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Volume 24, Issue 108, Jim Carnegie, Editor & Publisher
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Monday Morning June 4th, 2007
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Radio News ®
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 Analyst negative
on Emmis privatization
Bear Stearns analyst Victor Miller says the timing is not right for CEO Jeff Smulyan to try again to take Emmis Communications private. Therefore, Miller has downgraded the stock to "underperform." The analyst spelled out his arguments against a buyout in a detailed research note, but summed it all up on the front page: "We think Emmis has eight 'going private' hurdles that are not likely to be overcome; 1) investors are not likely going to permit Mr. Smulyan to purchase the company while the assets' cash flow generation has been badly impaired, 2) with declining cash flow trends, Emmis is difficult to lever, 3) Emmis' Special Committee is unlikely to change its 'sum-of-the-parts' view of valuation, 4) a possible sale of WQCD-FM in NYC may only bolster a 'sum-of-the-parts' valuation of Emmis, 5) Emmis will not likely be able to offer an attractive-enough premium, 6) Emmis will not likely be able to handle the leverage required by any premium bid, 7) Emmis has already set a precedent with its 19.75 May 2005 tender and 16.80 privatization bid [not adjusting for 4.00 Special dividend] and 8) Emmis still has ratings issues in its top three markets and PPM has not been kind to urban formatted radio stations." Having concluded that Emmis is not likely to go private anytime soon, Miller says the stock should trade at 6.75-8.50, which implies a 35% downside risk from current levels. "The stock would be worth 18 if Mr. Smulyan sought strategic options for Emmis. But this seems unlikely now," Miller added.
RBR observation: This is, of course, 180 degrees from the view of CL King analyst Jim Boyle, who is urging clients to buy the stock because he sees the sale of WQCD coming soon and then a buyout - or at least another big stock buyback (5/16/07 RBR #96). Who is right? We wait to find out.
One for one: RAB pegs Q1 radio revenue 1% black
Another way of stating it is one for one despite one: Local revenue was the driver of the overall 1% gain to 4.728B in total business. It gained 1% to 3.224B while the much smaller national category was draining 1%, dropping to 945M. Positive results in network and non-spot business (up 9% to 257M and 10% to 302M respectively) helped bolster the local comparable. Radio Advertising Bureau noted the amazing strength of the non-spot category, which was not even on the chart before 2004 and comprised 6.4% of total radio revenue in this latest sounding. Radio's biggest category, automotive, continues to contribute to the current challenging financial environment. It was down 2.6% Q1 2007 over Q1 2006. And that's on top of a 10% decrease Q1 2006 over Q1 2005. RAB said that business from dealers was OK with a 7.7% gain, while manufacturers expenditures were down 4.2%. The biggest growth categories were communications/cellular/public utilities and concerts/theater/movies, both up 17.3% for the quarter, and health care, up 9.5%. The communications category was coming off a 6.2% loss Q1 2006 to 2005. It was driven by fierce competition between AT&T, Verizon and Sprint/Nextel, which between them accounted for about three quarters of the category's spending. RAB highlighted gains in a handful of other categories, including beverages, casinos/lotteries, home furnishings/floor coverings, restaurants and specialty retail.
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 Agreeing to agree, or not:
NAB v. NCTA
Marci Ryvicker and her colleagues at Wachovia Capital Markets refereed a meeting of the minds last week featuring David Rehr of the National Association of Broadcasters and Kyle McSlarrow (pictured) of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association. Wachovia observed quite a bit of common ground: a love of free markets and capital flow; a love of competition; all of which leads to victory for the consumer. Big issues standing in the way are retransmission and multicast must-carry. On retrans, Rehr said that satellite and telco recognize the value of broadcast programming and are willing to pay for it, and predicted that cable will soon come to the same conclusion; both Rehr and McSlarrow seemed to agree that quiet negation was preferable to government intervention, and that the market would eventually rule. McSlarrow thinks that must-carry is probably unconstitutional, while Rehr sees broadcasters' critical and unique local role as worthy of some regulatory assistance. Neither foresees any imminent changes, although there is an elephant in the room - multicast must-carry - which must be addresses soon with each side diametrically opposed. NCTA points out that must-carry, which it sees as forced bundling, is the opposite of a la carte, or forced unbundling, and McSlarrow seems stunned that they would be facing issues with both at the same time.
