Asheville Citizen-Times from Asheville, North Carolina • Page 15

ASHEVILLE CITIZEN-TIMES BUSINESS Editor Tim Reld, 232-5856 or FRIDAY, MAY 17, 2002 Dow Jones Industrials SAP 500 Nasdaq Composite s. 10,289.21 45.53 1,098.23 7.16T 1,730.44 4.88 i Online Extra I Log on for features on our Business Page See up-to-the-minute market reports from the New York Stock Exchange, The Dow Jones, NASDAQ and the 500 on the Business page American Stock Exchange Looking fori stock quote? Use our online stock finder Find local, national and world business news reports NYSE Index 581.68 2.14 Russell 3000 Index 507.40 953.59 0.57 Just briefly IftStocks Mil 011100 0101100101010100 01 invades the American living room t- LODGINGS DoubleTree reception ASHEVILLE Several hundred people attended Thursday's in- augural reception for the new DoubleTree Biltmore Hotel (for- merly the Quality Inn). Biltmore Farms president Jack Cecil and chairman George Cecil hosted the Asheville Chamber of Commerce's Business after Hours reception to show off their hotel, which underwent a $4 million renovation. Dave Horton, senior vice president of brand management for DoubleTree Hotels, welcomed the hotel to the Hilton family of brands. He said he knew -it would be a great success be- cause of the vision, character and leadership of the owners.

George Cecil recounted the" property's importance to his family from its early days as a dairy processing plant, noting that his "bride of 47 years," Nan- -cy, had decorated the walls with photos of the dairy. Longtime Biltmore Dairy Bar employee Shirley Orr was dishing up ice cream for the guests. The Cecils credited their "great staff" for the hotel's success past and future. VISITORS Visitors center traffic up BLACK MOUNTAIN The number of visitors at the Black Mountain Visitors Center jumped in March. Mar.

'01: 1.295 -j Mar. '02: 1,791 LI 38.3 i 2002: 3,904 If 22.7 YTD Year To Dale Source: Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce Asheville resident Dick Halt likes the precision and definition of digital television and says digital is "a Some broadcasters missed digital deadline Hyman, vice president of lv of local interest Vol: Volume PP-Prira 52H: 52-week high Earnings ratio ozl: oz-weeK low uiv: uiviaena change Yld: Yield YESTERDAY'S CLOSE: Baxter International: Global biotechnology and medical products services 52.82 company operates plant in McDowell County. Vol: 4161500 52H: 59.90 52L: 45.00 Yld: 1.1 BorgWarner: Automotive components maker operates manufac- 64'26 turina Dlants in Averv's "49 Creek and Fletcher. Vol: 157300 52H: 66.10 52L: 34.20 YTD: 23.0 PE: dd Div: 0.60 Yld: 0.9 Collins Alkman: Maker of automotive cockpit modules, floor and acoustic systems operates plant in Old Fort. Vol: 208400 52H: 11.35 52L: 3.76 YTD: 38.3 PE: dd Div: NA Yld: NA 10.65 Eaton Diversified industrial manufacturer operates Eaton Cutler-Hammer plant in Arden.

Vol: 189700 52H: 88.68 52L: 55.12 YTD: 15.9 PE: 40 Div: 1.76 Yld: 2.0 86.21 General Electric: Diversified services, technology and manufacturing company, operates plant in Henderson County. Vol: 23319100 52H: 53.55 52L: 28.50 YTD: PE: 23 Div: 0.72 Yld: 2.3 32.00 1.07 (3.5) Harrah's Entertainment: Casino and hotel operator 50.00 runs the Harrah's 1.16 Cherokee Casino in (2.4) Cherokee. Vol: 1074400 52H: 51.35 52L: 22.00 YTD: 35.1 PE: 36 Div: NA Yld: NA Ingles Markets: Grocery store chain based in Asheville operates stores in six Southeastern states. Vol: 24500 52H: 13.60 52L: 10.13 YTD: 3.7 PE: 16 Div: 0.66 Yld: 5.3 12.39 Hlinois Tool Works: Diversified manufacturer operates the Wilsonart laminate factory in Fletcher. Vol: 684900 52H: 77.80 52L: 49.15' YTD: 8.0 PE: 38 Div: 0.88 Yld: 1.2 73.13 Steelcase: Office furniture -manufacturer operates a plant in Fletcher.

