BRIEF TRANSMISSIONS

What price market share? About 125,000 quote machines now rest on brokers' desks. 71,000 are Quotrons. 54,000 are ADP/Bunker Ramo. Citicorp is therefore paying $685 million for about 57 per cent of market. ADP's total outlay for GTE and Bunker is not thought to be more than $70 million. Citicorp's cost per share point: $12 million. ADP's: $1.6 million.

Equatorial Communications Co. has reorganized to re-emphasize one-way data business. Heading new effort is Ken Bentley, former president at Bonneville Telecommunications, who recently tried but failed to convince Equatorial to acquire Bonneville (MTR, May 1986). With Bentley now in organization, it appears that Equatorial, faced with "buy or build" decision, opted to build. "This is a recognition of the importance of the point-to-multipoint part of the business," says Bentley, who joined June 9th as vice president. "A great deal of focus has occurred within the company to get the interactive side off the ground, and maybe you could say that the point-to-multipoint has been a little bit ignored in the process." Bentley plans to take "what is now basically a one-product line" and turn it into "multitude of products that range up and down from the existing C-100." Future directions may include higher capacity one-way services to break 19.2 kilobit/second ceiling of current line. More likely in short run, however, would be lower cost, lower capacity services, including much less expensive version of flagship C-100.

Lotus Development Corp. has added Dow Jones News Service alerting capability to Signal quote service. Signal subscribers are alerted that breaking news exists for specific companies, but have to dial into Dow Jones News Retrieval to read stories. Users of Lotus Symphony integrated software can write macros that will automate process to run unattended. Separately, Lotus and Equatorial Communications Co. have signed Egghead Discount Software and Entre Computer Centers as first computer dealers in joint Signal/C-100 marketing program (MTR, February 1986).

Xpress Information Services has put new launches on hiatus and faces ownership restructuring. Cable-based service (MTR, April 1986) has acquired only about 500-600 subscribers to date, and is thought to be losing money at rate of about $4 million annually. Losses have hit one Xpress partner harder than others, and this is source of pending ownership change. Telecrafter Corp. is vulnerable because it lacks deep pockets of partners Tele-Communications, Inc. and McGraw-Hill, Inc. In most recent quarter, firm lost $233,858 on sales of $1.5 million. Telecrafter says it is negotiating to reduce stake, but does not say with whom or by how much. Xpress has apparently concluded that initial pricing of $19.95/month for consumers was wrong and that it must learn more about nuts and bolts of marketing. To that end, Xpress is focusing efforts in three markets -- San Francisco, Salt Lake City, and Toronto. Salt Lake City is of particular interest, because price has been cut to $7.95. Tests will run through July, with evaluation in August and new pricing strategy in the fall.

Bridge Market Data has ordered 25 interactive satellite terminals from Equatorial Communications Co. to augment recently-announced Ku-band Telcom General network (MTR, April 1986). "It's a hedge on our part," says Bridge Communications president Buford Smith. Bridge will conduct field evaluation of Equatorial's two-way capability. "That's our principal interest in their network in this particular purchase," says Smith.

Data Broadcasting Corp. expects to add UPI business news to its broadcast financial quotation feed (MTR, December 1985), thanks to settlement of lawsuits concerning control of United Press International. Under terms of deal struck by contenders for bankrupt wire service, UPI's 40 per cent interest in Comtex Scientific Corp. will be transferred to group headed by Financial News Network, Inc. and Biotech Capital Corp., two principal investors in DBC. Comtex owns certain rights to electronic distribution of UPI data, and DBC expects to take advantage of corporate link.

Moving Around: John McCarthy, ex-Viewdata, joins Knight-Ridder Financial Information as vice president, sales and marketing....Paul Steinle, ex-president, Financial News Network, Inc., joins Data Broadcasting Corp. as president, replacing Jack Ault.