CNN NewsStand

Disney and Time Warner Reach Accord, ABC Returns to Cable Stations; Londoners Rebuffing Mainstream Parties in Mayoral Election

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ANNOUNCER: It's Tuesday, May 2, 2000. Tonight on CNN NEWSSTAND: After a day and a half of this, ABC hits like "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" are back on in millions of homes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH COLLINS, CHAIRMAN & CEO, TIME WARNER CABLE: There's a provision called "retransmission consent." All it's done is cause uncertainty to the customers. It hasn't been lucrative for any of the broadcasters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Tonight, what's behind the fight between two media titans.

And we'll tune-in to the big picture: how much the TV business is changing.

It was a tragedy that claimed 270 lives. The quest for justice has taken more than 11 years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So there's a good feeling of satisfaction but a lot of emotion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm angry, and I have absolutely no trouble with the word "revenge."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: On the eve of an unprecedented trial, the case against Lockerbie bombing suspects.

One candidate won't shave, another has a reputation with the ladies, and the front-runner raises these for pets.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think we need one, and I wouldn't vote for any of them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: It surely isn't Gore versus Bush. It's the sign of an election that's downright fun to watch.

CNN NEWSSTAND, with anchors Stephen Frazier and Natalie Allen in Atlanta.

STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, everyone. Welcome to NEWSSTAND.

We begin with the blink that occurred today in the biggest staring contest on television.

NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: The faceoff between two giant media companies that took millions of TV sets hostage, as the FCC put it, in a struggle for control of access to your television in your living room.

FRAZIER: This afternoon, executives at the Walt Disney company, which is corporate parent of the American Broadcasting Company, and Time Warner, parent of Time Warner Cable and CNN, we must point out, agreed to a truce. Time Warner Cable reinstated programming from ABC- owned stations in markets, including New York, Philadelphia, Houston, and Los Angeles. More than 3 million viewers had gone a day and a half looking at this, instead of ABC material, because of a dispute over which channels cable systems ought to provide customers. And who pays? The programmer providing content? Or the cable system providing distribution? And how much should they pay. It is a major business confrontation that will redefine the off-screen relationships that put shows on your TV screen.

But as CNN's Greg Clarkin explains now, those issues have not been resolved simply because "Millionaire" is back on.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GREG CLARKIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a public resolution to what had become a very public battle: Time Warner calls an afternoon press conference to announce an offer to Walt Disney to restore ABC to some of Time Warner's cable systems. Minutes after outlining their offer, Time Warner executives receive Disney's response. They huddle and return with the news.

COLLINS: We are going to accept this, and hopefully, everybody will be able to watch Peter Jennings tonight.

CLARKIN: The two sides agreed right there to restore ABC to the 3.5 million Time Warner cable subscribers who had lost the network.

TOM CANE, GENERAL MANAGER, WABC: I'm really delighted that viewers are back watching our product. They were put in a place midnight, Sunday that they should have never been put in.

CLARKIN: But the agreement just extends the expired deal between the two companies until July 15. Time Warner wanted a much longer extension: either 10 years or at least until October 15. Disney executives crossed that out and wrote in July 15. And Collins said he was -- quote -- "reluctantly agreeing to it."

But the issues between the two remain the same.

COLLINS: Well, you know the old saying, that if somebody tells you it's not about money, then it's about money, and it is about money. In fact, at the end of the negotiations, the amount of money was about $300 million, so it's a lot of money.

CLARKIN: The basic dispute is how much Time Warner compensates Disney for running its cable channels. So the two companies now are faced with trying to reach a new deal in two and a half months, something they hadn't been able to do since late last year.

(on camera): All total, ABC shows were off the air about 39 hours as a result of this dispute. But if it's any consolation for the network, it's runaway hit, "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" was still number one in the ratings Monday night, despite not being on Time Warner Cable systems in New York, Los Angeles and elsewhere.

Greg Clarkin, CNN Financial News, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: And guess who else is watching all of this -- Washington. This evening, federal communications chairman William Kennard said the game of brinkmanship played this week should never happen again, but will it? The world of television is certainly changing. And joining us to talk about that, "Washington Post" reporter Paul Farhi, who covers the media business, and from New York, Kay Koplovitz founder and former chairman of USA Networks; also former NBC news president Larry Grossman joins us as well.

Let's talk about how this business of television is changing.

Mr. Farhi, I'll start with you. What will happen in the future? What have we just seen?

