FOX WINS CABLE SLOT FOR 24-HOUR NEWS NETWORK.Byline: Rachel Beck Rachel Beck is an American reporter for the Lebanon Express in Lebanon, Oregon. Born 5 April, 1982, she was raised in Sisters, Oregon. In 2000, she graduated from Sisters High School[1]. She graduated from Vassar College with the class of 2004. Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. News Corp. on Monday secured a spot for its new Fox 24-hour news channel on the nation's largest cable system, a move that will bring the network to 10 million subscribers when it's launched this fall. The deal with Tele-Communications Inc. gives Fox a significant platform to compete head-to-head with all-news cable pioneer CNN CNN or Cable News Network Subsidiary company of Turner Broadcasting Systems. It was created by Ted Turner in 1980 to present 24-hour live news broadcasts, using satellites to transmit reports from news bureaus around the world. , which has dominated the market and has had little competition since it was launched in 1980. ``TCI (Trustworthy Computing Initiative) An umbrella term from Microsoft for its efforts to improve security in Windows. TCI was announced in 2002 after viruses such as Code Red and Nimda had succeeded in attacking numerous Windows computers. represents about 25 percent of the cable universe,'' said John Reidy, a media analyst for Smith Barney Smith Barney is a division of Citigroup Global Capital Markets Inc., a global, full-service financial firm, that provides brokerage, investment banking and asset management services to corporations, governments and individuals around the world. . ``This gets it (the Fox news channel) off to a good start.'' TCI will be the first major cable operator to carry the Fox network, which is jockeying with all-news networks being launched by other media companies for the limited space available on cable systems. Under the deal, Tele-Communications will carry the news channel on its cable systems in exchange for an option to buy up to 20 percent of the Fox news channel. Initially, 10 million of TCI's 13 million subscribers nationwide will get the channel, and that will expand over the next two years to include about 90 percent of TCI's subscribers. Other specifics of the deal were not disclosed, but TCI spokeswoman LaRae Marsik said initially TCI will receive an ``incentive payment'' for carrying the channel. While not specifying the amount of the payment, TCI would forgo the money if it bought the news channel stake, she said. Neither company, however, would comment on previous reports that Fox had offered to pay cable system operators about $10 per subscriber for carrying its 24-hour news network. News reports in recent weeks had said TCI would waive the launch fee that Fox would pay for each home reached by TCI systems. ``This puts them (Fox) in the hunt,'' said Larry Gerbrandt, senior analyst at Paul Kagan Associates Inc. in Carmel. ``You can't be a competitor unless you can get launched on systems.'' Competition is heating up in the cable news business as other companies seek to challenge Turner Broadcasting System's CNN. Microsoft Corp. and NBC NBC in full National Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. commercial broadcasting company. It was formed in 1926 by RCA Corp., General Electric Co. (GE), and Westinghouse and was the first U.S. company to operate a broadcast network. are set to launch their MSNBC MSNBC Microsoft/National Broadcasting Company network in July. Dow Jones & Co., publisher of the Wall Street Journal, is also planning a business news channel. In May, ABC ABC in full American Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. television network. It began when the expanding national radio network NBC split into the separate Red and Blue networks in 1928. said it would postpone plans to launch its 24-hour news channel in early 1997, citing unforeseen costs to get its proposed channel onto cable systems as the reason for the delay. TCI also holds a stake in Turner Broadcasting, but analysts said that should not have any effect on its alliance with Fox. ``TCI has a long history of owning stakes in multiple networks that compete with each other,'' Gerbrandt said. |
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