Hughes Buying DSL Company

Hughes Electronics Corp. has offered $180 million in cash for Cupertino, Calif.-based Telocity, a provider of high-speed Internet access. The deal calls for Hughes to pay $2.15 for each of the company’s 84 million outstanding shares. Telocity was trading at $1.40 per share at the time of the offer.

Hughes officials said the acquisition of Telocity, which provides digital subscriber line service through conventional phone lines, will allow it to offer virtually any customer the same combination of video and high-speed Internet services that cable operators are starting to provide. The deal could also open the door to interactive video services that can only be done through an always-on, high-speed connection to the Internet.

Hughes already has a satellite-based Internet service, DirecPC, but the cable operators’ cable-modem services have proven to be much more attractive to consumers. One reason is that DirecPC has been a one-way service users could download data rapidly via satellite, but they needed to connect through a phone line to send commands. Hughes also announced that a two-way version of DirecPC would be available early next year.

New Plan for Sheriff Department

L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca unveiled a 30-year reorganization plan for his department that includes building five new station houses.

Many of the proposals have been under consideration since he was elected two years ago, but Baca said he now has a better plan for implementing them.

Several factors stand in the way of his plans, however, including an estimated $1-billion price tag.

In a letter to the Board of Supervisors, Baca said he wanted to hire two additional assistant sheriffs as well as four additional division chiefs. Additionally, a new civilian administrator would serve as an assistant sheriff overseeing the training and technology divisions and the office of administrative services.

Among the sheriff’s plans are building new stations in Compton, Lennox, Palmdale, San Dimas and Altadena, as well as hiring more civilians. Baca also wants to refurbish the Hall of Justice for his administrative headquarters and improve the Sybil Brand jail while expanding jail educational programs.

Disney Charged With Infringement

Walt Disney Co. and its ESPN Inc. and ABC Inc. units have been accused in a federal lawsuit of infringing technology for interactive television.

The lawsuit, filed by Los Gatos, Calif.-based ACTV Inc., accuses the world’s second-largest media company of using three ACTV patents for an interactive TV system that Disney uses during broadcasts of “Monday Night Football” and “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.” The filing targets Disney’s Enhanced TV system, which also is used during ESPN’s “Sunday Night Football” broadcast.

Through interactive TV, viewers with Internet connections can play along with game shows, choose from a variety of camera angles and get information on advertised products.

Net Provider Sues Rival

NetZero Inc. sued rival free Internet access provider Juno Online Services Inc. for allegedly infringing on technology used to display messages or advertisements in a window for as long as a user stays online.

NetZero accuses Juno of infringing on its patented on-screen window that constantly displays links, buttons or advertisements, according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. The patent was issued Dec. 5.

Westlake Village-based NetZero continuously displays online ads on its customers’ computer screens as a condition of providing free Internet access.

A spokesman for New York-based Juno denied the infringement allegation.

Online Fraud Alleged

Federal authorities arrested one man and were searching for another suspected of ripping off buyers on the eBay online auction site.

An assistant U.S. Attorney said the two unrelated cases were among the first criminal prosecutions in the booming online auction business.

George Arthur Cruz of Artesia and Hen Ben Haim are accused of offering to auction dozens of expensive computers and other electronic goods on eBay, the largest Internet auction service. When winning bidders sent in their money, a total of more than $110,000, they received nothing, according to federal indictments.

More than 240 alleged victims mailed checks or money orders to the Los Angeles area after submitting winning bids for laptop and desktop computers, camera equipment, musical instruments, Nintendo games and replicas of football helmets.

Cruz, 31, and Haim, 27, of Encino, had previously been indicted by a federal grand jury.

Tuna Company Sold

A Thai food company has bought out its Southern California partners and acquired control of Chicken of the Sea International, one of the nation’s oldest and largest producers of canned tuna.

The sale includes the San Pedro cannery where Chicken of the Sea cans about 125 tons of tuna daily. It’s the only major tuna cannery in the continental United States.

Thai Union Frozen Products said it paid $38.5 million for 50 percent of San Diego-based Chicken of the Sea from two fishing fleet operators, Tri-Marine International of San Pedro and San Diego-based Caribbean Marine owner Edmund Gann.

The three companies purchased the mermaid-adorned Chicken of the Sea brand in 1997 out of bankruptcy court. The group paid $92 million in cash and a $5 million note for the seafood company.

Dating back almost 80 years, the Chicken of the Sea brand has 22 percent of the U.S. market for canned tuna, making it the second-largest domestic brand.

Home Prices Rise

Strong demand continued to propel home prices and sales upward across California in November, according to the latest figures from the California Association of Realtors.

Los Angeles County’s median price rose 13.2 percent to $228,800; Orange County was up 12.4 percent to $322,670; and Riverside and San Bernardino counties rose 10.7 percent to $145,180. Los Altos Hills, in the San Francisco Bay Area, posted the highest median home price in October at $3.4 million. Beverly Hills, at $880,000, ranked eighth in the state. San Diego County led the Southern California areas with an 18.6 percent increase to $280,490, according to the realty trade group.

Sales of existing homes rose 6.2 percent to a seasonably adjusted rate of 563,800 units over the same month a year ago. The median home price statewide jumped to $251,760, up 15.2 percent from $218,540 last November.