BPL and other tall tales spun by Willian Luke Stewart

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"BPL and other tall tales spun by Willian Luke Stewart"

This webpage was written with material obtained
as a result of web research in the pursuit of the
answer to two questions:

a) how and where did the persistant rumor or
'promise' of cheap broadband to rural areas
originate.

b) how did members of the FCC/government become
so soundly 'sold' on the same idea (cheap,
easy broadband over power lines to rural areas).

It would appear that I have found the answer, and
the answer involved at least one boldly-told lie
before a House subcommittee on the topic as well
as the continued 'hype' of the same issue in the
media and a technologically 'bogus' patent filed by
Stewart (United States Patent Number 5,982,276).

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What this document is not:

This is not a tutorial on BPL/PLT/PLC; there are
many fine resources that cover those subjects such as:

-BPL FAQ and
-ARRL BPL Tutorial

that cover present-day, practical (and post 'Luke'
Stewart/"Media Fusion") BPL communications.

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Intended audience:

Those who have followed the BPL debate over the
last number of years and seen the prostylitizing
by members of the FCC.

Those without interest in, or without know-
ledge of BPL/PLC or its history or those who do
not know or are not cognizant of the methods/means
by which present BPL is implemented or those who
have not read or seen the comments by the FCC com-
missioners actively 'pushing' the subject/the
idea/the 'technology' called BPL will probably not
understand this one-sided presentation, aren't in
a good position to 'weigh' the pros and cons sur-
rounding BPL nor be able to honestly evaluate the
FCC Commissioners repeated expressions of support
for BPL or guage Luke Stewart's less than honorable
intentions in his continued business ventures.

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The following articles are roughly in chronological
order.

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Commentary:

Introductory Article - sets out the illusionary and
false 'promises' that BPL made - as initially claimed
by William Luke Stewart.

It appears now that a WHOLE lotta BS was spread by
this weasel 'Stewart' about BroadBand over Power
Lines, and furthermore, this weasel managed to
suck in a LOT of people who believed his spiel -
including gov't officials and some high bucks
investors - for awhile. Further down on this page
an article appearing in wired.com:

www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.11/media_pr.html

sheds MUCH more light on the false basis upon
which Luke Stewart based his fraudulent 'scheme'.

Note: He never did make his "first live tests"
as talked about in this piece:

news.com.com/2009-1033_3-226514-1.html

Partial text of article:

* * *

Powerline: The future of broadband?

Last modified:May 31, 1999, 5:00 AM PDT
By John Borland
Staff Writer, CNET News.com

Imagine a world where virtually unlimited bandwidth was as close as the
nearest electric wall socket.

...

But Media Fusion's Stewart says Nortel and others made the early mistake of
trying to replicate telephone systems, which use radio waves to transmit
information through copper wires.

Stewart's system instead manipulates the magnetic field created around any
moving stream of electrons, essentially coding an analog signal on top of
the field. The information is then--in theory--carried around the entire
power grid at the speed of light, accessible anywhere on the grid.

Media Fusion's system will use a set of "nitelight" modem-like devices that
plug into household electricity outlets. Outfitted with a jack for phone
lines and cable TV lines, these devices take an analog signal from the power
grid, decode it, and send it to a television, computer, or telephone.

Under this system, the power grid itself could substitute almost completely
for the traditional Internet's web of phone lines and fiber optic cables,
Stewart says. To communicate with users off the grid, the system would also
have to connect to the ordinary telephone network, he adds.

The practical limiting factor of any computer's online connection would be
the ability of its processor to spit out information--not a scarcity of
bandwidth, Stewart says.

"It's not really a congestion issue," he adds. "There are plenty of
electrons to piggyback on."

The company has spent much of the last two years trying to convince
telephone companies, utilities, academics, and political figures that the
technology works. Bringing financial partners on board has been a battle,
says their investment banker, MG Securities' Greg Moore.

Stewart himself--who Moore calls "a 'Good Will Hunting' kind of figure"--has
done contracting work for Microsoft, the U.S. Navy, and other defense
department projects, but doesn't have "50 published papers and prizes" to
assure backers of his credentials, Moore says.

But with funding for their first steps now seemingly assured, and the
promise of government backing to fill in the gaps, Blair and Stewart now are
optimistic that early trials will prove their credibility.

