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BUSINESS

floridatoday.com

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Saturday Dec. 8, 2007

BUSINESS EDITOR DAVE BERMAN, [email protected] or 242-3654

Harris and GE Transportation Margin help build therapeutic preschool The

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The Space Coast Early Intervention Center got a boost Friday from several local businesses, as it gets close to finishing the construction of a new therapeutic preschool for children with and without special needs on Dairy Road in Melbourne. The new, 15,000-square-foot school is expected to open Jan. 7, according to Shelley Johnson, a public relations specialist for the center.

Johnson said nearly 100 Harris managing engineers spent Friday working on the project. Separately, the $3.1 million project had received a challenge grant from the Harris Foundation that matched private and other Space Coast Early Intervention Center capital campaign contributions, dollar-for-dollar, up to $200,000. In addition, GE Transportation’s Melbourne operation is working on building a new out-

side learning area at the site that GE has named the Encounter Garden, Johnson said. Four years ago, officials of the Space Coast Early Intervention Center decided to start raising money to build the school a building that would serve more children, have more space and would be a training site for future educators. The center’s current facility at 3661 S. Babcock St. serves 74 children, Johnson said. Contact Berman at 242-3654 or [email protected].

Rik Jesse, FLORIDA TODAY

Volunteer fence-builders. Tim Dwyer and Jennifer Ogburn prepare to put up slats for a fence that will enclose the new Space Coast Early Intervention Center building. See additional photo on 3C.

LiveTV hopes for lift from Kiteline

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MARKET NEWS AT To find out the latest numbers from U.S. financial markets, visit www.floridatoday.com/ stocks

BY DONNA BALANCIA FLORIDA TODAY

EchoStar plans to become Dish The owner of the Dish Network satellite television service wants to change its name to just that — the Dish Network Corp. EchoStar Communications Corp. has proposed the change in connection with a planned spinoff of its broadcast satellite receiver, commercial satellite businesses and set-top boxes among other technology assets. In a regulatory filing Thursday, EchoStar said the Dish Network Corp. would focus on the satellite TV service while the other assets would be in a company called EchoStar Holding Co., which later would be changed to EchoStar Communications Corp.

Murdoch shakes up media empire Rupert Murdoch shook up several top management roles at his media empire Friday, naming a new CEO of Dow Jones & Co. and elevating his son James to a senior position within News Corp. that clearly puts him in line to succeed his father. Les Hinton, a longtime publishing executive at News Corp., will become CEO of Dow Jones, which publishes The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones Newswires and Barron’s. . Robert Thomson, editor of The Times, one of Murdoch’s United Kingdom papers, was named publisher of the Journal. Murdoch’s son James will oversee News Corp.’s media businesses in Europe and Asia.

Insider selling may spell trouble If many of a company’s officers and directors are dumping stock at the same time, it is not necessarily a sign of insider trading. Many executives have automatic stock sales that occur about the same time. Insider trading is a complicated area of law, and pat answers don’t always apply. However, a large amount of insider selling is certainly a reason to take a closer look at what’s happening with the company. Insiders have access to a tremendous amount of forward-looking information, and when they act in tandem it can be a big warning sign. — Gannett News Service

The Margin is compiled from staff and wire reports.

Economical exercise. Charles Hoyle works out on a stair-stepping machine at Planet Fitness in Rockledge. The gym offers a $10 monthly membership.

Planet Fitness beefs up No grunts about it: Gym to open Melbourne site BY WAYNE T. PRICE FLORIDA TODAY

The universe of Planet Fitness in Brevard County is expanding. The bargain fitness chain — noted for its “no grunting” policy and $10-a-month membership — plans to open a second Brevard location in January in a section of the former Kmart at Apollo Boulevard and Sarno Road in Melbourne. The fitness center — a franchise of a health club chain based in Dover, N.H. — opened its first Brevard location in November 2006. Bill Donald, a co-owner of the loc al fr anch ises , sai d the planned 21,000-square-foot Melbourne location is in line with his strategy to open five Planet Fitness sites over the next three to five years. Planet Fitness has about 170 franchise locations in the United States. Last year, Planet Fitness purchased the World Gym franchise for more than $10 million. The World Gym clubs continue to operate under that name. The local expansion by Planet Fitness comes as several other health facilities are opening around across the Space Coast. For example: 0 A fitness center called The 10 Minute Gym opened last year in Trade Winds Plaza in Rockledge. 0 Express Fitness Center opened at The Avenue Viera and off Wickham Road in Melbourne. 0 Sunbay Fitness, a 24-hour gym, recently opened in a portion of a former Kash n’ Karry grocery store, in the Viera East Village Center. 0 And, next year, Health First plans to open a $21 million, 68,000-square-foot Pro-Health and Fitness Center at Wickham Road and Lake Andrew Drive, west of Interstate 95, in Viera. See FITNESS, 2C

