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.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Both hope and hype seem to define any news or commentary about the information superhighway. USA Today reporter Maney entertainingly delivers some serious inside information about the media industry, its players, Uncle Sam, and the egos involved. Easy to read and jargon free, his account begins with a specific segment of megamedia--telephones and computers, for instance--then proceeds to detail in depth the past and future strategies of the premier company within that field, after which come outlines of the strengths and weaknesses of the other participants. Barbara Jacobs
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