--What's to Gain or Lose in a Hulu Sale?
--Rumor: Yahoo May Have Made an Unsolicited Bid
--Hulu Becomes Immediately Relevant in Pay-TV, OTT
Hulu, the streaming TV lovechild from News Corp, Disney and NBC Universal, is in play, thanks to a mystery bid that hit early this week and has been lighting up the news feeds ever since.
Or, at least that's what someone wants us to think, someone who'd benefit from the possibility of a Hulu sale being thrust into the limelight. There's a lot of skepticism on this because it's hard to nail down a buyer and because sources are all over the place. Our double agent behind Hulu lines says that the word coming down from the top is that a bid was indeed made but another friend in the digital content distribution and licensing arm of a Hulu parent has said the bid is all hype.
The Wall Street Journal reported late Tuesday that an offer from a mystery bidder did indeed happen and that Hulu's board is considering a sale. paidContent said it confirmed Hulu management and owners are discussing a bid and other options but that there's been no formal board meeting.
The Los Angeles Times was one of the first to say that Yahoo was the mystery bidder, which makes some sense as the company is trying to reinvent itself as more of a content destination. However, Yahoo's EVP Ross Levinsohn has recently told paidContent and others that there "are no gamechanging acquisitions for Yahoo" planned, but Levinsohn has been a big supporter of Hulu since his days at News Corp, so it's a statement that can be overlooked if Hulu is up for grabs.
Our Thoughts on the Usual Suspects
--Amazon: It hasn't been talked about much, but Hulu could greatly help its Amazon Prime offering, the one that hasn't really made a splash or garnered much attention since its launch. Hulu has a better video player and overall user experience, and a lot more content than what Amazon is offering. The only issue here is getting to keep all the rights and licensing, and being able to make such a potentially expensive purchase worth the cost. Amazon would most benefit from this purchase if it transitioned its Prime offering, like we previously suggested, to augment content sales. Users could get access to free digital copies of any DVD or Blu-ray they purchase plus a related film or a teaser of the next season's first two or three episodes when purchasing a TV show. Amazon is a great retailer and a decent streamer. Enhancing retail could be a happy place for Hulu's existing owners.--AOL: The once king of the Internet has been spending a lot of money in acquiring new entertainment content and burning its old bridges that don't fit an entertainment model. If it has the cash, a Hulu buy would be big, especially when linking that content to its other properties. AOL already uses properties like The Huffington Post to link back to its TV site, http://www.aoltv.com/, but what if it could instead embed a TV episode (with ads!) into both its AOL TV page and directly onto the Huffington Post's site. Licensing would be the only issue here and AOL will likely have to shell out a bit more than the rest on our list to ensure it can put streams across its properties. A worthwhile deal if it has the cash and can guarantee itself it'll get the eyeballs. "I think content subscriptions on the Internet can be a very viable business,"
said CEO Tim Armstrong. "We put major investments into things like video [and are] now the number 2 video player on the Web after YouTube. [Two years ago] AOL was nowhere on the Web."
--Apple: Really not the first person you'd think of, especially considering iTunes, but the timing is interesting since there's a new fire lit under the Apple rumor mill concerning an iOS-based TV set. A former Apple executive said the company plans to "blow Netflix and all those other guys away" by bundling Apple TV with iTunes inside a physical display, DailyTech reports. A fall launch could mean iOS 5 and iCloud integration, with apps and likely cloud-based content syncing TV shows and movies as well as music via iTunes Match. Apple isn't a likely buyer since it prefers to sell content via iTunes, but it could use the streaming service as a push to its platform. Apple has shown some flexibility by allowing Netflix onto its Apple TV STB, but a Hulu move seems a step too far into its own content realm.
--Comcast: This is the least likely to hold water as Comcast and NBCU can't really have a hand in Hulu. As part of the regulatory approval for gaining control of NBCU, Comcast agreed to step away from Hulu's operations and likely can't even take part in any of these management or sale discussions. Attempting to purchase Hulu outright could end up being a nightmare for the cableco. The only possibility is that Comcast has figured out how to work the regulation and is making a purchase to use this as its OTT delivery for Xfinity TV, but still not a likely buyer.
--Google: Various reporters have confirmed that Google isn't the bidder and we agree. A Google purchase for a YouTube companion service would be a smart offering since YouTube, according to recent reports, sees more streaming traffic per day than its top five competitors combined. The problem here is that TV networks don't all like YouTube.
--Microsoft: We've heard Microsoft mentioned a few times, but it isn't likely to be a player. The company has its hands full with its mobile offering now, Skype and WP7, and dumping that much cash for Hulu means it has less on hand to make deals like its partnership with Nokia and other recent purchases.