For their first live tests, scheduled within the next three months, the
company will transmit seven simultaneous streams of high-definition TV
signals over power lines, the company says. This is intended to prove the
electric grid's bandwidth capabilities, rather than illustrate consumer
applications or security issues, according to Stewart.

Later in the year, Media Fusion will join with at least one utility in
trials of its prototype "nitelight" device, and expects to go into
commercial production of the devices next year, Blair said. The entire
system will likely cost between $70 and $150, the company adds, though final
production costs and market demand will affect these prices.

Drumming up support Meanwhile, Media Fusion has spent the last year looking
for political support in Washington, hoping to ward off any future
regulation.

Not everyone has been receptive. The company has talked several times to
representatives at the Federal Communications Commission, but was not
invited back for a recent seminar on powerline communications.

Traditional telecommunications companies also declined to invest, even
though the telcos' own scientists said the idea was feasible, Moore says.

But the networking is paying off. Former House speaker-elect Bob Livingston
recently joined the board of directors, and is helping the company pursue
overseas investors.

Inside Congress, Media Fusion has won the support of several influential
telecom legislators, including senate communications subcommittee chair
Conrad Burns (R-Montana) and House telecommunications subcommittee chair
Billy Tauzin (R-Louisiana). These lawmakers say they will seek government
funding later this year, in the form of defense department or other
contracts, if the firm doesn't secure enough private funding.

"There is major potential to change the telecommunications industry here,"
says Leo Giacometto, Burns' chief of staff. "If this can get done without
taxpayer money, we would prefer it. But the possibilities for saving
taxpayer dollars down the road are tremendous."

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Commentary:

As early as April 2000 people were expressing some
doubt about William 'Luke' Stewart's new invention;
here is one such critical article at this early
date.

URL: http://www.business2.com/b2/web/articles/0,17863,527790,00.html

April 01, 2000

Article excerpt:

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Trial by Wire
From the plains of Texas comes a technology that could

By Glenn McDonald, April 01, 2000

It sounds like science fiction: Microwave lasers speeding through
magnetic fields in power lines, carrying data, video — any kind
of Internet information — to the farthest reaches of the globe
at the speed of light.

But that's exactly what Media Fusion, a small Dallas-based company,
is claiming it's ready to do. Incorporated in 1998 by physicist
Luke Stewart and business partner Edwin Blair, the company was
recently issued a patent on its technology, which moves data
through the magnetic fields that surround electrical wires.

...

Grasping the specifics of how Stewart's technology works would
require a Ph.D. or two in physics, but the general concept is
this: By using particular microwave frequencies, Stewart has
discovered a way to hitch a ride on the magnetic fields
generated whenever electricity moves through power lines.
According to the company's claims, data can be moved through
this vector at near the speed of light, with little or no
degradation in signal strength — even over thousands of miles.

In practical terms, that means bandwidth in the range of hundreds
of terabits per second. Add it all up, and you have a
communications breakthrough that is historic in its seemingly
limitless potential.

...

Testless

The speed bump in this appealing scenario is that Media Fusion
has yet to hold a public demonstration of its technology. Indeed,
it has yet to even offer the technology to outside researchers
for confirmation of its testing results. That has produced a
healthy skepticism in many quarters, but the young company
insists that it is only protecting its intellectual property.

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Commentary:

Here is the testimony by William 'Luke'
Stewart of Media Fusion before a United
States House of Representatives Committee
on Science subcommittee back in 2000 -

- back before George W. Bush took office
I might add.

Notice the title:

"Rural Access to Technology:
Connecting the Last American Frontier"

THIS is where all this nonsense started about
BPL being for rural areas - it was this idiot
Stewart and this testimony and the swindle
that was his 'invention'!

As we now know, BPL is NOT suitable for any
kind of distrance, at least not without a
repeater every 500 feet or so!

There has gotta be a book in here somewhere:

"Making 'Law' by lying"

would be the title.

-Editor

http://www.house.gov/science/stewart_100500.htm

Article:

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Rural Access to Technology:
Connecting the Last American Frontier

Thursday, October 5, 2000
10:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon
2318 Rayburn House Office Building

Statement of William Luke Stewart

- Chairman and Chief Scientist/Chief Technology
Officer of Media Fusion
- Inventor, Magnetic Communications System and
Method (US Patent # 5,982,276)

Before -

United States House of Representatives
Committee on Science
Subcommittee on Technology
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC. 20515

October 5, 2000
10:00 a.m.
2318 RHOB

Good morning, and thank you for inviting me to testify today.

