to view this newsletter in full color URL media unspun what the press is reporting and why www mediaunspun com october NUMBER NUMBER in this issue bush covers the waterfront the biggest cable hookup editor s note is media unspun useful to you then pass it on to a colleague the more readers we have the more successful we ll be the more successful we are the more useful we can be to you pass it on media unspun serves business news and analysis authoritatively and irreverently every business day an annual subscription costs NUMBER less than a dollar a week if your four week free trial is coming to an end soon please visit URL and sign up via credit card or check advertisement pop tech NUMBER october NUMBER NUMBER NUMBER camden maine join NUMBER big thinkers to discuss the collision of technology and culture register now at URL bush covers the waterfront it may seem like all iraq all the time in the oval office but the president has at least one other thing on his mind this week that pesky port lockout the freight still isn t moving factories are running out of parts produce is rotting and retailers are more freaked about christmas with every passing day on monday bush stepped in and appointed a three member panel to see how badly this shutdown is hosing the economy we hope this isn t a difficult question as the panel s been given all of one day to report back when bush gets the report on tuesday the next step might be a court order to reopen the ports under the NUMBER taft hartley act that would send employees back to work for NUMBER days while federal mediators duke it out over the disputed contract and retailers lower their xanax dosages invoking taft hartley requires a threat to national health or safety not the economy but labor secretary elaine chao covered that base in a statement on monday saying the work stoppage threatens the flow of supplies to the military we knew iraq would be in here somewhere union officials quickly responded that their members have been unloading military cargo throughout the NUMBER day shutdown said the l a times but an anonymous bush administration official said that only a portion of what the defense department needs has made it ashore politically this has been a tricky one using taft hartley would annoy labor right before congressional elections on the other hand voter discontent with bush s handling of the increasingly fragile economic recovery has begun showing up in polls and such concerns may have outweighed the political danger to the republican administration said the san francisco chronicle also bush stepped in on the same day that a poll reported two thirds of americans wanted him to focus more on the economy though the administration promised an unbiased examination of the lockout bush appeared to have made up his mind that it was hurting national security and the economy andmerited federal intervention said the ap as for taft hartley it s not exactly famous for solving labor disputes often the NUMBER day cooling off period ends and workers simply walk out again or get locked out again in this case one gets the sense however that fixing the dockworkers contract isn t the point of this particular NUMBER days it s NUMBER days until christmas the race is on jen muehlbauer president acts to halt port lockout for NUMBER days seattle times URL bush expected to act on ports crisis URL president moves toward forcing the reopening of west coast ports URL bush takes step toward halting lockout after west coast port talks break off ap URL white house intervenes on docks dispute financial times URL cooling off period likely in port fight sf chronicle URL bush moves toward halting port shutdown URL trouble on the docks URL paid subscription required charges of politics have dogged taft hartley act URL taft hartley act no quick fix for port dispute reuters URL advertisement special offer save NUMBER on a subscription to mit technology review get an inside view into the technologies deals and companies emerging from one of the leading research institutes mit URL the biggest cable hookup wo birds want to join forces and the fcc is about to cry fowl we mean foul the two dominant direct broadcast satellite players want to join forces the better to compete with big cable federal regulators both the fcc and the justice department are concerned that the resulting conglomerate of directv with dish network would command roughly NUMBER of satellite service in the us the press could not settle on a price tag for the proposed merger between echostar communications and hughes electronics it was described as being worth anywhere from NUMBER billion and NUMBER billion it was a challenge to keep the players straight as some outlets talked of a merger between the corporate parents and others referred to the service monikers hughes is directv and echostar is dish all straight the two companies sent a letter to the fcc urging them to hold off ruling on read rejecting the merger until the justice department has spoken echostar and hughes offered unspecified major revisions to the deal that they want to discuss with justice in the next weeks the wall street journal delved deeply into the form those revisions could take specifically selling some frequencies to cablevision the journal reported that cablevision has wanted to get into the satellite business for NUMBER years and outlined the cable company s plans and past spending on such a project URL turned in an extensive analysis of the deal for investors in the satellite space it seems the market for expanded service television may be nearing saturation URL quoted an analyst s report which concluded consumers should benefit from continued rivalry but shareholders may realize much smaller returns the new york times and the journal both mentioned rupert murdoch waiting in the wings last year murdoch s news corp bid for directv but lost out at the last minute to echostar if the current deal falls through he ll be back keith dawson echostar and hughes propose concessions in bid to save deal URL paid subscription required regulators set to block echostar s hughes purchase URL paid subscription required last ditch effort rocky mountain news URL echostar hughes see a glimmer of hope URL f c c asked to put off merger ruling URL echostar hughes ask fcc to defer decision URL echostar hughes offer merger changes reuters URL delay in satellite tv merger ok requested ap URL echostar hughes seek to delay ruling URL echostar pleads to fcc on merger denver post URL other stories sec probes aol oxygen pact for double booking of revenue URL paid subscription required tivo raises NUMBER million in stock offering ap URL worldcom officer pleads guilty to fraud URL two magazines are shut and a third revamps URL regulators say they have csfb smoking gun URL expected cold winter could increase natural gas prices URL frozen world found beyond pluto URL fool me once URL new northwest system for internet bookings URL the fastest growing tech companies URL debating the baby bells URL paid subscription required silicon valley is yearning for user friendly microsoft URL paid subscription required do you want to reach the net s savviest audience advertise in media unspun contact erik vanderkolk for details at erikvanderkolk URL today staff written by deborah asbrand dasbrand world std com keith dawson dawson world std com jen muehlbauer jen englishmajor com and lori patel loripatel hotmail com copyedited by jim duffy jimduffyNUMBER URL advertising erik vanderkolk erikvanderkolk URL editor and publisher jimmy guterman guterman vineyard com media unspun is produced by the vineyard group inc copyright NUMBER media unspun inc and the vineyard group inc subscribe already willya URL redistribution by email is permitted as long as a link to URL is included ________________ powered by URL to be removed from this list use this link URL to receive future messages in html format use this link URL to change your subscriber 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