The fact that an upcoming anti-violence bill from Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) will not include an a la carte nod to proponent FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is seen as a big win for cable. NCTA is girding for its already-initiated battle with telco entry into MVPD and is expecting good things from its triple-play packages; NAB is relying on strong programming brands and improvements in the DTV revolution, and counting on the fact that much TV watching is live to counter DVR ad-skipping trends. On ownership, NAB's goals appear relatively modest, aimed mainly at clearing up the uncertainties in broadcast/newspaper cross-ownership and allowing struggling small-market television a chance to double up before one of the stations is facing bankruptcy. McSlarrow said a proposed 30% national cap on cable affects only Comcast at the moment and defending against it is not a priority. NAB will continue its fight against XM/Sirius and expects to prevent a monopoly from being formed. And McSlarrow noted that he saw little to fear from a Democratic government, noting significant deregulation during the Clinton years and praising the command of telecom issues exhibited by many Democratic members.
RBR observation: Some of the recent retrans battles have gotten quite ugly and have highlighted the rancor which exists between NAB and NCTA. This session was encouraging in that the two organizations acknowledged their interdependence, and seem highly committed to moving forward for their mutual benefit. We would suggest that the key will be for each to think not of their strongest members. A huge cable system in a major market and the market's big network affiliates are going to play ball. If the two organizations can come up with something that works just as well in Glendive, Montana, we can rest assured that a firm foundation for the future has been installed.
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 Sillerman seals the deal
Just hours after the bid was publicly announced, independent directors of CKX on Friday approved a deal that will have founder Bob Sillerman and Simon Fuller take the company private for 13.75 per share in cash, a 29% premium over the previous closing price, for a total of 1.3 billion. What wasn't known before Friday's announcement is that CKX shareholders will also get shares in another Sillerman-related company which is planning a casino/hotel/commercial/residential real estate development in Las Vegas. Although the deal has been agreed to, the committee of independent directors at CKX and their financial advisor now have a 45-day "go-shop" period to see if a higher bid, at least 25 cents per share higher, can be found - and there's no breakup fee due Sillerman and Fuller if they do. The proposed transaction will have CKX acquired by 19X, a new private company owned by Robert F.X. Sillerman, who likes to get that X into his company names, and Simon Fuller, who is still CEO of 19 Entertainment, owner of the rights to "American Idol," since selling it to CKX. Besides Idol, the other primary assets of CKX are the rights to the name, likeness and image of Elvis Presley and Muhammad Ali. What will remain with CKX shareholders are shares in FX Luxury Realty, which Friday's announcement refers to not as a real estate company, but a "location-based entertainment company." CKX recently acquired 50% of the company for 100 million and, once the buyout closes, Sillerman plans to sell more stock so it can move forward with some big plans. Those plans include building the new casino, hotel & etc. in Vegas and a hotel next to Graceland in Tennessee. FX Luxury will have the rights to develop casino, hotel and restaurant properties using the Presley name and hotel and retreat centers using the Ali name.
RBR observation: The 29% premium over the previous CKX price is obviously attractive to shareholders. The big question is this: What are the FX Realty shares worth? CKX has 97 million shares outstanding, so the simple answer is about a buck, since CKX just bought the stake for 100 million. That buck was pretty much what traders built into the CKX price on Friday. Is it really worth more, if you believe that the Elvis and Ali names are going to be big money makers in the hotel business? According to Sillerman, who has made a buck or two over the years in radio, on Broadway and elsewhere, this is a big opportunity, but will require a lot of capital. That's his explanation for why he and Fuller want to cash out investors in the current business and raise big bucks to, as Sillerman put it, "develop real estate and location-based projects that exploit CKX's iconic intellectual property content."