PAUL FARHI, "WASHINGTON POST": I think you've just seen the biggest of a continuing series of confrontations. Cable companies and programmers like ABC are constantly wrestling about access issues. Cable companies own the pipeline, if you will. Programmers like ABC have the goods that go over pipelines, and it's a constant battle, a constant negotiation over who's going to have the upper hand.

ALLEN: Is that the way it goes, Mr. Grossman. What has happened in history that has gotten us to this point?

LARRY GROSSMAN, FORMER PRESIDENT, NBC NEWS: Well, history is very useful. We're just seeing history repeat its. A hundred years ago, when America was entering the industrial age, we had huge companies being formed -- U.S. Steel, and the railroads and the mining industry -- all controlled by a very few people, and for the first time, you had you had billion-dollars companies and you had oligopolies, and they had to be broken up, mildly and weekly by the government, but nonetheless, the government stepped in. Now as America enters the Information Age, you're seeing the same thing repeat itself. Here is Time Warner and AOL, also partly owned, Time Warner Cable, by Media One, which is a cable company which is about to be owned by AT&T. Huge combinations coming together. And similarly, on the other side, Disney and ABC.

So the industry is changing. It's being mobilized and advanced by these huge conglomerates, but at some point, they overstep the line, and government is going to come into it and deal with it.

ALLEN: We'll talk more about that more in a moment.

Let's bring Kay Koplovitz in here. You're CEO of Working Woman Network. What about the changing face of television, the transition period that we're in? Who are the leaders? Who are the followers? Who's got the real power here? And what's going on, in your opinion?

KAY KOPLOVITZ, CEO, WORKING WOMAN NETWORK: Well, clearly, there are mergers going on all over the place in the media business, and the big companies are becoming bigger and having more clout in the marketplace, so it's not just a stand-alone broadcast network. It's a broadcast network with a lot of cable channels, a lot of programing that the consumers want to see, the viewers want to see, and big pipelines by companies like Time Warner or AT&T, et cetera, that really control now who gets access to the homes.

But the marketplace is changing. We're having a highly fragmented marketplace that we're going into, where the consumer is going to have a larger voice, and I think we're seeing right now the struggle of the large media companies to establish their ground in this marketplace that is fragmenting underneath them, and so that's the real play that we're seeing, really two, here in this case, two very large companies with a lot at stake, a lot of money, a lot of programming and access at stake, trying to stake out the future in the ground that's moving away, at least from the network's point of view, away from them.

ALLEN: What could it mean to a network like yours? Is yours in jeopardy drying to do battle with one of these media giants?

KOPLOVITZ: Well, we're not a television network at Working Woman Network. We're a business network of business women, and so our future is really staked on our multimedia properties, of course, but we're established on the Web, in publications, at conferences, and we're establishing a business market for women, quite different, quite targeted and I don't think it's competing in the same arena.

ALLEN: But to Mr. Farhi -- what's going to happen in the future now? We've just seen "Millionaire" pulled from 70 million people's televisions? Could people wake up and not have Katie and Matt in the morning, or not have the Olympics or baseball finals?

FARHI: Sure, absolutely. Every one of the if broadcast networks has to go through these negotiations. In fact, all local television stations have to go through negotiations with their cable operators. In fact, what you've seen in this instance is just two of the biggest ones behemoths banging heads. These kinds of negotiations go on on a local level in every city across the country, and sometimes they come to a bad result. This one blew up to the national level, but in every market in the country, you'll see one of these over and again. It doesn't stop, and in fact, the potential for disruption is very, very strong.

ALLEN: Mr. Grossman, would you agree with that? Do you think this is wave of the future?

GROSSMAN: No, I would take issue with it to this extent: This is a battle between the rich and the wealthy, and they're making a terrible mistake and getting everybody angry at them. I don't think that this is going happen much again. I think that Chairman Kennard of the FCC is absolutely right, that the viewers won't stand for it, nor indeed will the Federal Communications Commission stand for it.

FARHI: In fact, this has happened quite a few times since 1992.

GROSSMAN: In small areas, but it's reaching the point where I think it's coming to an end.

And in fact, it's fascinating to me that Disney ran first to the FCC that helped bail them out, the very same FCC that when they asked Disney and other networks to provide free political time, they said stay out of our business, stay out of our affairs, don't tell us about the public interest requirements.

So I think there's a there's a real change going on, and we're not going to have to face this too many more times.

ALLEN: Go ahead, Kay.

