The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued a notice stating that at the request of the petitioner, International Imaging Materials, Inc., the ITA is postponing its final antidumping (AD) duty determination on wax and wax/resin thermal transfer ribbons from South Korea until no later than March 22, 2004 (from February 29, 2004).

(a) Hang Lung continues to have a preliminary de minimis AD rate of 0.12%

(a) preliminary de minimis rate

Audiovox’s move to sell a controlling stake in its wireless unit to S. Korea’s Curitel Communications appears to sharpen further its focus on its growing CE business. Audiovox said late last week that it had signed a preliminary letter of intent to sell a stake in Audiovox Communications Corp. (ACC) to Curitel, Korea’s 3rd-largest mobile phone maker. Terms weren’t released and an Audiovox spokesman declined further comment.

In its 3rd full week of availability, Columbia TriStar’s Radio was again the #1-rented DVD and VHS title in the U.S., Rentrak’s preliminary Home Video Essentials data for the week ended Feb. 15 showed Thurs. Rentrak said the title earned $6.68 million for the week on DVD and VHS for $23.75 million to date. It said the movie earned $5.13 million on DVD alone in the week for $18.23 million to date. The only 2 new movies in the top 10 were Universal’s Intolerable Cruelty at #3 and Columbia TriStar’s In the Cut at #10. Rentrak said Intolerable Cruelty earned $5.78 million in its first full week of availability on DVD and VHS for a total of $5.85 million, while In the Cut earned $2.96 million for $2.99 million to date.

Take-Two Interactive’s Mafia for PS2 was again the #1-rented videogame in the U.S., Rentrak’s preliminary Home Video Essentials data for the week ended Feb. 15 showed Thurs. Rentrak said the title, in its 3rd week of availability, earned an additional $259,136, for $681,223 to date. Take-Two had one other game in the top 10: Manhunt for PS2 at #10 (up one in its 13th week, an additional $110,896, for $2.46 million to date). Electronic Arts (EA) again had the most titles in the top 10 among publishers -- but didn’t dominate the chart as in many previous weeks. However, Sony Computer Entertainment’s console dominated the chart again as every title in the top 10 was for PS2. Three EA titles made the top 10: Need for Speed: Underground at #2 again (13th week, additional $223,076, total of $5.12 million to date); NFL Street at #3 again (5th week, $208,370, and $843,179 to date); Medal of Honor: Rising Sun at #6 again (14th week, $136,441, and $5.22 million). Activision had 2 titles in the top 10 again: True Crime: Streets of L.A. at #4 again in its 15th week and Tony Hawk’s Underground at #5 (up 3 in its 16th week). Atari, Sony and Sega each had one game in the top 10: Respectively, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2 at #7, SOCOM II: U.S. Navy SEALs at #8, Sonic Heroes at #9.

Lockheed Martin and Boeing contributed to the successful launch of a U.S. Air Force (AF) Defense Support Program (DSP) satellite, the companies said. Lift-off of the DSP 22, part of a constellation providing early warning of missile launches, was at 1:50 p.m. Sat. from Cape Canaveral. Lockheed’s Titan 4 rocket carried the bird into a preliminary orbit and Boeing’s inertial upper stage (IUS) payload booster took the satellite to its final geostationary orbit. Boeing said the launch was the last for its IUS. The Titan 4 has a 2nd launch planned this year, Lockheed said, after which the Titan 4 will also be retired.

(a) DSM has a de minimis rate of 0.04%; no cash deposits will be collected but suspension of liquidation will continue

(a) For previously reviewed China and non-China exporters with separate rates, the cash deposit rate will be the company-specific rate established for the most recent period.

The exclusivity agreement between EchoStar and Dominion Video Satellite (DVS) allows EchoStar to comply with its public interest requirements without breaching the contract, Dominion said in a letter to the FCC. The ex parte letter was filed in a request for inquiry by Daystar TV Network asking the Commission to declare contracts against public policy and contrary to public interest if they prohibit DBS providers from fulfilling pubic interest obligations (CD Aug 25 p10). An appeals court recently lifted a preliminary injunction prohibiting EchoStar from carrying DayStar and Family Net (CD Feb 2 p8), competing Christian programming networks. With its FCC letter, DVS submitted a report by the Media Access Project (MAP) on arbitration between the companies, which confirmed DVS’s conclusions. While EchoStar claims there are “insufficient qualified programmers” and FCC regulations make compliance with the contract difficult, the report said, “it is still possible for EchoStar to fulfill its obligations… without carrying programming which is subject to the exclusivity provision.” For example, EchoStar could get a waiver from the FCC to let it carry 2nd and 3rd channels from existing programmers, MAP said. EchoStar’s contract obligations could be abandoned only after it tried everything else, MAP said, but this “highly unlikely hypothetical condition would continue only until such time as EchoStar located suitable programming which did not require it to breach its contractual obligations to DVS.”