Retailer J C Penney Co Inc, GTE Corp’s Spacenet unit and Capital Cities/ABC Inc are planning to form a joint venture to provide a wide range of communications services to the retail community: Advanced Retail Communications is being formed to deliver television, audio and data services to major US shopping malls and other retail locations via a combined digital satellite broadcasting and terrestrial transmission network; the Capital Cities/ABC’s sports division said it will satisfy the programming needs of both large chains and independent retailers, but there were no further details of the plan, which is to start next year.