KOPLOVITZ: I was going to say, I have a somewhat different point of view, because I think while there are government regulations, government will step in the they think there's too much concentration of power in the media. I don't really look to the government to decide this. I think the consumer marketplace is way ahead of the government, and I think what's happening is a highly fragmented market where we're heading pretty quickly to an environment where the consumer is going to be in charge, they're going to be able to delay, change time periods, see what they want to see when they want to see it, and it's a very threatening world for broadcast network to be going into today, with rising costs of program production and diminishing audience.

So I think that you're seeing a fight over those kinds of issues here before us. But I think everybody is going into an era with within the next five years, in which the marketplace is going to decide what they watch, and when they watch it and how they get it, and the marketplace is going to supersede the government in that regard.

FARHI: I take issue with that being in Washington. In fact, the FCC is about to weigh in on the merger, the proposed merger, between AOL and Time Warner, and in fact, this dispute between Time Warner and Disney might be put in that context, that Disney ultimately is afraid of Time Warner and AOL getting together and controlling access to the Internet, that Disney fears that ultimately, its programming, its content, isn't going to get before consumers because AOL and Time Warner will be able to gang up on the rest of the world. So the FCC has a major decision to make in terms of approving or setting conditions on the merger between Time Warner and AOL.

KOPLOVITZ: There's no -- I don't dispute that, but I think that simultaneously, we're seeing an owing opening up to access to a marketplace on the other end of the spectrum. And while AOL and Time Warner may be closed loops, as most cable operators are, and as AOL is fashioned after, there are other forces in the marketplace that are opening up the aperture. So I think there's work going on on both ends of the spectrum here.

ALLEN: That'll have to be the final word, but we thank you all for joining us to talk about what is obviously going to be a complicated issue in the future. It's not just about watching a simple show on television, Kay Koplovitz, Paul Farhi and Larry Grossman, thank you all.

And stay tuned for our story coming up about your cell phone. You can also watch television on that. That's ahead here on NEWSSTAND, and we'll be back.

ANNOUNCER: Up next, a trial the whole world will be watching.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is why we're here. This is my daughter. This is Theo Cohen (ph). She was 20 years old when she was blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland over 11 years ago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: And later, Bush, Gore, Hillary, step aside. Have we an election that's going blow you away. A taste of politics, London style, as NEWSSTAND continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALLEN: It promises to be no ordinary trial: three Scottish judges presiding in a Scottish court on an American airbase on Dutch soil. The case is the downing of Pan Am flight 103 more than 11 years ago. During testimony that could last a year, as many as 1,000 witnesses could be called, tens of thousands of pieces of evidence presented. The trial of two Libyans accused of plotting the 1988 bombing of the jetliner is set to begin in just a matter of hours. You may recall, Libyan Leader Moammar Ghadafi turned over the suspects after months of negotiations. In return, the United Nations dismissed an air and arms embargo against Libya.

Families of the 270 victims had lobbied extensively for the suspects to be turned over for trial. Relatives are making their way to the Netherlands for it, some of them clearly emotional over the coming ordeal. As many as 40 family members will be allowed to attend the early sessions. Others will watch on closed-circuit TVs. As we hear from CNN's Colleen McEdwards, loved ones hope the trial will yield more than verdicts, but answers to several haunting questions.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The slash in the ground where Pan Am flight 103 went down in Lockerbie, and almost twelve years later, open wounds.

BARBARA ZWYNENBURG, VICTIM'S MOTHER: There are thousands, and thousands and thousands of plane flights every day around the world, and why did our kid have to get on the wrong one?

MCEDWARDS: John and Barbara Zwynenburg lost their son, Mark. They want answers from this trial.

JOHN ZWYNENBURG, VICTIM'S FATHER: The outcome I am looking for is to hear, see, feel, smell the truth, OK, the facts.

MCEDWARDS: A massive, meticulous investigation found evidence of a bomb, believed hidden inside a radio in a suitcase. But how did it get on Pan Am 103 undetected? And why? Was it retaliation for the U.S. bombing of Libya two years before the crash, or revenge against the U.S. for mistakenly shooting down an Iranian airliner?

In England, Jim Swire, who lost his daughter, has led the families' campaign to have this case brought to trial.

JIM SWIRE, VICTIM'S FATHER: The court is of vital importance, because it will drive a coach and horses through most of the conspiracy theories that we've heard in the last 10 years.

MCEDWARDS: Since Pan Am 103, relatives of victims have helped push through improved safety measures, now in place around the world. But many say the U.N. sanctions against Libya should not have been suspended when the suspects were handed over, and they worry the United States and Britain won't be hard enough on Libya, will put concerns about oil, economics and diplomacy ahead of justice.