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Ad Business Report TM
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 Not another one!
Are there any NFL fans out there? Is there anyone like us who noticed that on occasion, you could turn on the television last year and watch what seemed to be an episode of "The Peyton Manning Show," interspersed with occasional bursts of football action? The Indianapolis Colts quarterback was pitching anything and everything. We know we weren't the only ones who noticed this phenomenon, because we caught the guys on the HBO football show talking about it one day. We were wondering if all-Manning, all-the-time was really a good way to move product, and still wonder because as we write this, we cannot remember a single one of the products he was pushing (by contrast, we're still haunted by Mr. Whipple and his bizarre and repugnant Charmin' toilet paper fixation). So it is with some trepidation that we read off a PR wire that there is another Manning taking to the airwaves, this time on behalf of the Citizen Watch Company. This time it's little brother Eli Manning of the New York Giants, headed for a television screen or magazine page near you. Citizen is also using athletes from the golf, tennis, basketball, auto racing, skiing and cricket worlds.
RBR observation: We have nothing against either Manning brother. However, we live in a particular media market with its own NFL franchise. The Indianapolis Colts are in a different conference, which leaves the rabid fans in our market more or less indifferent to that team's players. The New York Giants are another matter - they are not only in our conference, they are in our division - in short, they are the enemy. Eli enters hostile territory when his commercials air here. In the interest of full disclosure, we have a one of Citizen's fine products on our wrist at this very moment, but it's not there because some celebrity endorsed it. We do like the Eco-Drive power feature that keeps it running without any effort on our part, and in an ecologically friendly manner to boot. So maybe Woodsy Owl should be the celebrity endorser. Anyway, we wish Citizen good luck with their campaign - just don't expect us to remember what it was Eli Manning was endorsing any longer than a few seconds after his pitch has been completed.
Vongo and Domino's begin
two month campaign, sweepstakes
Starz Entertainment and Domino's Pizza announced details on a two month, co-marketing and promotional campaign that features a free 30-day trial to the Vongo broadband movie download service for all online orders placed on www.dominos.com. The companies also announced a sweepstakes with prizes including a 37" flat-panel LCD HDTV, laptop computer and 20, 1-year free subscriptions to Vongo (estimated retail value $120 per subscription). The promotional campaign and sweepstakes will run until July 22. "Movies and pizza are a great combination for consumers and Domino's Pizza has proven to be an equally complementary and adept promotional partner for Vongo," noted Joe Cantwell, vice president, Advanced Services, Starz Entertainment. "We look forward to introducing many new customers to Vongo through this campaign, enabling us to promote the unmatched consumer value proposition of the service. In particular, we believe that Vongo is uniquely positioned to offer consumers greater portability and control for a wide selection of movies at a low price point."
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| Media Business Report TM |
Talk show fight club?
The Project for Excellence in Journalism talker topic index for 5/20-25/07, as per usual, followed and amplified the news, at the top of the chart anyway. The top news stories for that week were immigration and the Iraq policy debate, both with 10% of the newshole. Talkers gave immigration 24% of their time and/or space, and another 15% to the policy debate. For the record, even though the 2008 campaign registered a quiet 6% on the news chart, talkers pumped it up to 13% on their own ranker list. However, PEJ was interested in the talker's interest in two non-top-10 news items, however. Both were adult versions of playground fights, the O'Donnell/Hasselbeck flap on "The View" and Jimmy Carter's verbal assault on the Bush administration. They rated 5% and 3% on the Talk chart. PEJ noted, "One of the things the talk show culture seems to appreciate is a good fight - particularly one with ideological implications."
RBR observation: We would note a certain cannibalistic strain in O'Donnell's case, which happened, after all, on a talk show. Many talkers seem to relish getting into a good verbal fight, and this time, they are feasting on one of their own.