I will keep my remarks short, but would like to tell you a bit about an
emerging communications technology that holds enormous potential to empower
rural America. The patented Media Fusion technology may offer a solution to
rural access to broadband services.

It has been noted in the press and by industry colleagues that a day may
come when this technology will be compared to landmark inventions like the
telegraph, the telephone, and electrical transmission. It has been stated
that a Media Fusion network represents "a paradigm shift in the
communications and electrical utilities industries," and that such a
powerline communications solution is the "Holy Grail of Communications."
Regardless of what others say about Media Fusion technology, our mission is
to reach every electrical customer-urban or rural-with broadband services.

The patent underlying Media Fusion's powerline communications technology
encompasses 46 claims. The body of these technical claims contains a simple
assertion: the electric power grid holds the potential for allowing the
transmission of streaming audio, video and data into any home in America
that has an electrical outlet.

Without becoming unduly technical, the essence of this technology, which is
called Advanced Sub-Carrier Modulation (ASCMT), is a novel use of the
electric power lines which already carry electricity from power generation
stations to places as remote as the Yukon. The telecom "last mile," copper
twisted pair, and the cable "last mile," fiber or coaxial cable, are both
based on the properties of Direct Current (DC). But ASCMT powerline
communications technology can improve or replace these "last mile"
technologies and is based on the properties of Alternating Current (AC).
Alternating Current is powerful, robust and naturally "duplex." A DC signal
travels only in one direction at a time, therefore the need for twisted pair
technologies: one wire for each direction. AC signals travel in two
directions all the time, and use only one wire: Alternating Current is like
twisted pair, using just one wire.

Aside from the inherent power of using an AC platform, the powergrid
represents the most pervasive connectivity in America and the entire world.
It is the most extensive infrastructure network in any given country, with
the possible exception of a highway system. Further, the power grid is
already in place, therefore there is no additional capital cost to wire or
re-wire a region.

It is a scientific fact when electrical current flows, a magnetic field is
generated. This inherent physical property of the electric grid makes Media
Fusion's technology possible. Media Fusion will use the electromagnetic
energy, which surrounds--and is a part of--AC power transmissions to carry
coherent microwave type fluctuations. Encoded within these microwaves are
voice, video and data signals to be sent to electrical outlets everywhere.

We are now preparing for the next phase of system integration and testing,
which will involve building out new prototype transmission equipment at a
nationally-recognized independent laboratory. The microwaves will be
imprinted and transmitted to multiple end-points where we will provide new
equipment to collect and analyze the test data.

There are presently a number of other research projects exploring power line
communications in Europe and elsewhere. Some companies are taking different
approaches, but none are using the magnetic field of the AC power wave.
While Media Fusion currently has a leading edge for deploying a powerline
communications network, it is conceivable that a foreign company could beat
us to the market.

While development of this technology is just now beginning in earnest,
there may be many stops and starts. There is no guarantee that within a
year rural America will have duplex streaming audio, video and data by using
one of Media Fusion's converters. While we--or some foreign company--could
have a solution on the market within this time frame, it is likely that
technical and financial barriers will continue to hamper our efforts. We
have made a real discovery, and this discovery will one day revolutionize
the way rural America receives visual and audio communications, but we are
not there yet. Development benchmarks still need to be met, and the process
of bringing this novel technology to those who need it most will be an
evolving process.

While I am happy to entertain a further discussion of the science, perhaps
during the question period, I would like to offer a few words about what
this technology, if properly supported, can do for America.

I am a scientist, and an inventor. But I am also a concerned citizen and I
have been listening to the growing discussions about a digital divide in our
Nation and around the world. The Media Fusion team and I are motivated to
do something genuinely good with this technology. We want to lead a program
that can benefit others by transmitting medical, educational, consumer,
employment and other information to those who live in rural areas-and do it
in a way that is faster, cheaper, clearer, and more robust than anything
people today imagine. We have committed to change the face of
communications in America, and the world.

Speaking as the founder and Chairman of Media Fusion, just one company, but
a company with a mission and the knowledge to bring broadband communications
services to those communities, we believe that this gap can be bridged. If
the electric power grid can be mastered for purposes not only of electric
power conveyance, but to deliver, reliable, secure, convenient and
sophisticated communications, there can be an end to what is rightly being
described as a growing divide between the communications haves and the
communications have-nots. What's more, with only modest help from
government, the private sector can do this--and will do this.

In closing, since I know that time is short, imagine with me that you are
somewhere north of Anchorage Alaska, in the Yukon. Or that you are
somewhere in rural Maryland, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois, Texas, Utah,
Wisconsin or California, in short, you are somewhere that has not seen fiber
optics, where satellite dishes are expensive and unreliable, and yet where
you can plug two prongs into a wall socket and get electricity. Now imagine
with me that, by placing a small device in the wall first, then connecting a
computer, you could suddenly communicate in real time with the world,
receive streaming video, and do so at a fraction of the cost required today.

Imagine that rural hospitals may have real time access to life-saving health
care and tele-medicine. Imagine that children in rural areas can have real
time access to all the benefits of distance learning and be offered a level
playing field in interactive education. Imagine an end to the erosion
happening in remote communities, currently underserved by communications
networks, like upstate New York, west Texas and mountain states. These
communities are losing their human capital to urban areas and are suffering
economically for it. In an era of technological affluence, we must do our
best to solve these connectivity problems.

In my opinion, we will start an unprecedented era of social-economic
empowerment, an information and access "boom." A boom that will empower
millions of communities, companies, families, and individuals no matter
where they live. A boom that will make the US economy grow exponentially in
the years to come. That is the technology that Media Fusion is committed to
bring to the market now.

Again, I thank you for your time and for this opportunity to describe how
close this better future really is. I ask that I might be allowed to place
a longer prepared statement, with a few additional supporting technical
documents, in the hearing transcript. Thank you very much for sharing our
interest in empowering rural America, this revolutionary technology, and the
future that this technology represents.

I welcome your questions.

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http://www.broadband-pbimedia.com/ct/archives/0101/056_power.htm

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January 2001

Stewart, Media Fusion’s chairman and chief technology
officer, appears nonplussed about the questions
surrounding his project. He claims that by the end
of the year, he’ll prove the system can work. After
that, he says, it is up to the utility companies to
implement the system.

"It will make Silicon Valley look like 12-year-old
kids playing in the sandbox," Stewart says. "When
you talk away the bandwidth limitations, imagine
the kind of creativity you can have."

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Editor's note: Luke Stewart never 'proved' or
demonstrated his highly touted system to actually
work.

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As far back as April 2001 not *everybody* was as sold
on BPL; companies like Nortel Networks who teamed up
with Britain's United Utilities started a venture
called "Nor.Web" in 1997 'flushed' it a few laters,
as did Germany's Siemens, both citing that "revamping
electrical grids was far too expensive to be profitable".

Apr. 17, 2001

URL: http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,43054,00.html

Partial excerpt of article:

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Net Access: Socket to Me

by Julia Scheeres
02:00 AM Apr. 17, 2001 PT

Story location: http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,43054,00.html

Imagine surfing the Internet by simply plugging
your computer into the wall outlet.

That's the idea behind power line communications, which use low
voltage electrical lines to transmit voice and data signals.

Proponents say the technology beats the socks off other broadband
methods by offering transmission rates up to five times faster
than cable modems for about half the price. Fast, cheap,
ubiquitous Internet. It's a geek's wet dream.

But before you start the heavy breathing, consider this: Although
the technology has been hyped since the late '90s and companies
from Argentina to Israel have been racing to get it up and
running, the future of powerline seems murky at best.

For powerline communication to work, power grids must be retrofitted
with adapters that change data signals into frequencies that can
be carried over electrical lines. At the residential level,
computers are outfitted with a special modem that separates
electricity from data.

Electrical companies around the world have spent years trying to
cash in on the concept. They're the ones that stand to make the
most hay from meeting consumers' voice, Internet and electrical
needs in one tidy offering.

Last month, Germany's largest electric company, RWE, jumped ahead
of the pack by announcing it would start offering powerline
Internet in July. RWE teamed up with Swiss equipment maker Ascom
to develop its "PowerNet," which will cost users roughly $22 a
month for a basic account.