KATHLEEN FLYNN, VICTIM'S MOTHER: If we don't get to go up the chain of command, there is only partial justice as far as the two Libyans are concerned. We want the full culpability of who was responsible for the murder of all those people and that bombing.

MCEDWARDS (on camera): So as the trial begins, the relatives of the 270 people killed will be watching closely, watching for international justice here in the Netherlands: the location, a compromise for Libya handing over the suspects, the trial, in a Scottish court before judges instead of a jury, in a neutral country.

Colleen McEdwards, CNN, Camp Zeist, the Netherlands.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRAZIER: The legal process during this trial won't be the same as American jurisprudence, and with us to discuss that is CNN legal analyst Roger Cossack.

Roger, hi.

ROGER COSSACK, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: How are you?

FRAZIER: You heard Colleen say there are justices rather the normal 15 jurors, who sit in a Scottish trial. How come?

COSSACK: Well, this has been a decision that was made by both sides. It's going to be a three-judge panel instead a jury to make a decision on this case. They will be the sole judge of the facts, they will be the sole judge of the evidence and they will make their decision. It takes two of them to come to a verdict, and of course, there are under Scottish law three possible verdicts, unlike ours, which have two of guilty, not guilty and not proven.

FRAZIER: What does that mean, not proven?

COSSACK: Well, not proven is sort of a way of saying we are not too sure whether you're guilty or not guilty, in fact we're not saying that you didn't do it, but what we're saying is that the prosecution, or in this case, the crown, did not prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt, and we are coming to a conclusion that says they just simply failed to prove the case.

FRAZIER: So the crown is the prosecution. Who defends these two?

COSSACK: There are defense lawyers from the Scottish bar who will be defending them. There's a whole series of attorneys who have appeared with them on their behalf, who will appear before the Scottish court.

FRAZIER: Did I read some of those attorneys are Americans sitting in to represent the interest of all the American relatives of the victims.

COSSACK: Yes, there will be some American lawyers there. They, of course, will not be on the defense side; they will be on the prosecution side. Remember, there was also an indictment in this case that came from the Justice Department, so there will be assisting -- the crown prosecutors -- there will be some lawyers from the Justice Department who have assisted in the preparation of this case.

FRAZIER: Now, since 21 nations in total were represented by all of the 270 people who died, does that mean that lawyers from 27 different legal systems are also watching this, sitting in?

COSSACK: Well, there could be as many lawyers as there are interests, but in fact, remember, this is not going to be different systems. This is going to be one system. They are being tried under Scottish law, by Scottish judges and by Scottish prosecutors, the crown, and that is how this case will be handled. There will be only under the Scottish law.

FRAZIER: Now let's get to the larger issues here, Roger. There may be disappointment for some people like Kathleen Flynn, the woman who appeared in that story a moment ago saying she was seeking ultimate culpability, not just some narrow judgment. Is this trial really about who blew up the plane, or whether these two persons did?

COSSACK: This is a trial that is only these two individuals, these two Libyans, are on trial. The prosecution, or the crown, is claiming that these two individuals are responsible for placing a bomb on Pan Am 103 and causing that bomb to go off. There is some division in the family, but there's quite a concern that what these two are, they are basically henchmen. In fact, they are acting from order, or on order from other people, and that the concern is, is that the deal that the United States may have made or that these countries may have made with Ghadafi in order to get these Libyans turned over was a deal that said, and basically, we will stop the prosecution, we will stop the investigation with these two individuals. Consequently, there is great concern among the families that no matter what the result of this trial is, assuming there is a conviction, that, in fact, what we're really getting are two lower-level individuals, and the people who gave the orders will be escaping.

FRAZIER: What a disappointment that might be.

Roger, thanks for your insights. Thanks for coming in for us tonight.

COSSACK: Thank you.

FRAZIER: There is much more about this trial on our Web site, including a legal case file. You can read the indictment and much far, so do that by logging onto CNN.com/law.

ANNOUNCER: Coming up, the tradition that turned to tragedy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I firmly believe that the tradition should continue. We can learn from it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: What really happened at the Texas A&M bonfire, when NEWSSTAND continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FRAZIER: A commission at Texas A&M has fixed blame for the collapse of the university's pep rally bonfire structure six months ago, which killed 12 students.

For the report and how Aggies received it today, CNN national correspondent Tony Clark opens his "Reporter's Notebook."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TONY CLARK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): The commission was set up in a days immediately following the tragedy, and their purpose was to determine the cause of the collapse so that if there was a future bonfire that wouldn't happen again. Commission members said they really weren't there to assess blame for the collapse on any individual or group of individuals, but clearly, their report does blame the university for lacking oversight over this student-run project.