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| Media Markets & Money TM |
 Kicking grandpa out of the house
We can now identify to fallout from the 452.1M Clear Channel/GoodRadio.TV multimarket radio group deal. The change in ownership wiped out Clear Channel's grandfather clause, affecting some oversized clusters that were vestiges of the old contour overlap method of calculating market size. We now have a list that includes 13 orphaned stations in eight markets. Dean Goodman's group has sent the stations to a trust under the care and feeding of Matthew Leibowitz, who will be in charge of finding buyers. The prospective seller made a contractual nod to the FCC's diversity concerns, including language that stated, "GoodRadio.TV encourages the Trustee to use commercially reasonable efforts to identify new entrants...as possible third-party buyers of the Stations." Here's what has been put on the shelves:
* Huntington WV-Ashland KY: WIRO-AM/WBKS-FM (Ironton OH),
WZZW-AM (Milton WV)
* Salisbury-Ocean City MD: WLBW-FM (Fenwick Island DE),
WDKZ-FM (Salisbury MD)
* Lima OH: WBUK-FM (Ottawa OH)
* Minot ND: KRRZ-AM (Minot ND)
* Bismarck ND: KBMR-AM (Bismarck ND)
* Bangor ME: WFZX-FM (Searsport ME), WGUY-FM (Dexter ME)
* Eau Claire WI: WQRB-FM (Bloomer WI), WISM-FM (Altoona WI)
* Laurel-Hattiesburg MS: WUSW-FM (Hattiesburg MS)
Roswell combo headed to Noalmark
William C. Nolan's Noalmark Broadcasting Corporation seems to be on a bit of a spending spree. It just invested 600K in a trio of stations in Arkansas (KVRC-AM/KDEL-FM Arkadelphia AR & KYXK-FM Gordon AR), and now its back with a deal for a combo in Roswell NM. The stations are KBIM AM & FM, coming from King Broadcasting Company. According to broker Jim Hoffman of Explorer Communications, the price is 1.5M. The FM is a locally-oriented Adult Contemporary outlet, while the AM programs News/Talk with local, regional and national elements.
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| Washington Media Business Report TM |
NAB eases into EAS upgrades
Local broadcasters have compiled a stellar record in times of emergency. Local radio and television often are the only source of vital information for citizens in a stricken area, and stations routinely carry on operation even when wireline communications systems are knocked out of commission. The National Association of Broadcasters is helping to keep this tradition alive by fully cooperating with the FCC and the Department of Homeland Security in upgrading the Emergency Alert System. The organization hailed the FCC's latest action on the topic, saying, "We applaud the Commission for proactive leadership in improving public warning and the Emergency Alert System, including much-needed outreach with state and local officials to ensure a robust EAS system. NAB and our member stations will continue to work closely with the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau and the Department of Homeland Security on credentialing standards for broadcast personnel to have access during emergencies, preparedness checklists and voluntary outage reporting. We look forward to discussions on how improved digital alerting technology can be deployed to ensure that all Americans, including non-English speakers and people with disabilities, have access to emergency information."
RBR observation: Cable has little in the way of a local presence beyond its sales force and hook-up technicians, and satellite generally has no local presence other than dish retailers. The vital service emergency provided by broadcasters is unduplicated and warrants protection from unfair encroachment into local programming territory by nationally oriented services that will not have anybody around when a disaster strikes. NAB is wise to stay in the forefront of ensuring an effective broadcast emergency response now and into the future.
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| Engineering Business Report TM |
 Radio Mindanao first in Philippines
with HD Radio multicasting
Radio Mindanao Network has announced the commencement of HD Radio Multicast broadcasting in the Philippines, using a Nautel HD Radio FM transmitter. Station iFM 93.9 DWKC in Manila became the first commercial station in the country to broadcast with HD Radio technology as a limited test in 2006. This month, the station added another first when they expanded to full power broadcasting three digital audio channel in its current single frequency, using HD Radio multicasting capabilities, in addition to their traditional analog signal. DWKC is operating their facility in hybrid mode, using their existing 35kW transmitter for the analog signal and a new Nautel 1kW HD Radio transmitter for the digital signal. The system includes Nautel's M50 digital exciter as well as Importer and Exporter. Three channels of digital programming are being broadcast by RMN in their HD Radio multicast operation. The Radio Mindanao Network was founded by Henry Canoy in 1952. The group, which will celebrate its 55th anniversary on-air in August, O&Os more than 50 AM, FM and TV stations throughout the Philippines.
