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The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that users of the Napster music-swapping service are unlawfully exchanging copyrighted material, upholding a July U.S. District Court decision. The appeals court determined that Napster can and must prevent its members from swapping copyrighted music. The five major record companies, which sued Napster in December 1999, may seek damages for copyright violations. The damages are likely to run into the millions of dollars, which could bankrupt the unprofitable company. The court has ruled that Napster must block whichever files the record companies want blocked, which could amount to millions of songs--a task that itself may be almost impossible to accomplish given the decentralized nature of the Napster system. The appeals court has asked U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel to rewrite her decision, which would have barred Napster from facilitating music downloads by essentially shutting it down. The appeals court stayed Patel's injunction, so the site has continued to operate. And Napster will remain open for business, unless Patel issues a reworded opinion that makes it clear that it must shut down or change radically. Napster, which plans to appeal the appeals court's decision, is asking its members to help by writing their congressional representatives and the record companies. Regardless of what happens next, Napster is still on track to become a fee-based service starting this summer, thanks to its partnership with media giant Bertelsmann.
'Old Broads' ropes 'em in for ABC
"These Old Broads" scored big for ABC last night, averaging an 11.3/17 household rating and share. CBS won the night in households however, as ABC’s "Gideon’s Crossing" dropped nearly 50 percent of "Broads’" lead-in at 10 p.m. Among adults 18-49, Fox "Boston Public" and "Ally McBeal" won every half-hour except for 9 p.m., when CBS’s "Everybody Loves Raymond" posted the highest household and adult 18-49 rating. NBC was in last place most of the night, with only "Third Watch" winning among adults 18-49 at 10 p.m. At 8 p.m., the "Crocodile Hunter" didn’t help NBC as much as it did during November sweeps-- the special earned a household rating 25 percent lower than it did in November. The preliminary Nielsen household rating and share and adult 18-49 rating for Monday night were: CBS 9.6/15 and 5.6, ABC 9.5/14 and 3.0, Fox 8.7/13 and 6.4, and NBC 7.2/11 and 4.5. On Sunday, the "NBA All Star Game" tanked for NBC, finishing last in its time period in both households and adults 18-49. The game averaged only a 7 household share during its two hours, two shares behind NBC’s XFL game on Saturday. ABC won in both households and adults 18-49 by featuring the Eddie Murphy movie "Dr. Doolittle," a celebrity edition of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?," and a new episode of "The Practice." Fox placed second among adults 18-49, while CBS placed second in households. The preliminary Nielsen household rating and share and adult 18-49 rating for Sunday night were: ABC 11.7/18 and 7.1, CBS 10.5/16 and 3.4, Fox 7.1/11 and 6.2, and NBC 5.2/8 and 3.6.
Talk gets beat up for its newsstand woes
Talk publisher Ron Galotti loves to see his magazine’s name in the papers, but the kind of press it’s gotten these last few days he can live without. Both The New York Times and the New York Post lit into Talk yesterday, dwelling in particular on its lackluster performance on newsstands. Times reporter Alex Kuczynski noted that Talk averaged only 150,674 single-copy sales during its three-month circulation audit in 2000—far short of the 247,000 in newsstand sales Galotti predicted when the title launched. Kuczynski also pointed out Talk’s newsstand sell-through of only 18 percent, versus an industry average of 37 percent. (Sell-through is the percentage of copies shipped to retailers that actually get sold.) "They cannot survive with that low sell-through on the newsstand," circulation expert Dan Capell told the paper. The Post’s Keith Kelly called Talk’s sell-through rate "abominable," and didn’t stop there, razzing Galotti and partner Tina Brown on the rodent infestation in their new offices. Inside.com also kicked Talk around in a weekend article, reminding Galotti of his errant forecast and declaring, "Despite a buzz level that rivals Vanity Fair, Talk hasn't proved a success on the newsstand."
Meredith cashiers Family Money
Meredith’s personal finance title Family Money will suspend publication after the current March/April issue, causing nearly two dozen staffers to lose their jobs. The magazine, which was published six times a year and had a rate base of 625,000, launched in 1997 in an attempt to cash in on the financial advertising boom. But Meredith, a magazine house famous for its women's service publications, including Better Homes & Gardens and Ladies Home Journal, had trouble thriving in the new category. The company promises a new version of the magazine will sporadically hit newsstands exclusively as a special interest publication in the near future.
XFL trimming minutes to avert schedule snafus
NBC, UPN and the World Wrestling Federation are trying to ensure the new XFL football games finish on time after recent games have run into late-night programming on the two networks broadcasting the games. XFL promoters had previously promised NBC and UPN that the games would fit cleanly into their three-hour timeslots. However, the first two XFL games on NBC ran over and delayed the start time of "Saturday Night Live." In fact, Saturday's game went into double overtime, causing "SNL" to start at 12:15 a.m. and lose viewers to slumber. Compounding the issue, ratings for the second week of the XFL fell dramatically on both UPN and NBC. In an attempt to cut 12 to 15 minutes off each game, the opening kickoff will be at 10 minutes past the hour instead of 15, cutting the pre-game commentary, and halftime will be only 10 minutes. From now on, players will also skip introducing themselves and commercial breaks will be restricted to two minutes, 20 seconds.
No more setbacks: New Yorker is on the web
After considerable anticipation and a bit of drama, the New Yorker’s web site is finally up. The site contains nearly all the offerings from the print magazine, plus an "On-Line Only" section featuring a Q&A with writer Alice Munro and an essay by Hendrik Hertzberg on Eustace Tilley, the New Yorker’s monocle-sporting cartoon mascot. The fate of the site seemed uncertain earlier this year when New Yorker parent Conde Nast said that it would postpone the launch of its individual magazine web sites until the second half of this year. New Yorker editor David Remnick reportedly made a special appeal to Conde Nast chairman Si Newhouse and won the go-ahead for the site. Next up is Allure, which is scheduled to hit the web later this month.
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