HUGH ROBINSON, BONFIRE COMMISSION: A completed bonfire can weigh over two million pounds -- more than two fully loaded 747 jumbo jets. Yet design and construction have remained almost the exclusive purview of students.

CLARK: The five-month long, $1.7 million investigation determined that it was stress that was on the bottom tier, the lower tier of the stack that led to the collapse.

ROBINSON: This collapse happened very quickly. Eyewitnesses were stunned at how fast the stack fell to the ground.

CLARK: The commission found that there was drinking going on at the sign among students. There was horseplay, some hazing going on, and even while that wasn't sanctioned by the university, wasn't allowed by the university, the commission found that that was not the reason for the collapse.

LEO LINBECK, BONFIRE COMMISSION CHAIRMAN: Although there is evidence of drinking, horseplay and other irresponsible behaviors, none of them played a role in the collapse.

Also, there was no evidence that poor individual workmanship, excessive fatigue, poor compliance or sabotage played a role in the collapse.

CLARK: Tradition is a very important part of university life here at Texas A&M, not just the bonfire, but there are a numbers of traditions. But I think Bonfire is perhaps the best known. The big question, I think, for both students and alumni alike is whether or not the tradition will continue.

Perhaps the best sign for students of what may happen were comments by the commission's chairman that their findings were that there is a framework in the report, there is a guideline in the report that would allow Bonfire to continue on from this point forward, and be a safe tradition.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: Other top stories now. For two minutes today, Israel stood still. Sirens wailed, and people paused in tribute to the six million Jews killed by the Nazis in World War II. Among those who bowed their heads on their Holocaust remembrance day, Palestinian peace negotiators.

From the U.S. Air Force, word that its fighting units are not all combat-ready. Only 67 percent reportedly are, marking a 15-year low. Making matters worse, Air Force officials say they do not expect to meet their recruiting goals this year, and more veteran pilots and ground crews are expected to leave for the more lucrative private sector.

A showdown between the U.S. government and protesters on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques appears imminent tonight. Demonstrators have occupied a U.S. Navy bombing range on the island for over one year, since a civilian was killed by a stray bomb. Protesters say federal agents will have to arrest them to clear the range. Two Navy warships are circling Vieques, and federal agents and Puerto Rican police are waiting to move in.

The island is the Navy's prime Atlantic training grounds. The Pentagon insists the area is irreplaceable.

ANNOUNCER: Up next...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, it's like the American expression. Don't fix it if it ain't broke.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: ... if that's how the voters feel, who on Earth is running and for what?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEN LIVINGSTONE, CANDIDATE FOR MAYOR OF LONDON: Don't look so glum. You can vote for me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: London's wild race for mayor, when NEWSSTAND returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FRAZIER: There were presidential primaries today in Indiana, North Carolina and the District of Columbia. Turnout was low. George W. Bush and Al Gore won.

If the U.S. presidential race doesn't excite, consider London, where they'll elect a mayor on Thursday. We're going to take an extended look at that race now.

British campaigns are usually livelier than those in the United States, believe it or not, especially when the fringe elements known as the "loony" parties are in full cry. They are now, and they have become the mainstream choices.

CNN's Richard Blystone is within earshot.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD BLYSTONE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If this man didn't raise newts, would he still be front-runner for mayor of London? You may think newts are cute or not, but keeping them makes you different. And there's nothing the British public loves quite so much as an eccentric.

So honk if you want Ken Livingstone in City Hall.

(HONKING)

If you believe the polls, most London voters don't give a hoot for anybody else.

LIVINGSTONE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) candidates asking for your support on May the 4th.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think Livingstone's always had something with the people of London, and I think he's hopefully the right man for the job.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He seems to be one of us.

BLYSTONE: As every tourist knows, London already has a Lord Mayor. That's him in the eccentric costume. But his job is ceremonial and applies only to the 1 square mile that's now London's financial district.

The other 609 square miles of greater London have never had a mayor, though they once had a city government. It's last leader? Guess who: Ken Livingstone, the newt-loving radical whose antics so infuriated right-wing Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher that in 1986 she abolished the whole thing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, COMMERCIAL)

NARRATOR: On May the 4th, a London mayor will be elected.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLYSTONE: One man's mayor is another man's nightmare. Livingstone's leading the race as an independent after losing the Labour Party nomination to this man, Frank Dobson. Trailing in the polls despite the endorsement of Prime Minister Tony Blair, Dobson gives the impression of the old soldier who's been told he'll be a hero if he storms the fort alone with his bayonet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is the secret of your success?

