Newsday (Nassau Edition) from Hempstead, New York • 56

dA A56 Dollar 09183 EUROS UP FROM 09153 12177 JAPANESE YEN UP FROM 12023 6198 ENGUSH POUNDS UP FROM 6194 4 I 4- 1 4 LOHGISLANDINC Livent Inc Loses Suitor As Disney Co Abandons Bid Jobs Data Show 1998 Was Best Year for LI Since Final job-growth figures for 1998 show that it was the best year for the Long Island economy since 1986 Payrolls in Nassau and Suffolk swelled by 28000 jobs last year according to the state Labor Department By Harry Berkowitz 8TAFT WRITER producer Walt Disney Co is no longer in the running to pick up the theater where the Broadway musical is playing But Cablevision Systems Corp which last year rescued Scarlet is among five or six bidders vying for financially reeling Livent Inc which owns the theater the show and several other musicals and properties a source dose to the process said The bidders are looking at prices between $80 million and $120 million which would fall far short of the $180 million to $200 million in debt owed to ing that those bidders put in expressions of and are analyzing financial situation Cablevision based in Beth page is said to be a leading contender even though it is not the highest bidder so for because it already has entered the Broadway arena and controls an expanding mix of entertainment properties including Madison Square Garden Radio City Music Hall a movie theater chain the Wiz retail electronics chain and several mqjor cable TV systems is looked at as the front-runner given their other investments in live a source close to the bidding said I i I fl fee beginning in May to pay for the costs of letting customers keep their local telephone numbers after they switch carriers even though many have that choice now Many other local phone companies either have already announced or have started billing customers for the new charge ranging from 38 to 53 cents a month for each phone line The fee pays for local phone costs of complying with a provision in a 1996 law Businesses also will pay a fee which can vary by the services they get GTE which provides local service in 28 states meanwhile has said it now will charge customers 38 cents a line rather than 43 cents as originally planned The fee will appear in moat bills after March 10 New monthly fees last year began popping up on phone bills Those charges came from a 1997 government overhaul of phone fees and from itemized charges for government-ordered subsidies once included in rates For years long-distance customers have been able to change their long-distance carriers without getting a new phone number The rationale: Consumers would be less inclined to switch to a new carrier local or long-distance if they had to get a new phone number each time That would thwart the goal of competition The 1996 law requires local phone companies to make technical changes that would allow customers to keep their phone numbers after they switch to a new local provider Associated Press which yesterday released a statistical revision it considers more accurate than the figures it puts out monthly during the year The job growth reinforces that the economy is performing quite said labor market analyst Gary Huth He said every mqjor sector including manufacturing grew last year with construction and business services up the most Manufacturing has been on a downslide during the 1990s but increased by 1600 jobs last year The 28000 new jobs were the most since 35000 positions were added in 1986 during the height of the Reagan administration defense build-up Skeptics have said that the kinds of jobs being created in the late 1990s pay as well as the defense positions that evaporated when the Cold War ended But Huth disputed that saying construction and business services jobs in fields such as computer software and advertising also pay well Total Long Island employment averaged 1149100 jobs last year the most ever Huth said the average unemployment rate of 32 percent matched the record low set in 1988 Each month the Labor Department announces the unemployment rate and the total payroll jobs number revision was based on more complete data Huth said Bell to Ring Up New Monthly Fee Bell Atlantic will charge customers a new 24-cents-a-line monthly Nmdw FUb Photo IBM Ad Mints Livent is producing at the Broadhurst Theater in New York ThetTopiOO sort of relates to their mostly New York-based Jessica Reif Cohen a media analyst for Merrill Lynch in Manhattan said of a Cablevision acquisition what concerns me is that their recent acquisitions have taken them away from their core knitting and a live Broadway show is not what this company has a lot of experience Scarlet a $2 million investment for Cablevision that is doing well at the MinskofT Theater must make way for a new Robert Stig-wood production of Night in June and has not announced where it will move It is expected to tour for a period before returning to Broadway in the fall but it could not use the Ford Center because is still there Cablevision is also a minority partner in at the Richard Rodgers Theater venues are the jewels of this said Bishop Cheen a media analyst for First Union Capital Markets in Charlotte NC accounting was squirrelly but mostly on the productions not on the Cheen added that Livent could be a Stock Watch How Long 10 largest stocks based on market vdue Close Change fared yesterday creditors by Livent the source said Originally 10 companies were given information booklets abopt Livent which filed for bankruptcy protection in New York and Canada Livent representatives are hoping to pick a buyer by April and have weeded out companies that wanted only the theaters rather than the whole company including its shows sources said In addition to in New York and Chicago where it will be replaced by in September Livent is producing at the Broadhurst Theater in New York and of the in Toronto which is expected to dose this year after a 10-year ran It is also hoping to launch a touring production of and it owns theaters in New York Chicago Toronto and Vancouver Disney which renovated the New Amsterdam Theater on 42nd Street where Lion King" is playing to sold-out crowds had expressed interest only in some of the Livent theaters including the recently restored Ford Center for the Performing Arts on 43rd Street and a theater in Chicago companies have been brought into the second said a source dose to the Livent bidding process add- The Nowaday Top 100 I Stock Index: 10311 Computer Assoc Cablevision Sys Keyspan Energy Symbol Technol North Fork Bcp Comvrse Astoria Financial KimcoRlty PallCorp Arrow El Jan 1 1997-100 Please see LIVENT on Page A58.