Up Front
Edited by Sheridan Prasso
Talk Show
"They felt me up and down like a prize steer." -- Rep. John Dingell, 75, on being forced to strip at Reagan National Airport after his artificial hip set off a metal detector
I-WAY PATROL
Yes, They Really Pay to See These Sites
Internet companies never expected to give away content forever. The plan was to get people hooked, then convert them to paying subscribers. Now, with ad revenues falling, they're pushing more than ever to do that.
But a BusinessWeek look at a half-dozen dot-coms trying to make the switch finds only limited success. Those providing financial services--such as TheStreet.com (TSCM
), EDGAR Online, and Economy.com-- are doing well, largely because institutions pay their high charges.
But sites catering to the public are having a much harder time. Online magazine Salon.com, which started subscriber-only content in March, and Britannica.com, which began charging in July, say they're meeting or surpassing their expectations--but they have yet to convert even 1% of the more than 3 million people who click on their sites monthly. Salon has sold just 29,000 subscriptions, at $6 a month; Britannica, at $7.95, has sold 30,000.
Financial news providers, though, are following The Wall Street Journal's lead, insisting that readers pay for online access, and getting results. TheStreet.com, which launched a new paid site in 2000, got two-thirds of its $3.5 million third-quarter 2001 revenue from 76,000 subscribers. About 80% of revenue for EDGAR Online, which provides Securities & Exchange Commission filings, now comes from corporate subscribers. And research firm Economy.com says it broke even on its paid site in December, just weeks after it began charging $16.95 a month. "We would have given it two years," says pleased CEO Paul Getman. That's a luxury few dot-coms can afford.
By Kimberly Weisul
CAR TALK
Here Come the Kiddie Cars
The retro Ford Thunderbird and Chrysler PT Cruiser may be today's hot cars, but designers at the Detroit auto show were focused on tomorrow's buyers--even those not yet old enough to drive. Aiming to catch youngsters in anticipation of their first purchases later on, carmakers went after "Millennials," aged 11 to 22, with what perhaps should be dubbed Kiddie Cars.
Chrysler made a big splash, with four Kiddie concept cars priced at $12,500 to $17,500. The Dodge Razor ($14,500), for example, is a minimalist sports car for young buyers. It doesn't even have a radio, which young people tend to rip out and replace with a stereo anyway. But the car's name may damage its marketing potential, coming, as it does, from the Razor scooter. Way cool a year ago, they're now lame. Chrysler defends licensing the name, saying Razor still makes hot products, such as pogo sticks.
Other Kiddies: Toyota's Matrix, a funky wagon soon out for $15,155, and Honda's Model X, a dorm room on wheels aimed at guys. With a washable, fold-down interior, it will debut later this year for under $20,000. As for the boomers? They get crossover SUVs.
By Joann Muller
SHOW BIZ
DVDs Are Turning into a Solid Gold Hit
Hollywood's biggest blockbuster last year wasn't named Harry. It was a little, shiny DVD disk. U.S. consumers spent more than $6 billion in 2001 buying or renting movies on DVD--a number fast closing in on the $8.35 billion they spent at the box office, according to the studio-backed DVD Entertainment Group. That's more than double the 2000 total for DVDs, while the number of movie tickets sold in 2001 remained roughly flat.
Costing less than $1 each to produce, retailers can usually sell a DVD for $20 and return a hefty margin to Hollywood studios. "DVD is our engine of growth," says Steve Beeks, president of Artisan Home Entertainment, which last year dipped into its 6,700-film library to release on DVD the likes of Rambo and Terminator 2.
The economics are especially compelling for older films, such as Walt Disney's 1937 classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which already had earned more than $126 million at the box office. Disney spent an estimated $1 million extra for goodies, including a documentary, an interactive guide that looks like Snow White's mirror, and games. Shipping 5 million copies, it stands to make $10 to $12 per disc, or more than $50 million on that film alone.
Video consultant Adams Media Research forecasts DVD sales increasing 33%, to $9 billion this year. And since only 23% of U.S. households own DVD players, a number expected to hit 34% in 2002, there's plenty more ahead.
By Ronald Grover
THE LIST
Splendor in the Suites
Zagat ranks these hotels as top of their class for business travelers worldwide, outside the U.S. Here's why:
1. THE PENINSULA, Hong Kong
Highest staff-to-guest ratio in city; in-room fax and Internet
2. THE ORIENTAL, Bangkok
Helicopter service to and from airport; spa/sports center boasts squash courts
3. THE RITZ-CARLTON MILLENIA, Singapore
Telephone with multilingual voice mail; technology butlers assist with IT questions
4. FOUR SEASONS GEORGE V, Paris
In-room fax, data port; suites have private office space
5. LANESBOROUGH, London
Digital interactive system converges e-mail, Internet, music, and TV/films; personalized business cards on arrival
Data: Zagat Survey 2001 Top International Hotels, Resorts & Spas
SPORTS BIZ
Rule No. 1 at This New Club: No Dames
These days, women run some of America's biggest corporations. They sit on the U.S. Supreme Court, referee National Basketball Assn. games, pilot airplanes, and even outnumber men as students at many universities. But there's one place where you won't find them: Chicago's newest golf club.
Opening in April, the Black Sheep Golf Club will be men-only. Notwithstanding the 1987 Supreme Court ruling outlawing no-women rules in "business-oriented" clubs, the 27-hole facility is exempt because it's a private sports club. Membership costs $85,000, plus $625 monthly dues. The Black Sheep joins only a few dozen golf clubs in the nation with the distinction.
Why the policy? The club wants to appeal only to serious golfers, and Vincent Solano, president of the firm managing the project, contends that those are almost always men. Besides, he adds, sometimes men want a place where they can just be one of the guys. "We mean no offense to women," says Solano.
Some take offense, nonetheless. "It's not a concept we support in any way," says Libba Galloway, chief legal officer for the 400-member Ladies Professional Golf Assn.: "We are against discrimination in any form." But men-only links may be on an upswing. Yet another, Southern Dunes Golf Club, is due to open outside Phoenix in 2003.
Watch out, guys--Justice Sandra Day O'Connor is known to be an avid golfer.
By Michael Arndt
FUN CITY
Post-Traumatic Strip Syndrome
Everyone has different ways of dealing with the country's newfound stress. Some have turned to chocolate, others to exercise. But for a small number, plain old aerobics are passé. They've turned to Cardio Striptease.
The skin-baring exercise class is offered in Los Angeles and New York by Crunch, a hip health club with 150,000 members nationwide. (It was recently bought by industry-leader Bally Total Fitness for $90 million.) The weekly sessions, included in the membership fee, teach lap dancing, gyrating, and erotic posturing. New York classes, which began in October, draw about 30--twice the norm for launches. And the crowd that's taking it off is both co-ed and multigenerational. Nudity isn't the norm, but most end up scantily clad.
Course creator Jeff Costa, 31, says he sensed a desire to bounce back to normal, and then some: "People really appreciated letting loose and getting rid of pent-up energy." Thelma Ostrow, a seventysomething enthusiast, finds it "a lot of fun. You can dance your head off and do it in a real safe environment." Costa plans a home video for those who can't bear to go bare in public.
By Julia Cosgrove
THE BIG PICTURE
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Copyright 2002 , by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.
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