Los Angeles Times - 16.11.2019

C2 LATIMES.COM/BUSINESS

BUSINESS BEAT

The largest celebrity tour company in Los Angeles is

joining a small but growing list of tour operators that take

visitors into the wildly popular world of cannabis growing,

smoking and consuming.

Starline Tours, a company that was born in the shad-

ow of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre more than 50 years ago,

plans to offer a cannabis tour next month that will include

a drive past the home of celebrities, plus a visit to a dis-

pensary and an indoor grow facility, complete with a 20-

minute demonstration on blowing glass bongs.

Since California legalized the recreational use of mari-

juana in 2016, international visitors have expressed inter-

est in how cannabis is grown, sold, smoked and digested,

said Susan Wilson, a spokeswoman for Starline Tours.

“People, they just want to know what it’s all about,” she

said.

Because of Starline’s long history in Los Angeles, Wil-

son said, she believes visitors will feel assured that the

tour will be safe and legal. The company hints that tour

customers may spot a pot-loving celebrity or two buying

marijuana, bongs or edibles.

Starline Tours is coming late to the game. A handful of

smaller tour companies has been operating cannabis

tours around Los Angeles for months, including a limited-

time-only tour that featured a pot-smoking session with

weed-loving ’70s movie legend Tommy Chong.

Each existing tour has its own points of interest, gener-

ally including a grow facility and a marijuana dispensary

and maybe a joint-rolling lesson. Tour guests might get

discounts on the marijuana products, but no freebies.

Tours are between $40 and $200 a person, depending

on the length of the trip, the stops and other features.

The tour by Starline is a partnership with Herbarium,

a dispensary in West Hollywood that has a grow room on

display and offers a glass-blowing demonstration.

Beginning Dec. 1, the two-hour tour will operate daily,

starting at 9:30 a.m. at Starline’s facility at Hollywood &

Highland and continuing all day until the last tour de-

parts at 4 p.m. The price: $79.

Celebrity tour

company adds a

cannabis outing

By Hugo Martin

Twitter Inc. is making some exceptions to its recent

ban on all political advertising, announcing Friday that it

will allow “cause-based” ads for some economic, environ-

mental or social issues.

There will still be certain restrictions for those promo-

tions, often referred to as issue ads. Groups that promote

content about a cause — climate change, for example —

can’t link to a specific candidate’s landing page, promote

the ad on behalf of a candidate or mention a particular

piece of legislation. Such ads also won’t be able to target

people using specific identifiers, such as email addresses

or ZIP Codes.

Candidates, elected officials and political parties will

be banned from buying any ads at all, including ones

about issues or causes.

The point, Twitter said, is to allow advertisers to en-

courage discussion around certain subjects but not di-

rectly influence elections.

“While advertising should not be used to drive politi-

cal, legislative or regulatory outcomes,” Twitter general

counsel Vijaya Gadde said on a conference call with re-

porters, the company believes “there is certain cause-

based advertising that can facilitate public conversations

about important topics.”

Twitter’s policy comes amid a presidential campaign

in full swing less than a year before the election and runs

counter to rules Facebook Inc. has established for its so-

cial network. Facebook does allow political advertising

but doesn’t fact-check those ads the way it does nonpoliti-

cal ads. That policy has generated intense pushback from

some candidates, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-

Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

Twitter won’t fact-check cause-based ads either.

The company’s shares rose 1.25% to $29.25 on Friday.

Twitter ad ban has

some exceptions

bloomberg

New Jersey is seeking more than $640 million from

Uber in taxes and penalties, saying the ride-hailing com-

pany misclassified its drivers as independent contrac-

tors.

The decision is the latest setback for Uber and other

companies in the so-called gig economy that rely heavily

on contract labor to deliver the services at the heart of

their popular apps.

Worker advocates say that job misclassification hurts

laborers and the states where they live, which miss out on

tax revenues.

New Jersey’s labor department told Uber that it, along

with its subsidiary Rasier, owes $523 million in overdue

taxes from the last four years and must pay fines and in-

terest of an additional $119 million, according to letters

from the department that were first reported Thursday

by Bloomberg Law.

Uber disputed the state’s findings. “We are challenging

this preliminary but incorrect determination, because

drivers are independent contractors in New Jersey and

elsewhere,” the San Francisco-based company said in a

statement.

The move was hailed as a victory by those pushing for

better working conditions for Uber’s drivers. Many of

Uber’s drivers work part time, but others put in long

hours and rely on driving as their sole source of income.

