Satellite TV Bill Approved

Congress passed legislation giving satellite television broadcasters like El Segundo-based DirecTV a huge boost by allowing them to offer local channels for the first time.

The Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act of 1999 is expected to touch off a fierce battle for customers between satellite carriers and cable operators.

The bill is expected to be signed this week by President Clinton. DirecTV then plans to begin rolling out local channels in Los Angeles and New York within hours and move to market the service to millions of new customers.

HMOs Hit With Lawsuit

A group of attorneys led by anti-tobacco lawyer Richard Scruggs filed a national lawsuit seeking class-action status against five health maintenance organizations, accusing them of failing to provide promised care.

The defendants are some of the nation’s largest HMO operators, including Foundation Health Systems Inc. of Woodland Hills and PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. of Santa Ana.

The lawsuit, filed in Mississippi, seeks compensatory damages and an injunction preventing the defendants from pursuing the “fraudulent and extortionate policies and practices” cited in the complaint.

Global Crossing Eyes Asia

Global Crossing Ltd. was expected to announce the completion of its ground-breaking deal with Microsoft Corp. and Japan’s Softbank to build a fiber-optic network in Asia for high-speed Internet, voice and video communications.

The new venture called Asia Global Crossing would be based in Beverly Hills. Chief Executive Jack Scanlon said the deal secures a key link in Global Crossing’s expanding web of land and undersea fiber-optic cables.

Asia Global Crossing’s first major project would be construction of a $1.28 billion network linking Japan, China, South Korea and other nations.

Hiring Practices Disputed

Faced with complaints that not enough African Americans are being hired to build the $2.4 billion Alameda Corridor, the board of the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority ordered a review of the agency’s hiring practices and job training program.

The decision came after six members of the public addressed the board and complained that blacks were not getting their fair share of jobs generated by construction of the 20-mile rail link between downtown and the county’s fast-growing seaports.

Smoking Ad Bans Blocked

A federal appeals court ruled that state and local governments like the city of L.A. cannot prohibit outdoor tobacco advertising.

The ruling has no direct impact on the massive 1998 national tobacco settlement, in which the nation’s major cigarette companies agreed to halt most outdoor advertising, including billboards. It does, however, affect local laws, including a city ordinance in Los Angeles that prohibits retailers from posting billboards or other outdoor advertising.

The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said such bans are illegal because they are preempted by a 1965 federal law regulating cigarette advertising and labeling.

Boeing Settles Bias Claims

Boeing Co. agreed to pay $4.5 million to women and minorities to settle longstanding sex discrimination and equal pay issues at its facilities, including its Long Beach plant,

The money will go for back pay and future wages of salaried and executive employees, according to U.S. Labor Department officials.

The deal also requires the company to review its salary policies and change the way hiring and pay decisions are made, marking the first time that a private-sector corporation has agreed to end gender and racial pay disparities identified by government auditors, federal officials said.

Lockyer Targets Gas Prices

Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer called on lawmakers to take steps to ease gasoline prices in California, as he issued a report documenting that motorists here pay far more for gas than people in almost any other state.

Lockyer said California’s average $1.31 per gallon pump price for regular-grade gasoline during the first eight months of 1999 was higher than in all other states except Hawaii and Nevada, and 23 cents above the national average.

During that period, Californians shelled out $1.3 billion more than they would have if they were paying the national average. Lockyer also noted that six major companies in California, led by Atlantic Richfield Co. and Chevron, control more than 90 percent of retail gasoline sales in California.

UniHealth Sells Provider Group

Burbank-based UniHealth sold its flagship physician organization to a group of doctors already affiliated with the company.

Huntington Provider Group, which along with UniHealth’s other holdings had comprised one of the state’s largest physician organizations, was purchased by 150 doctors, led by the group’s current management.

Financial terms were not disclosed. The purchase included Huntington’s contracts, but not its debts, to care for 150,000 patients in Pasadena and elsewhere in the San Gabriel Valley.

Parking Fines Refunded

The city of Los Angeles has refunded $750,000 in recent months to motorists who were improperly issued tickets based on faulty parking meters.

Transportation Department head Frances Banerjee told the City Council that the 24,000 refunds take care of all legitimate appeals filed by motorists after new parking meters installed two years ago had widespread problems.

At the same meeting in which Banerjee was confirmed as head of the agency, she assured council members that the parking meters have been fixed.

Oxy Gets Big Settlement

Occidental Petroleum Corp. said its Oxy USA subsidiary will get a cash payment of $775 million from Chevron USA Inc. to settle a longstanding Oklahoma case over a terminated merger.

The breach-of-contract case dates back to 1982 and involved a merger that never took place between Gulf Oil Corp. and Cities Service Co.

The Oklahoma Supreme Court affirmed a lower court judgment in the case. Ray R. Irani, chairman and chief executive of Occidental, said the company will use the proceeds primarily to pay down debt.

DreamWorks Raising Money

DreamWorks SKG is planning to raise $525 million through the sale of debt securities that will be repaid from global box-office receipts and video revenues generated from a group of movies.

The studio made a presentation on the offering to U.S. investors and is now reportedly shopping it to European investors. The DreamWorks transaction is the latest in a new wave of deals assembled by Wall Street investment bankers for the entertainment industry.