9/22. The Senate Commerce Committee amended and approved S 1963, the "Wireless 411 Privacy Act".

This bill, as amended, would provide that "A provider of commercial mobile services ... may not include the wireless telephone number information of any subscriber in any wireless directory assistance service database unless" it "obtains express prior authorization" from the subscriber.

The bill is sponsored by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), who is not a member of the Commerce Committee. It is cosponsored by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), and others. Sen. Boxer, who is a member of the Commerce, was the most active proponent of this bill during the debate.

Sen. Boxer (at right) argued that contrary to the assertions of some representatives of the wireless phone industry, this is not a solution in search of a problem. She said that "the cell phone companies are creating a wireless directory". She recited various harms of a wireless directory, including stalking of children, increased costs of customers who pay for incoming calls, and the annoyance of unwanted calls.

The Committee approved an amendment in the nature of a substitute offered by Sen. Boxer on a roll call vote of 12-10. It then approved the bill, as amended, by voice vote.

This amendment adds several new provisions.

It adds a cost free de-listing requirement. "A provider of commercial mobile services, or any direct or indirect affiliate or agent of such a provider, shall remove the wireless telephone number information of any subscriber from any wireless directory assistance service database upon request by that subscriber and without any cost to the subscriber."

It adds a privacy requirement for billing information. "A telecommunications carrier shall not disclose in it billing information provided to its customers wireless telephone number information of subscribers who have indicated a preference to their commercial mobile services provider for not having their wireless telephone number information disclosed." However, the provider may disclose part of a number.

It also adds a preemption clause. "To the extent that any State or local government imposes requirements on providers or commercial mobile services, or any direct or indirect affiliate or agent of such providers, that are inconsistent with the requirements of this paragraph, this paragraph preempts such State or local requirements."

Sen. George Allen (R-VA) and Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) offered criticism of the bill. Sen. Allen pointed out that there are many wireless carriers, which do not think alike on this subject. He cited the example of Verizon Wireless. The Committee held a hearing on September 21, 2004. Dennis Strigl, P/CEO of Verizon Wireless, wrote in his prepared testimony that "we do not, and will not publish or make available our customers' wireless phone numbers for a paper directory or a directory database". See, story titled "Senate Commerce Committee Holds Hearing on Wireless Privacy" 981, September 22, 2004.

Sen. Allen argued that the Congress should not be making laws where the free market is handling the subject perfectly well.

Sen. Ensign picked up on this argument. He said that if one wireless service provider were to publish numbers in a directory, then its customers could switch to Verizon Wireless.

Sen. Ensign also argued that customers can have their numbers placed on the do not call registry.

Sen. Boxer responded that the do not call list only restricts telemarketing, and that customers incur costs when they switch service providers.

After the meeting, Steve Largent, the P/CEO of the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association (CTIA), commented in a release that "Fire, ready, aim is the approach the Senate Commerce Committee took today on legislating Wireless 411 service. This is a service that has yet to be introduced. The Wireless industry has a proven track record of innovation, lower prices, and protecting customers’ privacy. It is unnecessary for the government to dictate best practices on a competitive industry with such a stellar record. This is a service that many of our consumers are demanding, especially those in the small business community who have cut the cord and are totally wireless."

There is a companion bill in the House, HR 3558. However, the House Commerce Committee has not approved that bill.

See also, Senate Commerce Committee release.

9/22. The Senate Commerce Committee amended and approved S 2145, "The Spy Block Act", following a brief discussion, with unanimity. The title of this bill is an acronym for "Software Principles Yielding Better Levels of Consumer Knowledge Act".

Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT), Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) introduced this bill on February 27, 2004. See, story titled "Senators Introduce Anti-Spyware Bill" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 847, March 2, 2004. The Subcommittee on Communications, which Sen. Burns chairs, held a hearing on March 23, 2004.

Sen. Burns offered an amendment in the nature of a substitute, which was approved. The Committee also approved an amendment, offered by Sen. George Allen (R-VA) that would create a new class of criminal prohibitions. This amendment contains the language of HR 4661 the "Internet Spyware (I-SPY) Prevention Act of 2004", which the House Judiciary Committee approved on September 8, 2004. See, story titled "Judiciary Committee Members Introduce Spyware Bill" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 928, June 29, 2004, and story titled "House Judiciary Committee Approves Spyware Bill" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 973, September 9, 2004.

The House Commerce Committee has approved a much different spyware bill, HR 2929, the "Safeguard Against Privacy Invasions Act" or "SPY Act", sponsored by Rep. Mary Bono (R-CA). See, story titled "House Commerce Committee Approves Spyware Bill" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 926, June 25, 2004.