Vol: 36900 52H: 18.00 52L: 11.25 YTD: 13.8 PE: NA Div: 0.24 Yld: 1.4 16.75 Volvo: Vehicle maker has construction equipment plant and North American headquarters in Buncombe County. Vol: 15600 52H: 20.60 62L: 11.42 YTD: 18.9 PE: NA Div: 0.88e Yld: 4.5 19.50 Wall Street NEW YORK Investors shopped selectively on Wall Street Thursday, mildly encouraged by news that IBM intends to cut costs but still wary about bidding stocks higher following a big rally earlier in the week. The major indexes closed modestly higher. ECONOMY Bankruptcies rise to record level WASHINGTON Consumers spent so freely during the recession that record numbers found themselves in heavy debt and filed for bankruptcy. Personal bankruptcy filings rose 15.2 percent to a total of 1,464,961 in the 12 months that ended March 31, the Administra- tive Office of the U.S.

Courts reported on Thursday. 1 Filings by businesses rose 10.7', percent to 39,845, including En- ron's on Dec. 2. Individuals account for about 97 percent of all bankruptcy filings. Housing market slowing WASHINGTON Home builders broke ground in April on the smallest number of projects in six months, a sign the housing" market is slowing a bit.

'The Commerce Department reported Thursday that housing construction fell 5.4 percent month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.56 million units. That was the lowest level since October. It marked the second straight month that housing construction fell. In March, new housing proj-; ects dropped by 8.1 percent. Mild weather early in the year gave a big boost to housing con- struction, which remained solid throughout last year's recession, but analysts have been predicting some slowing.

WYFF (Channel 4) in Greenville, S.C. Charter Communications, the local cable provider in the Asheville market, is not currently offering the digital feed from broadcast stations, but it will, spokeswoman Anita Lam-ont said. With a digital TV and a built-in or set-top digital tuner, viewers will receive sharper images and purer sound. Those with high-definition digital TVs will get the best that digital broadcasting has to offer. As of Tuesday, 406 stations were transmitting a digital signal, according to the National Association of Broadcasters.

Have television stations in the Asheville-Greenville-Spar-tanburg-Anderson (S.C.) market complied? ABC affiliate WLOS (Channel 13) asked for and received a six-month extension and will be broadcasting digitally by Nov. 1, according to Mark John FletchersTAFF PHOTOGRAPHER whole lot sharper" than analog. 0ntheNet www.ce.org Click on the "DTV Transition" offering on the right for Consumer Electronics Association's consumer answers to questions about analog-digital interfacing and the difference digital makes. http:www.digrta (television. com2002apnVdigrtall.srrtrnl A good "inside baseball" look at the broadcast industry's shift to digital a digital TV as it is in the studio where the show is produced.

Americans love the format. Nearly 1.5 million digital television products were shipped to dealers in 2001, up from about 650,000 in 2000, according to the Consumer Electronics Association. It predicts that 32.5 million digital television products will be sold by 2006. DVD players are the fastest-selling consumer electronics device of all time, the association reported. The wild popularity of DVDs is a lot of what's pushing sales of digital televisions.

"When somebody buys one and their relatives and neighbors see it, that just spurs more interest in it," said Reginald Lee, manager of the Circuit City store in Asheville. "People don't have to sit as close to digital as they do with an analog TV. Digital is well on its way to overcoming analog." Please see TV on B6 lor, voted no, defying the White House, fearful that the deals would lead to more layoffs and plant closings. The measure passed after GOP leaders assured textile-state lawmakers like Rep. Jim DeMint, the industry would be treated fairly.

