Thursday, October 13, 1983/The Battalion/Page 7
Turner buys
ews channels
I’ United Press International
I ATLANTA — Ted Turner
announced Wednesday he
ias purchased Satellite News
ihannels for $25 million, eli-
ainating all competition for
is Cable News Network
leadline service.
! The Atlanta cable pioneer
aid in a statement that offi-
ials of ABC video Enterprises
nd Westinghouse Broadcast-
jJing and Cable Inc. have
] ( Rg re ed to sell their interest in
atellite News for $12.5 mil-
jon each in cash. CNN and
atellite News also agreed to
drop lawsuits filed against
Bach other.
| It had been rumored for
the past couple of weeks that
an agreement on the purchase
of Satellite News was near.
The rumors spurred a $90
jmillion increase in the value of
Turner’s stock in late Sep
tember.
I Both Satellite News and
ENN have been losing money.
Turner’s headline news lost
$10.5 million in 1982 and is
expected to lose about $10
million this year. Satellite
News, based in Stamford,
Eonn., was expected to lose
about $50 million.
Officials said the purchase
leaves “several hundred”
Satellite News employees out
of work, but said efforts would
be made to find the workers
jobs in ABC or Westing-
house’s broadcast operations.
The agreement means
Turner will pick up 7.5 mil
lion subscribers to his CNN
headline service, which was a
spinoff from his Cable News
Network. Turner’s headline
service currently serves 4.7
million households.
The agreement calls for
Satellite News to shut down
operations, leaving Turner
alone in the cable industry
with his headline news service
and his Cable News Network.
CNN officials said the purch
ase does not mean the agency
plans to expand its headline
service.
Both CNN headlines and
Satellite News Channels offer
fast-paced formats that give
only a brief summary of the
top news stories. Turner’s
Cable News Network is a full-
service news presentation that
also includes weather, sports
and interviews.
Eastern attendants avert strike
United Press International
MIAMI — Eastern Airlines
and its unionized flight atten
dants agreed on a new contract
Wednesday 18 hours before a
threatened strike that could
have forced the financially trou
bled carrier into bankruptcy.
Terms of the pact were not
formally announced, but Mark
Hunziker, 29, coordinator of
the union’s information center,
said the flight attendants won a
16.5 percent raise for 1983 re
troactive to Jan. 1, 1983 — plus a
6 percent raise for 1984.
The flight attendants, who
had worked without a contract
for 19 months, had wanted a re
troactive raise for 1982 but did
not get it, he said.
“We also won on the Latin
American routes and to us,
that’s job security,” he said.
When Eastern took over Bra-
niffs Latin routes last year, it
agreed to hire Latin American
attendants on those flights, but
the new pact reportedly calls for
union members to take one-
third of those slots.
Eastern has also agreed to pay
$3,000 to each of 200 union
members who had bid on the
Latin American routes but were
prevented from getting the
assignments by the Braniff-
Eastern agreement, Hunziker
said.
Patricia Fink, head of the
Eastern branch of the Transport
Workers Union, said she was
“optimistic” the union’s 5,800
flight attendants would accept
the pact and formally end the
19-month contract dispute.
“It isn’t everything that we
wanted but under the circumst
ances, it is a battle best left for
another day,” she said. “The
contract . is colored by our
blood, sweat and tears, but by
God, we’ve got a settlement.”
Eastern Chairman Frank
Borman said he was “thrilled” a
pact had been reached to avert a
strike that could have grounded
the carrier’s jets.
“We are extremely happy that
the company and the flight
attendants have reached a tenta
tive agreement,” Borman said.
“I think the settlement made
here, coupled with what we have
going forward, will insure the
stability of Eastern Airlines.”
Both union and airline offi
cials said the agreement puts at
least a temporary end to the cri
sis at Eastern that began 2 Vs
weeks ago and threatened the
survival of the 55-year-old car
rier.
Eastern’s financial troubles
are not new, but Borman said it
had reached a crisis point. Since
1979, when it made a net profit
of $57.6 million, the largest air
line in America has lost more
than $300 million.
House collapses,
kills 1, injures 3
United Press International
AUSTIN — A house under
construction collapsed Wednes
day, killing one worker and in
juring three others.
An Austin Fire Department
spokesman said high winds were
reported in the area and may
have contributed to the collapse.
“With this wind, it could have
just blown it right over,” the
spokesman said.
The unidentified dead man
was pronounced dead on arrival
at Brackenridge Hospital, de
partment spokeswoman Debbie
Brown said.
“Framing material and the
floor is what fell on him,” she
said. “We don’t know where he
was in the house because when
the floor collapsed, the house
slid a little bit down the hill.”
The names of the three in
jured workers were not re
leased.
OFF
CAMPUS
AGGIES
BONFIRE
KEEP TRADITION GOING!
CUTTING WEEKEND — OCT. 15 & 16
MEET BEHIND DUNCAN BRING VOUR AXE, VOUR
DINING HALL AT 8:30am LUNCH AND VOUR FRIENDS.
SATURDAY AND SUNDAY KE G PARTY SAT. NIGHT
FOR MORE INFORMATION
CALL MIKE GOLLADAY
696-0471
ALL AGGIES WELCOME
JUU ■ _ .
-Searchers get lead
;on lost Texas pilot
United Press International
^■CHEYENNE — The Wyom-
i jngCivil Air Patrol said Wednes-
'iiaday it had a new lead in the
I* isearch for an Odessa pilot mis-
|ng since Saturday on a flight
from Buffalo to Midland.
is« Wyoming CAP Lt. Brian
glBsen said friends of Richard
daimse; 57, contacted the patrol
m#nd said Kruse had mentioned
D' before he left Buffalo Saturday
■at he wanted to view a scenic
■nyon near Powder River Pass
from the air.
found no sign of Kruse in the
four-day search.
Kruse, who worked for a
drilling company, was last seen
Saturday, departing from Buf
falo in his single-engine Piper
Dakota. He was the only person
aboard.
the CAP to search southeastern
Wyoming and northeastern Col
orado.
Colorado CAP spokesman
Steve Blucher said searchers did
spot wreckage south of Pueblo,
but it determined that plane
“had been there a long time.”
Olsen said the lack of an
emergency locator transmission
from the plane is baffling con
sidering the state of the technol
ogy used in the transmitters.
Olsen said several planes
Ire dispatched to search the
pa Wednesday.Searchers have
Bad weather had hampered
the search Tuesday, but skies
cleared Wednesday, allowing
The search for Kruse has also
been expanded to New Mexico
and Texas and into Nebraska
and Oklahoma on the theory
Kruse, a “relatively experi
enced” pilot, may have flown
east of his supposed flight route
to avoid bad weather Saturday,
Olsen said.
Attention:
Do you know about PR?
All organizations and individuals interested in
learning how to promote their ideas, programs and
activities more effectively plan to attend the
2nd Annual Publicity Pays Off
October 22,10 a.m.-3:30 p.m., sponsored by Women in
Communications, Inc.
You have everything to gain from well
planned campaigns.
For more information contact: Sandra Utt, 845-4667 (Department
of Communications) or Kim Schmidt, 260-0056 (evenings).
GRAND REOPENING
SALE
30% to 50% OFF
EVERYTHING IN STOCKS!
3 ait I
P'S^ 1
SALE ENDS OCT. 31, 1983
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