Megamedia Shakeout: The Inside Story of the Leaders and the Losers in the Exploding Communications Industry

USA Today reporter Maney believes that a new industry, ``megamedia,'' is emerging from the melding of television, telephones, computers, entertainment and communications. In an in-depth, savvy guide for inquisitive laypersons, investors, consumers, entrepreneurs and employees, he surveys the rapid-fire mergers, deals, trends, chief hurdles, top executives and key companies in a field that arguably has brought AT&T, Disney, IBM, Viacom, Microsoft and Tele-Communication Inc. (TCI) within the same megamedia arena. Interactive TV, video phone calls, long-distance schooling, wireless phones and videoconferencing via personal computer will soon become commonplace, Maney predicts, as megamedia evolves, telephones, televisions, PCs and their hybrids will borrow features from one another and will be served by the same networks, he adds. The core of this book consists of incisive, often biting assessments of some two dozen companies, among them Apple, Sony, Intel, Time Warner, NYNEX, Oracle and Knight-Ridder. (May)