Sen Wyden (at right) stated at the mark up that the Senate bill "establishes the principle" that people own their computers. He said that this bill prohibits software that "sneaks on their machine, and lodges there like a parasite".

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) said that this bill is a priority of the Senate Republican High Tech Task Force, which he chairs. However, he added that he has concerns about how this bill has been drafted, and would like to see changes made before the bill goes to the floor of the Senate.

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), the Chairman of the Committee, stated that "I have concerns in general about whether this legislation will be effective."

See also, Senate Commerce Committee release.

9/22. The Senate Commerce Committee approved S 1380, the "Rural Universal Service Equity Act of 2003", a bill to amend 47 U.S.C. § 254 to provide for a broader distribution of rural universal service support subsidies, on a roll call vote of 13-9.

Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR) introduced this bill on July 9, 2003. See, story titled "Sen. Smith Introduces Universal Service Reform Bill" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 697, July 14, 2003.

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), the Chairman of the Committee, stated that under the current system, most of the funds go to a few states. Sen. Smith (at right) said that this "is a gross inequity".

Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS), whose state of Mississippi is one of the beneficiaries of the current distribution system, asserted that this bill is "punitive". He said that under this bill, his state's subsidy level would drop from $133 Million to $33 Million. He lamented that this bill would harm "a few small poor rural states".

Many members of the Committee stated that this bill only addresses one small part of the system of universal service subsidies, and that the Committee needs to address the whole system. Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) called for "comprehensive universal service reform". The problem he said, is that the base is eroding.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) blamed wireless communications, the internet and blackberries for the erosion of the base for universal service.

Several members of the Committee said that this bill will not be approved by the full Senate. Sen. Lott said that this is "just a show vote". Sen. Dorgan said that this bill "will go nowhere".

BellSouth issued a statement. "As discussion of this universal service legislation continues, it is important to recognize that the problem with universal service is funding coming in. You cannot avoid a universal service train wreck by rearranging some of the disbursement baggage in the overhead racks. We are gratified that nine Senators recognized this during today's markup session. This problem -- indeed the entire telecommunications regulatory regime -- needs a comprehensive solution not a piecemeal approach."

BellSouth does business in the states of Mississippi and Alabama, and Puerto Rico, which are beneficiaries of the current system.

See also, Senate Commerce Committee release.

9/23. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) published a notice in the Federal Register that summarizes and sets comment deadlines for its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Declaratory Ruling (NPRM & DR) [100 pages in PDF] regarding imposing Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) obligations upon broadband internet access services and voice over internet protocol (VOIP). Comments are due by November 8, 2004. Reply comments are due by December 7, 2004.

This NPRM is FCC 04-187 in ET Docket No. 04-295. The FCC adopted this NPRM at its August 4, 2004 meeting, and released it on August 9. See, story titled "Summary of the FCC's CALEA NPRM" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 960, August 17, 2004.

See, Federal Register, September 23, 2004, Vol. 69, No. 184, Pages 56976 - 56987.

The FCC also published a notice in the Federal Register that describes and sets the effective date (September 23) of the declaratory ruling portion of the NPRM & DR, pertaining to push to talk services. See, Federal Register, September 23, 2004,  Vol. 69, No. 184, at Pages 56956 - 56957.

Interested parties have already begun to lobby the FCC in response to this NPRM. See, for example, notice of ex parte meeting [PDF] of EDUCAUSE and Internet2, and notice of ex parte meeting [PDF] and attachment [PDF] of Mediametrix Global Services and M5T.

9/22. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report [80 pages in PDF] titled "International Trade: Current Government Data Provide Limited Insight into Offshoring of Services".

The report states that "The Department of Commerce’s trade data show that imports of services associated with offshoring are growing. For example, U.S. imports of services associated with offshoring -- business, professional, and technical (BPT) services -- grew from $21.2 billion in 1997 to about $37.5 billion in 2002, an increase of 76.9 percent. During the same period, U.S. exports of BPT services increased 48.6 percent, with the United States maintaining a trade surplus in this category."

The report found that for the government sector, "the total dollar value of the federal government’s services contracts with offshore performance or manufacturing locations has increased over the past 5 years; however, relative to all federal contracts for services, the trend in the dollar value of offshoring shows little change."

The GAO report also found that "U.S. government data provide some insight into the trends in offshoring of services by the private sector, but they do not provide a complete picture of the business transactions that the term offshoring can encompass. In particular, they do not identify U.S. imports of services previously produced by U.S. employees." Also, "Federal statistics provide limited information about the effects of offshoring IT and other services on the U.S. labor force and the economy overall."

