MCI and News Corp. intend to merge on-line operations; new service plans to operate entirely on Internet, Web; Delphi gets needed help

Article Abstract:

MCI and News Corp will form a joint venture to merge MCI's growing MCIMail electronic-mail service and News Corp's troubled Delphi online information service. The new joint venture will combine MCIMail's 200,000 E-mail service customers and 250 employees, and Delphi's 100,000 customers and 450 employees into a single, yet to be named company. News Corp acquired Delphi in Oct 1993. The media giant planned to revive the ailing Delphi service by providing content from News Corp's diverse and vast media resources, including its Fox TV network, but Delphi continues to be troubled. The new joint venture will place most operational control under MCI. Scott Kurnit, an MCI executive, will be placed in charge of the new joint venture. Both companies are also negotiating with British Telecommunications PLC for a piece of the new company. The joint venture is the first installment on MCI and News Corp's technology and media alliance.

Planning, Marketing, Joint ventures, The News Corporation Ltd., Company joint venture, Company business planning, MCI Communications Corp., DELPHI (Online information service)

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Cost of surfing the Internet gets cheaper as price war flares

Article Abstract:

CompuServe announces plans to reduce its Internet access fees to $4.95 per month for three hours by the end of 1995, thereby matching a similar pricing structure established by Microsoft. CompuServe will further offer each additional hour of Internet access at $1.95, a full $.55 less than Microsoft. Some analysts see the cut as an initial industry step toward shifting the primary profit source from user access fees to third-party services and advertising. Inexpensive Internet access provides customers with basic e-mail capability without unwanted additional services. Service support could suffer if the price war escalates significantly, as companies attempt to compensate for lower prices by reducing overhead. Small access providers face an increasingly tenuous future, as the largest access providers threaten to price them out of competition.

Prices and rates, Internet, Company services, Internet access, Company pricing policy, CompuServe (Online information service)

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Time magazine's on-line service is set to switch to CompuServe from AOL

Article Abstract:

Time magazine plans to provide its service through CompuServe instead of current host America Online (AOL), and CompuServe will likely pay several millions of dollars for the service compared to AOL's $500,000 per year. The move indicates the unstable nature of the current online business environment, as content providers leverage the growing volume and wealth of service providers to gain the best deals possible. AOL's loss of Time to its primary competitor, CompuServe, is seen by analysts as a substantial loss, but executives at AOL suggest that previously reported usage numbers of the Time service were overstated. Under its agreement with CompuServe, Time will receive a percentage fee for each new subscriber it brings to CompuServe.

Online services, Time Warner Inc., Contracts, Information services, TWX, Contract agreement, Time (Periodical)

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