FRANK DOBSON, CANDIDATE FOR MAYOR OF LONDON: Well, I mean, the first question is, am I a success?

BLYSTONE: Just as we start our interview...

(on camera): Frank Dobson, Labour candidate for mayor...

(LAUGHTER)

Is this a sign?

(voice-over): It's been that kind of race for the man they call Dobbo, whose first challenge is convincing people he really wants the job.

DOBSON: I was always keen to be the mayor of London and I wasn't pushed into the job, but I think it was perceived that way.

BLYSTONE: Next hurdle: the battle of Dobbo's beard.

PETER DAVID, "THE ECONOMIST": The bright young boys and girls who work at Labour Party headquarters thought that with that beard he could never win, and they advised him to shave it off. But he resisted that, and I think wisely, because he won't win with the beard off either.

BLYSTONE: And it didn't help when another Frank Dobson, a retired printer, made a bid to get himself on the ballot paper too and ran briefly on the platform that London doesn't need a mayor.

FRANK DOBSON, FORMER CANDIDATE FOR MAYOR OF LONDON: If I had been elected, I would have resigned immediately.

BLYSTONE: The conservative party's had its own mayor nightmare. Its first choice as candidate, the man behind page-turners like "First Among Equals," millionaire fiction writer Lord Jeffrey Archer. But then his lordship was accused of having encouraged a witness to tell some fiction in a liable suit against a newspaper.

He was barred from the party...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go home.

BLYSTONE: ... and police took him in for questioning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's hopeless down there. It's hopeless.

BLYSTONE: The conservatives then turned to Steve Norris, an ex- car salesman, whose string of five mistresses while still married so outrage some conservative matrons that they almost blocked his nomination.

DAVID: His sexual reputation is, I suppose, on balance a little bit of an advantage. He's got a twinkle in his eye. He -- you can relate to him as a human being.

BLYSTONE: Susan Cramer is running, or walking, under the banner of "Liberal Democrats against selling off the underground system." She's a banker, not a politician, so she needs an issue. And she's got one: How do you get around in London?

SUSAN CRAMER, CANDIDATE FOR MAYOR OF LONDON: As it happens, walking through London isn't that much slower than driving. Cars average 8 miles an hour, same as in the days of horse and buggy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And when people get in the cab, it's embarrassing sometimes to take them anywhere, because you're just stuck in traffic all the time.

BLYSTONE: Some of the most colorful contenders have already quit the race.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GLENDA JACKSON, ACTRESS: My god, $18,000 -- I could have told him for a lot less.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLYSTONE: Actress Glenda Jackson offered to lend politics a touch class but made her exit on cue.

Malcolm McClaren, founder of the punk band The Sex Pistols, made a brief appearance but decided in those immortal words...

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

JOHNNY ROTTEN, SEX PISTOLS (singing): There's no future, no future, no future for you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLYSTONE: The mayoral post is supposed to be American-style but the campaign...

LIVINGSTONE: Well, it sounds very much like American politics. This is the sort of personality politics, the back-stabbing, the negative campaigning. All we haven't had so far is someone bumped off.

BLYSTONE: Maybe, but try to imagine not Ken Livingstone but, say, Hillary Clinton posing with a giant dalmatian to mark National Worm Awareness Week, or a champion of the poor raising campaign funds from the well-healed at a benefit auction of contemporary art, complete with champagne, five-figure bids, and thought-provoking pieces like this one, entitled Dead Mice.

LIVINGSTONE: The next is Peter Kennard's "Haywain With Cruise Missiles."

BLYSTONE: Ken was there, wielding the gavel...

LIVINGSTONE: They are sold to the lady in the green scarf.

BLYSTONE: ... and the charm.

LIVINGSTONE: Where's the booze?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Downstairs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, down there.

LIVINGSTONE: Down here. Bloody hell. I've just been expelled for five years.

BLYSTONE: Behind the winning sense of humor...

LIVINGSTONE: Don't look so glum: You can vote for me. This is Ken Livingstone, your cheeky London...

BLYSTONE: ... a man who'd recognizes gay marriages and legalize the drug Ecstasy, and who says the global financial system has killed more people than World War II, though in recent years this scourge of capitalism has developed a lucrative sideline in reviewing restaurants, making speeches and appearing on talk shows.