But while RWE and Ascom are still hot for powerline, other big-name
companies have bowed out after spending years and small fortunes o
n research.

In 1997, Nortel Networks teamed up with Britain's United Utilities
to start a venture called Nor.Web. The venture claimed that a
pilot program worked, but three years later flushed the project
down the toilet, concluding that revamping electrical grids was
far too expensive to be profitable.

Just last month, German electronics titan Siemens also pulled
the plug on a its powerline initiative, citing similar concerns.

In the United States there are also a few companies racing to
commercialize the technology. Perhaps the brashest cheerleader
has been Dallas-based Media Fusion. The company hit the
spotlight in 1998 with talk about using magnetic fields
surrounding power lines to send data and voice transmissions
into consumers' homes at a rate of 2.5 gigabits per second.

The company's approach was criticized as unsound by scientists,
but that didn't stop the company's chairman from comparing it
to "landmark inventions" such as the telephone in testimony
before Congress in 2000.

Today, Media Fusion has hit a snag. Its Web page is vacant but
for a brief announcement stating that the aforementioned
chairman was canned. There are no links to company backgrounds
or even contact information. When this reporter tracked down
the company's phone number through a telephone operator, the
outfit refused to be interviewed.

And despite the continued hype across the ocean, analysts say
powerline has no future in America. One of the toughest
roadblocks for powerline's future in the United States is
infrastructure, said Joe Laszlo, a broadband analyst with
Jupiter Media Metrix.

MORE - see link above

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The antics of William Luke Stewart begin to catch
up with him - he and several others are named in
a Federal Lawsuit involving wire fraud and money
laundering ... and Terry McAuliffe is reinstated
as a defendant ...

http://godwingruber.com/Newsroom.asp?id=325

March 11, 2004

Full article:

* * *

Newsroom

McAuliffe Reinstated as Defendant in Media Fusion Fraud Suit

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 11, 2004

DNC Chief Terry McAuliffe Can’t Avoid
Lone Star State Day in Court

McAuliffe Reinstated as Defendant in Media Fusion Fraud Suit

(Dallas) - The Fifth District Court of Appeals in Dallas on
Thursday rejected claims by Terry McAuliffe, Chairman of the
Democratic National Committee, that his allegedly limited
involvement in a now-defunct high-tech start-up insulates
him from being sued in a Texas court.

The appeals court found that by serving as a member of the
Media Fusion Board of Directors, for which he received at
least $50,000, and by attending several board meetings,
including one in Dallas in March 2000, McAuliffe exercised
sufficient control over the Texas company to be subject to
the jurisdiction of Texas courts.

The appellate court ruling means that McAuliffe and a second
former Media Fusion director, Robert L. Livingston, will
have to defend themselves in a lawsuit already underway in
Dallas against allegations by investors that they failed to
adequately oversee Media Fusion’s securities offerings,
finances and use of investor money. Livingston is a former
U.S. Congressman from Louisiana who was the presumptive
Speaker of the House in 1998 but resigned before assuming
that office. “The investors who have been left holding the
bag are gratified that McAuliffe and Livingston won’t be
able to simply walk away from this disaster without having
to answer to a Texas jury,” says Bruce W. Bowman, Jr. of
Godwin Gruber, LLP, attorney for investor Hagerty Partners
Partnership.

Media Fusion, a privately held company, was established in
1998 by inventor William “Luke” Stewart and entrepreneur
Edwin G. Blair. Media Fusion claimed that its proprietary
technology would enable households and businesses to plug
into low-cost, premium-quality voice, video and Internet
data with near unlimited bandwidth by using electrical
power lines instead of telephone or cable lines.

In December 2003, Stewart and Blair were indicted in South
Carolina on wire fraud and money laundering charges in
connection with an alleged scheme to defraud a South Carolina
electric utility out of $1 million as an investment in Media
Fusion.

McAuliffe was a Media Fusion board member from March 1999
through February 2001. According to the Court of Appeals
opinion, he discontinued involvement in the company in the
fall of 2000.

