LATEST ADDITIONS

In what they've billed as their continuing commitment to the growth and development of the DVD marketplace, <A HREF="http://www.universalstudios.com">Universal Studios</A> announced 20 DVD titles with DTS audio tracks to be released in the first half of 1999. The opening volley, which includes <I>Dante's Peak</I>, <I>Waterworld</I>, <I>Liar Liar</I>, and <I>Daylight</I>, is expected in January. Other titles to follow are <I>The Shadow</I>, <I>Babe</I>, <I>The River Wild</I>, <I>The Getaway</I>, <I>The Nutty Professor</I>, <I>Apollo 13</I>, <I>Happy Gilmore</I>, <I>12 Monkeys</I>, <I>Dragonheart</I>, <I>The Jackal</I>, <I>The Frighteners</I>, <I>Born on the Fourth of July</I>, <I>The Boxer</I>, <I>For Richer or Poorer</I>, <I>Blues Brothers 2000</I>, and <I>Primary Colors</I>.

Where do captains of industry go when their cash cows begin to produce sour milk? To Washington DC, where they beg for regulatory intervention. That's where CBS Station Group Manager Mel Kazmarin was last week, and that's what he was doing---asking the Federal Communications Commission to reconsider its prohibition against one TV network owning more than 35% of the available commercial broadcast stations in the country.

Last week, IBM announced the introduction of its <A HREF="http://www.ibm.com/homedirector">IBM Home Director</A> home networking system, controllable from a PC or television screen. Although initially targeted at the new-home construction market, IBM says that Home Director can be retrofitted to most existing homes.

Early indications don't look promising for <A HREF="http://www.circuitcity.com/">Circuit City</A>'s pay-per-view alternative as the DVD/Divx war begins to heat up in earnest. Recently, a neutral, informative <A HREF="http:www.abcnews.com/sections/tech/dailynews/divx980917.html">introducti... to Divx by Chris Stamper appeared on the ABC News website. Stamper's story included an opportunity for readers---who, presumably, had read the piece and were now reasonably well-informed about Divx---to vote on whether or not they would spend $449.99 for a Divx player.