(on camera): The view from London's new scenic ride shows you not so much a city as a cluster of villages, each with its own distinctive character. Anybody who wants to get elected mayor here had better find something that appeals to all of them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's the mayor going to do? Because he ain't going to bring the prices down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, it's like the American expression: Don't fix it if it ain't broke.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's a total waste of money. I don't think we need one, and I wouldn't vote for any of them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's been a farce really.

BLYSTONE (voice-over): True, London's mayor won't have much power and won't have a single tax to call his own. But that could be the secret of Ken Livingstone's success. He's a safe way to give the big parties a poke in the eye.

DAVID: If they were voting for a mayor who could raise their taxes, they would think two or three times before they vote for the man who was once known as "Red Ken Livingstone." But to be a safe eccentric is a pretty good way to position yourself in British politics.

BLYSTONE: The new mayor's office will be away from parliament, but just over the river from that historic bastion of political skullduggery, the tower of London, where instead of photo-ops and soundbites the forebears of today's politicians employed real knives in the back, the dungeon and the chopping block.

(on camera): You've got to start somewhere.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRAZIER: Today's front-page news in "The Times" of London was the resignation of a key Livingstone aide who said he was growing worried that Livingstone could become a danger to London. For his part, candidate Livingstone said he'd never heard of the aide until he read the paper.

(LAUGHTER)

Again, the election is Thursday.

ALLEN: Those wacky Londoners. We'll let you know if there's a winner. Well, one last political note for you: former child actor Gary Coleman is thinking of running for one of California's Senate seats. The former star of "Diff'rent Strokes" says he's so radical he may have to run as an independent.

Coleman, who is 32 and once filed for bankruptcy, says he is financially stable now.

ALLEN: Well, it was another unstable day on Wall Street.

FRAZIER: Right. Investors didn't like the numbers Ma' Bell phoned in but traders at the New York Stock Exchange still had something to smile about. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) more NEWSSTAND in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALLEN: When you think of rearing teenagers, what comes to mind? The challenges, the frustrations, the rewards? That's just part of the frank talk at the White House today during a conference aimed at keeping teenagers safe and out of trouble.

Here's more from medical correspondent Eileen O'Connor.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EILEEN O'CONNOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The president called on government and private employers to help parents find the time they need, pointing to a government study which shows even having a meal together makes a big difference.

WILLIAM J. CLINTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The report found that teenagers that had dinner with their parents five nights a week are far more likely to avoid smoking, drinking, violence, suicide, and drugs.

O'CONNOR: Insisting teenagers need more loving supervision, the president called upon Congress to approve his request for a billion dollars to establish more after-school programs, especially in troubled neighborhoods. He signed an executive order to prohibit discrimination against parents in the work force of the federal government and asked for congressional approval of his request to expand the Family Leave Act to cover more workers in more situations.

(on camera): Both parents and teens surveyed for the conference blame parental work obligations for the reason behind the lack of time spent together.

(voice-over): Donnie and Fonda Malone are parents of teens. Both work. Donnie Malone worries about the time the girls are left at home after school -- alone.

DONNIE MALONE, FATHER: Typically, child care cuts off at 12, and there's nothing left for a 13-, 14- or 15-year-old to do.

O'CONNOR: Their 15-year-old daughter Tameka says what she would like best is simply have her parents physically spend more time with her.

TAMEKA MALONE, STUDENT: Just coming downstairs, watching a movie or something, or talking to them, or going out to dinner or something.

O'CONNOR: To do that, her mother says workplace attitudes must change and suggests parents be allowed to come home early three days a week.

FONDA MALONE, MOTHER: Just having that time to say, OK, at least two to three days out of this week I'm going to be home when you get home, we're going to have dinner, we're going to do something fun.

O'CONNOR: New scientific evidence presented at the conference shows spending that time together actually helps teens develop emotionally and physically.

Eileen O'Connor, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: Well, we're sorry to report it appears Wall Street is going to the dogs.

FRAZIER: I don't know why we're sorry. In what's believed to be a first, the Taco Bell chihuahua ran the opening bell this morning at the stock exchange, all part of a new campaign by the Mexican-style fast-food chain to publicize its new nacho chips.

ALLEN: Ah, but it appears investors made a run for the border today.

Stuart Varney has more now on tonight's "MONEYLINE Update."

STUART VARNEY, CNN ANCHOR: Stephen, Natalie, Wall Street was hit with a one-two punch: two of the most widely held stocks knocking the wind out of the market. AT&T and Microsoft stumbled badly today, taking down both the Dow and the Nasdaq. The tech selloff was a disappointing setback for the Nasdaq, which rallied more than 300 points in the previous three sessions.