For more information, contact Natalie Godwin at 214/939-4452
or ngodwin@godwingruber.com

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Commentary:

The tangled web of technical deceit begins
to unravel around William Luke Stewart:

From the March 19, 2004 print edition

URL: http://www.legalpr.com/3-19-04_Bruce_Bowman_Godwin_Gruber_DBJ.html

Full text of article:

* * *

Media Fusion founders named in suit

Jeff Bounds
Senior Writer

During the height of the technology boom, William "Luke" Stewart had a
vision for what seemed like the ultimate breakthrough for the power
industry. And many people believed him.

The self-proclaimed "powerline communications guru" claimed to have
developed a system for delivering high-speed Internet access over electrical
wires, that would circumvent the telecom network. The network is encumbered
by the so-called "last mile" problem of getting data quickly through copper
telephone wires built to handle phone calls.

With consumers and businesses demanding access to high-speed data services,
and with the last-mile problem making it difficult for phone companies to
deliver, Media Fusion's technology promised a fast and easy solution that
could potentially enable utility companies to dominate the Internet-access
market.

With Dallas entrepreneur Edwin Blair, Stewart in 1998 formed what would
become Dallas-based Media Fusion L.L.C. to commercialize the idea. Despite
rampant skepticism in the scientific community, they landed some $16 million
in financing with backers like retired Navy Rear Admiral James Carey,
Democratic Party chairman Terence McAuliffe and former Rep. Robert
Livingston, R-La.

Stewart even testified before a House committee on connecting rural America
to cyberspace.

Today, the dream has collapsed. The company has shut down, though some
people believe attempts may be made to revive it. And Blair and Stewart are
under federal criminal indictment in South Carolina.

Each is charged with one count of wire fraud and money laundering in the
alleged defrauding of a utility there, Scana Corp., to lend $1 million to
Media Fusion for research-and-development efforts, according to records and
interviews.

Prosecutors allege the pair made numerous false statements in securing the
loan from Scana, including that Stewart had been nominated for a Nobel Peace
Prize.

A group of about eight individuals who invested a total of $80,000 in Media
Fusion recently convinced a Texas appeals court to force McAuliffe and
Livingston, who both live out of state, to face a civil suit here. The two
men, who are among multiple defendants in the suit, have 30 days to appeal
the March 3 judgment to the Texas Supreme Court.

Regardless of what happens on the appeals front, the battle has forced the
shareholders to spend time and money on the question of whether McAuliffe
and Livingston should face trial here rather than on discovery, or a
pre-trial information exchange, on the claims they are making in their suit.

Bruce W. Bowman Jr., a partner with Dallas-based Godwin Gruber L.L.P.,
represents the plaintiffs. He says that if the appellate court decision
isn't overturned, discovery should be completed in six months and a trial
could begin as early as next spring.

There have been "limited" settlement discussions, though no deal is pending,
he adds.

Bowman's clients, who formed an organization called Hagerty Partners
Partnership to invest in Media Fusion, claim that Blair and Stewart used
"calculated and deceitful use of publicity" to promote the wealth potential
of their company and to land investors, most prominently in a December 1999
article in D magazine.

Records say the article contained a number of false statements by the
defendants, including that Media Fusion had a $1.5 billion licensing
agreement, and that Stewart had "successfully conducted extensive laboratory
results in Guatemala confirming the soundness of the technology."

Meanwhile, records say, an outside accountant hired by the company found
"extravagant and inappropriate spending" by Stewart and Blair.

The suit also names as defendants several members of Media Fusion's
management committee -- the equivalent of a limited liability corporation's
board of directors -- including Carey, Livingston, McAuliffe and an East
Texas physician, Steven Yoder.

Though the plaintiffs do not allege that those four had any role in improper
spending of Media Fusion funds or in any fraud, they do claim the
management-committee members failed to properly oversee Blair and Stewart.

The defendants in the civil suit, whose attorneys couldn't be reached, have
all denied wrongdoing.

Stewart and Blair, meanwhile, have also denied doing anything wrong. Both
have pleaded innocent in the South Carolina indictments.

The money-laundering charges each carry maximum sentences of 30 years in
prison and fines of $1 million, while the wire-fraud counts have maximums of
10 years imprisonment and $250,000 fines each.

James Griffin, a Columbia, S.C., lawyer defending Stewart in the criminal
matter, says that while Scana's deal with Media Fusion didn't work out,
there was no criminal conduct by his client.

