Talent agency, phone companies set media venture.They plan to deliver video images over telephone lines A joint entertainment venture recently announced by three regional telephone companies and Creative Artists Agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA) is a talent and literary agency which represents a vast array of actors, musicians, writers, directors, and athletes, as well as a variety of companies and their products. promises to bring a new entertainment company to Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. while greatly increasing the need for programming out of Hollywood. The new partnership will deliver video images over telephone lines -- dubbed video dial tone (communications) video dial tone - A means by which telephone companies can deliver "television" programs on a common carrier basis and, by law, provide equal access to all. -- to the 30 million customers of the three phone companies, Pacific Telesis
Pacific Telesis Group was one of the seven Regional Bell Operating Companies created after the 1984 breakup of AT&T as a holding company for Pacific Bell and Nevada Bell. Group, Bell Atlantic Corp. and Nynex. The CAA Caa See CCC. talent agency will act as consultant and facilitator for the project. The move will essentially create a new delivery system for video entertainment programming via telephone lines, rather than cable lines or over the airwaves. Industry observers said such a new entertainment "window" can only spell good news for Hollywood. "These telephone companies also have a lot of cash and cash flow," said Mike Adler, entertainment attorney with law firm Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp. "Presumably pre·sum·a·ble adj. That can be presumed or taken for granted; reasonable as a supposition: presumable causes of the disaster. , they will be able to spend that cash on a lot of new programming." CAA Chairman Michael S. Ovitz agreed: "This is a tremendous new opportunity for the creative community. For all artists and producers, this is a new place and a new way to tell their stories and reach their audience." L.A. stories The partners in the video dial tone venture -- which has yet to be named -- plan to create two new companies, one to develop the programming and one to develop and implement the technology needed to deliver it. Each company will employ about 100 people, officials for the venture said. The media-oriented company will be dual-headquartered in Los Angeles and New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of . Its programming and services should be ready for delivery in the second half of 1995, officials said. The size of the firm's Los Angeles operation has yet to be determined, said Pacific Telesis spokesman Craig Watts. "We're assuming that half or more than half (of the company) will be located in L.A. because the concentration of creative enterprises there," he said. The company plans to produce, acquire, package and license both traditional and interactive entertainment programming for delivery by the phone companies. It also plans to develop a "navigator" to help customers work through the system to find the programming they are interested in. Setting strategies CAA will work with the media company to develop branding and marketing strategies for the programming. It will also work as a traditional talent agency to establish relationships and assemble programming from existing sources, such as networks and cable operators, as well as create the deals needed to produce new programming. The three phone companies will also be equal partners in developing technical systems to distribute the programming. The new technical company will be based in the San Francisco Bay area “Bay Area” redirects here. For other uses, see Bay Area (disambiguation). The San Francisco Bay Area, colloquially known as the Bay Area or The Bay and Reston, Va. The three phone companies will each invest about $100 million in the venture. CAA will not have an equity stake in either the media firm or the technical development company. These new video dial tone networks will operate much like cable television does now. However, as the images will be delivered by existing phone lines, they will have the potential for greater penetration than cable TV, as more homes receive phone than cable service. Video dial tone will not require the hefty initial expense of laying cable that traditional cable companies have faced, since the phone networks already exist. The Federal Communications Commission Federal Communications Commission (FCC), independent executive agency of the U.S. government established in 1934 to regulate interstate and foreign communications in the public interest. recently cleared the last regulatory hurdle needed to deliver this technology, but cable companies are expected to challenge it in court. This is not the only venture looking to develop a video dial tone network. In August, Walt Disney Noun 1. Walt Disney - United States film maker who pioneered animated cartoons and created such characters as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck; founded Disneyland (1901-1966) Disney, Walter Elias Disney Co. signed a memorandum of understanding A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is a legal document describing a bilateral or multilateral agreement between parties. It expresses a convergence of will between the parties, indicating an intended common line of action and may not imply a legal commitment. on a similar venture with regional phone companies Ameritech Corp., BellSouth Corp. and Southwestern Bell Corp. Those companies are currently drawing up a business plan. Pacific Telesis is headquartered in San Francisco, with NYNEX in New York and Bell Atlantic in Philadelphia. Their service area includes six of the nation's largest media markets in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., San Francisco and Los Angeles. @ @ |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion