May 10, 1991

After an increasingly tense bidding war, a Federal bankruptcy judge decided yesterday that the Financial News Network should go to NBC's Consumer News and Business Channel for $154.3 million and a share of future revenues. The price is more than 70 percent higher than the first bid for the ailing network, which was made by Dow Jones & Company and the Westinghouse Broadcasting Company in February.

In a move that could greatly increase competition for many local telephone companies, the Federal Communications Commission proposed a rule today that would force them to let rivals plug directly into local telephone systems. The proposal, which officials hope will be adopted within 12 months, will be a big help for the growing number of operators of high-speed fiber optic lines that bypass the traditional telephone system. These companies allow customers to reach their long-distance carriers at prices considerably lower than the access charges imposed by local telephone companies. Access charges account for about 40 percent of the cost of long-distance service.

Because of the Festival of the Americas, Madison Avenue will be closed on Sunday from 42d to 57th Streets from 11 A.M. to 6 P.M.

Robert A. G. Monks, the eloquent institutional investor whose pointed criticism of Sears, Roebuck & Company made him a symbol of the activist shareholder, today lost his campaign to become a Sears director. Georgeson & Company, a New York firm that collected ballots on his behalf, estimated that Mr. Monks received 15 percent of the votes cast at the retailer's annual meeting today. But Sears dismissed that, saying that he garnered "far less."

FLASHBACK: A stark-naked John Belushi, his whalelike physique crimson from being beaten with oak branches, bursts from the hades that is the Russian radiant heat room. He emits a piercing cry and leaps into the pool of ice-cold water. Good morning, America! Thus did the incomparable Belushi traverse shaky Sunday mornings. Over the years, he has had plenty of company. The famous -- from Frank Sinatra to Timothy Leary to John F. Kennedy Jr. -- have made the pilgrimage to the 10th Street Russian and Turkish Baths in the East Village in Manhattan, seeking steam, stimulation, strength. And -- hey, who's counting? -- perhaps a shot of Stolichnaya and a steak.