Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Digest

In brief

By TIMES WIRES
Published July 8, 2006

Bright House picks up entrepreneur's show

St. Petersburg entrepreneur Frank Maggio has entered into a partnership with Bright House Networks to carry his ReacTV gaming channel locally on its digital cable service when his outlet debuts Aug. 1. The channel will feature trivia questions and prizes. Maggio, who is developing several condominium projects and a TV ratings service, has been working on ReacTV for years. With the agreement, ReacTV will be available to more than 400,000 Bright House digital cable subscribers in the Tampa Bay area. Participants will be able to access the channel online at www.77.tv.

Stock guru Cramer advises picking Walter

Television stock guru Jim Cramer touted Walter Industries Inc. on his Internet blog Friday, but he didn't appear to have much effect on the Tampa company's share price. Cramer advised against pigeonholing Walter as a homebuilding company and suggested it is ripe to be bought and split into separate coal, steel, water-infrastructure and homebuilding ventures. Walter's stock price fell 1 percent, or 49 cents, to $55 per share.

Danka agrees to sell Australian subsidiary

Danka Business Systems PLC has agreed to sell the shares of its Australian subsidiary for $12.6-million in cash. Danka, an independent British distributor of photocopiers and printers whose U.S. headquarters are in St. Petersburg, has had operations in Australia since 1996. The unit's sale will allow Danka to focus more on its American and European markets.

Skilling to attend services for Lay

Family and friends, including co-defendant Jeffrey Skilling, will attend private memorial services for Kenneth Lay in Houston and in Aspen, Colo., where the Enron Corp. founder died unexpectedly on Wednesday awaiting sentencing for his role in one of the biggest business debacles. The 64-year-old executive faced spending decades in prison after he was convicted of fraud and conspiracy charges this year by a federal jury in Houston. A small, private memorial service is set for Sunday afternoon just outside Aspen, where Lay died. A second memorial service is scheduled for Wednesday at First United Methodist Church in Houston.

Radio Shack names new CEO; stock soars

Electronics retailer RadioShack Corp. named Julian Day chief executive Friday in hopes the man who pulled Kmart out of bankruptcy can revive the struggling company that is being squeezed by Best Buy and Circuit City. "He will have his work cut out for him," said Ulysses Yannas, a broker with Buckman, Buckman and Reid who has tracked the retail industry for nearly 30 years. "If anybody can do it, it's got to be him." The announcement sent shares of the Fort Worth, Texas, company up $2.84, or nearly 21 percent, to $16.60 in trading on the New York Stock Exchange, where they have been trading near the lower end of their 52-week range of $13.73 to $27.24.

[Last modified July 8, 2006, 00:44:24]