--Netflix: This is a purchase that's getting the most talk beyond Yahoo. Netflix would do well if it could make the purchase to keep access to the content and shift it to Netflix or a unified platform, which is unlikely given the problems it has with some of Hulu's parents. Netflix has also said that it isn't interested in getting into the catch-up TV business. Such an acquisition would boost Netflix' streaming offering dramatically, but would also require an increase in subscription fees or a series of new tiers for its service.
--News Corp or Disney: Everyone likes control, so why not have more of it over your own content? There's always been a bit of a disagreement over how to run Hulu and how to go after licensing, so one of these two remaining parents could be a potential buyer at the end of the day. Neither of these were likely to be the initial bidder but both could easily jump into the game. Or if they were interested, they could've floated the "bid" to the press in order to get everyone talking and work in their own offer.
--Yahoo: The rumored bidder at last. Yahoo would gain a lot since it's been struggling to move to an entertainment destination and gets somewhat passed over as users think of search, e-mail, entertainment and the like. The biggest boon would be Yahoo's Connected TV platform, currently on 8 million devices in consumers' homes. Not only could Yahoo guarantee a Hulu Plus widget on every TV and STB, but it would have a great incentive to move more content to being TV-only on the service instead of Web-only. The licensing costs would be huge, but it would have the perfect playground to launch its Broadcaster Interactive platform, which would mean better ad rates than what Hulu currently gets and a better platform to tailor ads to specific users--something Hulu currently does well on its Web site but utterly fails to do on its STB/connected TV/game console platform. Hulu was an overnight success when it launched in 2007 but has in some ways struggled to keep up with Netflix and others. The problem with the bid is that there are many unanswered questions, all of which point out areas where the service has struggled.
A sale could simplify Hulu's ownership issues as the company continues to struggle in both streams and hardware. It has a complicated ownership arrangement which has made the service hard to gauge but has also likely helped it maintain exclusive content deals from its parents. However, the ownership formation also has led to the company's biggest headaches when there have been disagreements over its future direction.
Dark Horse Bidder
There is one dark horse in all of this that's not getting too much attention: no one.
With the people playing in the top echelon of Hulu, perception gives as much power as anything else, especially as the company continues to eye a public offering.
Hulu could benefit with a lot of coverage and some beefing up of its valuation, so it could easily be someone with stakes in the game either from the standpoint of directing the company's future or even for someone looking to get in on the content side that's seeking some better advertising pricing.
The initial leak lacking a bidder's name is a tactic that can be used to get a private company to admit that it's in play or that it should be, both of which could do well for the studios behind the service and for the men and women sitting on its board. While Hulu's parents are for the most part public companies with many public arms, the joint venture itself is private.
One reason to suggest it should be in play is the $500 million projected revenue for all of 2011, compared to just $263 million in all of 2010.
Hulu explored an IPO last year when it was seeking money to license more content according to various reports, and its valuation was put at around $2 billion. Eventually this plan was halted, but this could be a good time to start it up again since the pay-TV companies have all signaled plans to develop their own OTT services.
Why a Sale Seems Dubious
Even if all of the somewhat fake seeming pieces fall together, a Hulu acquisition at this point feels pretty far off and it comes down to the content on the service.
We at The Online Reporter aren't experts in content licensing deals for TV shows on broadcast networks or the Web, and honestly through the years we've seen the folks who are miss the mark and trip themselves up in trying to explain this, so we're going to simplify the goals in all of this to a recent fortune cookie message that crossed our path: "Work hard and you will become more wealthy."
Hulu has worked hard to secure dozens of content partners across a wide range of content genres, but its core business and its best assets are the series of exclusive next-day distribution deals it has with its owners and their properties. It's broadcast owners along with Providence Equity own the majority of the service and they also hold the power on Hulu's board--Comcast is absent because of its deal when purchasing NBC Universal.
Any sale would give a short-term payout to these companies and even if it was a big offer it might not be enough because it didn't realize the nuance to our fortune cookie: power and wealth are sometimes interchangeable.
These media giants don't want to give up any control over their content and they typically don't trust anyone else with it especially with what they hold most dear. (Think we'll ever see a big ESPN ticket on Hulu? We don't either.). A purchase of the service would see a shift in the distribution rights for some of this big content to another party, and if the owners dragged their feet on these rights there'd be no sale.
Any move on Hulu is solely for these next-day episodes--we love the Criterion Collection's masterpieces of film as much as the next guy, but for money-making they pale in comparison to the latest episode of "The Daily Show," "Hot in Cleveland" or "House." Even older shows like "Lost" and "Heroes" stand to make a pretty penny on Hulu, but they help more for retention during the summer months as shows take their holiday from releasing new episodes than during the regular season where every night brings in a swath of new content that we can't possibly watch all at once.
