CABLE TELEVISION
Aereo TV service adds cities
Aereo, the startup that offers television stations over the Internet starting at $8 a month, says it will start service in Atlanta on June 17. That follows Aereo’s expansion to Boston on Wednesday. Until this week, the service had been available only in the New York City area.
Aereo will offer 27 Atlanta-area broadcast channels, plus the cable channel Bloomberg TV. Service will be limited to 55 counties in Georgia, Alabama and North Carolina. Other markets expected in the coming months include Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington.
Aereo converts television signals into computer data and sends them over the Internet to subscribers’ computers and mobile devices. Subscribers can watch channels live or record them with an Internet-based digital video recorder. They can pause and rewind live television, just like a DVR.
ECONOMY
Mothers worry for children
Nearly half of American mothers think their children are unprepared to get a job and one-third say their kids aren’t ready to live on their own, a new study says.
The study by the McGraw-Hill Federal Credit Union found that 49 percent of mothers say their children aren’t ready to get a job, while 44 percent say their progeny aren’t prepared to finance their college educations.
One-third of mothers say their children are “not at all prepared” to save money or live on their own, according to the study. The study polled 300 mothers.
Overall, the study indicates that mothers are worried about their children’s financial futures. Though the economy is a key factor, the poll respondents worried that their children do not know enough about finances to make well-informed decisions about such matters as they enter adulthood.
Small businesses more upbeat
Small-business owners were a little more optimistic during April but are generally still cautious.
That’s the finding of a survey by the National Federation of Independent Business. The NFIB’s Index of Small Business Optimism rose 2.6 points to 92.1 last month, erasing a drop of 1.3 during March. The index was compiled from the survey of 1,873 NFIB members.
The index has averaged 90.7 since the recession, reflecting concerns about the economy and the potential impact the federal health-care law will have on small businesses when it’s implemented Jan. 1.
AUTO INDUSTRY
Ford engine draws lawsuits
Three Ohio drivers are suing Ford Motor Co., claiming the company’s six-cylinder EcoBoost engine is defective. The lawsuit says the 3.5-liter V6 EcoBoost engine can shudder, shake and then rapidly lose power while drivers are accelerating. Two of the plaintiffs, a married couple, say their 2010 Ford Taurus SHO has lost power and stalled on multiple occasions. The third says he has lost power when he was accelerating in his F-150 pickup.
The lawsuit says more than 100 drivers have complained to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration about the V6 EcoBoost rattling or losing power. Ford hasn’t recalled any vehicles for the alleged defect, and NHTSA hasn’t opened an investigation. The lawsuit claims Ford has acknowledged the problem in messages to dealers, but hasn’t informed owners.
Ford declined comment and would not say how many vehicles it has sold with the engine. Ford has been selling vehicles equipped with the V6 EcoBoost since late 2009. It’s an option on the Ford Flex, Taurus SHO, Lincoln MKT and Lincoln MKS sedans from the 2010-2013 model years; the F-150 pickup from the 2011-2013 model years; and the Ford Explorer Sport from the 2013 model year.
EXECUTIVE SUITE
Google CEO has health issue
Google CEO Larry Page has disclosed a problem with his vocal cords that makes it difficult for him to speak and breathe occasionally, but he says he remains fit enough to keep running the Internet’s most influential company.
The explanation that Page posted Tuesday on his Google Plus profile cleared up a mystery hanging over him since he lost his voice a year ago, causing him to miss Google Inc.’s annual shareholders meeting in June and a conference call to discuss the company’s quarterly earnings in July.
Page, 40, the company’s co-founder and CEO for the past two years, says his left vocal cord has been paralyzed since he had a severe cold 14 years ago, while Google was still in its formative stages.
That issue was compounded last year with another cold that Page says impaired his right vocal cord, though it still has limited movement.
Compiled from staff and wire reports