FC: NBC Y2K movie causes panic -- among power companies, bankers

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

[This is silly. I've watched this movie already (it will air Sunday) and it's
no more panic-inducing than any of the innumerable
asterioid-slamming-into-earth flicks. Especially with the happy ending. --DBM]


http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/19991119/tc/leisure_yk_1.html

Friday November 19 6:03 PM ET 

U.S. Prepares for Public Anxiety Over Y2K Movie

By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - It's only a made-for-television movie and a widely
panned one at that. But
that hasn't stopped officials around the country from trying to allay fears of
a real life version of the
fictional mayhem in NBC's thriller ''Y2K.''

> From a telephone hotline being set up in Denver to public service
announcements
on NBC affiliates in
Wisconsin, state and municipal officials nationwide are taking special
steps to
prevent viewer panic when
it airs on Sunday.

Even the Clinton administration is upset at the film.

White House officials drafted a letter Friday to NBC asking the network to
stop
airing a promotional spot
for the film showing footage of President Clinton saying the government is Y2K
ready, followed by the
screen-sized caption, ``What if he's wrong?'' That's followed by scenes of
millennium chaos from the
movie.

[...]


http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=105&STORY=/www/story/11-16
-1999/0001077035

EEI Urges Broadcasters: Don't Exacerbate Y2K Fears, Seize Opportunity 

    WASHINGTON, Nov. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- With NBC set to air this Sunday a
made-for-TV movie depicting widespread chaos and social unrest caused by the
Millennium date change, the Edison Electric Institute has urged NBC affiliate
stations to help allay potential public concern 
[...]
it is our hope that your station might be willing to consider
alternative programming that evening.


http://www.icba.org/news/110199.html

We strongly urge you to pull this movie. At the 
very least, we urge you to provide disclaimers assuring your viewers that 
the movie is not a prediction of anticipated actual events.

Signed
Robert Barsness
President, ICBA
President and CEO, Prior Lake State Bank



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