Buying Hulu without these next-day airings isn't hard work, so it won't make anyone wealthy.
Web streams are changing the way everyone is looking at any video content. Mobile streams are going through the roof, videos and ads are becoming instantly interactive, YouTube is pulling in more and more eyeballs for longer and longer, and there are hundreds of millions of TVs that can get Web content to play on them through apps and connected devices, and the key theme to all this growth is confusion.
Anyone in charge of content right now has to be careful getting into the mix, especially when it comes to long-term deals. Even Hulu has had trouble securing them--that's one rumored reason its IPO didn't get off the ground last year--because no one wants to bet on the wrong horse six months down the line when the next great revolution occurs. Starz gets a bad wrap for this because of its previous $30 million per year deal with Netflix. Everyone is looking at it with fresh eyes. Starz made a bold and profitable move when it first got in bed with Netflix for that price, but now the market values those streams at much higher rates, and no one wants to be the next guy that has to wait until a deal is over to get back to market value.
Getting the whole of Hulu's board together is a tough task, but it's doable. Adding to that a deal that keeps Hulu's broadcast partners and content owner partners will be a tough one, but it could be done for Web-only content after greasing a lot of palms. Shifting this content to a new owner and then to TV sets would be incredibly expensive and could easily lead to a service that only a few studios want to work with again once their existing licensing deals are up.
Yahoo is still the top name in the rumor mill and it's perhaps the most interesting with its Connected TV platform and Broadcaster Interactive initiative, but it's a big, expensive play that we're not sure anyone in the market is quite ready to make. It's not impossible, but a profitable purchase of Hulu is well past aiming for the stars. It's boldly going where no one has gone before.
Better management would allow American universities to do more with less
DEREK BOK, a former president of Harvard, once observed that "universities share one characteristic with compulsive gamblers and exiled royalty: there is never enough money to satisfy their desires." This is a bit hard on compulsive gamblers and exiled royals. America's universities have raised their fees five times as fast as inflation over the past 30 years. Student debt in America exceeds credit-card debt. Yet still the universities keep sending begging letters to alumni and philanthropists.
This insatiable appetite for money was bad enough during the boom years. It is truly irritating now that middle-class incomes are stagnant and students are struggling to find good jobs. Hence a flurry of new thinking about higher education. Are universities inevitably expensive? Vance Fried, of Oklahoma State University, recently conducted a fascinating thought experiment, backed up by detailed calculations. Is it possible to provide a first-class undergraduate education for $6,700 a year rather than the $25,900 charged by public research universities or the $51,500 charged by their private peers? He concluded that it is.
Mr Fried shunned easy solutions. He insisted that students should live in residential colleges, just as they do at Harvard and Yale. He did not suggest getting rid of football stadiums (which usually pay for themselves) or scrimping on bed-and-board.
His cost-cutting strategies were as follows. First, separate the funding of teaching and research. Research is a public good, he reasoned, but there is no reason why undergraduates should pay for it. Second, increase the student-teacher ratio. Business and law schools achieve good results with big classes. Why not other colleges? Mr Fried thinks that universities will be able to mix some small classes with big ones even if they have fewer teachers. Third, eliminate or consolidate programmes that attract few students. Fourth, puncture administrative bloat. The cost of administration per student soared by 61% in real terms between 1993 and 2007. Private research universities spend $7,000 a year per student on "administrative support": not only deans and department heads but also psychologists, counsellors, human-resources implementation managers and so on. That is more than the entire cost of educating a student under Mr Fried's scheme.
Veteran university-watchers may dismiss Mr Fried's ideas as pie in the sky. ("The only part of college not mired in tradition is the price," grumbles Ben Wildavsky, a co-editor of "Reinventing Higher Education".) Yet some universities are beginning to squeeze costs. The University of Minnesota's new campus in Rochester has defined teaching as "job one". The Harrisburg University of Science and Technology has abolished tenure and merged academic departments. Regents at the University of Texas are talking about a $10,000 undergraduate degree.
Mr Fried fails to mention an obvious source of savings. Americans could complete their undergraduate degrees in three years (as is normal elsewhere), instead of four. In practice, most American students take even longer than four years, not least because so many work to pay their tuition. Surprisingly, America's future chainsaw-wielding corporate titans take a leisurely two years to complete their MBAs; most Europeans need only one.
Shai Reshef, an educational entrepreneur-turned-philanthropist, is pioneering an even more radical idea. His University of the People offers free higher education (not counting the few hundred dollars it costs to process applications and mark exams), pitching itself to poor people in America and the rest of the world. The university does this by exploiting three resources: the goodwill of academic volunteers who want to help the poor, the availability of free "courseware" on the internet and the power of social networking. Some 2,000 academic volunteers have designed the courses and given the university some credibility. Tutors direct the students, who so far number 1,000 or so and hail from around the world, to the online courses. They also help to organise them into study groups, and then supervise from afar, dropping in on discussions and marking tests. Mr Reshef pays for incidental expenses with $2m of his own money and donations.
