The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • 33

The Atlanta Journal The Atlanta Saturday, June 4, 1994 C3 TELEVISION INDUSTRY Constitution XX affiliate in CBS scrambling Shares of cable television firms rise on news of Cox-Times Mirror talks Chairman Laurence Tisch said CBS will spend any amount necessary to gain strong new affiliates. Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises owner of Atlanta's ABC affiliate, WSBChannel 2, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has no intention of switching WSB's affiliation, Chairman Jim Kennedy has said. Rumors at WGNXChannel 46 owned by Chicago-based Tribune Broadcasting became so rampant that on Friday station manager Herman Ramsey sent a memo to the staff to quell speculation. "Have you ever heard so many rumors in a week and a half?" Ramsey wrote in the memo, which went on to say: "I believe that the likelihood of WGNX affiliating with any network other than Warner Brothers in January '95 is small." WGNX earlier affiliated itself with Warner Brothers, which is planning to launch a network, next year. At Atlanta station WATL-Channel 36, owned and operated by Fox, general manager Gene McHugh said he has no idea what Fox's plans are.

"I'm the mushroom in this one," he said. McHugh has been through this before. In 11 years, WATL has had seven owners. "I look at it this way," he said. I 7 Theater's tickets get even cheaper The $1 movie tickets at Metroplex Tower Place 6 Theatres in Buckhead just got cheaper.

"We're cutting the price in half to 50 cents for June," said S.M. Allen, president and chief executive of Atlanta-based Metroplex Theatres Inc. The new price took effect Thursday and will continue through June 30. Metroplex bought the Tower Place theater complex last week from AMC Entertainment. "If Tower Places takes off, we plan to expand there," said Allen, who also runs Capital Cinema Corp.

Its theaters in Marietta and Fayetteville are being converted to Metroplex theaters. Allen said Metroplex is thinking of building a discount theater in Snellville with eight to 12 screens. ATLANTA Orkin pesticide consent agreement approved. The Federal Trade Commission this week approved a consent agreement with Orkin Exterminating a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Rollins settling charges that it made unsubstantiated advertising claims about the safety of its lawn care pesticides. The original announcement was made in March 1993.

The FTC did not fine Orkin, but each future violation may result in a civil penalty of up to $10,000. Medaphis purchases billing company. Medaphis a provider of business management services to doctors and hospitals, has acquired Consolidated Medical Services for approximately $4.75 million. Miami-based Consolidated is a privately held physician billing and accounts receivable management company. Sherwood moves to Atlanta under new name.

Toronto-based Sherwood Corp. is moving to Atlanta and Friday changed its name to Synpro Environmental Services Inc. Its new trading symbol on Nasdaq will be SYNP. Sherwood bought Atlanta-based Synpro Environmental Services Inc. in a stock swap valued at $65 million.

The company named John Laska its chief financial officer. He previously was chief financial officer of American Life Assurance a unit of AFLAC Inc. GEORGIA Hebel USA announces Georgia plant. Hebel USA will build its first U.S.-based manufacturing plant, which will produce aerated concrete, in Adel, Ga. The plant is scheduled to be completed within 16 months and will employ 50 to 55 people initially, and 90 to 120 eventually.

Hebel Group is a privately held company with headquarters in Germany. VSI Enterprises receives notice of default. Norcross-based VSI Enterprises Inc. said Friday its Videoconferencing Systems Inc. subsidiary hadn't paid $330,551 owed under a line of credit.

The lender, Technology Funding Secured Investors III, issued a default notice on the line of credit, which is secured by the assets of Videoconferencing Systems and is guaranteed by VSI. VSI, a publicly traded company that designs, manufactures and markets videoconferencing systems, is negotiating for an extension of the line of credit. THE NATION Two toy giants compete for Scrabble maker. Mattel Inc. made a $79 million bid for British toy maker J.W.

Spear Sons PLC on Friday, in a move to top a 6-day-old offer from Hasbro Inc. Hasbro had bid $70.4 million for Spear, a family-owned company with sales last year of $58 million. Spear directors gave a limited endorsement to Mattel's offer. Rumors rampant after Fox raid By Jeffry Scott STAFF WRITER As the Federal Communica tions Commission probes the ownership structure of the Fox network, the rumor mill in Atlanta continues to spit out one scenario after another. Fox executives say they're confident the FCC investigation won't block its recent raid on eight of CBS's most important affiliates, including WAGAChannel 5 in At lanta.

The raid was part of Fox's plan to spend $500 million for a 20 percent stake in Marietta-based New World Communications, which owns WAGA. CBS Chairman Laurence Tisch's statement earlier this week that CBS will "spend any amount necessary" to gain strong affiliates in Atlanta and other cities only accelerated ru mors among executives and staff of local television stations. The major player reportedly talking with CBS about a deal Cincinnati-based Scripps Howard owns nine stations, four in the major markets of Cleveland, Detroit, Tampa, and Phoenix. But it doesn't own a station in Atlanta. Gannett Broadcasting an other player rumored to be talk ing to CBS and which owns Atlanta's NBC affiliate, WXIA-Channel 11 on Thursday flatly denied it is talking to CBS.