9/23. The House Government Reform Committee held a hearing titled "Intellectual Property Piracy: Are We Doing Enough to Protect U.S. Innovation Abroad?"

This Committee does not have jurisdiction over general intellectual property legislation. It does, however, have jurisdiction, under House Rule X, over "management of government operations and activities".

Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA), the Chairman of the Committee, wrote in his opening statement [PDF] that "Federal law charges a number of different U.S. Government agencies with responsibility for securing more comprehensive and effective protection of U.S. intellectual property rights abroad." He said that "Counterfeiting and piracy of U.S. intellectual property in foreign countries is rampant", and that "we need to focus on enhancing foreign governments’ enforcement efforts".

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) prepared a report [92 pages in PDF] titled "Intellectual Property: U.S. Efforts Have Contributed to Strengthened Laws Overseas, but Challenges Remain" for this hearing.

It finds that "U.S. efforts have contributed to strengthened foreign IPR laws and international IPR obligations, and, while enforcement overseas remains weak, U.S. industry groups are generally supportive of U.S. efforts. These efforts are viewed as aggressive, and the Special 301 review has been cited repeatedly by government and industry sources as a useful tool in encouraging improvements."

It continues that, "However, the precise impact of many specific U.S. government activities, such as diplomatic efforts and training activities, can be difficult to measure. Further, enforcement of intellectual property rights in many countries remains weak, despite U.S. efforts. Nonetheless, U.S. industries recognize the many actions taken by the U.S. government, and industry groups that we contacted both in the United States and overseas were generally supportive of the efforts of U.S. agencies to pursue improved intellectual property protection overseas."

The report also notes that "U.S. efforts to improve intellectual property protection overseas face challenges. Competing U.S. policy objectives may take priority over protecting intellectual property in certain countries. In addition, the impact of U.S. activities overseas is affected by countries’ domestic policy objectives and economic interests, which may complement or conflict with U.S. objectives. U.S. efforts are more likely to achieve their intended impacts if intellectual property protection has domestic support in foreign countries".

See also, prepared testimony [17 pages in PDF] of the GAO's Loren Yager. See also, prepared testimony of other witnesses: Rep. Rob Simmons (R-CT), Joseph Papovich (Recording Industry Association of America), John Malcolm (Motion Picture Association of America), and Robert Cresanti (Business Software Alliance).

9/23. The Senate confirmed Rep. Porter Goss (R-FL) to be Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) by a vote of 77-17. See, Roll Call No. 187.

9/23. President Bush nominated eight people to be Members of the National Science Board, for the remainder of a six year term expiring May 10, 2010: Dan Arvizu, Steven Beering, Wayne Clough, Kelvin Kay Droegemeier, Louis Lanzerotti, Alan Leshner, Jon Strauss, and Kathryn Sullivan. Clough is the President of Georgia Tech University. He is already a member of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology Policy (PCAST). Lanzerotti is a consulting physicist at Lucent Technologies' Bell Laboratories. Strauss is the President of Harvey Mudd College, in Claremont, California. He is also a former professor of electrical engineering and computer science. Sullivan is a former space shuttle astronaut. See, White House release and release.

The House will meet at 2:00 PM. See, Republican Whip Notice.

The Senate will meet at 10:00 AM for morning business.

10:00 AM -12:00 PM. The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) will host a tutorial titled "Optical Network Interoperability". Location: FCC, Commission Meeting Room (TWC-305), 445 12th Street, SW.

Yom Kippur.

The Supreme Court will hold the opening conference of the October 2004 Term. This is not open to the public.

9:30 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (DCCir) will hear oral argument in EMR Network v. FCC, No. 03-1336. This is a petition for review of a final order of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) promulgating regulations designed to protect individuals from exposure to potentially harmful levels of radiofrequency (RF) radiation. See, FCC brief [PDF]. Judges Edwards, Garland and Williams will preside. Location: Prettyman Courthouse, 333 Constitution Ave., NW.

6:00 - 9:15 PM. The DC Bar Association's Intellectual Property Law Section and Litigation Section will host a continuing legal education (CLE) program titled "Patent Damages: Discovery, Pre-trial and Litigation Strategies". The speakers will be David Sellinger (Venable), Clifton McCann (Venable), and Charles Fish (AOL Time Warner). See, notice. Prices vary. For more information, call 202 626-3463. Location: D.C. Bar Conference Center, B-1 Level, 1250 H Street, NW.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission FCC) in response to its notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) [11 pages in PDF] that proposes to require that television and radio broadcasters retain program recordings for a period of time for purposes of enforcing the statutory prohibition, codified at 18 U.S.C. § 1464, against obscene, indecent, or profane programming. This NPRM is FCC 04-145 MM Docket No. 04-232. See, story titled "FCC Proposes That Broadcasters Retain Recordings To Facilitate Enforcement of Smut Ban" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 933, July 8, 2004. See, notice in the Federal Register, July 30, 2004, Vol. 69, No. 146, at Pages 45665 - 45668.

