Print this Article
RSSBuffalo News
>Scripps to shut down Shop At Home units
CINCINNATI (AP) -- Media company E.W. Scripps Co. says it will close its money-losing Shop At Home television and online retailing subsidiary by June 30.
"This is not the outcome we had hoped for when we acquired Shop At Home nearly four years ago," said Kenneth Lowe, Scripps' president and CEO.
Shop At Home, based in Nashville, Tenn., is the nation's fourth- largest TV shopping outlet with a reach of 57 million households. Its market share lags QVC, Home Shopping Network and ShopNBC.
Shop At Home's revenue fell 17 percent to $84.4 million in the first three months this year, compared with the same period a year earlier, and Shop At Home lost $10.4 million, according to Scripps' last earnings report.
Scripps bought 70 percent of Shop At Home's share for $49.5 million four years ago and acquired full control two years later.
Shop At Home television programming and the network's ShopAtHomeTV.com Web site will cease on June 22. It will remain in business through June 30 to ensure that customers will receive the items they bought.
-----
>Sony Corp. is unveiling first Blu-ray laptop
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- Sony Corp. will release the first laptop capable of playing, editing and recording next-generation, high- definition videos in the Blu-ray DVD format.
Sony, which led the development of the Blu-ray format, recently said the new VAIO AR Premium model will be available this summer for $3,500. Besides the Blu-ray DVD drive, the entertainment-oriented notebook computer features a 17-inch display, an integrated TV tuner, and Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Media Center Edition operating system.
Blu-ray is one of two competing high-definition DVD formats that displays video in 1080p -- the sharpest in high-definition quality.
The other next-generation format is HD DVD. Toshiba Corp., one of the HD DVD format's main developers, recently introduced the first laptop to play HD DVD discs. But unlike the Sony laptop, the $3,000 Toshiba laptop's HD DVD drive cannot record or edit in high- definition.
-----
>Apple steps closer to end of Intel chip transition
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- Apple Computer has introduced additional laptops with Intel Corp. chips, inching closer to the completion of its historic shift to microprocessors used by its PC rivals.
The new lineup of MacBook notebook computers replaces Apple's previous iBook and 12-inch PowerBook, which used PowerPC chips from IBM Corp. and Freescale Semiconductor.
The 13-inch widescreen MacBooks feature Intel Core Duo chips that Apple says boost the laptops' performance by four to five times compared to their predecessors. They come in black or white and range in price from $1,099 to $1,499.
The MacBooks share many of the same features as the more expensive MacBook Pro editions, such as the built-in Web cam and Front Row media software, but they have a smaller display and lack some of the higher-end components and the aluminum casing.
The MacBook debut means the only remaining Macintosh computers yet to switch to Intel chips are the high-end professional desktop PowerMacs. Apple has said it will complete the chip transition by year's end.
(c) 2006 Buffalo News. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
