Ad/SAT contends that the organizations and newspapers -- among them the Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger and the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader -- are conspiring to drive it out of the business of electronic transmission of display advertising.

Following a hearing on Sept. 22 and 23, Judge Peter Leisure denied Ad/SAT's request for a preliminary injunction against the AP, saying it was unlikely Ad/SAT could win on the merits of the suit.

Last April, the AP announced it would begin offering member newspapers its AP AdSEND service, which would include a computer installed at each newspaper at no cost. The wire service plans to charge advertisers for the cost of delivering display ads.

Ad/SAT contends that AP's "monopoly position" in the distribution of news, wire photos and newspaper satellite services allows it the opportunity to drive competitors out of business.

Ad/SAT claimed the AP was charging less than Ad/SAT's fee and was improperly drawing on its base of client newspapers to enter the market, drive out competitors and become the dominant electronic ad delivery service, Cowles/Simba Media Daily reported in its coverage of the hearing.

AP attorneys countered that because of the expected volume of advertising, AdSEND could charge less than Ad/SAT, the service reported. Leisure pointed out that Ad/SAT had more than 100 newspaper contracts and has been advised by a management consultant on how to compete with AdSEND, the Daily said.

Ad/SAT attorney Joseph Alioto said Ad/SAT would continue to gather evidence and "proceed with this case vigorously," Media Daily reported. No trial date has been set; further hearings are scheduled this fall.

In a hearing on Sept. 15, the judge ratified an agreement between SII and its banks that gives more than 80 percent of the company to a group led by Bank of America (see The Cole Papers, August 1994).

The company was scheduled to implement its reorganization "10 to 30 days" after the hearing, at which time a new board of directors will be installed.

-- dmc

Bit bucket ...

New media, new job: Last month we reported that Jeff Jarvis had taken the job of editor-in-chief of Rupert Murdoch's Delphi Internet Services Corp. Well, that was last month. Shortly after joining Delphi, Jarvis changed his mind and went to work for Newhouse Newspaper New Media Inc. as creative director. Newhouse said Jarvis will develop a variety of projects for the Jersey City, N.J.-based company. It was created this year to explore digital publishing opportunities for 26 Newhouse newspapers and the Newhouse News Service. Jarvis has been a television critic at TV Guide, also owned by Murdoch's News Corp., since 1992 and will continue writing his "Couch Critic" column for the magazine. This job reunites Jarvis with Jim Willse, director of Newhouse Newspaper New Media and former editor and publisher of the New York Daily News and managing editor of the San Francisco Examiner. Willse and Jarvis worked together at both newspapers. ...

Paradise is where you find it: If you lived in Rochester, Minn., you might think Monterey, Calif., would be an ideal place to live. Which might help explain why Garth Hospers left his job as VP of production at the Post-Bulletin to be VP of production at The Herald in California. But if you lived in Monterey, where would you find a more idyllic location? Former Monterey production chief Jim Granata signed on as VP of production at the Hawaii Newspaper Agency (production arm of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and Advertiser) a few months back, if that's a clue. ...

Snapping pix to snappy title: At the St. Petersburg Times in Florida, Jack Belich has been named assistant to the president (which in this case is President, Editor and Chief Executive Andy Barnes). Belich had been newsroom projects manager since 1987; before that he'd been the paper's photo editor, a staff photographer and police beat reporter since 1960 (with two stints off to work for UPI). Barnes said, "Jack will bring to his new job a broad-based knowledge of how our present-day business functions, along with an interest and knowledge of how our enterprise will operate in the future." ...

