Tallahassee Democrat from Tallahassee, Florida • Page 37

Tuesday March 6, 2001 L-K3ME3LJ Jane Bryant Quinn: Shopping with disposable credit cards. 2E Business Editor Pete Reinwald Phone: (850) 599-2312 Fax: (850) 599-2295 Email: prejnwaldtaldera.com Motley Fool 2 Stocks 3 Mutuals 4 7T Digest Stations wait to get back on the air management agreement. The company is involved in litigation to recoup the costs of running the station, which he said total almost $1 million. Southern Nights' involvement in that litigation has made investors hesitant to invest in WVUP, he said. Because of financial difficulties, the station has not been able to replace its aging transmitter, and on occasion, personnel who have not been paid on time have not shown up to run the station, he said.

But both Comcast and Palmer said they hope they during hours when there was no satellite feed of UPN programming. Don Palmer, who is also president of Southern Nights Entertainment which owns WVUP, said the station's erratic broadcasting was due to financial difficulties. The station ran the American Collectibles programming in an attempt to bring in money, he said. One source of financial difficulty, Palmer said, stems from problems with Southern Nights Entertainment's attempt to buy Valdosta television station WGVP 44. Southern Nights has been running the station under a lease Rachel Sams DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER Two local TV stations have been dark for many viewers since the weekend.

Local UPN affiliate WVUP has not broadcast since Friday concerning fans of popular shows such as "Star Trek: Voyager" and NBC station WTWC 40 has been down to non-cable viewers since Saturday night. Comcast and WVUP officials say they are trying to make UPN programming available as soon as possible, while WTWC officials say they hope they have their signal back by tonight. Comcast took WVUP, which is channel 17 or cable channel 60, off the air Friday afternoon. General manager Rick Seamon said the local affiliate had not been providing programming regularly for a couple of months and had been substituting alternate programming for regularly scheduled shows. "You never knew which programming would be carried," Seamon said.

Some evenings, WVUP broadcast home shopping programming, he said. WVUP president Don Palmer said Monday that the station recently had broadcast sporadically at times and had run American Collectibles Network shopping programming Please see TV, 2E The check is in the e-mail it, I i I ALLIANCE Amazon's shares soar after report of deal Shares of Amazon.com soared 27.5 percent Monday alter a published report said the online retailer was forming a strategic alliance with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Britain's Sunday Times said that under the deal, expected to be announced in six weeks, Amazon would handle Wal-Mart's online strategy, similar to a deal Amazon struck with Toysrus.com in August. In return, Amazon would gain presence in Wal-Mart's stores. The deal would involve revenue-sharing on both sides.

BEVERAGES Coke shares plummet: Shares of Coca-Cola Co. fell nearly 5 percent Monday, hitting a low for the year, as nervous investors sold on the perception that the weekend resignation of Coke president Jack Stahl portends further turmoil. Analysts, skeptical for months that Coke has been implausibly optimistic about its financial prospects, said Stahl's departure demonstrates that the company remains snared in a continuing reorganization with its business still in flux. Coca-Cola shares were down nearly $3, or 6 percent, most of the day before a round of late buying. WALL STREET Stocks end higher with cheaper prices: Stocks moved higher Monday as investors took advantage of cheaper prices and momentarily put aside their fears about the slowing economy.

Wall Street managed the advance despite warnings from more companies that future profits will be weak. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 95.99 to 10,562.30. The Nasdaq composite index climbed 25.29 to 2,142.92. The Standard Poor's 500 index rose 7.23 to 1,241.41. E-MAIL Hotmail addresses given to directory site: Hotmail, the free e-mail service from Microsoft, is divulging subscribers' e-mail addresses, cities and states to a public Internet directory site that combines the information with telephone numbers and home addresses.

Hotmail customers are automatically added to Infospace's Internet White Pages directory unless they remove the check from a box in their registration form and "opt out," company officials said. Critics say users may be putting themselves at risk of receiving junk e-mail, known as spam, because they overlook the check box. ECONOMY Manufacturers see no upcoming growth: Manufacturing executives expect the nation's economy to grow 2 percent or less in 2001, according to an industry survey released Monday, and an overwhelming majority of them plan to cut spending on machine tools, computers, software and other essential products. Four of five manufacturers attending the National Association of Manufacturers' show in Chicago expect no growth over the next two quarters, according to a survey of 300 executives who displayed a general lack of confidence in the nation's economy. ECB head extends growth forecast: The president of the European Central Bank said Monday he expects continued European economic growth through 2003 despite a slowdown in U.S.

economic activity. President Wim Duisenberg hinted that the 12 European Union countries sharing the euro as their common currency would see the economy expand at nearly 3 percent annually over the next three years. Duisenberg, who has refused to cut interest rates in the euro-using countries despite recent cuts in the United States, Britain and Japan, remained adamant that economic travails in those regions are not infecting Europe. SELL-OFF Xerox expects to sell part of venture: Xerox Corp. expects to sell half its 50-percent stake in a joint venture with Fuji Photo Film Co.

in Asia for about $1.5 billion, a deal that reflects a key component of its ALLISON LONG Democrat Andrew Lepkoske Is one of millions of Americans who pay their bills electronically. It's estimated that by 2002, 20 million Americans will use e-billing services. mm American bid holds steady for TWA firm By David Scott THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ST. LOUIS Lawyers for a bankrupt Trans World Airlines Inc. received an offer from a group backed by former owner Carl Icahn on Monday but said that a bid submitted by AMR American Airlines is the only "competing and conforming" proposal for the airline.