There are plenty of questions about Mr Reshef's project. Can you really build a university on volunteerism and goodwill? Can students really be relied upon to do most of the teaching themselves? Will free courseware remain free? (Newspapers that used to give away content online are now putting up pay barriers.)
Mr Reshef's university has yet to win accreditation, which could take years. But he can take comfort from Clayton Christensen's classic book "The Innovator's Dilemma". Mr Christensen points out that innovators often start by offering products that are cheaper, but markedly inferior. Quickly, however, they learn how to improve their offerings. Even if Mr Reshef fails, there are plenty of other disruptive innovators around. In America, one tertiary student in ten already studies exclusively online. One in four does so at least some of the time, and a growing number of bodies, including elite universities, think-tanks, governments and international organisations, are putting first-rate material online.
The coming campus rumpus
Sometimes when academics grouse that there is "never enough money", they are justified--big science costs big bucks. But higher education is nevertheless marred by inefficiencies and skewed incentives. Students pay to be taught, but their professors are rewarded almost entirely for research. Mr Fried's calculations suggest that one can slash costs without sacrificing much that students value. Mr Reshef's experiment may fail, but there is no doubt that universities need more experimenters. The cost of tuition cannot forever rise faster than students' ability to pay. Industries that cease to offer value for money sooner or later get shaken up. American universities are ripe for shaking.
Economist.com/blogs/schumpeter
Byline: MATT DUNNING
The success of a company's wellness program depends greatly on its ability to cater to the specific needs of its employees, wellness experts say.
Communication of a wellness program's offerings, events and especially its rewards in which delivery methods and content are tailored to employees could mean the difference between a wellness initiative that takes off and one that sputters, consultants and wellness program providers say.
"Understanding the culture of your organization and recognizing the communication channels you already have in place are really important for a successful strategy," said Michelle Baade, vp of business development at the Omaha, Neb.-based wellness program provider SimplyWell L.L.C.
There are essentially two realms of wellness communications: high-tech and traditional. In most cases, a blend of both is best, Ms. Baade said. But she also said benefit communications should track closely with employee preferences and working conditions.
A workforce that spends most of its day in front of computers is more likely to want wellness program information communicated by emails, text messages, online chat forums with physicians or vendor specialists, and secure social media platforms, experts say.
Where workers' computer access is limited or nonexistent, more traditional posters, brochures, newsletters and "table tent" displays may be more effective in providing wellness information, she said.
However, Ms. Baade warned that employers should avoid making assumptions about employee preferences. Without surveying workers on their preferred methods of communication, an employer may be surprised to find that many workers are not getting the message.
"Ironically, a lot of the newest technology is having success in populations that were harder to reach five years ago when everyone switched from paper to Internet portals," Ms. Baade said, adding that tools such as text messages and smartphone applications (see story, next page) are in some cases becoming popular on construction sites, manufacturing plants and other lines of work far removed from a desktop computer.
Companies not well-positioned to leverage technology at the worksite still can experience success with their wellness program with the right combination of Web and email tools and traditional printed materials.
According to a survey by New York-based Buck Consultants L.L.C., more than 75% of U.S. companies with wellness programs still use posters, fliers and newsletters distributed at the worksite, and more than 50% use on-site health fairs, employee meetings and mailings to the home.
For the highest probability of success no matter which communication channel is used, the material should be personalized as much as possible, said Barry Hall, principal of clinical health consulting at Buck.
"Delivering highly personalized support and interactions to individuals will really help get and sustain their attention much more so than traditional 'generic' communications," Mr. Hall said, adding that one wellness information communications method that has outlived its usefulness is the long-form program guide.
"People just do not have the time, and the old-fashioned, thick print booklets are simply overwhelming," Mr. Hall said. "It's fine to embed wellness-related messaging with enrollment messaging, but the old style won't get the message conveyed and absorbed."
Even as technology spawns new information channels, one of the oldest methods--face-to-face contact--is still among the most effective, Mr. Hall said. Still, more companies are forgoing the direct approach as the challenging economy forces companies to prioritize productivity and bottom-line savings over personal touch, he said.
"Studies show that face to face remains one of the most powerful ways to get and keep attention, and these events are now sufficiently unique that they're actually a novelty," Mr. Hall said. "If we really want to pursue a 'culture of health,' we need to build trust, and face to face is a powerful way to build that comfort about management's motivations for the program."
