The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued a notice amending its antidumping (AD) duty order on certain hot-rolled carbon steel flat products from Netherlands in order to terminate suspension of liquidation and AD duty liability for subject merchandise with a time of entry on or after October 30, 2001 (180 days from the date of publication of the preliminary determination) through November 28, 2001 (the day before the AD duty order was published).
The ITA states that it will determine, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will assess, AD duties on all appropriate entries. The ITA adds that it will issue appropriate assessment instructions directly to CBP within 15 days of December 30, 2003.
Kaufman Bros. downgraded Covad Tues. to “hold” from “buy,” citing lower-than-expected line count. Kaufman analyst Rick Grubbs said Covad in preliminary 4th-quarter results issued Mon. missed its forecast for adding new lines, coming in at 26,000 instead of the 35,000-38,000 it had estimated. “Management cited competitive pricing pressures from the RBOCs and cable companies for the lower-than- expected line count and higher churn rate,” Kaufman said in a report.
The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued a notice which initiates an expedited review of the countervailing (CV) duty order on hard red spring wheat from Canada for Richelain Farms (Richelain).
The International Trade Administration (ITA) has initiated an antidumping (AD) duty investigation on ready-to-cook kosher chicken and parts thereof from Canada.
Universal Home Video’s Seabiscuit was the #1-rented DVD movie in the U.S. again in its 2nd week of availability, Rentrak’s Home Video Essentials preliminary data for the week ended Dec. 28 showed. Rentrak said Seabiscuit earned an additional $7.15 million on DVD for the week, boosting its total rental earnings on DVD to date to $13.2 million. Combined DVD and VHS rental earnings on the title were $10.7 million for the week and $19.59 million to date. Rentrak said there were 2 new titles in the top 10, factoring in combined DVD and VHS rentals: MGM’s Jeepers Creepers 2 at #7 and Columbia TriStar’s Jackie Chan action-comedy The Medallion at #8 in the first full week of availability for each. Combined rentals for Jeepers were $5.09 million in the week and $5.2 million to date and for Medallion $4.74 million and $4.82 million. DVD rentals for Jeepers were $3.22 million and $3.3 million, and for Medallion were $4 million and $4.07 million.
Electronic Arts (EA) once again had the 2 top-rented videogames in the U.S., Rentrak’s Home Video Essentials preliminary data for the week ended Dec. 28 showed. Rentrak said EA’s Need for Speed: Underground for PS2, in its 6th week, again was #1, generating an additional $738,285 in rentals in the week to boost its total earnings to date to $2.77 million. EA’s Medal of Honor: Rising Sun for PS2 again was #2, earning an additional $587,004 in its 7th week and its rental total to date to $3.8 million. EA had 2 other PS2 games in the top 10 as well: Madden NFL 2004 at #9 in its 20th week (down 3 from a week ago, earning an additional $347,248 for a total of $5.43 million) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King at #10 in its 8th week (up 1, $339,129 and earnings of $1.73 million). Only one game in the top 10 wasn’t for PS2: Take-Two Interactive’s Grand Theft Auto double pack for Xbox at #8 in its 8th week (up 9, $347,395 and $1.90 million). Take-Two had one other title in the top 10 -- Manhunt at #7 in its 6th week (up 3, $354,990 and $1.41 million). Also having 2 games in the top 10 was Activision: Tony Hawk’s Underground at #3 in its 9th week (up 2, $460,003 and $3.33 million) and True Crime: Streets of L.A. at #4 in its 8th week (down 1, $439,568 and $2.85 million). Rounding out the top 10 were SOCOM II: U.S. Navy SEALs from Sony Computer Entertainment at #5 in its 8th week (up 2, $430,695 and $2.27 million) and Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2 from Atari at #6 (down 2, $365,111 and $1.2 million).
The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued its final results of the antidumping (AD) duty administrative and new shipper reviews of certain non-frozen apple juice concentrate from China for the period of June 1, 2001 through May 31, 2002. The ITA states that this review covers five producers or exporters and one producer/exporter.
House Judiciary Courts Subcommittee Chmn. Smith (R-Tex.) used his weekly column to denounce profane language and the FCC’s preliminary decision not to levy fines against affiliates that aired the Golden Globe awards in Jan., which included a vulgar comment by rock singer Bono (CD Jan 2 p4). Smith is the lone co-sponsor of HR-3687, introduced by Rep. Ose (R-Cal.) at the end of last year, that effectively would ban profane language from broadcast TV. In a column offered to district papers, Smith took issue with the FCC Enforcement Bureau’s determination that Bono’s use of the “F-word” was out of the Commission’s enforcement jurisdiction since he used it as an adjective in a non-sexual vein. “Since the FCC believes the law isn’t strong enough to stop harmful, indecent and profane language from being broadcast, we must strengthen the law,” Smith said. He said the bill didn’t raise constitutional issues since the Supreme Court had ruled (in the Pacifica case) that broadcast’s unique accessibility to children allowed more First Amendment restrictions on broadcasters. “Unfortunately, the FCC has given television and radio stations too much power to broadcast any type of behavior or speech that they believe will bring in high ratings and advertising dollars,” Smith said: “This undermines standards of common decency; harms the ability of parents to raise their children free from profane language and leads to a further deterioration of our culture.”
The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued its final results of the antidumping (AD) duty administrative review of steel concrete reinforcing bars from Latvia for the review period of January 30, 2001 through August 31, 2002.