TWA's attorneys, who began an auction of the carrier's assets in New York on Monday, said they would look at and consider the other bids before making a recommendation to the court, however. That recommendation is due Friday, when U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Peter Walsh will conduct a sale hearing in Wilmington, Del. It is possible Walsh will rule from the bench, meaning TWA the longest flying carrier in American commercial aviation could have a new owner in place by week's end. "We are letting the process go forward," said TWA spokesman Mark Abels.

"But, based on the experience of our council and our own intuitions, we don't feel our purpose would be served by slamming doors." That includes Icahn, who is providing financing to TWA Acquisitions Corp. The New York-based company presented the airline Monday with its own plans to reorganize the carrier. But Icahn carries with him his own special TWA baggage. In 1988, Icahn's decision to take the company private saddled TWA with $540 million in debt while returning $469 million to Icahn. He also holds a unique ticket deal, giving him the right to buy some TWA tickets for 55 cents on the dollar.

The moves have left some bad feelings among TWA employees. "I would expect, unless the sun starts coming up in the west, well have nothing to do with Icahn," said Frank Lar-kin, a spokesman for the Inter-national Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. pay lung somrapD It cuts down on postage, printing and timing costs By Juana Jordan DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER Every two weeks, Andrew Lepkoske would cut about 45 minutes from his day to pay bills. It was a routine he had followed for years that is, up until seven months ago when he was introduced to a bill-paying method over the Internet. It reduced his time to five minutes.

There's no check writing or envelop licking involved just a tap, then a click and his bills are sent. "It's such as easy process," Lepkoske said. Til never go back to paying my bills the old way." He's not alone. More and more, consumers who don't mind paying a small fee are searching for avenues that offer them ease and convenience. Online billing has become the answer for both consumers and businesses.

It cuts down on postage, printing and timing costs. And it's booming. Local banks and businesses, even the City of Tallahassee and state government, have logged on to offer this latest technology. Companies such as Sears, Florida Power Light, MCI and Verizon are leading the charge. Last year, an estimated 8 million Americans paid their bills online.

By 2002, that number is expected to grow to about 20 million, according to the Stamford, research firm Gartner Group. And by 2005, the number could reach 40.2 million. "From the consumer point-of-view, convenience is the No. 1 benefit," said Avivah Litan, vice president and research director of payment services for Gartner Group. "With this, you can pay your bills remotely, and it eliminates the manual process." Online billing gives consumers the opportunity to store their bills in one location, like in Web portals such as USPS.com and Quicken.com.

"Bill presentment" the ability to receive and view bills online and "bill payment" in which customers can still receive their bills in the mail but pay them online make the online billing process easier. Consumers sign up with an online billing service such as CheckFree and type in the bills they want to pay electronically on a monthly basis. Consumers set up a payment schedule, providing a checking-account routing number, the date on which the bill should be paid and the address to which it is to be sent. The online service then takes care of the payments. Please see BILLING, 2E turnaround efforts.

Xerox confirmed Monday that negotiations regarding Fuji Xerox are progressing but would not say when the deal might be completed. The sale is a key part of efforts by the Stamford-based business machine maker to raise between $2 billion and $4 billion by selling some of its assets. Democrat news services Harsh winter calls for beefed-up prices BizFacts Norwegian Number of Norwegian households with access to television and the Internet aSBlS- of population that accesses the Internet Homes with TV 1.8 million Home with digital cable 100,000 Total population 4.4 million changes in primal cuts of beef. I've been unable to get the part of the beef where the T-bones come from." Glenn Weber, owner of Quality Discount Meats in Tallahassee, said he also was told last week by his supplier that the prices may go up. Weber, who has spent 15 years in the business, believes it may be because of the cold weather and slow transportation.

"Between Christmas and New Year's there are no cow sales," Weber said. "The beef is not taken to slaughter. And then there's the cold weather and difficulty of getting the beef here I'm seeing the highest prices that Fve ever seen." energy staying warm. "We have basically had one of the harshest winters that we have seen in a very long time," said Chuck Levitt, a meat analyst with Chicago-based Alaron Trading Corp. "The last time we had a winter this severe across the major cattle feeding areas was in 1993." The previous record for retail prices was in September, at $3.13 a pound.

Live cattle are selling for 82 cents a pound, up from 78 cents last month and 68 cents in February 2000. "We've definitely seen the beef prices go up big time," said Rickey Figueroa, executive chef of Atlanta's Chops Steakhouse. The price the upscale restaurant is paying for beef tenderloin has gone from $15 to $20 a pound in recent weeks. So far, the restaurant isn't changing its menu prices in hopes of negotiating better deals with another supplier, Figueroa said. Looking for relief Two Tallahassee area retail meat store owners said they have heard the price of beef is likely to increase.

"I've heard it from my supplier and don't see any relief at the moment," said Eddie Ear-ley, owner of Henry's Meats of Tallahassee. "And the thing is, they don't know why. The beef industry is going through some changes. They're making By Philip Brasher THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON Retail beef prices are soaring reaching a record $3.21 a pound for USDA-choice cuts in January because of a harsh Plains winter that has been tough on cattle. Prices are likely to dip by the summer but then rebound because of tight cattle supplies.

Producers are only starting to rebuild herds that they thinned because of drought and low prices in the late 1990s. The winter has been so cold and damp that cattle are taking several months longer than usual to fatten up. In bad weather, cattle in feedlots don't eat as much and use up monthly a Air PK II 53.