8:30 AM - 5:00 PM. Day one of a three day meeting of the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board (ISPAB). See, notice in the Federal Register, September 22, 2004, Vol. 69, No. 183, at Pages 56746 - 56747. Location: Hilton Hotel, 620 Perry Parkway, Gaithersburg, MD.

8:30 AM. The Department of Defense's (DOD) Advisory Group on Electron Devices (AGED) will hold a meeting that is closed to the public. The agenda includes discussion of microwave technology, microelectronics, electro-optics, and electronics materials. The AGED provides advice to the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, the Director of Defense Research and Engineering, and the Director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). See, notice in the Federal Register, September 7, 2004, Vol. 69, No. 172, at Pages 54137 - 54138. Location: Palisades Institute for Research Services, 241 18th Street, Crystal Square 4, Suite 500, Arlington, VA.

9:30 AM. The Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on media ownership issues. Location: Room 253, Russell Building.

2:00 PM. The House Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection will hold a hearing titled "Protecting the Privacy of Consumers' Social Security Numbers". Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL) will preside. Press contact: Samantha Jordan (Barton) at 202 225-5735 or Paul Flusche (Stearns) at 202 225-5744. Location: Room 2123, Rayburn Building.

2:30 PM. The Senate Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Science, Technology and Space will hold a hearing on the effectiveness of media ratings systems. Location: Room 253, Russell Building.

8:30 AM - 5:00 PM. Day two of a three day meeting of the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board (ISPAB). See, notice in the Federal Register, September 22, 2004, Vol. 69, No. 183, at Pages 56746 - 56747. Location: Hilton Hotel, 620 Perry Parkway, Gaithersburg, MD.

12:00 NOON - 1:30 PM. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will hold a meeting on common carriers issues and proceedings. Jeffrey Carlisle (acting Bureau Chief of the FCC's Wireline Communications Bureau), Carol Mattey (Deputy Bureau Chief of the FCC's WCB), and Jane Jackson (Deputy Bureau Chief of the FCC's WCB) will preside. The agenda is "Common carrier ``hot topics´´ and upcoming FCC proceedings". RSVP to Monica Desai at monica.desai@fcc.gov or 202 418-7419 by Monday, September 27. The Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) states in its web site that this is a brown bag lunch hosted by its Common Carrier Practice Committee. Location: FCC, 8th floor, Conference Room No. 5.

Deadline to submit comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Public Notice [PDF] requesting interested parties to provide comments on the Multi-band OFDM Alliance Special Interest Group's (MBOASIG) request for a waiver of Part 15 of the FCC's rules regarding ultra-wideband (UWB) systems that employ multi-band orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (MBOFDM) modulation techniques.

8:30 AM - 12:00 NOON. Day one of a three day meeting of the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board (ISPAB). See, notice in the Federal Register, September 22, 2004, Vol. 69, No. 183, at Pages 56746 - 56747. Location: Hilton Hotel, 620 Perry Parkway, Gaithersburg, MD.

10:30 AM - 12:30 PM. The House Science Committee will hold a hearing on HR 4670, an untitled bill to provide for the establishment of a "Center for Scientific and Technical Assessment". Location: Room 2318, Rayburn Building.

2:30 PM. The Senate Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Communications will hold a hearing on the the security of the internet root servers and domain name system. Location: Room 253, Russell Building.

4:00 PM. Rebecca Tushnet will present a paper titled "The First Amendment as Battery Acid: Free Speech versus False Advertising" at an event hosted by the Dean Dinwoodey Center for Intellectual Property Studies at the George Washington University Law School (GWULS). For more information, contact Robert Brauneis at 202 994-6138 or rbraun@law.gwu.edu. The event is free and open to the public. See, notice. Location: GWULS, Faculty Conference Center, Burns Building, 5th Floor, 716 20th Street, NW.

Deadline to submit comments to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) regarding its "advanced notice of rulemaking proceeding" regarding expanding the current three percent excise tax on telephone service to new "communications services" to "reflect changes in technology". See, notice in the Federal Register, July 2, 2004, Vol. 69, No. 127, at Page 40345, and story titled "IRS Publishes Advance NPRM Regarding Expanding the Excise Tax on Telephones to Include New Technologies" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 931, July 6, 2004.

