Highlights of the March 21, 2005 Issue of FORTUNE

One Big, Bad Baby Bell, by Stephanie Mehta, page 170
In a few short months, SBC—led by CEO Ed Whitacre—will unveil what it hopes will be the ultimate weapon in the war between cable and the Bells: a high-tech TV service that Whitacre insists will offer viewers as many channels as they currently receive from regular cable, and then some. SBC has anted up $4 billion just to get its network ready to offer the service, known as Internet Protocol TV, or IPTV, and it will spend additional hundreds of millions to acquire TV content. But, reports Stephanie Mehta, much more is at stake: SBC's future as a major player.

Taxing Times at H&R Block by David Stires, page 181
This year H&R Block estimates that it will help more than 19 million taxpayers prepare their returns either in person, with computer software, or over the Internet. And with more than 11,000 tax offices scattered across all 50 states, Block has built an empire that rivals any chain in the land. Still, says David Stires, "H&R Block is hitting the skids. Hard. Four years after Mark Ernst took over as CEO and vowed to turn the company into a 'year-round financial partner' offering mortgages, IRAs and investment products, the majority of Block's businesses are ailing."

TV's Law & Order: Inside the Money Machineby Patricia Sellers, page 96
Law & Order—NBC's popular police-and-courtroom drama—generates sales of well over $1 billion a year, and is a brand on which the fates of networks rise and fall. It is the reason its creator, Dick Wolf, a 58-year-old former advertising man, has become the most valuable player in prime time. The show is an improbable success story built on strategic long-term thinking in a business—television—that is typically haphazard, fickle, and trendy. And as Marc Gunther reports, midway through its worst TV season in years, after losing Friends and failing to develop new hits, NBC needs Law & Order more than ever

Mariska Hargitay of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, on New York actors: "They're the real deal. Life in L.A. is easy. They're pansies. I was a pansy. I'm a tough girl now. I was not when I started."

Icahn the Spoiler by Julie Creswell, page 195
The acquisition of King Pharmaceuticals by Mylan Laboratories has been one of the oddest takeover battles of recent times, a slapstick saga featuring poison pills, dueling slates of directors, restated earnings, an SEC investigation, a controversial CEO—and infamous corporate raider Carl Icahn. "You might almost think you were back in the roaring '80s," says writer Julie Creswell, "but this is very much a tale of today: a sign, perhaps, that despite all the corporate governance reform that followed the stock market crash of 2000, some things never change."

Why Johnny Can't Save For Retirement by Justin Fox, page 202
Individuals are being asked to take on ever more responsibility for their upkeep when they get old. It's not just President Bush's plan for Social Security, in which private accounts would supplant part of the government program. Traditional corporate pensions are on the way out too, and while state and local government workers have so far been immune from this trend, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to switch his state's pension funds—the nation's biggest pool of pension money—into something akin to a 401(k). Similar developments are afoot all over the world, or at least in more affluent parts of it. But whether or not these shifts should take place, says Justin Fox, the question is: Are we up to it?

DEPARTMENTS
In FIRST: Fannie Mae's Shaky Future The anti-Fannie factions just got a big boost—from the troubled mortgage giant itself. Why Quattrone Deserves to Walk A whisker-thin case plus a seemingly biased judge are the grounds for a reversal in the case against investment banker Frank Quattrone. Disney's Mr. Calm Unreels Miramax Dick Cook, the diplomat who smoothes feathers ruffled by Eisner, is the crucial peacemaker as the Weinsteins sever relations with Disney. Blockbuster Takes on the Entire Block As the movie-rental outfit tries to reinvent itself, it enters a price war with Netflix and gets in trouble over "the end of late fees." Danger: Wireless Bubble Ahead The wireless minibubble is attracting scads of newcomers peddling useless services. Snapshot After decades of mergers and acquisitions, Federated has vanquished the competition in retailing. Question Authority How GlaxoSmithKline's Jean-Pierre Garnier toppled the company's scientist pyramid. In COLUMNISTS: Street Life Queens hates Wal-Mart? Not the man on the street. Policy Requiem for a tax-reform heavyweight. Value Driven A bull-market scandal comes to light. In INVESTING: What's Wrong With Cisco? Nothing, really. Sales are strong and profit margins fat. But the network giant is no longer the one tech stock you have to own. Wall Street Week: The FORTUNE Interview Value investor Randall Eley says his big-cap strategy makes sense in a shaky market. The Money Manager Mutual funds with built-in diversification can be great—when used correctly.

In honor of the 75th anniversary of the magazine, FORTUNE has partnered with the Prostate Cancer Foundation. For 75 years, FORTUNE has brought its readers unparalleled, groundbreaking and award-winning stories. Also see www.fortune.com. As the world's premier business magazine, FORTUNE has led the conversation on a host of important issues, including the war on cancer. The Prostate Cancer Foundation is the world's largest philanthropic source of support for research into better treatments and a cure for recurrent prostate cancer. Founded in 1993, the PCF has raised more than $230 million and provided funding for prostate cancer research to more than 1,200 researchers at 100 institutions worldwide. For more information, visit www.prostatecancerfoundation.com

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