Just as important is the content of the messages themselves.
LuAnn Heinen, vp of the Washington-based National Business Group on Health, said employees are more likely to respond favorably to simple, relatable instructions and peer success stories than cold statistics on illness, injury and health care costs (see box).
"Research shows that most employees already want the same thing their employers want--to be healthy, to exercise, etc.," Ms. Heinen said. "So communication focused on why something is important is not as necessary as identifying easy ways for them to get started."
Companies also should consider the source of their wellness program's communications.
Eric Zimmerman, chief marketing officer of Minneapolis-based RedBrick Health Corp., said wellness information most likely to be absorbed and acted upon comes from an employee's "inner circle," typically another co-worker or team leader. Providers including RedBrick also are seeing increased engagement in programs where they can involve an employee's physician directly in relaying information, he said. The next most effective communication sources are the wellness provider, followed by the employer's senior management and the company's health insurer, he said.
"When we look at engagement rates as a proxy for message effectiveness, there is a demonstrated and systematic difference between companies that have an independent health management partner and those that manage their own program," Mr. Zimmerman said. "It's an even bigger difference once you include companies that just use their insurance carrier."
Copyright 2011 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved.
May 26 2011 (TCA) -- In its geopolitical interests Uzbekistan is trying to balance between East and West in offering its gas resources. India has now reached out to Central Asia and is lining up along side of Russian and Chinese companies who signed major energy agreements with Central Asian countries.
Following the visit of Uzbek President Islam Karimov to India on May 17-18 the two countries signed documents on more than 30 joint projects worth approximately $2.2 billion.
These are projects aimed at joint exploration and production of hydrocarbons, production of fiber-optic cables, production of medicines, as well as the processing of cotton, silk and skins. Projects in the field of information and communication technologies include the production of smart phones, tablet PCs and Internet set-top boxes, as well as power sources based on solar-hybrid technology.
During the talks President Karimov and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh coordinated their positions on Afghanistan, since stability there would facilitate the formation and development of cost-effective routes, reducing the distance between the markets of India and Central Asia. The level of trade and economic cooperation between the two countries is currently very low. India's share of trade with Central Asian countries is extremely low, less than one percent of their total turnover. Though the turnover between India and Uzbekistan in 2010 increased by 18 percent to $150 million, it totaled only 0.6 percent of Uzbekistan's total trade turnover.
"The main reason for the small number of Indian companies in the Central Asian market is the usual transportation and communication difficulties, since India does not border with any of [Central Asian] republics, and these republics have no outlet to the ocean," said analyst Anvar Jumayev. Therefore, India's government has to make greater efforts to create conditions for Indian companies to enter the Central Asian market.
India's government considers the situation in investment cooperation with the Central Asian countries to be far from favorable. "For the past ten years these countries have got credit lines worth $100 million. However, due to the small amount it should be regarded only as a political gesture of goodwill," believes expert Vitaly Paramonov.
In this regard the outcome of President Karimov's visit to New Delhi might be considered a significant breakthrough in stimulating investment by Indian companies in the economy of Uzbekistan and the entire Central Asia. The fuel and energy sector should be traditionally considered as the engine of this process.
The Indian side is particularly interested in exploration opportunities of natural gas reserves in the Ustyurt Plateau in Karakalpakstan. India's hydrocarbon companies are very interested in Uzbek gas. Its supply will be carried out along a transport corridor which will be built by Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Iran, Qatar and Oman.
"India, strongly dependent on imported energy, had no luck on tenders in the oil and gas projects in Central Asia," said Ilkhat Tushev, an analyst at Central Asia Investments. "Major players from the U.S. and Europe signed agreements to develop fields in Kazakhstan back in the 1990s. China, India's main competitor in the fight for global energy resources, has numerous assets in Kazakhstan and has built a pipeline to its northwestern border". According to Tushev, India may now try to catch up due to new contracts, particularly in Uzbekistan, but it is still too far from the practical implementation of these plans.
(THROUGH ASIA PULSE)
Patersons, a supplier of integrated global payroll services delivering expert solutions to clients in more than 160 countries, has announced two strategic executive new hires -Tim O'Donoghue as CTO and Richard Davies as VP of Delivery.
In a release, the Company said that as CTO, O'Donoghue will be responsible for leading the technology strategy and R&D investment behind Patersons' integrated global payroll services. A software product executive with 20 years of software engineering and software product development experience, O'Donoghue's expertise includes consumer internet, banking/financial services, enterprise software, interactive voice solutions, secure electronic payments, and high-tech research and development. Most recently, he served as the CTO for alternative investments at SunGard Financial Systems.
During his career, O'Donoghue also held the roles of VP of Custom Advertising Solutions for international markets and VP of Engineering for Europe and Canada at Yahoo!, as well as Head of Development at Misys Banking Systems.