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| Monday Morning Makers & Shakers |
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Transactions: 4/16/07-4/20/07
What a difference a week makes. Actually, there wasn't much difference at all in terms of new filings. 14 new transactions crossed the FCC transom, a nominal increase over the 13 filed the previous week. But that 13 was also the total number of stations dealt last time. This week, that total mushroomed to 61. There were two Clear Channel spin-offs, a couple of spins off of that, an NRG spin-off and a nine-stick non-com CP transaction, among other things - but no TV action for the second week in a row.
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Total
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Total Deals
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14
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AMs
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16
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FMs
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45
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TVs
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0
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| Value |
58.813M
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| Complete Charts |
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Radio Transactions of the Week
Three Eagles snag Clear Channel spinners
| More... |
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TV Transactions of the Week
Remains dormant
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| Transactions |
11M WFQX-TV, WFUP-TV Traverse City-Cadillac MI (Cadillac, Vanderbilt MI) from Rockfleet Broadcasting II LLC (Bruce M. Schnelwar) to Cadillac Telecasting Company (Alexander Bolea). 775K escrow, balance in cash at closing. SSA with Heritage Broadcsating Company of Michigan's WWTV-TV Cadillac & WWUP-TV Sault Ste. Marie MI; Heritage gets put & call option in exchange for guaranteeing buyer's debt. [File date 5/15/07.]
700K KWRP-FM Santa Fe NM (Pecos NM) from James S. Bumpous dba Yellow Dog Radio to Hutton Broadcasting LLC (Edward B. Hutton, Georgie S. Hutton). 50K escrow, balance in cash at closing. Duopoly with KVSF-AM Santa Fe, KQBA-FM Los Alamos. [File date 5/16/07.]
125K KVLH-AM Pauls Valley OK from DFWU Inc. (Sherry Austin) to Armstrong of Oklahoma Inc. (James C. Hilliard). 7K escrow, balance in cash at closing. [File date 5/16/07.]
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| Stock Talk |
Investors cheer jobs report
Stronger than expected numbers in the government's jobs report for May gave a boost to stock prices on Friday. The Dow Industrials rose 40 points, or 0.3%, to 13,668, another record close.
Radio stocks went along for the ride. The Radio Index rose 0.276, or 0.2%, to 161.796. Saga rose 2.4% as the best performer. The biggest mover, though, was Emmis, down 4.4% after a downgrade by Bear Stearns.
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| Radio Stocks |
Here's how stocks fared on Friday
| Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
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Arbitron
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ARB
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52.64
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+0.28
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Hearst-Argyle
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HTV
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26.54
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+0.54
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Beasley
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BBGI
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8.69
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+0.10
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Journal Comm.
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JRN
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13.93
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+0.18
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| CBS CI. B |
CBS |
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33.48
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+0.22
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Lincoln Natl.
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LNC
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73.07
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+0.57
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| CBS CI. A |
CBSa |
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33.45
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+0.22
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Radio One, Cl. A
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ROIA
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7.54
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+0.04
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| Citadel |
CDL |
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8.20 |
-0.10 |
Radio One, Cl. D
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ROIAK
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7.54
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+0.03
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Clear Channel
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CCU
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38.50
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+0.10
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Regent
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RGCI
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3.47
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+0.02
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Cox Radio
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CXR
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14.75
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+0.07
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Saga Commun.
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SGA
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9.50
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+0.22
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Cumulus
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CMLS
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9.37
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-0.01
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Salem Comm.
