“The $13 billion proposed deal cannot be completed without the permission of antitrust lawyers at the Justice Department and a majority of the five commissioners at the F.C.C. The commission gave the two companies spectrum licenses for the satellite radio services in the 1990s on the condition that they not merge, and it would have to waive that condition for the deal to go forward.”
Tag: 03.07.07
Suing The Restaurant Critic
A number of restaurants have sued critics over bad reviews. “But American judges have apparently never punished even tough, mean and wrongheaded restaurant reviews. As the federal appeals court in Manhattan put it in 1985, ‘reviews, although they may be unkind, are not normally a breeding ground for successful libel actions’.”
Microsoft Hits Google Over Book Copyrights
Both companies are digitizing books. “Google’s approach may allow it to create a searchable database quicker than Microsoft, but the path taken by Microsoft will be better for authors and publishers in the long term,” says a Microsoft spokesman. Why? “Microsoft will work with its partners to help them make money from the search projects.”
Mstislav Rostropovich Released From Hospital
The cellist was in A Russian facility and “underwent a complex operation on the liver, and now [doctors] have prescribed therapeutic exercise and walks in the fresh air.”
Smithsonian Removes Interim Tag From Inspector
“The Smithsonian Institution’s Board of Regents has appointed A. Sprightley Ryan as permanent inspector general. Ryan, the acting inspector general since June 2006, recently released two reports on executive salaries at the Smithsonian and an audit of expenses of Secretary Lawrence M. Small.”
Canadians Love It When We Tell Them What To Do
Two U.S. Senators are pressuring Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to take a tougher line against music and video piracy, “urging Ottawa to enact anti-piracy legislation similar to a bill the two senators introduced in 2003.”
Get That Symphony Off Your Cell Phone
“Every generation finds new and better ways to ruin things, and one of the best today is the classical ring tone, which follows in the noble tradition of turning snippets of serious music into theme songs for radio shows, backgrounds to TV commercials, medleys on greatest hits records and divertissements in elevators.”
Ottawa Chamber Fest Director Quits
“The founder and artistic director of Ottawa’s Chamber Music Festival resigned suddenly Tuesday. Julian Armour, who started the festival in 1994 and helped build it into the world’s largest during his 13 years as artistic director, blamed differences in vision between himself and the board of directors of the Ottawa Chamber Music Society.”
BC Arts To Get Fiscal Boost
Arts groups in British Columbia will get a fresh cash infusion from a public-private partnership over the next three years. “Arts Partners in Creative Development will give British Columbia arts organizations $6.5 million in new funding… to help develop original works in the performing arts, the visual arts and literary arts.”
Boston Landmark Could Face The Wrecking Ball
“A plan to demolish a 1960 office tower by the influential architect Paul Rudolph threatens to pit a prominent developer backed by [Boston] Mayor Thomas M. Menino against preservationists who see the building as a seminal example of midcentury Modernism.”