The index held study for much of the day, but then caved in the last hour and a half of trading, tumbling 172 points -- that's more than 4 percent -- to close at 3,785.

As for the Dow, well, it actually broke into positive territory in the early afternoon before turning lower again. It closed the day down 80, at 10,731.

A disappointing profit forecast from AT&T was like lacing cement shoes onto the Dow industrials. AT&T met slightly lowered expectations for last quarter, but surprised the street with a cautionary statement about the future. The stock finished the day down seven at $42 a share.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ALAN GOLDMAN, CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST, A.G. EDWARDS: The market has shown time and time again if you disappoint them and if you say anything negative about future growth prospects, you get taken behind the barn and spanked, and that's the way it should be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VARNEY: As for the bond market, the 10-year note down 5/32, the yield moving up to 6.30 percent, and the 30-year long bond lost more than a quarter point in price. That pushed the yield to 6.01 percent.

That is tonight's "MONEYLINE Update." Let's get back to Stephen and Natalie.

FRAZIER: Stuart, thank you.

Anyone who considers cell phones and TV remotes the root of all evil, abandon hope all ye who remain after the commercial.

ALLEN: Coming up here on NEWSSTAND, introducing a cell phone complete with a TV and stereo. We'll tune it in next in our "Technofile."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALLEN: Well, if you're tired of seeing the guy or gal next to you going down the road, yakking on the cell phone, you just wait, you may want to count your blessings.

FRAZIER: That would be me.

Before too long, that phone could be blasting a TV show or a tune from Britney Spears.

Our technology correspondent Rick Lockridge brandishes cell phone as boombox in "Technofile."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICK LOCKRIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): You hear the word "convergence" these days, as in the convergence of the TV and the PC, and Palm Pilot, and the refrigerator, and the lawnmower. And you wonder if one day we will live out our entire lives from our recliners, just beaming signals from a pinkie ring.

(voice-over): These new cell phones by Samsung make you wonder just how far the whole convergence thing can go. This is Samsung's new TV phone, the first cell phone in the world, the company says, to have a TV screen built right into it. You'll never have to miss "Jenny Jones" again. The little screen is only 1.8 inches across, but it's pretty sharp. With the local TV antenna, you can watch almost three and a half hours of TV before your battery runs out. And by the way, you can also this device to make phone calls. The TV phone is available only in Korea right now, the cost, about 500 U.S. dollars.

This isn't on-hold music you're hearing, it's digital music from your own collection, stored on Samsung's $300 MP3 phone. MP3s, high- quality compressed digital music files, are wildly popular on the Web. This phone can store up to eight of your favorite tunes in its internal flash memory, downloaded from your PC or copied from your CD player. It's like a Walkman that talks, too. The MP3 phone can also browse the Web while you're listening. It has a built-in e-mail program, calendar and to-do list.

Watch phones are already on the market. Motorola says it's developing a pager that'll be able to make phone calls using a plug-in headset.

And yes, now even recliners have entered the Internet age. La-Z- Boy is now selling a Web TV equipped e-cliner.

(on camera): Looks like we're in danger of turning into a civilization of multi-tasking, couch potato maniacs. Sounds like a show for the next "Jenny." That's "Technofile."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: And don't move out of that easy chair, "SPORTS TONIGHT" coming up next.

FRAZIER: Yes, let's dial up Vince Cellini with a preview -- Vince.

VINCE CELLINI, CNN SPORTS ILLUSTRATED: Right here, Stephen and Natalie.

"SPORTS TONIGHT" is just loaded with drama, including the return of Cub flame thrower Kerry Wood. He's not a bad hitter either. It's also the NBA playoffs. Jason Kidd was dressed to kill against the Spurs. And from the ice, an amazing finish in Pittsburgh: the Flyers have new life. All this, and an octogenarian at the Kentucky Derby having the time of his life.

"SPORTS TONIGHT," top of the hour -- Stephen, Natalie.

ALLEN: See you.

FRAZIER: See you then. Thanks.

Tomorrow during this hour, a NEWSSTAND anchor, who shall remain nameless, gets the makeover of her life. You won't believe who this is. We couldn't.

ALLEN: Hint, that's not me behind the moustache in this story about how the CIA creates new identities for its agents, disguises that fool even their own families.

FRAZIER: That one fooled us. You'll learn who it is tomorrow.

And that's us -- all from us tonight. I'm Stephen Frazier.

ALLEN: And I'm Natalie Allen. Good night from the NEWSSTAND.

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