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SALM
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12.24
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+0.14
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Disney
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DIS
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35.24
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-0.20
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Sirius Sat. Radio
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SIRI
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2.88
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-0.05
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Emmis
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EMMS
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9.93
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-0.46
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Spanish Bcg.
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SBSA
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4.84
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+0.11
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| Entercom |
ETM
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26.74
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+0.14
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SWMX
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SMWX
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0.25
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unch
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Entravision
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EVC
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10.26
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+0.07
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Westwood One
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WON
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8.08
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+0.02
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Fisher
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FSCI
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50.06
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-0.15
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XM Sat. Radio
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XMSR
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11.28
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-0.30
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Google
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GOOG
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500.40
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+2.49
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-
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-
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-
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-
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Bounceback
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 We want to
hear from you.
This is your column, so send your comments and
a photo to radionews@rbr.com
I thought it was important to respond to Victor Miller's quote in the (5/30/07 RBR #105) regarding ratings declines seen for Urban and Hispanic radio stations with the implementation of PPM in Philadelphia. Mr. Miller says "Arbitron's prior PPM tests in Philadelphia and Houston had shown the African-Americans and Hispanics had over-reported radio listening under the diary method. However, the magnitude of the ratings declines at Urban and Spanish-language stations is surprising," First off, I am unaware of any study conducted or published by Arbitron that showed that African-Americans and Hispanics over-report radio listening in the diary. The best way to determine this would be to do a parallel study of the same listeners using a diary and a PPM. As far as we know this was never done.
While Mr. Miller's statement might be true, there are likely several factors in play that are affecting the ratings of these stations. It is quite possible that the African-Americans and Hispanics that agree to participate in a PPM system are more different from those that agree to keep and return a diary. It is just as likely that the PPM is missing some listening, especially in morning drive when listeners are less likely to be carrying their meter before they leave their home. Lastly, the reason that the ratings for non-ethnic stations don't decline as much is due to the dramatic increases in cume seen on these stations. Urban stations in particular have traditionally had relatively high cume ratings against the African-American population, so there is less additional cume to capture with the meter. And since the African-American and Hispanic populations make up a much smaller percentage of the total population in Philadelphia, there is less additional cume available to attract to stations targeting these populations. I think Mr. Miller does these formats a disservice by stating as fact an unproven assertion regarding the AQH ratings declines seen so far with the PPM.
Marc Greenspan, CRMC Partner
Research Director, Inc.
Annapolis, MD
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Below the Fold
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Ad Business Report
Not another one!
Are there any NFL fans out there? Is there anyone like us who noticed that on occasion...
Media Business Report
Talk show fight club?
Followed and amplified the news note a certain cannibalistic strain on herself called Rosie...
Media Markets & Money
Kicking grandpa out of the house
We now identify to fallout from the 452.1M Clear Channel/GoodRadio.TV multimarket...
Washington Media Business Report
NAB eases into EAS upgrades
Local broadcasters have compiled a stellar record in times of emergency...
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Stations for Sale
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 Market your Stations For Sale
in our daily epapers.
Contact
June Barnes
jbarnes@rbr.com
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More News Headlines
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A classic case
of over-reaching
Florida attorney John B. Thompson claims a lot of the credit for chasing Howard Stern off radio and all the way into space, and as part of his vendetta against Stern, he roped in Beasley Broadcast Group's WQAM-AM Miami. But Thompson was not content to stop at indecent broadcasting. As he detailed in a letter to commissioners in office at the time, he accused Beasley of "...racketeering, extortion, assault, distributing sexual material to minors, obstruction of justice and perjury." Thompson made his viewpoint on these matters known publicly via press releases. Beasley did not take it lying down. The group defended itself at the Commission level, but also took strong exception at being branded as a criminal enterprise. Among other things, it protested Thompson's standing to practice law to the Florida Bar, arguing that is was an ethical breach to use unproven criminal allegations against both Beasley and its representatives. Thompson complained of harassment by Beasley in order to coerce him into ceasing pursuit of his indecency complaints, but Beasley was careful to indicate its respect for Thompson's right to complain about its programming. The group objected to being labeled criminal in the absence of any conviction (much less so much as a single criminal indictment). In a lengthy 17-page finding, the FCC struck down all of Thompson's complaints against Beasley.