California, the largest source of revenue for both Uber

and Lyft, passed a law requiring such companies to clas-

sify drivers as employees instead of independent contrac-

tors, which would give them protections such as min-

imum wage and the ability to unionize.

That law is set to go into effect Jan. 1, but Uber and Lyft

have been pushing for a carve-out exemption.

N.J. hits Uber on

misclassification

associated press

The U.S. government’s ef-
fort to crack down on vaping
has stalled as President
Trump, under pressure from
the industry and conserva-
tive activists, has reconsid-
ered his Health and Human
Services secretary’s pro-
posed ban on nearly all fla-
vored e-cigarette products.
Some Trump adminis-
tration health officials
thought they had settled on
a final, revised plan about
two weeks ago, according to
a person familiar with the
process. But the White
House never signed off, and
the plan has now been de-
layed yet again. Trump
promised a “big paper” this
week on vaping, but the
White House hasn’t issued
any such document.
Trump said Monday that
he would meet with vaping
proponents as well as medi-
cal professionals who sup-
port strict regulation. But
no such meetings have hap-
pened, and industry and
health groups say they
haven’t been invited to the
White House.
Health Secretary Alex
Azar, standing by Trump’s
side in the Oval Office, an-
nounced in September that
the administration would
ban all flavors other than to-
bacco, to curb use by chil-
dren. But an outcry by con-
servative anti-tax activists
and vape shop owners has
led Trump to rethink the
ban.

As it considers the fate of

the proposed regulations,

the administration is weigh-

ing a mix of factors including

children’s health, the small

businesses that are the foun-

dation of the industry, and

the decision by Juul Labs

Inc., maker of the biggest-

selling vaping device, to vol-

untarily stop selling mint

and other flavors, according

to an administration official.

The official said education

to curb youth vaping and en-

forcement of age restrictions

on sales of the products are

likely to emerge as key pillars

of any final regulation.

But proponents of a ban

are growing frustrated.

“With every day of delay,

our kids are picking up these

products and becoming ad-

dicted,” said Gregg Haifley,

director of federal relations

for the American Cancer So-

ciety Cancer Action Net-

work. “We want Congress or

the [Food and Drug Admin-

istration] to permanently

remove the flavors from the

market that we know are

used to target kids, and act

in the interest of public

health.”

The administration offi-

cial and the person familiar

with the matter both asked

not to be identified while dis-

cussing an internal debate.

“President Trump and

this administration are com-

mitted to responsibly pro-

tecting the health of chil-

dren,” White House spokes-

man Judd Deere said in an

email. “We are in an ongoing

rule-making process, and I

will not speculate on the fi-

nal outcome.”

Opponents of strict regu-

lation have made a public

health argument of their

own: that vaping is far less

harmful than cigarette

smoking and has enabled

many former smokers to

wean themselves off of to-

bacco products. Industry

advocates have warned that

a wide-ranging ban would

close stores, put thousands

of people out of work and

drive adult vapers back to

traditional cigarettes.

Trump has said he’d raise

the legal vaping age to about

21, but hasn’t detailed other

moves. The White House has

signaled that vape shops

would be exempt from any

new e-cigarette rules.

Meanwhile, U.S. health

officials are increasingly

concerned about a mysteri-

ous lung ailment that has af-

flicted vapers. The Centers

for Disease Control and Pre-

vention said that as of

Wednesday it had identified

2,172 cases of the illness and

that 42 people had died in 24

states.

The CDC and the FDA

have advised people to stop

using vaping products while

they investigate the condi-

tion.

But the CDC also said

this week that cigarette

smoking among adults fell to

an all-time low of 13.7% in

2018, with 3.2% of adults who

used nicotine products last

year choosing e-cigarettes.

Under Azar’s plan, all e-

cigarette flavors other than

tobacco would have been re-

moved from the market,

though companies could ap-

ply to return them to

shelves. Now, the adminis-

tration appears to be

headed for a compromise

that would try to address va-

ping-related deaths and

underage use without enact-

ing the full scope of Azar’s

proposed ban on all flavors

except tobacco — a prohib-

ition that vape stores say

would close their busi-

nesses.

Regardless, the adminis-

tration changed plans this

month. On Nov. 5, it abruptly

canceled meetings with vap-

ing industry representa-

tives, including some who

had scheduled only four

days earlier.

This week, the FDA’s top-

ranking tobacco regulator

told lawmakers that the

agency is waiting for the

White House to make a deci-

sion about curbs on flavored

vaping products. “There is

no final answer as of now,”

Mitch Zeller, the official, told

senators Wednesday.

