New bill in Tex. Senate (SB-547) would amend state’s sales tax on telecom services, applying it only to charges that actually pay for local and interexchange phone service. Currently, sales tax is paid on entire phone bill including “public interest” surcharges for universal service, 911, school and library phone discounts, deaf relay service. State Sen. David Sibley (R-Waco), bill sponsor, said it was unfair to tax amount to other taxes, and ending sales tax on surcharges would save phone customers $96 million on state and local sales taxes. But opponents say tax cut is unwise when state’s surplus is dwindling and economy is slowing.
Medi Telecom, wireless unit of Spain’s Telefonica Moviles, completed demonstration of General Packet Radio Service system in Casablanca. Medi Telecom said it now planned to begin developing GPRS network of 2.5-generation technology, throughout rest of Morocco. GPRS provides data transmission speeds of up to 50 kbps, compared with GSM transmission rates of 9.6 kbps, company said.
Rep. Honda (D-Cal.) is hoping to expand scope of Wireless Caucus to place greater emphasis on 3rd-generation and mobile commerce issues, spokesman told us. There have been reports that Honda would like to create new group, but spokesman said freshman lawmaker had no intention of competing with existing caucus headed by Rep. Pickering (R-Miss.). He said Honda had talked with Pickering about “possibly joining in a leadership capacity” and heading up 3G and m-commerce portions. “We want to make sure we're complementing the existing efforts” to inform Congress on wireless issues, spokesman told us. He also said Honda, member of Budget Committee, is “interested in creating financial and tax incentives for people to build out broadband,” particularly to schools. He said Honda hadn’t decided to support existing proposals, such as bill to give 10% tax incentive for building broadband to underserved areas. Another Honda idea is to “create a tech corps” modeled after Peace Corps (in which Honda served), whereby technology companies would get tax incentives to lend “some of their savvy employees” to schools and school districts to install and teach technology, spokesman said.
Study that tracked 400,000 Danish cellphone users for 13 years found no link between mobile phone use and incidence of cancer, according to Wed. issue of Journal of the National Cancer Institute. No cancers involving brain, nervous system or salivary gland or leukemia were observed in cellphone users, study said. Researchers from Danish Cancer Society and International Epidemiology Institute of Rockville, Md., conducted study. “The numbers of cancers in the study population were remarkably close to those expected from the incidence rates in the general population,” study said. Risks for various cancer types didn’t vary according to duration of cellphone use, how long customer had used service, age at first subscription or whether phone was analog or digital, researchers said. Study also said no connection was found between cellphone use and brain tumors near ear. Research tracked cellphone users 1982-1995, comparing their cancer rates with expected cancer level in overall Danish population.
Some Hollywood studios will begin streaming movies over Internet within “in the next few months” and more will follow soon after, even though technological and legal details of protecting movies from copying aren’t final, said MPAA Pres. Jack Valenti. Studios haven’t even determined whether new legislation is needed to protect copyrights on Internet, Valenti told Media Institute in Washington Wed.
Losses on Major League Baseball helped push Fox TV Network deficit to $60 million in 2nd quarter ended Dec. 31 from $16 million loss year ago. Despite 5% network ratings growth, Fox TV Stations profit dropped to $249 million from $259 million, but cable network profits increased to $56 million from $32 million. Strong filmed entertainment results helped boost overall operating profit to $396 million from $319 million. Network revenue rose to $649 million from $581 million, but TV station revenue dropped to $457 million from $470 million. Parent News Corp. lost $23 million in quarter, vs. $677 million profit year ago, because of losses at controlled entities, company said. Overall revenue dipped to $3.85 billion from $3.86 billion. In other financials, Liberty Corp. station revenue increased to $46.4 million from $38.1 million and cable revenue was flat. Overall profit was down slightly to $11.2 million from $11.8 million year ago.
Sirius Satellite Radio said “final bugs in its system” are nothing that can’t be worked out in time for service to start in June. Spokeswoman said problems with receivers were “probably not even perceptible to listener” but company wanted to make sure receivers were “operating flawlessly in real-world conditions” before service was offered to public. Company has been testing system with satellites in N.Y. since Jan. “As part of our ongoing testing,, we evaluate our system and we have very high standards,” spokeswoman said: “We are going through a comprehensive quality assurance program.” She refused to divulge nature of problems or how long it would be before they would be corrected. “We hope these minor problems resolved very shortly,” she said. Rival XM declined comment on Sirius problems, spokeswoman said.
GM and News Corp. are refusing to comment on reports that Rupert Murdoch is close to finalizing $70 billion deal to buy DirecTV. New company would become largest DBS company in world. News Corp. satellite unit Sky Global reportedly is valued at $35- $45 billion. With industry speculation rampant, GM spokesman cautioned that “no agreements had been reached” and company “remained in talks with more than one interested party” for sale of Hughes Electronics and DirecTV. If deal were to be made, boards of each company would have to approve along with regulatory agencies. Sale could run into antitrust problems and other snags, industry sources said, “but the 2 sides appear to be real close.” However, at our deadline, no deal had been announced and source said no announcement of deal “could be expected” for at least 2 weeks.
This year’s Commerce Committee communications picture became clearer Wed. in both houses of Congress. Senate Communications Subcommittee Chmn. Burns unveiled his technology agenda with emphasis on wireless and Internet issues. Counterpart House panel, whose Chmn. Tauzin (R-La.) has been explicit about his agenda for some time, finally passed its organizing resolutions appointing subcommittee members.
Marketing costs widened BSkyB 2nd-quarter loss to $199.4 million. Europe’s 2nd largest pay-TV company blamed loss on additional costs of marketing and programs to draw new customers and convert existing ones to digital service. Company said it wanted subscribers to change to SkyDigital so they would spend more on services such as shopping and banking through TVs. News Corp has 38% stake in BSkyB and Vivendi SA 23%. Company had 5.05 million direct customers at end of 2000.