RBR observation: Thompson had personally attacked some of Beasley's on-air staffers in this lengthy and tangled conflict, even allegedly getting the IRS involved in one case, and apparently in some cases they responded on the air, sometimes in despicable fashion. Besides pointing out the hopelessness of defining indecency, since they were able to make extremely vile comments without getting anywhere near any of the magic words that could result in an indecency finding, Thompson, in his zeal to clean up the airwaves, actually forced to FCC to defend this garbage. Talk about negative feedback. Regardless of what you think of the ins and outs of playing on the edge with shock jocks, Beasley deserves kudos for providing a textbook example of how to defend against attacks of this nature.
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International
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Organ TV?
The Netherlands' BNN television network is carrying a new production from Endemol, one of the pioneers of reality TV with its 1999 creation of "Big Brother," but its latest offering is drawing widespread criticism. It's the "Big Donor Show." The premise is that a terminally ill woman suffering from an inoperable brain tumor will select one lucky winner from among three candidates to receive one of her perfectly healthy kidneys. She'll interview the candidates and their friends and families, and the home audience will be allowed to weigh in with text messages at about a half dollar a pop, according to the Associated Press. The program is being slammed for tastelessness and lack of ethics. For starters, medical experts point out that tissue matches are a critical part of any transplant, and that part of the equation seems not to be a part of this situation. All of the in-country transplant locations have declined to participate, which could force the producers to seek a foreign location to make good on their promise of a transplant. However, despite all the protest from the medical community, the Netherlands government declined to stop the program from being aired on free speech grounds. In the end, it turned out the program was an elaborate hoax designed to focus a spotlight on the dearth of organ donors. BNN said it will make no money on the broadcast.
RBR observation: Now the debate is over whether the program was a public service or a publicity stunt. We think it may constitute the ground-breaking of a whole new sub-genre: Fictional Reality Programming. Was this the best way to shine a light on organ donors? Somehow it doesn't seem like it, but it sure got a lot of attention, and the fact that we're writing about it here on the other side of the pond can be entered into evidence as Exhibit #1.
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RBR Radar 2007
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Radio News you won't read any where else. RBR--First, Accurate, and Independently Owned.
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Big merger on Wall Street
Two big brokerage and investment banking firms with heavy involvement in the media sector are becoming one. Banking giant Wachovia Corp., which already owns Wachovia Securities, is acquiring AG Edwards for 6.8 billion bucks, creating the nation's second largest retail brokerage firm, behind Merrill Lynch.
RBR observation: Did veteran media analyst Mike Kupinski at AG Edwards see this coming? He recently left for a new job at NobleFinancial after 23 years at AG Edwards. It was just last year that Wachovia cut costs by promoting Marcia Ryvicker and giving the heave-ho to veteran analyst Jim Boyle.
06/01/07 RBR #107
Nielsen releases first
commercial minute ratings
The Nielsen Company began offering the first standardized ratings of television commercials, giving clients a way to measure the impact on commercial viewing of DVRs. Because of the increasing use of DVRs and the ability of consumers to fast-forward through commercials during DVR playback, clients asked Nielsen last year to provide a closer measure of the audience for commercials, not only when programs are viewed live but when played back as well.
TVBR observation: A couple of interesting pieces of data agencies are interested in and Nielsen is providing to clients include the percentage of viewers fast-forwarding through commercials. It depends upon the programming, when they're playing it back (closer to live=less fast-forwarding). The programs and program genre lists that detail fast forwarding are going to be more and more important in negotiation as DVR use increases. There is more to this data and info in TVBR special page report.
06/01/07 TVBR #107
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