Through the Wire
By Staff -- Multichannel News, 12/21/2003 7:00:00 PM
Collectible Western Pens are Sure Keepers
Yes, the last Western Show was brimming with nostalgia, but we hope you didn't scoop up too many of those commemorative pens in hopes that some day, they'd be great collectibles. The Wire checked in with Harry Rinker, host of Home & Garden Television's Collector Inspector, to ask whether today's trade-show giveaway could be tomorrow's retirement-fund enhancer.
The answer: Sorry, Charlie.
"If it's just show-related, it has little value. I don't know of anybody who collects trade-show items," he said. Promotional items would have some value if they crossed over into other collecting areas. For instance, for a recent toy trade show, the manufacturers of G.I. Joe created an anniversary edition of the figure for the press corps, he said.
Surely, we pressed, those years of premiums from Western could produce some valuable nuggets. We know of some repeated attendees who have cached items from unlaunched, failed or rebranded networks. Such items include mugs promoting the first attempt by NBC to launch a Cable News Network competitor in the late 1980s; hats and shirts from unlaunched, health-related You TV; and the Buzzy Bee watch from Comedy Central predecessor HA!
"The tragedy is, hats, mugs and T-shirts are the least desirable collectibles out there. There's just too damn many!" Rinker said. Even if someone had a collection of every hat from every network, "it's never going to show up in any collectible's price book," he predicted.
We're not giving up on that Buzzy Bee watch, though. It's a cross-collectible.
Still a Joiner
Microsoft Corp. lobbyists picked up Dec. 15's New York Post and read with dismay that the Redmond, Wash., company was pulling out of a broad coalition that was assembled with one goal in mind: Getting someone — whether Congress, the Federal Communications Commission, or the courts — to ensure that cable operators did not use control of their broadband networks to beat up on unaffiliated Web merchants.
The Post story talked about Microsoft's "embarrassment" that the company's call for cable regulation was backfiring on Capitol Hill, in part because some coalition members had business deals akin to those they wanted to prevent cable from signing. As the Justice Department knows, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates — who oversees an eye-popping investment portfolio worth $72 billion — does not embarrass easily. The software giant quickly put out word that it remains a member of the Coalition of Broadband Users and Innovators (CBUI) and a supporter of 'Net neutrality.
"Microsoft's position on the neutrality question has not changed. We remain members of the CBUI which also includes Yahoo!, Amazon.com, Consumer Electronics Association, and consumer groups," a Microsoft spokesman said
Premium Schmooze
Cable lobbyists took advantage of the No. 1 social event of the year in Pennsylvania to get in some first-class elbow-rubbing time with their governor, legislators and key staff people by staging an event in Manhattan to coincide with the Pennsylvania Society's 104th annual weekend in New York City.
A wealthy architect, who took 54 rich friends to the Big Apple so they could discuss business and politics in a "neutral" atmosphere, began the event in 1899. Today, the not-for-profit society has 1,800 dues-paying members, but as many as 3,000 made the trek to New York the weekend of Dec. 13.
Side events, from political fundraisers to trade-association parties, have become part of the overall event. The Pennsylvania Cable Telecommunications Association took advantage of the festive atmosphere, partnering with ESPN to host one of those parties at the ESPN Zone restaurant to launch the weekend.
PCTA president Dan Tunnell estimated that the party attracted a quarter to one-half of all state House and Senate members, including key telecommunications committee members and staff.
As in past years, Gov. Ed Rendell made an appearance (he attended in the past as mayor of Philadelphia), apparently attracted by the schmoozing and the sports angle. He still appears in Philadelphia Eagles post-game shows for Comcast SportsNet in Philadelphia, PCTA officials noted.
The association didn't host the weekend's big celebrity — Bush the Elder. The former president was the keynote speaker at the Society's dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria.
Tunnell said the association hopes for an even bigger party next year. The group is angling for native son Joe Namath to headline their 2004 party.
Hammy Ad
We were amused by the text of the recent full-page ad placed by Time Warner Cable in Southern California to counter EchoStar Communications Corp.'s campaign painting cable as a pig at the trough.
The humorous ad struck all the right "cable good, satellite bad" marketing points, and also expanded into the cultural and arts contributions of pigs. It named such stars of movies, TV and literature as Miss Piggy, Babe, Arnold Ziffel, Old Major, Kevin Bacon — OK, he's not a pig, but he has a cool name and a star on Hollywood Boulevard.
Any concerns about offending the star? "We checked with legal," said Deane Leavenworth, the MSO's Southern California spokesman, who wrote the ad's text. "As long as we didn't imply an endorsement, it's fair use."
Edited by Linda Haugsted. Contributor: Ted Hearn.
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