The Kansas City Star from Kansas City, Missouri • 29

BUSINESS In Brief Trek: leads return of UPN shows to KC al HILTON CIRCUS CIRCUS Merger discussions have ended Circus Circus Enterprises Inc and Hilton Hotels Corp confirmed Monday their merger talks have ended As part of a complex $28 billion deal Hilton planned to split itself in two and merge Circus Circus with its gambling operations The new combination by some estimates would control as much as a quarter of the hotel rooms on the Las Vegas Strip and almost a third of The Las Vegas Saturday foundered companies were a formula for a that would allow its holdings into and casino companies Hilton and Circus elaborate on the Switching stations The UPN and WB networks are trading places on the local TV dial the cash flow Review-Journal reported that the discussions when the two unable to develop tax-free structure Hilton to spin off separate hotel Circus did not decision February 1997 January 1998 Monday GENERAL MOTORS CORP Year 2000 bug costly to exterminate it aims to have its computers fixed by the end of this year and will test further next year The SEC requires US companies to disclose in this annual reports the costs associated with the Year 2000 bug in which a date in 2000 could be interpreted as 1900 throwing interest-rate and other calculations into disarray General Motors Corp expects to spend between $360 million and $500 million this year to prevent its computers from malfunctioning in the year 2000 The largest automaker spent $40 million this year to ensure its computers can read dates properly the company said in its 10-K report filed Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission GM said I KCWB Channel 29 will air the lineup beginning Monday By AARON BARNHART Television Writer KCWB Channel 29 is bringing Trek: and the rest of the UPN lineup back to Kansas City effective Monday The long-term deal means that such UPN offerings as and Kansas City-based which formerly appeared on KSMO Channel 62 will appear on Channel 29 In addition Channel 29 plans to hold on weekends to get fans caught up with episodes they missed while UPN was off the air locally Four episodes will air at 8 pm Saturday A four-episode marathon begins at 1 pm Sunday More marathons will be announced soon Also on Monday the WB network will migrate to KSMO Channel 62 owner Baltimore-based Sinclair Broadcast Group has been converting its UPN stations across the nation to WB in exchange for cash However WB offerings such as and the and in will stay at Channel 29 for now because they would conflict with Channel current slate of shows from the Fox Kids Network But that also will change: KSMO and KCWB are expected to swap franchises soon with Channel 62 getting Kids WB and Channel 29 getting Fox Kids Already both stations are airing promotional ads with their new station identities: for KCWB and for KSMO KCWB is also expected to change its call letters Kansas City is the latest city to be affected by the ongoing love affair between WB and fast-growing Sinclair WB has been paying millions of dollars to Sinclair to switch its stations to WB affiliations often at the expense of UPN In December Sinclair said it would not be renewing its UPN affiliation in Kansas City The news led some industry observers to speculate that a WB conversion at Channel 62 was imminent KCWB and KMCI Channel 38 made bids for the UPN franchise and last month KCWB was selected (Both stations are actually operated by other stations SAMSONITE CORP Chief executive to step down The Star KCWB by KMBC Chanriel 9 and KMCI by KSHB Channel 41) In recent months UPN has seen WB pass it up in season-to-date ratings endured a messy and unsuccessful court case to prevent Sinclair from dropping its UPN affiliations and replaced several top' executives Nonetheless Paul Dinovitz and general manager likes his chances with UPN got two favorite dogs the hot dog and the Dinovitz said like being associated with them especially since been void in the market the last two Channel 9 and Channel 29 promote each programs something that may appear at first to work mainly to advantage But Dinovitz said that cross-promotion also helps No 1-rated KMBC think an even greater benefit to KMBC because the path UPN is now taking is middle America not just an urban niche like WB Dinovitz said will give us a chance to reach greater cross sections of the UPN is unveiling a remake of Love starring Robert Urich on April 13 and new UPN chief Dean Valentine has pledged to create other programs aimed at a wider audience The long-term deal means that Channel 29 will not have another network-affiliation loss for a long time what we know now we would have been apprehensive with a two-year said Robert Liepold president and majority owner of KCWB work so hard at something and to have it fall out from under you is so who was promoted to president and chief operating officer in October The company also announced Monday that its board decided to approve a recapitalization plan that includes commitments for a $600 million credit facility Samsonite said it would use the credit facility to pay a special $1250 cash dividend to shareholders refinance debt and finance related transaction costs After gradually doling out poor financial news Monday morning Samsonite Corp told analysts and investors in a late morning conference call that Chief Executive Richard Nicolosi will step down in May Nicolosi will remain chairman of the luggage company said Morgan Stanley Dean Witter analyst Aday Mehra replacement will be Luc Van Nevel the former chief of European division CREDIT UNIONS Growth limited under House bill New grocery wholesaler leader they came from companies or groups with fewer than 3000 employees The rules apply to federal credit unions The initiative is an effort to modify the effects of a Supreme Court ruling last month that credit unions could no longer take members from outside a single group or company The Banking Committee plans to take up the measure Thursday to try to resolve the issue this year US House Banking Committee Chairman James Leach has crafted a proposal that would allow credit unions to accept some new members while limiting their growth in an effort to settle a fight for customers between banks and credit unions The plan presented as a discussion draft would allow members of existing credit unions to remain with their institutions In addition a credit union could accept outside members as long as able to call on him for assistance 1987 we have worked in tandem sharing the same goals for Associated Wholesale Grocers so the transition will be a smooth he said Carolan is a graduate of Western Michigan University with a degree in food distribution During a 40-year career in the food industry he has held various management positions in the retail and wholesale sectors Besides being vice president of marketing for Associated Wholesale also been an executive vice president for the organization In 1996 he became its chief operating officer and was responsible for the oppraiipns anc its subsidiaries: tinue this aggressive Carolan said The grocery wholesale company had $31 billion in sales in 1997 with' distribution centers in Kansas City Kan Spring- field and Oklahoma City Okla Carolan replaces Mike DeFabis who will continue as the vice chairman DeFabis began working for Associated Wholesale in 1987 and became its president and chief executive officer in 1992 Carolan said that although suc- SUN MICROSYSTEMS INC New Java deals on the horizon Doug Carolan named president CEO for KCK-based company By STEVE EVERLY Staff Writer Associated Wholesale Grocers the sixth-largest grocery wholesaler has picked a new president and chief executive officer Doug Carolan who joined the Kansas City Kan-based grocery wholesaler as vice president of marketing in 1983 was promoted Monday by the board of directors The-past few years have seen As- i kuciwed' i Wholesale owceM emerge as a powerfubfertt! Wit hid our industry and we intend to con Sun Microsystems Inc will announce Tuesday that Ericcson the Swedish telecommunications giant will license its Java programming language for use in cellular to people giant Sony Corp said an industry executive with knowledge of talks between the two companies Executives at Sun and Sony confirmed Monday that there had been talks aboijt licensing but nei-ild comment on lent D6FitHisJ would bfcfel ance Cos and Val lenge it would be eased by being" 'Co.