CAA Chair Michael Ovitz, along with Bell Atlantic, Nynex and
Pacific Telesis, announced yesterday that they have entered a
video entertainment venture to deliver video over telephone
lines. The plan calls for the creation of a "media company" that
will work with Ovitz's Creative Artists Agency to license and
acquire old movies and TV shows, create new film products and
develop interactive entertainment such as home shopping, video
games and educational software (Mike Mills, WASHINGTON POST,
11/1). The Bells will form two ventures: One will concentrate on
developing programming, while the other will create technical
systems needed to deliver programming into homes. The two
companies will be jointly owned by the three Bells. Pacific
Telesis CEO Phillip Quigley said that the three partners may take
on additional investors later: "We'll gladly entertain other
arrangements with others, Bells and non-Bells, as we move
forward" (Cauley & Turner, WALL STREET JOURNAL, 11/1). Ovitz
represents several corporate clients, including Coca-Cola, Nike
and Sony (WASHINGTON POST, 11/1). Ovitz said that the new Bell
deal is a way "to whip up work" for current clients (Maney &
Wiseman, USA TODAY, 11/1). In New York, John Durie writes, "The
sure winners [from the deal] also include programmers like
Viacom, News Corporation and Time Warner. They offer the best
routes to information superhighway pay dirt for investors" (N.Y.
POST, 11/1).