Deadline to submit comments National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) regarding Draft NIST Special Publication 800-70 [PDF] titled "Security Configuration Checklists Program for IT Products". Send comments to checklists@nist.gov.

Deadline to submit written comments, or requests to participate, to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for the FTC's and the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) event titled "Email Authentication Summit", to be held on November 9-10, 2004. The FTC's interest in this issue is dealing with spam and fraudulent e-mail. The Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) for the email system allows information to travel freely with relative anonymity and ease, thereby enabling cheap bulk unsolicited distribution, and fraud. The purpose of this summit is to encourage the development, testing, evaluation and implementation of domain level authentication systems. See, notice in the Federal Register, September 15, 2004, Vol. 69, No. 178, at Pages 55632 - 55636.

12:15 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Wireless Committee will host a luncheon. The price to attend is $15. Registrations and cancellations are due by 5:00 PM on Tuesday, September 28. See, registration form [PDF]. Location: Sidley Austin, 1501 K Street, NW.

Deadline to submit reply comments to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) [38 pages in PDF] regarding use by unlicensed devices of broadcast television spectrum where the spectrum is not in use by broadcasters. See, notice in the Federal Register, June 18, 2004, Vol. 69, No. 117, at pages 34103-34112. See also, story titled "FCC Adopts NPRM Regarding Unlicensed Use of Broadcast TV Spectrum" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 898, May 14, 2004, and story titled "FCC Releases NPRM Regarding Unlicensed Use of TV Spectrum" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 905, May 26, 2004. This NPRM is FCC 04-113 in ET Docket Nos. 04-186 and No. 02-380.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) regarding Amateur Radio Service rules. The FCC adopted this NPRM on March 31, 2004, and released it on April 15, 2004. This NPRM is FCC 04-79 in WT Docket No. 04-140. See, notice in the Federal Register, August 17, 2004, Vol. 69, No. 158, at Pages 51028 - 51034.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to the Wireline Competition Bureau's (WCB) public notice inviting interested parties to update the record pertaining to petitions for reconsideration of the 1997 Price Cap Review Order. This is in CC Docket Nos. 94-1 and 96-262. See, notice [PDF].

Deadline to submit comments to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regarding its consent agreement with its Bonzi Software, Inc., it owners and officers, Joe Bonzi and Jay Bonzi. On September 1, 2004, the FTC filed an administrative complaint [6 pages in PDF], and simultaneously entered into an Agreement Containing Consent Decree [7 pages in PDF]. The FTC alleged violation of Section 5(a) of the FTC Act, which is codified at 15 U.S.C. § 45, in connection with the deceptive marketing and sale of software named "InternetALERT". See, notice in the Federal Register, September 9, 2004, Vol. 69, No. 174, at Pages 54667 - 54668. See also, story titled "FTC Stops Deceptive Claims by Security Software Maker" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 970, September 6, 2004.

9/23. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Deborah Majoras gave a speech at the FTC's conference titled "90th Anniversary Symposium". She said that "effectively meeting future policy challenges depends on our willingness to invest great effort at improving our base of knowledge and then having the courage to put it into practice. From the time of its creation to the present, the FTC has lived in a highly dynamic policy environment. Each decade, we have encountered important changes in economic and legal theory, economic phenomena including technology that changes the complexion of commercial transactions, political conditions, and institutional arrangements for economic policymaking at home and abroad."

9/23. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report [56 pages in PDF] titled "Records Management: Planning for the Electronic Records Archives Has Improved". It finds that the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), which is responsible for the oversight of government records management and archiving, has made progress in developing its Electronic Records Archives (ERA) system. However, the GAO report adds that the NARA is making less progress in addressing the GAO's recommendation "to revise acquisition policies and plans to meet relevant industry standards. Such policies and plans are essential for managing the acquisition and providing critical guidance to the contractors who will be designing the system."

9/23. Comcast announced in a release that "A consortium led by Sony Corporation of America and its equity partners Providence Equity Partners, Texas Pacific Group, Comcast Corporation and DLJ Merchant Banking Partners, together with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. (NYSE: MGM), announced today that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which the investor group will acquire MGM for $12.00 in cash per MGM share, plus the assumption of MGM's approximately $2.0 billion in debt." It added that "The investor group has committed a total of $1.6 billion in equity financing to acquire MGM as follows: Providence Equity Partners -- $525 million, Texas Pacific Group -- $350 million, Sony Corporation of America -- $300 million, Comcast Corporation -- $300 million, and DLJ Merchant Banking Partners -- $125 million. JP Morgan Chase has committed to lead a bank syndicate to provide up to $4.25 billion in senior debt financing together with Credit Suisse First Boston."

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