The new VP of Delivery for Patersons, Davies has responsibility for Patersons' Delivery teams, ensuring all engagements are delivered on time and at the highest quality. He joins Patersons after serving as the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) services director at SaaS vendor Concur, a provider of integrated travel and expense management solutions, where he led the Delivery function through high growth over the past six years.Davies' extensive career has included positions at Pegasystems (formerly Chordiant), the Financial Services Authority in the U.K., and Oracle. Davies is also a chartered accountant.
Headquartered in Salisbury, U.K. with offices in the U.S., central Europe and Asia, Patersons is a provider of integrated global payroll services delivering expert solutions to clients in more than 160 countries. The company's secure Internet-based software as a service is multi-currency and multi-lingual (covering over 30 languages), features an interface, supports implementation times and facilitates integration with existing systems.
((Comments on this story may be sent to health@closeupmedia.com))
Penalty stems from 2005 explosion at Texas City, Texas, refinery
WASHINGTON, Aug. 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration today announced that BP Products North America Inc. will pay a full penalty of $50.6 million stemming from the 2005 explosion at its Texas City, Texas, refinery that killed 15 workers and injured 170 others. The agreement resolves failure-to-abate citations issued after a 2009 follow-up investigation. In addition to paying the record fine, BP has agreed to take immediate steps to protect those now working at the refinery, allocating a minimum of $500 million to that effort.
"This agreement achieves our goal of protecting workers at the refinery and ensuring that critical safety upgrades are made as quickly as possible," said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. "The size of the penalty rightly reflects BP's disregard for workplace safety and shows that we will enforce the law so workers can return home safe at the end of their day."
Under the agreement, BP immediately will begin performing safety reviews of the refinery equipment according to set schedules and make permanent corrections. The agreement also identifies many items in need of immediate attention; the company has agreed to address those concerns quickly and to hire independent experts to monitor its efforts. Additionally, the agreement provides an unprecedented level of oversight of BP's safety program including regular meetings with OSHA, frequent site inspections and the submission of quarterly reports for the agency's review. Finally, in a step toward workplace safety corporate-wide, BP agrees to establish a liaison between its North American and London boards of directors and OSHA, which will allow the agency to raise compliance problems at the highest level.
"Safer conditions at this refinery should result from this arrangement, which goes far beyond what can normally be achieved through abatement of problems identified in citations," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Dr. David Michaels. "Make no mistake, OSHA will be watching to ensure that BP complies with the agreement and safeguards its workers."
In September 2005, OSHA cited BP for a then-record $21 million as a result of the fatal explosion at its Texas City refinery in March of that year. Upon issuance of the citations, the parties entered into an agreement that required the company to identify and to correct deficiencies. In a follow-up investigation in 2009, OSHA found that although the company made many changes related to safety, it failed to live up to several extremely important terms of that agreement. As a result, OSHA cited BP for "failure to abate" violations with penalties totaling a record $50.6 million that BP now has agreed to pay.*
During that same 2009 investigation at the Texas City refinery, OSHA also identified 439 new willful violations and assessed more than $30 million in penalties. Litigation before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission regarding those violations and penalties is ongoing and is not impacted by today's settlement.
To read materials related to today's agreement, visit http://www.osha.gov/dep/bp/bpagreement.html.
Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA's role is to assure these conditions for America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.
* EDITOR'S NOTE: In October 2009, OSHA announced $87.4 million in penalties against BP resulting from its inspection of the Texas City plant earlier that year. The $56.7 million penalty was levied for BP's failure to abate the hazards behind the fatal 2005 explosion. In November 2009, U.S. Department of Labor attorneys, in preparation for filing with the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, discovered that the department inadvertently had assessed 29 duplicate "failure-to-abate" violations totaling $6.09 million. The penalty was therefore adjusted to $50.6 million, still the highest fine ever issued by OSHA and paid by an employer.
U.S. Department of Labor releases are accessible on the Internet at http://www.dol.gov. The information in this news release will be made available in alternate format (large print, Braille, audio tape or disc) from the COAST office upon request. Please specify which news release when placing your request at 202-693-7828 or TTY 202-693-7755. The Labor Department is committed to providing America's employers and employees with easy access to understandable information on how to comply with its laws and regulations. For more information, please visit http://www.dol.gov/compliance.
SOURCE U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration
SARATOGA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 28, 1998--Mediaflex, Inc., www.mediaflex.com, and Marvel Interactive, a division of Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc, www.marvel.com, formally announced today the first Online Print Shop on the Internet containing fifty limited edition (only 500 of each print available), high-quality art prints of Marvel super heroes including Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, the X-Men and many more of Marvel's world-renowned characters.
