[ Business offers home inspections ]

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Feb 16, 2003 by Capital-Journal

Business offers home inspections

A new home inspection business opened Monday in northeast Kansas.

TCS Building Inspection Services Inc., owned by Tom and Cheryl Swayne, offers home inspections and radon testing. The Meriden-based business serves northeast and north central Kansas.

The business provides visual inspections of a home's electrical, plumbing and heating and air conditioning systems as well as its structure, interior and exterior.

TCS can be reached at (785) 484-2721 or tomcher@umacs.net.

Radio Kansas gets new satellite dish

Radio Kansas, the public radio station based out of Hutchinson Community College, has updated its satellite dish to firm up its reception of National Public Radio programming.

The station participated in the Public Radio Satellite System's Earth Terminal Refurbishment Project, which funds the refurbishment of outdated satellite antennas that receive NPR and other syndicated news and feature programming, said David Heaton, marketing director for Radio Kansas. PRSS, which funded the satellite dish refurbishment, is an arm of National Public Radio, Heaton said.

Radio Kansas' satellite dish was more than 10 years old.

"Twenty-two years ago our dish could easily locate the satellite we receive information from," said Ric Jung, director of engineering for the station. "Over time, satellite dishes lose their shape, causing them to sometimes pick up interference from adjacent satellites. With so many satellites out there now there is a lot more interference to be picked up."

Radio Kansas can be heard at 90.1 FM in the Hutchinson and Wichita areas; at 89.5 FM in the Salina and Manhattan areas; and 90.9 FM in the Great Bend and Hays areas. For more information, visit www.radiokansas.org.

SBC eyes purchase of DirecTV

SBC Communications Inc. is giving News Corp. some competition in its bid to acquire DirecTV, the nation's leading satellite TV provider.

SBC is in preliminary talks with General Motors Corp. to buy the auto maker's El Segundo, Calif.-based subsidiary, Hughes Electronics Corp., which in turn owns DirecTV, according to several sources close to the companies.

Although some analysts questioned whether the nation's second largest provider of local phone service should be taken seriously, the discussions present a further setback to News Corp. The entertainment giant, which had seen itself as the only logical buyer, wants DirecTV to fill the gap in its global satellite operation, which spans from Asia, through Europe, to Latin America.

News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch first began negotiating to buy DirecTV in fall of 2001. But he saw that deal evaporate when Hughes attempted to merge with its rival, EchoStar Communications Corp. Federal regulators rejected that marriage last year, giving News Corp. a second chance.

The company had a preliminary meeting with GM in December to revive a deal, but since has grown frustrated by the slow pace of negotiations as Hughes attempts to flush out other bidders.

At a GM board meeting earlier this week in New York, directors authorized Hughes management to hold discussions with both News Corp. and SBC, the parent of San Francisco-based SBC Pacific Bell, sources said.

The board also told management to pursue potential financial investors interested in buying all or part of GM's controlling 30 percent stake in Hughes. The stake is worth about $4.5 billion.

Murdoch has said he is interested in buying only GM's 30 percent stake, with the help of his partner, Liberty Media Corp.

It is unclear, however, whether SBC would buy out only GM's 30 percent stake or the entire public shareholder base of Hughes.

Analysts were surprised that SBC would venture into satellite television at a time when its core local phone business is under attack from cellular phone and cable competitors.

"Why would they do it?" said Blair Levin, an analyst at Legg Mason who covers telecommunications.

Levin said Wall Street had expected the company to put its money into phone expansion by buying a company such as Cingular Wireless, one of the troubled long-distance carriers or another regional phone provider. Already, SBC Chairman Edward E. Whitacre Jr. has acquired two other Bell companies --- Pacific Telesis in the West and Ameritech in the Midwest.

--- From staff and wire reports