Friend, A 02 11 96 Reuter newsstory from Brussels, headlined ---------------------------------------------------- STRASBOURG MEDIA DEBATE HEADS FOR SHOWDOWN reports: ...the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday... hammers out new rules for the European Union's audio- visual sector. The EP may try to revise the 1989 law puffed as "television without frontiers." That law might be extended to govern "new" services such as ...teleshopping, the internet and pay television.... Ach! and Sacre bleu! Therefore-- A coalition of 40 companies and trade associations from the recording, advertising and technology industries has written to parliamentarians...to urge them against extend- ing rules to new services. But there's another factor. If the socialist demands for regulation of information high- way services...prevail, the Parliament will then be set for an almighty row with EU governments. Why? EU culture ministers agreed last November to keep current rules unchanged. It's cheaper to enlighten a few ministers, you see, than it is to enlist a whole gaggle of parliamentarians. Cordially, Jim NOTE. The newsstory's www.nando.net online filename: info13_8187.html This critical essay was composed 02 12 96.