Mall Developer Files Chap. 11 PacSun LLC, the master developer of a delayed Santa Clarita shopping mall, has filed for Chap. 11 bankruptcy protection. The firm was formed by two companies to develop the Plaza of Golden Valley Ranch and a planned community just east of the Antelope Valley Freeway. The 51-acre project, which also includes 500 homes to be constructed by Pardee Homes, broke ground in December 2004 and was originally slated to open this fall, but has been delayed. The two sides have been locked in a legal battle over the site of the residential development, according to published reports. In a statement, PacSun said it filed for bankruptcy protection to speed up the project by voiding a legal document Pardee filed for a portion of the property. The project is set to include a Kohl’s, Lowe’s and Target and would be the first large-scale retail complex on the eastern edge of Santa Clarita. The parcel was annexed to Santa Clarita in 2002 for the project. Alcatel Draws Contract The communications company Alcatel has signed a $300 million deal to provide an integrated phone system for more than 400 medical facilities in Pennsylvania. The technology will create a single voice, data and video network to link 19 hospitals and 400 outpatient clinics associated with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Alcatel will provide IP routing equipment, optical transport technology and contact center solutions. The company and hospital have also agreed to develop advanced communications technologies and applications focused on the health care industry. “Alcatel’s innovative products will allow for seamless communication by integrating voice and data networks,” said University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Chief Information Officer Dan Drawbaugh, in a statement. “The mission of (the medical center) is to provide outstanding patient care and to shape tomorrow’s health system through clinical innovation and research. This dictates a state-of-the-art, reliable, scalable communications system.” Sports Network’s First Quarter Vision Sports Entertainment Network has completed its first quarter as a developing television network. VSEN, based in Burbank, broadcasts extreme and outdoor sports programs to 24 affiliate stations in mid-size markets reaching nearly 14.3 million homes. The network overcame technical setbacks that allow it to move forward in growth, said President and Chief Executive Officer Rod Myers. “Overall I would consider the launch of VSEN-TV a tremendous success,” Myers said. “We were able to acquire and partner with quality programming that really brought VSEN-TV to the forefront rapidly.” Early successes for the fledgling network include Arena2 Football League, the World Dirt Racing League, IBL Basketball, and Freestyle Fighting. Future plans for the network include working with cable and satellite operators in major markets such as Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, and Miami to get VSEN programming to those cities. VSEN-TV expects to have signed over 60 stations reaching 23 million homes by year’s end. Themed Entertainment Award Bob Rogers, founder and chief executive officer of BRC Imagination Arts, has been selected as this year’s THEA Lifetime Achievement Award. The award honors achievement, talent and personal excellence within the themed entertainment and experience design industry and is presented by TEA, a Burbank-based not for profit association representing the themed entertainment industry. Rogers has spent nearly 40 years in the industry and has led projects at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, The Walt Disney Co., General Motors, NASA, the Texas State History Museum and the U.S. Pavilion at the 2005 World’s Fair in Japan. Rogers has a reputation as one of the world’s most innovative and insightful creators of educational visitor experiences. The THEA Lifetime Achievement Award is the latest among the more than 250 international awards garnered by Burbank-based BRC over 25 years, with eleven previous THEA Awards for Outstanding Achievement. Past THEA Lifetime Achievement recipients have been Harrison “Buzz” Price, the economic feasibility science inventor of the themed entertainment industry; Marty Sklar, of Walt Disney Imagineering; John Hench, a Walt Disney Imagineer and master art director for 65 years; and Yves Pepin, creator of world expositions, special events and international event spectaculars including the Millennium firework celebration at the Eiffel Tower. The award will be presented during the THEA Awards gala March 3, 2007 in Anaheim. Ad Time Firm Expands Bid4Spots.com will expand early next year its unique reverse auction method of selling unused radio ad time to independent online radio. With that strategy, Encino-based Bid4Spots.com aims to harness what so far has been considered the fragmented independent online-only radio market. The first auction takes place Jan. 16, 2007. Selling advertising time on online radio is the perfect complement to the company’s terrestrial radio auction, said Bid4Spots Chief Executive Officer Dave Newmark. “We’re creating an entirely new marketplace for a huge group of broadcasters and advertisers who want an easy and profitable way to do business with each other,” Newmark said. “We’re opening up the opportunities in a big way for all involved and in the process expanding our own business into one of the most exciting new advertising channels today.” According to an Arbitron/Edison Media Research study, 52 million Americans listened to Internet radio over a one-month period in 2006. Bid4Spots launched in early 2005 and has a patent pending for its reverse auction method. The reverse auction concept hinges on radio stations making bids on what the advertisers are willing to pay to run their spots. The auctions take place online during a four-hour window every Thursday for ads that will run the following week. To bring that method to online advertising, Bid4Spots partnered with Spacial Audio Solutions, the largest supplier of Internet radio software and service to independent broadcasters, and is using the company’s StreamAdz as it central platform to schedule, track, and manage the advertising. The company hired Rockie Thomas as its business development manager to oversee the Internet Radio Division. Since its founding, Bid4Spots is used by 2,300 radio stations nationwide, 900 advertisers and more than 180 advertising agencies. Living Word Acquires Building The Living Word has acquired an industrial building in North Hollywood. The Living Word, the publishing arm for Grace Chapel, a Southern California ministry founded by John Robert Stevens in the mid-1960s, will occupy a portion of the building. A tenant currently leasing space in the property will stay on until the expiration of the lease. The property, located at 7325 Atoll Ave., was purchased for $1.65 million. It is a 10,604-square foot building with office space. The Living Word also owns an adjacent property. Steve Scott, a broker with Lee & Associates, represented the seller, a private owner. The Living Word was represented by Mary Ann Hostetter of Pinnacle Estate Properties.