BRIEF TRANSMISSIONS

MMS International is expected to adopt broadcast delivery via FM sideband for some or all of its real-time market analysis service. While he won't provide details, MMS chief Richard Green confirms that company wants to deliver feed to customers who don't subscribe to current distribution vehicles Telerate, Reuters, or Bridge. "We want to send our information to corporate treasurers that have PCs on their desks," he says. MMS began with U.S. debt market service via Telerate in 1977, and both have prospered. MMS subsequently added equity and overseas debt market services via Bridge and Reuters. New MMS-Telerate distribution contract under negotiation won't allow MMS to distribute U.S. debt service via another vendor, says Telerate executive vice president John Jessop, but leaves door open for MMS to distribute service on its own. Whether that might include direct delivery to trading room switches isn't known. "No one is receiving our feed [directly] on any kind of video switch system," says Green. "The only way they get it is through Telerate, Reuters, or a dial-up service."

Bloomington-based Illinois Farm Bureau has launched Farmdayta service combining existing Agrivisor news service with commodity market data. 63-page service is delivered via C-band satellite or FM sideband. Data source is CQI's Comstock feed.

Telerate Systems, Inc.'s Matrix service (MTR, June 1988) has been formally launched. Prices start at $555/month for basic mortgage- backed service, exclusive of charges and exchange fees.

McGraw-Hill, Inc. has decided to bite bullet and take 2d-quarter writedown of goodwill from 1985 purchase of Monchik-Weber Corp., now S&P Trading Systems. Size of writedown wasn't disclosed, but could top $10 -- maybe even $20 million.

Correction: Article in June 1988 MTR misstated feature of Reuter SDS2 service. SDS supports composite paging on PC via Spreadsheet Link software (MTR, May 1988).

Helping People Manage Change: Mark Smith, ex-American Stock Exchange, doesn't touch down at Sherwood Group after all (MTR, May 1988), but lands instead at Stratus Computer, where he'll head financial industry marketing....Max Siebermann, ex-ADP-FIL, joins Telerate Systems as head of Zurich office....Rod Stall, sales manager at Bonneville Telecommunications, resigns....Also leaving Bonneville, Steve Connelly, who takes over sales responsibilities at Commodity Quotations, Inc., replacing Craig Shumate, who moves into strategic marketing....IIA Financial Information Services Division taps Bill Cline of Reuters and Joe Paradi of Dataline to chair new workstation committee.