Vendor vagaries: At Digital Technology International, longtime West Coast sales executive John Perchulyn has left the company to become president of Riviera Imaging Inc. of Redondo Beach, Calif. ... At Eastman Kodak Co., Paul McAfee has been named director of worldwide Photo CD marketing. He will report to Fred Geyer, who is responsible for worldwide marketing in the Digital and Applied Imaging organization. ... At ECRM, Terence Li, a five-year company veteran, has been named director of Far East sales and marketing; Li will be responsible for the newly opened ECRM China office in Beijing along with other activities in the region. ... At Information International Inc., the fallout from the Monotype merger has started, with Michael Tucker and Philip Jordan leaving the company. Tucker, a marketing executive formerly with Camex and Diadem, has joined Cascade Systems Inc. in a marketing capacity; Jordan, formerly an editor with the Mail on Sunday in London and a production executive with the defunct Racing Times, had been an assistant to Triple-I president Charles Ying. ... At NovX Systems Integration of Seattle, Lisa Friedman has been named lead trainer; Friedman had been systems editor of The Herald in Everett, a suburb of Seattle. ... At TV Data, James McCormick has been named VP and director of information systems; he'd been a founder of Eastbourne Consulting Group and vice president of MIS at Transway International Corp. Also at TV Data, Cullen O'Brien has been named special projects account representative; the former cable TV executive will develop and market products for the cable TV industry. ...

Company news: Cascade Systems International, the parent of Cascade Systems Inc. of Andover, Mass., has announced investments by two major firms: Adobe Ventures, a venture capital partnership formed by Adobe Systems Inc. and the principals of venture capital firm Hambrecht & Quist Group, has invested $1 million; Jarrold & Sons Ltd., one of the United Kingdom's largest family-owned printers, will invest $400,000. The company continues to be controlled by its founders, Richard Patterson and Malcolm McGrory. Each of the two companies will be represented on the board of directors. ... Information International Inc. of Culver City, Calif., has reported a second-quarter unaudited net profit of $3 million on sales of $11.6 million. Though business was down from the same period last year ($14.8 million in sales), the profit came from the sale of the company's headquarters real estate (it plans to move before the end of the year). ... Tim Gill, founder of Quark Inc. of Denver and principal architect of XPress, has endowed a chair in Aids research at the University of Colorado. ... Scitex Corp. Ltd. of Herzlia, Israel, has reported a second-quarter unaudited net profit of $16.2 million on sales of $170 million. Business was up for the quarter from last year (17 percent, the company said), but profits were down (from $22.1 million). The company said revenues in America were up 8 percent for the first six months of the year, representing 51 percent of the company's overall revenues. ...

Confabs: They're calling it "C.A.R. Trek" and they say it's in "Silicon Valley, Calif.," but elsewise the Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) computer-assisted reporting conference sounds dynamite. Sessions will be Oct. 6-9 in Santa Clara, with such topflight speakers as Bill Dedman, John Freed, Dan Gillmor, Elliot Jaspin, Philip Meyer, Richard O'Reilly, Nora Paul and Anne Saul. Contact IRE at (314) 882-2042 for more details. ... The MultiMedia Expo West will be held Oct. 11-13, in San Francisco. Speakers include Vinod Khosla, founder of Sun Microsystems and Robert Wussler, former president of the CBS Television Network. Call (212) 226-4141 for the multidetails. ... The 1994 Society of Newspaper Design Workshop and Trade Exhibit will be Oct. 13-15 in Kansas City. The conference kicks off with a day-long session called "Selling by Design," which will discuss ad design and effectiveness; speakers across the three days include Tim Bitney, Roger Fidler, Roger Holtman, Ed Kohorst, Jay Small and Warren Watson. Dial the designers at (703) 620-1083. ... The Newspaper Association of America's Health and Safety Symposium is Oct. 16-18 in Tampa; call the NAA at (703) 648-1000. ... The 20th anniversary Folio: Show, sponsored by Folio: and Pre- magazines and the Magazine Publishers of America, will be Oct. 31-Nov. 4 in New York. More than 160 sessions will be held, with topics ranging from ad sales to design, to management, to pre-press, to editorial. Speakers include Efi Arazi, John Mack Carter, Howard Fenton, Eric Hippeau, Tim Gill and Jackie Young. Call Folio: at (800) 927-5007 for the scoop. ... The Media Alliances Conference, sponsored by Editor & Publisher, The Kelsey Group and Prodigy Service, will be held Nov. 1-3, in San Diego. Speakers include Jack Butcher of the Tampa Tribune, Joe Hladky of the Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Gazette and Michael Silver of Tribune Media Services. Call (609) 921-7200 to ally yourself. ... #

From THE COLE PAPERS, October 1994, Copyright (c) 1994, All Rights Reserved.