S-R to participate in Google archiving
The Spokesman-Review will be part of the newspaper archiving project announced earlier this week by Google, according to Shaun O’L. Higgins, The Spokesman-Review’s director of sales and marketing.
Under the Google program, all pages produced by The Spokesman-Review and its predecessor newspapers, plus the Spokane Chronicle, will be scanned and posted online.
The pages aren’t available online yet, Higgins said.
“The processing of this content takes a while,” he said in a press release Friday.
NEW YORK
WaMu shares drop after erratic session
Washington Mutual Inc. shares closed lower Friday, ending an erratic session marked by big gains and steep losses, as the market weighed reports of a possible deal and the bank’s assurances that it has enough capital against doubts raised by two debt ratings agencies.
Shares fell 10 cents, or 3.5 percent, to end at $2.73, after fluctuating between a low of $2.43 and a high of $3.29 during the session.
Shares spiked in midafternoon trading following reports from American Banker and Reuters that the Seattle-based bank was in “advanced” talks with JPMorgan Chase & Co. about a possible buyout deal.
According to a person close to JPMorgan Chief Executive Jamie Dimon, however, the bank is not in talks with WaMu. The person spoke on condition of anonymity. Dimon would not be interested in acquiring WaMu without a clearer picture of the risk in the bank’s loan portfolio, the source said.
PHILADELPHIA
Comcast to put TV shows online
Comcast Corp. has reached agreements with several major content providers to offer their shows on its entertainment Web site, Fancast.com.
The Philadelphia-based cable operator has inked deals with ABC, CW, Showtime, HBO and the Food Network to offer free ad-supported TV episodes and clips.
The shows will start rolling out this weekend, except those from ABC, which went live last week.
In the race to grab video share online, Comcast recently added an online store to Fancast where consumers can buy or rent. National rollout will start in 2009.