After months of controversy over trade provisions. Senate leaders last week announced an agreement that paved the way for the current debate. Democrats were happy that thousands more jobless workers would be eligible for federal aid and new health insurance benefits. But they had to give up a-deal-breaking provision under which the government would have picked up retirement benefits for former steelworkers. By Paul Clark STAFF WRITER SKYLAND Digital TV has spoiled Dick Hall.

"When a baseball game is on, you can read the little emblems on their uniforms," the Asheville resident said. The difference between digital and analog the way Hall used to receive TV "is like night and day," he said. The Federal Communications Commission had ordered the nation's broadcast stations to start broadcasting digitally by May. But the stations aren't even close only about 280 stations hit or preceded the deadline, and a quarter of those were public television stations, according to Decisionmark, an Iowa firm that tracks broadcast TV. Digitaltelevision.com, a Web site that tracks developments in digital television, reported that nearly 600 stations requested an extension of the May 1 deadline.

Those include two of the five commercial stations broadcasting in the Asheville market, the 35th-largest in the nation. The changes affect only the 25 percent of American television households that don't subscribe to cable. "Only cable systems in major markets (such as New York) are planning to carry digital (broadcast station) transmissions at this time," said Doug Durkec, broadcast operations director at Senate extends By Raju Chebium GANNE TT NEWS SERVICE WASHINGTON The Senate approved a six-month extension on unemployment benefits for textile workers who lose their jobs because of foreign trade. The vote was 66-33 for an amendment offered by Sen. John Edwards, and tacked on to a bigger trade bill the Senate is considering.

The amendment would extend so-called trade adjustment assistance while former textile workers complete job retraining. Assistance now lasts for 18 months. It also would: Provide grants to community colleges in areas hard hit with textile plant closures. Many corporate relations at Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns WLOS. CBS affiliate WSPA (Channel 7) has been digital for a year and a half, and WASV (Channel 62) met the May 1 digital deadline, General Manager John Cot-tingham said.

Fox affiliate WHNS (Channel 21) requested and received a Nov. 1 extension and will begin broadcasting digitally at that time, General Manager Ray Mirabella said. NBC affiliate WYFF (Channel 4) signed on digitally at noon May 1, through its Channel 59, Durkee, said. PBS affiliate WUNF (Channel 33) will be digital on or before the May 1, 2003, deadline that the FCC set for noncommercial broadcast stations, said Carl Davis, assistant general manager of UNC-TV. What does digital TV mean to viewers? "It's a whole lot sharper," Hall said.

Digital TVs receiving even analog signals don't have the wavy lines and "ghosts" that analog broadcasts sometimes have, television station engineers said. Digital is as clear on trading partners, adding that U.S. trade policy doesn't help them. "We applaud the Senate for recognizing that fairness must be a key objective in textile trade negotiations. By adopting the Edwards amendment, the Senate has served notice that the U.S.

textile industry is not to be given away in future trade talks," said Van Mays, chairman of the American Textile Manufacturing Institute lobbying group. The House last year narrowly passed the trade bill, which gives the president authority to cut trade deals unilaterally. Congress would be able to vote for or against the deals, not amend them. Most textile-state House members like Rep. Charles Tay jobless benefits for laid-off textile workers job-retraining programs are offered at junior colleges.

Instruct U.S. trade officials to seek fairer deals for the domestic textile and trade industries. "There are towns In North Carolina where the mills employed one out of every four people," Edwards said. "Now the mills are gone, and these towns are devastated, We need to do right by these North Carolina is the top state for US. textile manufacturing.

The industry is clustered in the Southeast, particularly the Car-olinas, Georgia and Alabama. In the past decade, the industry has shed thousands of jobs. Producers largely blame cheaply priced imports from Asia and other big Dow Jones Industrial May 18. 2002 Close: 10.289.21 U.U4 April 19 fMTWT Jh T5 I 1 I i "1 1 i 11 1 I i 5- -1 Ml I I I 10700 10600 10500 10400 103O0 10200 9800 9700 9600 9 do 9400 9300 9200 9ioo 9000 8900 8800 B700.