Airports crack down on baggage pilfering ASSOCIATED PRESS Washington A traveler's nightmare: Put something valu- able in luggage checked with an airline and it goes home with a thief. It doesn't happen often, but often enough to be worrisome. At some point between the time an airplane lands and suitcases appear on the carousel, fast and sticky fingers dive inside and glom onto jewelry, cameras and, now, computers. This time the FBI was watching. On Wednesday, the FBI ar rested eight American Airlines baggage handlers at Washington's National Airport and charged them with conspiracy to steal valuables from baggage in interstate commerce.

They are scheduled for a preliminary hearing June 21. "We began to see at National, at certain periods of the day, an increase in the numbers of claims we were getting for lost items," said Al Becker, an American Airlines spokesman. The airline notified the airport, which put in surveillance cameras similar to those in banks. Two months later, according to an FBI affidavit, the FBI put in its own video cameras and watched the baggage area for a month. It also planted "test bag- Atlanta1 basic cable TV rates 17 percent, the stocks fell.

They began to recover in late May after Federftf Communications Commission Chairman Reed Hundt showed a 3 more sympathetic attitude to the-industry's concerns at a trade convention. i Although the stocks have rebounded, analyst Melissa Cook of Prudential Securities inL, New York said they still are aHi tractively priced. "Over the next couple ,0 years, we will see some cash flowt growth from new services," Cook explained. Some cable compact nies, for example, are planning to roll out telephone "For patient investors, theset are good investments," Cook said. "I would underscore pane; tient.

We don't know how long it's going to take to develop the infor-it mation superhighway." 10 Cook recommends Comcast Corp. and Tele-Communication Inc. because "they have very smart managements who own a lot of their companies' Comcast closed Friday at $19, up 75 cents, while TCI closed at, up 93 cents. Both are traded on Nasdaq. The best thing that could happen would be we'd be one of the big three affiliates." vj2 Saturn sues firm: si 3 in Atlanta over Jill use of its name 01 ASSOCIATED PRESS Nashville, Tenn.

Sat-i urn Corp. has filed a federal trademark infringement law-u-i suit asking an Atlanta financial company to stop using the automaker's name. The U.S. District Cour. lawsuit also seeks an unspeci-tied amount in compensatory" damages from Saturn Services, Saturn Corp.1-- spokesman Bill Betts said.

Thursday. He said the Atlanta compa-i ny had been asked to cease us-'1', ing the Saturn name but took no action. "They are involved pr- marily in auto loans, and we feel this has caused confusion in the marketplace because our company is selling cars' There is no connection," Betts Vl told the Nashville Banner. A Saturn Financial Services spokesman said company has no comment be; cause officials there have not seen the Spring Hill-based automaker's lawsuit. It was' filed in Nashville on Tuesday.

1 5 Betts said Saturn car deaV ers have been getting from Saturn Financial Ser' vices' customers asking que tions about auto loans. "Our retailers were not 3 able to answer their questions; and that didn't make our cus--tomers happy. It wasn't good for anyone," Betts said. Saturn alleges in its law- suit that the financial compa- 1 ny began using the name ln' 1993, while the General Mo' tors subsidiary took its name- in 1985 and began makings cars in Tennessee in 1990. The lawsuit also says the financial company "targeted Saturn's dealers and retail purchasers of Saturn automo- biles for such auto services." By Robert Luke STAFF WRITER A clearer picture of cable television's future is emerging, and investors apparently like what they see.

Cable TV stocks rose Friday on word that Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises which publishes The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and Times Mirror Co. are in serious discussions to combine their cable TV operations. The new company that would be created would be the industry's third-largest, with some 3.1 million subscribers. Similar marriages are likely to occur, analysts said. The reasons include economies of scale and the need for cable operators to invest billions of dollars in equipment and programming to compete with telecommunications companies on the information-entertainment superhighway.

Optimism over those prospects prompted investors to bid up the prices of cable TV stocks last year. But when the federal government recently moved to roll back "The worst thing that could happen to us is we could be an independent, which we were before. are after," he said. "They are not looking for your socks." The association, which represents airlines, estimates that one bag in every 33,000 is pilfered. "From a statistical standpoint, that's small," Neale said, "but not if it's your bag that's broken into." John H.

Kundts, an FBI spokesman, said the bureau has had several investigations in major airports but finds the thefts are localized, not a nationwide ring. David Stempler, executive director of the International Airline Passengers Association, said the service organization gets more complaints about lost luggage than about theft. He said IAPA tries to encourage airlines to check employees when they leave the security zone inside the airport. Pilfering, unlike lost luggage, isn't noticed until the passenger gets the bag home, he said. 1994 salary to $900,000.