Bill Rollinson, President and CEO of Mediaflex, commented, "We are very excited to join forces with a company that is the leader in comic art and images. This partnership gives us an excellent opportunity to showcase our unique on-demand printing and transaction technology while serving Marvel customers with instant access to the prints they want, when they want them."
"This may be the single best collection with the widest variety of Marvel images ever offered," Rollinson continued. "Some of the greatest talent in the comic industry - the Romitas, Alex Ross and more - have depicted just about every major Marvel character. Fans will find plenty to their liking here."
Traditionally, individuals interested in purchasing this type of print have done so either through the limited offerings of retail outlets or through mail order. Marvel and Mediaflex, through the latter's MGallery, will now provide a broader selection, online convenience and affordable prices without compromising quality. Mediaflex brings a combination of capabilities that make this venture possible, including on-demand printing using Hewlett-Packard Large Format Printers and electronic commerce know-how and technologies.
Marvel, Entertainment Group, Inc. (NYSE:MRV) is a leader in the entertainment and communications industries with businesses spanning a wide array of media including comic books, television, film, theme parks, restaurants, and Marvel Interactive, software publishers and creators of online entertainment. Marvel is available on America Online at Keyword: Marvel and can be accessed on the Internet at www.marvel.com.
Mediaflex, Inc. is an interactive publisher providing "one at a time" on-demand printing services to online retailers, specialty web sites and businesses. The Company is a privately held California Corporation founded in 1997 by the company's CEO, Bill Rollinson, previously the co-founder of the Internet Shopping Network. Additional information can be found at the company's web site: www.mediaflex.com.
CONTACT: Mediaflex, Inc.
Bill Rollinson, 408/867-9971
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For mass market retailers and their suppliers it's no longer enough to simply run a good store or make a good product. To flourish in the 21st century they must master a broad range of disciplines and maintain an effective presence on a number of diverse fronts, prominent among them the media and the Internet.
As if all that weren't enough, advances in technology and communications will continue to increase the complexity of doing business. A new study from the Conference Board highlights one of those challenges, the emergence of virtual worlds.
While the applicability of the three-dimensional, Internet-based, social-networking communities to retailers and consumer-packaged-goods companies might at first seem to be slight, the report, "Crafting a Strategy for Virtual Worlds: Eight Questions to Ask," asserts that they have the potential to make a significant impact on business. Virtual worlds bring together like-minded individuals in real time, according to the study, creating an environment where companies can engage in "v-commerce," place ads and obtain exposure for products, build organizational experience, and interact with existing and future customers in new ways.
Businesses are often unaware of their significance.
"In many quarters virtual worlds are met with skepticism," notes Edward Roche, the report's author. "Some managers are stuck. They assume that since the underlying technologies for virtual worlds come from video games, there could not possibly be any relevance for their business. Other managers simply may not have heard of virtual worlds."
Retailers and CPG manufacturers ignore such developments at their peril. While virtual worlds may well prove to be nothing more than an amusing diversion for technology enthusiasts, they could become a force in shaping consumer perceptions about products and services, and the best places to obtain them.
Whatever the eventual effect of virtual words on the mass market, the Conference Board is on target in its perception that businesses of all kinds will have to keep pace with the latest technology if they intend to fully understand what their customers expect.
LonWorks[R] Platform Key to Long Term Strategy for China's Enhanced Public Transportation Lighting Infrastructure
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Echelon Corporation (NASDAQ:ELON), a leading provider of networking technology that is used to manage and reduce energy consumption, announced today that several major highways and bridges in the Yangtze River Delta, one of the fastest growing regions in China, have chosen Echelon's LonWorks[R] technology to better manage highway and bridge lighting systems for increased security, beautification, and reduced energy consumption. The lighting control system will be installed and managed by Echelon's Authorized Network Integrator Nanjing Lianhong Automation Co, Ltd.
"China's high growth transportation infrastructure sector has put an urgent stamp on finding the most innovative solutions for managing the country's power quality, security and energy management processes," said Baocai Wu, Nanjing Lianhong's CEO. "Echelon's ultra-reliable LonWorks technology and products provide the ideal infrastructure required for long-term projects like street and bridge lighting. The open technology ensures that products from multiple manufacturers can be added to the system, now or in the future. The ability to add new functionality, modify energy savings applications, and conduct remote management were the key attributes that led to the selection of the LonWorks platform as the basis of the overall solution."
Project integrator Nanjing Lianhong needed to create an open, flexible and reliable lighting control system to reduce energy consumption and increase security. Using Echelon's i.LON[R] Internet servers and LonWorks open standards networking protocol over a single fiber optic network, Nanjing Lianhong is able to offer a system that can remotely control and monitor substations, dehumidify equipment, and serve as the public highway and bridge lighting system.
