheting up the pressure on EchoStar so that he gets better What Murdoch is doing is just bid ing his time, Bibb said. That scenario retreating from his U.S. satellite venture and making peace with cable operators, who are threatened by his satellite plans, said analyst Ted Henderson at Janco Partners. Thats the best way to assure that the moyles, TV shows and other content he produces dont get blocked from cable and continue to bring in big bucks for News Corp. He is first and foremost a content provider in the U.S, Henderson said.
Industry experts agree that while the satellite systems offer better pictures to consumers, the cost of buying or renting satellite dishes at the moment is more expensive than cable. As a result, only 7 million people here have satellite dishes compared with some 67 million who are wired into ca EchoStar lost $101 million on revenue of $211.4 million. Time appears to be on Murdochs side. As word of the deals possible demise has spread, EchoStars stock has sunk. Murdoch may have realized that the original agreement he hatched in February was probably too generous, Bibb said.
Its also in Murdochs interest to get back to the bargaining table. After all, a deal in the U.S. with EchoStar will enable News Corp. to link to existing satellite systems in Asia and Europe and rule the TV broadcast business from the sky on a worldwide basis. Others, however, disagree.
They believe Murdoch has an incentive to see it fail. Any pretense that the deal to build the satellite system is moving ahead was shattered by the fracas, but many experts dont believe its dead. Some industry observers are saying the flap over money is really a typical Murdoch move to get more control over a weaker partner. The current rupture is a negotiating ploy by Murdoch to scrub the original 50-50 joint venture and replace it with a new pact that will leave News Corp. in control, said Porter Bibb, managing director of Ladenburg, Thalmann Co.
It will be restructured but it will happen, Bibb said. Murdoch will probably come back and ask for 80 percent. EchoStar has cutting-edge technology and satellites, Bibb said, but its nearly broke and needs Murdoch. Last year, BY KEITH I. KELLY NEW YORK DAILY NEWS NEW YORK Dont count Rupert Murdoch out yet.
The media moguls dream to build a $1 billion satellite TV system may appear on the ropes, but the News Corp. chief has plenty up his sleeve, industry experts say. Murdochs would-be partner, EchoStar Communications slapped him with a federal lawsuit Friday to force him to lend the company $200 mil EchoStar said Murdoch agreed to fork over the greenbacks to help the cash-strapped company until the News Corp. satellite venture gets off the ground. But Murdoch officials deny that and vowed to fight the suit.
Forbes Starts Digital Tool Site on World Wide Web Web the site runs them as vertical columns alongside the edi-j torial copy, That means that ads dont disj appear when readers scroll dowhj a page on the site, but will stay on screen. For the new site, Forbes snagged six big-ticket advertisers including Intel, Stolichnaya vodka and BMW, companies al ready advertising on Pathfinder the Time Warner umbrella site that includes the online editions of Money and Fortune. Money manager James Cramer, co-chairman of The Street.com, said he welcomed the competition. The more the merrier, he said. As long as theyre not just repackaging all the garbage in the magazine Along with personal finance, the site will have six regular departments on mobile computing, media, international technology, digital entertainment and an area dubbed Cool, devoted to the good life, according to Forbes.
Digital Tool will also feature weekly guest commentaries, including a debut commentary by former Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham about technological threats to newspapers. To make the site congenial to advertisers, Digital Tool is making special arrangements for them. Instead of running advertisem*nts as horizontal billboards at the top of pages on its site the usual practice on the MORTGAGE UPDATE TOTAL POINTS MINIMUM DOWN PERCENT RATE SAVINGS BANK 3 2.75 5 5 7.875 6.75 BankAmerica Mortgage Co. (6101 434-7075 Citizens Savings 587-1112 3 3 20 20 6.75 7.25 BY OEOROE MANNES NEW YORK DAILY NEWS NEW YORK Forbes, the self-proclaimed Capitalist Tool, now wants to be the Digital Tool, too. The business magazine controlled by flat-tax evangelist and former presidential candidate Steve Forbes launched a new site on the World Wide Web on Monday, featuring a big dose of investment coverage.
Dubbed Forbes Digital Tool, its aimed at business-sawy executives who have long turned to the magazine for corporate news and analysis. The new online entry heats up the competition among Forbes and its magazine rivals, Business Week and Fortune, both of which are online, too. It also will compete for readers and ad dollars in a crowded online personal finance field that Includes Money Online, the Motley Fool and The Street.com. But Forbes executives said theyre confident theyll win the online finance sweepstakes and be in the black by next year. Ive got the Forbes brand behind me.
I have a huge empire to promote feed me the best text in the world, said David Churbuck, Forbes digital media guru. Forbes Digital Tool (http: www.forbes.tf6m), which has a staff of 20, will have significantly different content from what has-been running on the Forbes magazine web site since it went on-line a year ago. The new version will include: The Forbes 40 Index, a group of 40 stocks chosen by the fortunes theyve made for the Forbes 400, the magazines list of the worlds richest Americans. The stocks include Microsoft and Coca-Cola. Tool Tech 101, which lists information on sales and profits of top technology companies.
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But this market makes me very uncomfortable. I think the market is ignoring the historical fact that when the Fed raises interest rates its not good for stocks. The recent rally drew some impetus from strong earnings reports for the first quarter of the year, as well as economic data that pointed to continuing growth without much present evidence of revived inflation. Indicators of the good about the economy things like growth and employment and profits have rarely looked better, says David Resler, chief economist at Nomura Securities International in New York. But the Feds concerns are a reminder, in Reslers that every silver lining has its cloud." For one thing, he suggests, the recent economic data contained hints that growth might indeed be moderating.
Summit Mortgage Co. 1800-323 9797 BY CHET CURRIER ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK As impressed as they have been with the stock markets recent rally to new highs, the bears of Wall Street arent ready to surrender yet. The bull market may have prevailed for the moment, despite pressure applied by the Federal Reserve and its chairman, Alan 1 Greenspan, with his oft-voiced concerns about possible excesses of enthusiasm among investors. But most analysts- are betting that the Fed will be heard from again soon although maybe not on May 20, when the central bank's policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee holds its next scheduled meeting. GREENSPANS HINT The last time it met, in late March, the FOMC opted to nudge short-term interest rates higher in what it portrayed as a preemptive strike against inflation.
Comments by Greenspan late last Tobyhanna Army Depot FCU 895-7368 USA Mortgage Partners 1800 5436872 able show of raw power. In just 17 trading sessions, the Dow Jones average of 30 industrials soared 833 points, or better than 13 percent, more than recouping the ground it lost in a selloff over the previous month. SOME PANIC BUYING In the latter stages of the rally, a kind of panic buying swept through many big-name stocks, observed Edward Keely, manager of the $1.2 billion Founders Growth Fund, a Denver-based mutual fund. Im actually an eternal optimist, Keely said in an interview this past week. So its an uncom week were interpreted as a hint that he might not take any further steps this time.
But as Norman Fosback, editor of the financial newsletter Market Logic in Deerfield Beach, puts it, the next Fed action, regardless of timing, is certain to be towards greater restraint and higher interest rates, a factor the market has not yet discounted. That is one reason we believe a policy of great caution continues to be warranted. Among all the convulsive ups and downs of stock prices so far In 1997, many observers considered the rally between April 11 and May 6 to be the most remark Note: All mortgages are conventional, fixed-rate loans unless otherwise indicated. Percentage down rates do not include conventional insurance, although percentage down rates with insurance are available at most of the participating banks. Rates vary according to term of nc new construction.
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