Contact DBJ writer Jeff Bounds at jbounds@bizjournals.com or (214) 706-7122.

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BPL BUSINESS CASE A STILLBIRTH - INDUSTRY ANALYSTS

Commentary:

At last, some financial sanity on the subject
of BPL

URL: http://www.technewsworld.com/story/37378.html

Excerpts from text of article:

* * *

FCC Tries To Jolt Life into Power Line Broadband

Meta Group senior analyst David Willis said
although the FCC initiative to breed more
competition into the U.S. broadband market
may have its merits, the power line broadband
effort is unlikely to do so. "It's hard to
make a business case," Willis told
TechNewsWorld.

TechNewsWorld
10/15/04 2:43 PM PT

The Federal Communications Commission looked to take
its multi-modal broadband competition initiative to
electrical outlets in the U.S., but industry analysts
question the significance of the broadband over power
line (BPL) technology, which may not get the juice it
needs from utility companies.

...

Meta Group senior analyst David Willis said although
the FCC initiative to breed more competition into the
U.S. broadband market may have its merits, the power
line broadband effort is unlikely to do so.

...

Wireless More Attractive

Both Willis and Khan said that broader, faster wireless
broadband technologies are much more likely than BPL
to serve the market segments that cable and DSL
currently do not reach.

Willis said coverage through Wi-MAX, a broadband
wireless technology capable of longer geographic
reach, could allow wireless carriers to turn a
profit by 2007, presenting a much more favorable
opportunity compared to that from BPL.

More, see:

http://www.technewsworld.com/story/37378.html

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Commentary:

The great "Disappearing Act" on the web - nearly
all traces of William "Luke" Stewart and the
companies he spawned, save one link, vanish from
existance.

The following web sites are no longer 'valid' back
to Luke Stewart or the company "Media Fusion" as
of 10-18-2004:

- - -

http://www.mediafusioncorp.com/

As referenced here:

May 31, 1999, 5:00 AM PDT

http://news.com.com/2009-1033_3-226514-1.html

http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:s0KJbYtqUn0J:www.ari.vt.edu/ece5516/homeinternet/tech_links.html+%22mediafusioncorp.%2Bcom%22&hl=en&start=10

- - -

http://www.mediafusionllc.com/

As referenced here:

December 13, 1999, 3:30 PM PST
http://news.com.com/2100-1033-234343.html?legacy=cnet

- - -

http://www.speedwires.com/

As referenced here:

April 08-15 2003
http://www.infohq.com/Computer/computer-news-apr03-8-15.htm

May 6, 2003
http://www.eaglebroadband.com/newsroom/news.asp?ID=393

May 06, 2003 12:53
http://www.plugtek.com/PageLibrary/EagleMediaFusion.htm

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Still active:

http://www.hyperwires.com

"Every business and home on the planet
with electric power has all the infra-
structure that they will ever need for
the fastest possible broadband"

- Luke Stewart 1998

HyperWires

Hyperwires is a venture-supported developer of high-speed
HybridPLC (tm) technology using power lines as part of
an integrated broadband solution for businesses and
individuals. The company is based in Dallas, Texas.
Speedwires, speedwires.com and HybridPLC are trademarks
of Media Fusion, Inc.

Contact Information

Telephone - 702-245-2145

Postal address - Media Fusion Inc.
P.O. Box 802929
Dallas, Texas 75380-2929

As of 10-18-2004

"Media Fusion Branded Communications
Products May be Announced as early
as Summer 2004"

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Interesting tidbit:

http://www.restructuringtoday.com/ghimarkets/040301e.htm

He [Stewart] started a new firm in 2002,
Media Fusion Inc, to field Hybrid PLC to
incorporate a patent-pending technology called
Power Management Informatics (PMI)," Stewart
explained.

That's the technology RT wrote about Oct 16.

SCANA, parent of South Carolina Electric & Gas,
sued Media Fusion LLC and in 2002 won a $1 million
judgment.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

http://www.sunherald.com/mld/thestate/2003/12/05/business/7418380.htm

Court records show SCE&G’s parent, SCANA Corp.,
won a $1.1 million civil judgment in spring 2002
against Media Fusion.

SCANA is still trying to get its money back,
spokeswoman Mary Green Brown said.

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