The same day, Azar said

the administration was

looking to strike an “appro-

priate public health bal-

ance” with any regulation.

“How do we ensure that

adults have access to e-ciga-

rettes who need to wean off

of combustible tobacco, but

how do we prevent kids from

getting addicted?” Azar

asked in a speech.

Trump has recently

talked more about the im-

portance of preserving jobs

in the industry — a signal

that pro-vaping lobbyists

are having some success

heading off a ban. His ad-

ministration has said the

Department of Health and

Human Services doesn’t ac-

tually have jurisdiction over

vape shops, only e-ciga-

rettes.

“We have a lot of people to

look at — including jobs,

frankly, because, you know,

it’s become a pretty big in-

dustry,” Trump told report-

ers at the White House on

Nov. 8. “We’re talking about

the age. We’re talking about

flavors. We’re also talking

about keeping people work-

ing.”

Wingrove and Porter write

for Bloomberg.

STRICT REGULATIONS on vaping were proposed in response to a lung ailment linked to dozens of deaths.

Luis SincoLos Angeles Times

Vaping crackdown delayed

as Trump considers impact

Flavored e-cigarette

ban is up in the air

over concerns about

jobs and adult access.

By Josh Wingrove
and Gerald Porter Jr.

Hulu’s live TV bundle for
cord cutters is about to get
more expensive.
The Walt Disney Co.-
owned streaming service
said Friday that its Hulu +
Live TV offering, which in-
cludes more than 60 televi-
sion channels, will increase
in price by $10 a month,
starting next month.
As of Dec. 18, the so-called
skinny bundle will raise its
fee to $55 a month, up from
$45. The change will affect
new and existing customers,
according to a blog post on
the Santa Monica-based
company’s website.
“The new price better re-
flects the substantial value
of Hulu + Live TV and allows

us to continue offering all of

the popular live news, sports

and entertainment pro-

gramming included in the

plan,” Hulu said in the post.

The price change comes

as the cost of watching live

TV via streaming is getting

more expensive for consum-

ers. This year, AT&T Inc.

raised the price of its

streaming bundle, AT&T

TV Now, to $65 a month, rep-

resenting a jump of about

$15. AT&T has sustained

heavy losses as consumers

have dropped pay-TV pack-

ages in favor of lower-cost

streaming services.

It’s hardly a surprise that

Hulu would raise prices as

programming costs in-

crease, particularly in live

sports, which is key to the

appeal of Hulu’s live TV bun-

dle.

Hulu has been a drag on

earnings for Disney, which

took operational control of

the streaming service in May

after a deal with Comcast

Corp. Disney does not break

out financial results for

Hulu, but the entertainment

giant said this month that

losses at its direct-to-con-

sumer and international

segment ballooned to

$740 million in the fourth

quarter, more than double

from a year ago, because of

Hulu, as well as investment

in Disney+, which launched

this week.

Hulu also may have been

encouraged by growth at its

live TV service as U.S. con-

sumers stray from tradi-

tional cable packages at an

accelerating pace.

Media analysis firm Mof-

fettNathanson estimates

there are 2.7 million sub-

scribers for Hulu + Live TV,

up from 1.2 million the same

time a year ago. That’s about

the same as for rival Sling

TV, and significantly more

than the estimated 1.1 mil-

lion who use AT&T TV Now.

YouTube TV has about 1.

million subscribers.

Hulu live TV subscribers

also get access to the regular

Hulu service, which offers

next-day streaming of TV

shows as well as original pro-

gramming including Emmy

winner “The Handmaid’s

Tale.”

Founded in 2007, Hulu’s

basic streaming service,

which allows people to

watch shows such as “This Is

Us” and “The Good Doctor”

the day after they air, costs

$6 a month with advertising

and $12 a month without

ads. Disney recently said

Hulu has 28.5 million sub-

scribers.

Hulu is expected to play a

significant role in Disney’s

streaming strategy, serving

as the home of older and

original programming from

FX networks.

Disney is selling a bundle

that includes flagship serv-

ice Disney+, ESPN+ and ad-

supported Hulu for $12.99 a

month. Disney+, which

launched Tuesday, said it

has hit 10 million sign-ups,

including people using its

seven-day free trial.

Price of Hulu live TV is going up

Fee for Disney-owned

streaming service’s

skinny bundle will

increase $10 a month.

By Ryan Faughnder