Eugene David ...The One-Minute Pundit |
|
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Today, after going back through past musings (and being the only one to do so) we decided to repost from this classic PEOPLE WARNER CABLE NEWS press release from 2000 about THE MERGER OF THE MILLENNIUM, original overemphasis added, which reminded us nearly three years ago "why we do not trust one word of show-biz coverage, including definite and indefinite articles":
"TOGETHER, THEY REPRESENT AN UNPRECEDENTED POWERHOUSE!!!!!” said Scott Ehrens, a media analyst with Bear Stearns. "IF THEIR MANTRA IS CONTENT, THIS ALLIANCE IS UNBEATABLE!!!!! NOW THEY HAVE THIS GREAT PLATFORM THEY CAN CROSS-FERTILIZE WITH CONTENT AND REDISTRIBUTE!!!!!”.... "I DON’T THINK THIS IS TOO MUCH TO SAY THIS REALLY IS A HISTORIC MERGER; A TIME WHEN WE’VE TRANSFORMED THE LANDSCAPE OF MEDIA AND THE INTERNET!!!!!” said Steve Case, AOL’s chairman and chief executive officer. "AOL-TIME WARNER WILL OFFER AN INCOMPARABLE PORTFOLIO OF GLOBAL BRANDS THAT ENCOMPASS THE FULL SPECTRUM OF MEDIA AND CONTENT!!!!!”.... "TODAY’S ANNOUNCEMENT REALLY DOES CHANGE THE TECTONIC PLATES IN THIS WORLD!!!!!” said Christopher Dixon, media analyst with PaineWebber. "THIS REALLY UNDERSCORES THE STRENGTH OF THE INTERNET!!!!!” he said. "THE INTERNET IS HERE AND IT’S NO LONGER JUST ABOUT TECHS!!!!! IT’S ABOUT BROADBAND, IT’S ABOUT STREAMING VIDEO, IT’S ABOUT STREAMING MUSIC AND IT’S ABOUT COMING UP WITH ALL KINDS OF WAYS TO USE YOUR COMPUTER IN A VERY TV-LIKE EXPERIENCE!!!!!”.... "THIS IS THE FIRST MAJOR COMBINATION OF AN ONLINE COMPANY AND A BRICKS-AND-MORTAR MEDIA COMPANY!!!!!” said Ben Rogoff, manager of Aberdeen Asset Management’s technology fund in London, which has more than 1 billion pounds ($1.6 billion) in assets, and holds America Online stock. "IT’S THE DEAL THAT EVERYONE WILL HAVE TO FOLLOW!!!!!”.... "IF MICROSOFT REALLY WANTS TO BE A PLAYER IN THE MEDIA SPACE, THEY ARE GOING TO HAVE TO RESPOND!!!!!” Ehrens said. "THIS [DEAL] JUST PUSHES AOL/TIME WARNER INTO THE STRATOSPHERE AHEAD OF THEM!!!!!” Now, as PEOPLE WARNER struggles in single-digits, we submit such psychotic wish fulfillments are one reason for our economic disaster. And again we pose the question of 2006: "By the way, whatever happened to Gerry Levin -- and who cares?" Which we should remember if The One promotes the FORMER KING RICHARD to Commerce.
|