BUSINESS BRIEFS
Customers are now movie cops
Advertiser Staff and News Services
NEW YORK — Major movie theater chains are telling managers to monitor audiences more frequently and clamp down on disruptions, including cell phone use, talking and gross littering.
The largest theater owner even is enlisting its customers. Regal Entertainment Group, which has three cineplexes on O'ahu, this week will significantly expand a program to give selected patrons wireless devices to anonymously alert the manager of disruptions.
The system, launched in 13 theaters last year, will soon be used in 114. Customers in Regal's loyalty points program will be invited to take a cell phone-size device into the theater. If there is a disturbance, picture or sound glitch, or someone recording the film, they can push one of four buttons to alert the manager.
SONY LAUNCHES HD RADIO TUNERS
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Sony Corp. said it plans to introduce its first HD Radio products in July, joining the growing group of companies seeking to make the next-generation digital radio technology a standard feature in audio products.
HD Radio is a new form of digital radio broadcasting that allows radio stations to deliver extra music content on up to four side channels that piggyback on the frequency it already uses. So far, more than 1,200 stations nationwide have adopted the technology, according to the HD Digital Radio Alliance, a group of broadcasters promoting the format.
Sony's first HD Radio will be the XDR-S3HD, a $200 tabletop AM/FM/HD radio, and the XT-100HD, a $100 tuner module that will work with most Sony car stereos.
BIG CONSTRUCTION COMPANIES UNITE
BOISE, Idaho — San Francisco-based URS Corp. is buying Washington Group International for $2.6 billion, the engineering and construction companies said yesterday.
The boards of directors of both companies unanimously approved the deal, which calls for Washington Group stockholders to receive $43.80 in cash and .772 shares of URS stock for each Washington Group share. The transaction is valued at $80 per share, or a 14 percent premium over Washington Group's closing stock price on Friday.
The deal combines two of the nation's largest engineering and construction firms.