Digital Equipment spokesmen said the performance-based incentive portions of compensation packages, which mostly affect executives and sales representatives, will continue. The company has 85,000 employees. ft The squabble is really over Scrabble; Spear owns the rights to BARRY WILLIAMS Special A spokesman for the transport association said passengers should not pack jewelry, cameras or cash inside their bags. and the game accounts for a employee buyout plan. UAL the game outside North America, third of its revenue.

UAL, unions OK changes in Corp. and its participating unions, and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, signed amendments to an employee buyout plan. As reported, the pilot's union billion buyout after a drop in the company share price. The new agreement, reached May 22, raises the stake that United Airlines emDlovees initiallv will receive to 55 Dercent from 53 percent Blockbuster gets approval Blockbuster tycoon H. Wayne Huizenga got the go-ahead from Florida for a sprawling sports and entertainment complex.

The measure, which sailed through the state legislature and took effect Thursday, establishes a special district on 2,500 acres in Dade and Broward counties, about 15 miles from Miami and Fort Lauderdale. It gives Blockbuster Entertainment a Fort Lauderdale-based entertainment company, au thority to collect taxes and condemn land where Wayne it plans to build Blockbuster Park. Huizenga The Air Transport Association estimates that one bag in every 33,000 is pilfered. gage" to trap the thieves and recorded 29 instances of break-ins. "The baggage handlers were helping each other in this endeavor by acting as lookouts, passing stolen items to each other, and arranging for one to unload baggage while another stole, all to avoid detection," agent Stanley H.

Carr said in the affidavit. Tim Neale, a spokesman for the Air Transport Association, said passengers should be aware that such things happen and take precautions, such as not putting jewelry, cameras or cash inside their bags. "That's the kind of thing they and the freeze will affect every employee. It starts with Chief Executive Officer Robert B. Palmer, who received a 20 percent pay boost last October, spokesmen for the nation's third-largest computer company said.

The pay boost brought Palmer's fiscal Ex-employee sues Metropolitan Life. A fired Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. sales manager than $20 million in a defamation lawsuit, claiming the company made him the scapegoat for widespread misleading sales practices. the Air Line Pilots Association had sought to renegotiate the $4.6 for Florida development. in Tampa, is seeking more what Met Life told him to when said Friday the company had not A loophole in patent law has al sell the AIDS drug AZT in Portu its price.

milligram tablet charged by is a simple case of theft of proper the year ot the drug discovery, of its use tor AlVb, wnicn was created when Mary M. I nomas, for Faison Associates Inc. and Rick Urso claims he was doing he and his 120-person staff sold life insurance that regulators say was illegally disguised as retirement plans or annuities. Charles Sahner, Met Life spokesman in New York, Digital Equipment, cutting costs again, freezes wages seen the suit and he could not comment THE WORLD AIDS drug sold in Portugal. lowed a small drug company to gal, cracking the worldwide rights held by British drug company Wellcome PLC and undercutting Farma APS last week introduced a generic version of the drug for half the price of $1.50 per 100 Wellcome.

Wellcome says the situation ty. But the Portuguese Health Ministry ruled that the clock on the patent should start ticking from 1964, and not from the discovery BLOOMBERG BUSINESS NEWS Maynard, Mass. Digital Equipment Corp. froze wages and salaries across the board, effective immediately, in a move that signals more aggressive cost-cutting but also might further erode already low morale. The troubled computer company, which already has said it will take another large restructuring charge and cut an additional 20,000 jobs, announced plans for the wage freeze in memos to managers and employees Thursday, a spokesman said.

Digital has about 1,200 Atlanta-area employees, with customer service, sales and regional headquarters employees in Alpharetta and technicians in Atlanta. No merit raises will be given, 1987. That would mean the 15-year patent has expired. ALSO NOTEWORTHY fjBBCompu 486-SX25'INTEl BUY-SEU-TMVS NEW 4CB-33 $333 tOMHimtMONITOKSIK. Ktybotrd, Easily Upgradeabl using standard parts.

4 megs of RAM, REPARf UPGRADES 486SX-23 Intel 170 Meg Hard Drive, VESA Local i4 nnmmP mt Multimedia $1243 BUS Video, MOUSe, 1.44 meg 170m. HO4 m.8 R.m1.44Flop.ybrd, Floppy Drive, Mini Tower Case, 2 NFTTYuPkNG Mou.tDbiip..d cd romh bit Serial, 1 Parallel, 1 Game Port JlZruLilf 8oundu i.awm "SSSff mmv" IRT Property Co. has named James C. Levy vice president and treasurer to fill the position executive vice president and chief financial officer, was appointed a director. Levy was controller previously a senior tax consultant for Arthur Andersen Co.

From staff and news services.