Photos by Amanda Stratford, FLORIDA TODAY

More gym options. Harold Reed works out at Planet Fitness in Rockledge. Planet Fitness is planning another site in Melbourne.

Miami-based tropical fast food comes to Viera BY WAYNE T. PRICE FLORIDA TODAY

VIERA — Pollo Tropical, a Caribbean fast-food restaurant chain based in Miami, is set to open its first Brevard County operation at The Avenue Viera. Pollo Tropical currently has 13 locations in Central Florida. “They should be opening late spring or early summer,” said Diane Slotnick, manager of The

Avenue Viera. Pollo Tropical operates more than 80 stores in Florida and New Jersey and has franchise locations in Puerto Rico and Ecuador. The company said about 65 percent of its sales are to drive-through and takeout customers. One of the signature meals at Pollo Tropical is marinated and

grilled chicken served with homemade beans and rice. The menu also includes items such as pork and ribs. Also at The Avenue Viera, Shane’s Rib Shack, which took the space formerly leased by Doc Green’s Salads & Grill, is tentatively scheduled to open Dec. 20. Shane’s Rib Shack is part of th e Atl anta -bas ed Ra ving

Brands, a multi-concept franchise company. Shane’s Rib Shack started with two locations in 2004, and is expected to surpass 100 restaurants this year. Officials said each operation goes through each day about 40 gallons of its private-label sauce. Contact Price at 242-3658 or [email protected].

LiveTV officials say they hope their new product, called Kiteline, will help propel their company to more success. Since October 2006, the Spectrum Services division of LiveTV has been working on Kiteline, a ground-based communication system that enables users of BlackBerries and other wireless devices to have free access to email and instant messaging while in flight. The success of Kiteline will play a role in whether LiveTV adds more employees to its Melbourne staff of 150. LiveTV has 420 employees across the United States. Melbourne-based LiveTV, a subsidiary of JetBlue Airways, also makes the television systems installed in the seat-backs on JetBlue and other planes. On Tuesday, their new product will debut on “BetaBlue,” a JetBlue plane with the Kiteline product enabled. The plane will transport about 150 people across the country from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to San Francisco. Analysts say the new product is a good way for LiveTV to get into a potentially large market, but its current product may need to expand its offerings before too long. “I can see this service as becoming a big focus going forward,” said Nick Kapur, technology analyst with The Motley Fool. “The trend is clear. This is a service people want, and they’ll expect it in years to come.” Mike Lynch, vice president of engineering for the Spectrum Services division of LiveTV, said he expects his company will continue to grow. “I really think there will be a need for more communication systems engineers and software engineers,” Lynch said. “We’re going to be always upgrading and developing the product.” Lynch said the technology LiveTV developed enables the 100 ground towers the system has around the country to be sufficient for the company’s needs. “Our towers have a cell radius of 150 miles, so you don’t need a lot of them,” he said. Mike Moeller, vice president and general manager of Spectrum Services, said he knew there was a need, when, one day, JetBlue founder David Neeleman approached the Spectrum Services team, and held up his BlackBerry. “He said: ‘Make this BlackBerry work on the plane,’ ” Moeller recalled. “So we got in touch with RIM (Research in Motion). And with Yahoo! being such an expert in mail and messaging, we knew this would be a great partnership for all of us.” The Kiteline product is basically e-mail and messaging, but LiveTV plans to expand the services depending on the customer feedback. Moeller said he and Lynch knew that there was a captive audience for the product. “We went and found Yahoo!, and they’re the experts at wrapping e-commerce and advertising, and they’ll go out and help us find advertisers and e-commerce partners,” he said. “That has a lot of value.” Meanwhile the LiveTV/ JetBlue system will get competition in the market — a service by Aircell on Virgin America and American Airlines planes, offering broader Internet connectivity to passengers, for a fee. Contact Balancia at 242-3647 or [email protected].