The Buzz on Business

DELTA TO OFFER WI-FI: Delta Air Lines Inc. said Tuesday that it will offer broadband wireless Internet access on its domestic mainline fleet by the middle of 2009. Continental Airlines Inc. previously announced plans to offer similar service across a majority of its mainline fleet. Several other airlines offer similar service or plan to, although on a much more limited number of flights than the plans by Delta and Continental. Atlanta-based Delta said Wi-Fi service will be offered for a fee to customers traveling in the continental United States The system will allow Delta travelers with Wi-Fi-enabled devices, such as laptops, smart phones and personal digital assistants, to use the Internet in flight. A flat fee of $9.95 will be charged on flights of three hours or less, and $12.95 on flights of more than three hours.

SONY TO TAKE OVER BMG: Bertelsmann AG will sell its 50 percent stake in Sony BMG to Sony Corp. in a $900 million deal, the companies announced Tuesday, giving the Japanese company full ownership of the joint venture whose artists include Alicia Keys and Leona Lewis. A statement released by the privately held Bertelsmann said the company will be called Sony Music Entertainment Inc. and become a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Corp. of America. The joint venture was created in August 2004. After the deal, which is subject to regulatory approvals, is complete, Sony Music Entertainment Inc. will be made up of several music labels, including Arista Records, Columbia Records, Epic Records, J Records, Jive Records, RCA Records and Zomba. Its artists will include Céline Dion, Bruce Springsteen, Justin Timberlake and Usher, among others.

TENET UPBEAT ABOUT EARNINGS: Tenet Healthcare Corp., the for-profit parent company of Doctors Medical Center of Modesto and Doctors Hospital of Manteca, reported a narrowed second-quarter loss Tuesday, as the hospital operator benefited from better contract terms with managed- care providers and a third straight quarter of admissions growth. Shares fell more than 8 percent, or 52 cents, to $5.71 in trading after the earnings report. The Dallas-based hospital operator posted a net loss of $15 million, or 3 cents per share, compared with a loss of $30 million, or 6 cents per share, in the quarter last year. "This is the best result that we've generated in more than four years and includes solid growth in both surgeries and paying admissions," Chief Executive Officer Trevor Fetter said during a Tuesday conference call with analysts.

CABLEVISION TO BLOCK CHILD PORN ACCESS: New York's attorney general says Cablevision has joined his growing list of Internet service providers that have agreed to block access to child pornography. Andrew Cuomo says the company has agreed to immediately stop access to child porn Web sites and eliminate access to child porn newsgroups. Similar agreements were announced previously with Comcast, NetZero, Juno, BlueLight Internet, AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc., AOL, Sprint Nextel Corp., and Time Warner Cable Inc. The ISPs also agreed to purge their servers of all child porn Web sites identified by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

NEWS AND NOTES: Molson Coors Brewing Co. said its second-quarter profit dropped 56 percent because of higher costs and charges associated with combining the company's U.S. arm with the maker of Miller beers. ... Sportswear maker Adidas AG said Tuesday that its second-quarter net profit rose 12 percent from last year on increased demand for its products during the European 2008 football tournament and on Olympic-related merchandise. ... Weyerhaeuser Co. said it would cut about 1,500 employees, or 6.3 percent of its global work force, as part of an ongoing plan to scale back operations to focus on timberlands and wood products.

BEE NEWS SERVICES

Figuratively Speaking

$24 billion: Estimated value of the home video market, the largest segment of consumer movie spending, according to the Entertainment Merchants Association

49: Estimated percentage of all consumer movie spending in 2007 that is represented by the home video market

JOHN MacINTYRE, UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE

This story was originally published August 6, 2008 at 2:52 AM with the headline "The Buzz on Business."