Homestore Investigation Expands
The U.S. Justice Department broadened its investigation of Homestore.com Inc., the leading online realty services site, with a new round of civil subpoenas to industry rivals.
The subpoenas show federal investigators are looking into Homestore’s pending $1 billion acquisition of Move.com, the online realty operations of franchiser [RTF bookmark start: _Hlt498254332]Cendant [RTF bookmark end: _Hlt498254332]Corp., whose franchises include Century 21, Coldwell Banker and ERA.
Justice Department lawyers have asked rivals to respond to detailed questions on everything from dealings with regional property-listing boards to difficulties selling advertising.
The six-month-old antitrust investigation is focusing on possible exclusionary conduct and monopolization of Internet realty sites in the United States.
In the past, officials at Thousand Oaks-based Homestore have denied any wrongdoing and said their business model, which is partly based on exclusive deals with many of the nation’s Realtors, doesn’t violate antitrust law.
Disneyland Hikes Prices
For the second time this year, Walt Disney Co. has raised its Disneyland admission prices by $2 for both adult and child tickets, as the corporation prepares to open its California Adventure park next door.
Disney increased the cost of a daily pass to $43 for adults and $33 for children 9 and younger, widening the admissions gap between Disneyland and other California parks.
Price increases have become an almost annual rite at Disneyland, but this year’s double dose is the most aggressive in dollar amount. The increase of $4 per ticket from a year ago is a jump of more than 10 percent, triple the inflation rate and far ahead of average wage gains.
Disney officials said the increase reflects the park’s new Christmas-themed entertainment, including holiday fireworks and higher operating costs.
Scooter Maker Files Suit
Tthe biggest seller of aluminum scooters filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court charging 15 competitors with a combination of patent and trade infringement.
At stake is several hundred million dollars in expected sales between now and year-end.
Razor USA, the Cerritos-based importer of the popular $100 scooter, wants the federal court in Los Angeles to block competitors from selling similar devices after it was awarded a patent for a design component of its hot-selling toy.
In its lawsuit, Razor said several companies copied its patented brake system. Others have copied the look of the scooter, including its oval foot-grip pad on the scooter’s base, its polished aluminum frame and translucent-colored wheels.
Most of the targets of the lawsuit are in Southern California, including K2 Inc., Variflex, Gen-X Sports Inc. and ASA Products.
Viacom to Acquire BET
Fresh off its acquisition of CBS, media conglomerate Viacom Inc. has made a bid to add Black Entertainment Television to its roster of companies.
The deal would end Robert Johnson’s 20-year ownership and control of the largest African-American-targeted cable network. BET, which has its West Coast headquarters in Burbank and publicly estimated its net value at about $2.7 billion, has 63 million subscribers.
Analysts say Viacom is the most logical buyer because the highest-rated programs on BET’s flagship channel are music videos. More than half of Viacom’s cable value comes from music channels that now compete against BET.
Oprah Re-Ups With King World
In a boost to Viacom Inc. and its L.A.-based King World Productions unit, Oprah Winfrey has agreed to a two-year contract that will extend her syndicated daytime talk show at least midway through 2004.
“The Oprah Winfrey Show” remains a major cash cow. When CBS, now part of Viacom, agreed to acquire King World in 1999, it was estimated that “Oprah” accounted for nearly half of the program distributor’s $210 million in annual cash flow.
Winfrey’s own deal is extraordinarily rich. Her pre-existing contract, which runs through 2002, guarantees her $150 million over two years.
SAG Elects Board Members
A group of film and TV actors including Valerie Harper, Elliott Gould, Fred Savage and Tom Bosley has been elected by Los Angeles actors to the Screen Actors Guild’s national board of directors.
Results of the election are unlikely to shift the direction of the guild, which became more combative in negotiations following the election of William Daniels as president a year ago.
SAG just finished a bitter six-month strike against the advertising industry. The elected board members were active supporters during the strike. Next year, SAG begins negotiations with studios and networks over its film and TV contract.