One of the world's first open IP-based highway and bridge implementations, more than 1,500 of China's highway and bridge lights will be embedded with Echelon's LonWorks networking protocol enabled FT smart transceivers. Echelon's i.LON Internet server extends the local area networks over the Internet and IP networks allowing all of the sites to be remotely monitored using PCs and requiring virtually no need for manpower. The system allows for improved energy management and conservation, increased security, and more efficient maintenance and operations. Furthermore the networked lighting system will be leveraged to beautify highways and bridges, turning the latter into more notable landmarks.
"This win extends Echelon's lighting control solutions to one of the world's most important markets, and demonstrates the need for open, standards-based control networks in both near and long-term projects," said Ken Oshman, Echelon's chairman and CEO. "Energy management is a great benefit of networked public lighting systems, and China's new highway and bridge lighting control system exemplifies the benefits of LonWorks networks - ultra-reliable control networks, open supplier markets now and into the future, and extreme flexibility in function."
The following locations will use LonWorks based solutions for lighting systems:
* Shanghai and Nanjing highway, covering 288 km, a key corridor linking the cities of Shanghai and Nanjing;
* Shanghai, Zhejian, Anhui and Jiangsu Expressway, a key highway linking four provinces;
* Jiangsu SuTong Yangzi River Bridge, one of the longest suspension bridges in China; and
* Hangzhou Qiantang River No. 4 Bridge.
About Nanjing Lianhong Automation, Co. Ltd
Nanjing Lianhong Automation is a leading LonWorks system integrator specializing in the public infrastructure sector and offers innovative automation solutions for better energy management and reduced maintenance operations. More information about Nanjing Lianhong Automation can be found at http://www.nla.com.cn/english/.
About Echelon Corporation
Echelon Corporation (NASDAQ:ELON) is networking company that provides products and systems that can monitor and save energy, lower costs, improve productivity and enhance service, quality, safety and convenience by networking together everyday devices in utility, buildings, industrial, transportation and home control systems. Tens of millions of smart devices based on Echelon's LonWorks products and Networked Energy Services (NES) systems are in use around the world today bringing benefits to consumers and industry. More information about Echelon can be found at http://www.echelon.com.
Echelon, LonWorks, i.LON, and the Echelon logo are registered trademarks of Echelon Corporation registered in the United States and other countries. Other product or service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.
This press release may contain statements relating to future plans, events or performance. Such statements may involve risks and uncertainties, including risks associated with uncertainties pertaining to the timing and level of customer orders and demand for Echelon products and services in outdoor lighting and other applications in China and elsewhere; risks that these products do not perform as designed, and that liability may accrue as a result of the use of Echelon products and services in outdoor or other lighting applications; risks associated with the any changes that may occur in the directives regarding outdoor lighting, safety or other policies, and acceptance by local or regional government agencies of LonWorks based solutions; risks relating to the growth of the LonWorks industry; and other risks identified in Echelon's SEC filings. Actual results, events and performance may differ materially. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. Echelon undertakes no obligation to release publicly the result of any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
MEXICO CITY, Dec 22, 2004 (EFE/Corporate Mexico by Internet Securities, Inc. via COMTEX) -- The Spanish engineering company Isolux has won a series of contracts to extend the mobile telephone network and improve electricity infrastructure in the country. The contracts are worth 46.4 million euros (US$62.17 million), stated the firm.The contracts will reinforce activities of Isolux in Mexico, where it has supplied engineering services for the electricity and telecommunications sectors for the last 20 years. Telcel, the subsidiary of Telefonos de Mexico (Telmex), awarded Isolux the 20-million euro (US$26.8 million) contract to expand its mobile telephone network. The Comision Federal de Electricidad (CFE) also handed the company two projects to improve electricity infrastructure for 16.63 million and 8.81 million euros (US$22.28 million and US$11.80 million) This will involve erecting six electricity transmission lines and six substations.
This abstract is provided by Internet Securities, Inc. as a service to its customers. Internet Securities, Inc. makes no representation or warranty regarding the accuracy or content of the translation.
URL: www.securities.com
Copyright 2004 Internet Securities, Inc., all rights reserved. A Euromoney Institutional Investor Company.
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May 05, 2004 (Time Australia - ABIX via COMTEX)
Google is planning an initial public offering (IPO). The impending float of the ubiquitous Internet search engine might seem, on the face of it, to be a good deal for investors. However, the structure of the prospective float needs to be examined carefully. Two factors in particular may adversely affect the value of Google's shares: the decision by the company's founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, to create two classes of stock; and the indication that Google may add more shares following the stock auction.
Publication Date: 10 May 2004
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