Reluare miercuri, 10 ianuarie 1996

THE MEDIA BUSINESS;News Corporation Seeks European Broadcast Rights for Olympics

Date: 11 January 1996

By Bloomberg Business News

Bloomberg News

Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation is negotiating to buy the European rights to broadcast the Olympic Games from 2000 to 2008 for a reported $2 billion. The Sydney Olympic Games Organizing Committee said its president was in talks with a group that included the News Corporation and with the European Broadcast Union, which bargains on behalf of European public service broadcasters like the BBC.

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AT BREAKFAST WITH: Godfrey (Budge) Sperling Jr.;Politicians and the Press, Once Over

Date: 10 January 1996

By Francis X. Clines

Francis Clines

PASS the jampacked evasions and refried platitudes. It's time for another Sperling Breakfast, the symbiotic feast of question and answer shared for decades here by politicians on the make and political reporters on the make-and-break. "Of course it's self-serving," said the breakfast host, Godfrey (Budge) Sperling Jr., a genteel Beltway legend impervious to suggestions that any one of the 2,800 breakfast interviews recorded thus far with politicians is as likely to find the attending columnists, bureau chiefs and reporters being had for breakfast on the half shell by the visiting politician as vice versa.

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A Threat to Journalism

Date: 11 January 1996

Journalism will not thrive robustly if reporters are made to disclose confidential sources and the byproducts of newsgathering, like their notes or unused footage of videotaped interviews. That is the reason for the protection such material enjoys under the First Amendment and the New York State Shield Law. It is also why an impending Federal court showdown in a case involving NBC's "Dateline" program bears close watching. In a broadcast last May, "Dateline" reported on lawsuits brought by the parents of infants who died in a combination cradle and baby swing made by a leading manufacturer of baby products, Graco Children Products Inc. Graco is now seeking to obtain outtakes of "Dateline's" interviews with the parents and their attorneys, which the company says may be helpful to its defense against the parents' charge that defects in the cradle caused the babies' death.

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New York City Newsstand Proposal Won't Fly

Date: 10 January 1996

To the Editor: Deputy Mayor Fran Reiter (letter, Jan. 5) writes that New York City, under its proposed Coordinated Street Furniture Franchise, will receive more than $30,000 a year in rent from an average newsstand.

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NEWS SUMMARY

Date: 11 January 1996

International A2-15

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NEWS SUMMARY

Date: 10 January 1996

International A2-9

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Court Backs a City on News-Box Removal

Date: 10 January 1996

By The New York Times

An architectural commission has the right under state law to ban newspaper vending machines from the historic Beacon Hill neighborhood, the state's highest court has ruled. A Federal appeals court must now decide whether the rule banning "street furniture," which includes the street-corner vending machines known as "news racks," violates the First Amendment rights of newspaper publishing companies.

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COMPANY NEWS;FIRSTAR TO ACQUIRE AMERICAN BANCORPORATION

Date: 11 January 1996

Reuters

The Firstar Corporation of Milwaukee said that it had reached a definitive agreement yesterday to acquire the privately held American Bancorporation of St. Paul and its parent, the Jacob Schmidt Company, for $220 million in stock and cash. Of the total price of $220 million, Firstar agreed to pay 80 percent in stock and 20 percent in cash -- if the stock is trading between $36 and $44 at the time of closing. If Firstar is trading higher than $44 a share, the stock portion will gradually increase to 100 percent, and the transaction value will gradually increase to a maximum of $225 million. If Firstar is trading lower than $36, the transaction value will gradually decrease to a minimum of $215 million. Firstar was unchanged yesterday at $37.50.

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COMPANY NEWS;EARNINGS RESULT IN A SPECIAL DIVIDEND AT ALCOA

Date: 10 January 1996

Bloomberg Business News

Bloomberg News

The Aluminum Company of America said yesterday that it would pay shareholders a special cash dividend of 43 cents a share because 1995 earnings exceeded $3 a share. The company, the world's largest aluminum maker, pays a special dividend of 30 percent of the amount exceeding annual per-share earnings of $3, said Al Posti, a company spokesman. On Monday, Pittsburgh-based Alcoa posted net income for the year of $790.5 million, or $4.43 a share, the company's best results since 1989. The bonus dividend is in addition to Alcoa's regular quarterly dividend of 22.5 cents a share.

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COMPANY NEWS;BAUSCH & LOMB LAYOFFS AND EARNINGS CHARGE

Date: 11 January 1996

AP

Bausch & Lomb Inc. said yesterday that it would consolidate its sunglasses business, closing a plant in Oakland, Md., and eliminating about 800 jobs by the end of the year as part of a three-year reorganization plan. The maker of optics and health products, based in Rochester said that plant's 600 jobs would be eliminated and 200 jobs would be cut this year at a Rochester frame-making plant. The company plans to take a $27 million charge for the reorganization, which is expected to reduce fourth-quarter and 1995 earnings by about 30 cents a share. The company's chief executive, Daniel E. Gill, retired last month amid investor discontent and investigations into company sales and marketing practices.

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