Thursday, June 26, 2003

Follow-ups Univision-HBC merger  Democrats are opposing the merger of Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation and Univision television, which we reported earlier. A Wall Street Journal article (June 20) indicates that "Univision has begun sending its top executives to Capitol Hill virtually every day in recent weeks to lobby for the merger." The article talks about the large amount of money donated to Republicans by the CEOs of both companies. FCC rulings Business Week (June 16) highlights the alliance between both left-of-center and right-of-center groups protesting the recent FCC decision to loosen the rules on media ownership (reported here). It's funny to hear both the NRA and pro-choice as allies in this issue. Congressional Democrats are making news about passing new laws, but the article thinks that no real takeback will happen. Plus this "Even as the foes of Big Media mobilize, the TV and newspaper giants are gearing up to sue the FCC for not going far enough. They will argue that the explosion of new media sources, such as cable and the Internet, make even the more liberal rules obsolete." DHL versus FedEx and UPS In the same issue of Business Week, there's a profile of John Dasburg, who, along with other investors, has bought the airline servicing DHL Worldwide, sold by the German-based company to avoid the application of foreign ownership rules. We covered the struggle between DHL, which is buying Airborne Express, and the giants of the US market, FedEx and UPS here. From the article: "Many in the [shipping] industry hope that Dasburg succeeds simply because they want someone to challenge the dominance of the Big Two. 'Who cares if the Germans control Worldwide?' says transportation consultant Satish Jindel. 'What matters is that...DHL becomes a serious competitor to FedEx and UPS.'" Vivendi auction The bidding for Vivendi media assets goes on (as we reported earlier). While Liberty Media may now be the leader, thanks to its offer for Vivendi music assets in addition to its more desirable TV and film property. But the surprise contender may be NBC/General Electric, which has not been in the past interested in buying a studio. It was noted that NBC has been on the hunt for cable properties, buying Telemundo and Bravo recently, and the availability of Vivendi's Sci-Fi and USA Channels may be very attractive. Oracle's Ellison: sociopathic? The Oracle bid for PeopleSoft (details here) still on the table, with hints that it will be sweetened. In reaction, the companies' biggest rival in the enterprise software area, SAP, has stared a major advertising push aimed right at the mid-level users searched by PeopleSoft, and aimed at restless PeopleSoft customers who might have questions about the stability of product and service. Meanwhile PeopleSoft threatened to sue Oracle, then withdrew the threat. In fact, according to Forbes magazine, PeopleSoft CEO Craig Conway has termed Ellison "sociopathic." And PeopleSoft's merger with smaller rival J. D. Edwards is all up in the air. If Oracle CEO Elision's plan was to disrupt both PeopleSoft and J. D. Edwards, he has certainly succeeded. But many observers think the whole thing could backfire, hurting Oracle and helping SAP. 7:32:30 PM

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7:23:54 PM

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