Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 12, 1994 TAG: 9401120045
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Medium
So on Tuesday, Gore challenged 30 leading figures in telecommunications to provide easy access for every classroom, library and hospital in the country.
In exchange, he said, the government would come through with less-restrictive rules from a single new regulatory agency.
"You here today represent the companies that can do it," Gore told representatives of the telecommunications, computer and entertainment industries.
The so-called information superhighway is a still-undefined marriage of computers, television and telephones expected to transform commerce and entertainment.
Gore briefed summit participants on the Clinton administration's plans to reform federal laws and regulations governing telecommunication. He said the administration supports removing regulations that prevent telephone, cable and long-distance companies from entering each other's business.
Gore said that only wide access to developing two-way communications networks can avoid creating a society of information haves and have-nots.
He said the administration will authorize the Federal Communications Commission to reduce regulation to allow smaller competitors into those markets.
He also said the government will fight to keep big players such as the regional Bell telephone companies from using their present monopolies as unfair leverage into new businesses.
Whatever the final form of the information superhighway, panelists agreed that television will be the most common means of delivery to consumers.
In the future, shoppers should be able to try on dresses electronically at a Paris store or order up voting records of their representatives, they said.
Barry Diller, the former entertainment executive who heads the QVC home-shopping channel, said the initial shape of the superhighway should emerge in three or four years.
Tune in for a clear picture in five to nine years, he added. "Right now, it is hard to see," he said.
Summit participants disagreed over whether entertainment suppliers must merge with companies specializing in delivering programming.
Leading examples of such software-hardware combinations include the purchase of the Columbia and MCA studios by Japanese consumer electronics giants Sony and Matsushita, respectively.
Another is the bidding war for Paramount Communications Inc. between QVC Network Inc. and Viacom Inc., which owns MTV and other cable channels.
Chief among Hollywood's skeptics is Walt Disney Co. Chairman Michael Eisner. He has said the uncertain interactive future has convinced him to keep Disney focused on developing stories, music and ideas rather than the hardware used to deliver them.
by CNB