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Volume 24, Issue 41, Jim Carnegie, Editor & Publisher
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Wednesday Morning February 28th, 2007
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Radio News ®
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 Moonves comfortable
with radio portfolio
After selling 39 radio stations in the company's smaller markets, CBS Corporation CEO Les Moonves says he is satisfied with the current portfolio - although he would never refuse to listen to a good offer. "Clearly 2006 for radio was a challenging year. We're not satisfied with this performance and we continue to aggressively seek ways to engage listeners with the programming that they want to hear and the way they want to hear it. Certain formats such as Jack and Free FM have shown positive momentum and we continue to leverage interactive opportunities and capitalize on HD Radio and streaming. Plus the use of online video streaming and other technologies are already helping radio to become more personalized and community oriented. Throughout the year, as you noticed, we sharpened our major market focus in radio which will now enable us to deploy our resources where they matter most," Moonves said in is quarterly conference call with analysts. "And let us not forget that we achieved multiples in mid-teens for our slower-growing markets. This only underscores the values of the operations that we have elected to keep. With the sales of many of our stations at high multiples, with the improvement in many formats and with all of the new digital initiatives, we are ahead of the cureve in our transformation of this important business," Moonves added. Later in the Q&A session, the CBS chief said there was no plan to buy out other shareholders and bring Westwood One in-house as a wholly owned radio network operation.
RBR observation: The tough comps are gone now. CBS Radio has lapped the departure of Howard Stern to Sirius, so Q1 results will be measured against the first post-Stern quarter. While radio revenues were down 8% in Q4 to 498.2 million, that reflected both the lack of Stern, which required the reprogramming of 27 stations a year ago, and not counting several of the divested stations, which were already being operated under LMAs by their owners-to-be. On a same station basis, CBS said radio revenues were down 6% for the quarter, but that still includes the former Stern stations. Operating income before depreciation and amortization was down only 2% to 211.3 million for the quarter, so CBS Radio appears to be getting back on track.
CBS has good news for investors
Some corporations are proud to trumpet the fact that they have increased their cash dividend annually for so many years. CBS Corporation has now done that four times in 14 months, which has to be a Wall Street record. In all, CEO Les Moonves says the dividend payout has been increased nearly 60% since CBS was separated from Viacom. The latest increase will boost the quarterly dividend by 10%, or two cents, to 22 cents a share. The new dividend will be paid April 1st to shareholders of record on March 7th. But even with the higher payout to shareholders, the CBS coffers are overflowing with cash from the sales of Paramount Parks, 39 radio stations and nine TV stations. So, the board of directors has also authorized a 1.5 billion bucks stock buyback. And the company is not wasting any time. CFO Fred Reynolds says that buyback will all be completed this quarter, which has barely over a month left to run.
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 Joe Uva to head Univision
The private equity funds buying Univision, operating under the name Broadcasting Media Partners, announced late yesterday that OMD Worldwide President and CEO Joe Uva will become CEO of Univision effective April 1st, with the closing of the 13.7 billion bucks deal expected in March. "I am excited to have the opportunity to lead a premier company that has redefined the American media landscape and is so deeply embedded in the lives of its audience," said Uva in a statement issued last night. "This is a company with tremendous strength that has fabulous growth opportunities. Its relationships with its consumers are unparalleled in the media industry. I very much look forward to working with Univision's outstanding management team, programming and industry partners, and leaders in the Hispanic community to build on the Company's legacy of innovation and success. At the same time, it will be difficult to leave OMD where I have had a very positive experience. OMD is a strong company with a deep management team that will move forward without missing a beat," Uva added. Prior to joining OMD Worldwide, Uva was president, Turner Entertainment Group Sales and Marketing. He also worked as a planner and buyer for both McCann Erickson and Grey Advertising.
RBR observation: With his extensive ad agency background, Uva is seen as a key link between Univision and the people who buy advertising. Despite its dramatic growth, or perhaps because of it, the Spanish media giant is viewed by some on Madison Avenue as being arrogant and hard to deal with. Uva should make Univision more receptive to dealing with the needs of advertisers. He will no doubt be directly involved in operations, unlike the invisible man, Jerry Perenchio, who will step down as CEO after cashing out his billions when the sale closes.
 Oversight is the name of the game
We've been saying all along that renewed interest in the communications industry in general and the FCC in particular were likely to be a major ramification of the Democratic takeover of Congress, and that analysis was confirmed yesterday by key House of Representative staffers at the NAB's 2007 State Leadership Conference. Covington & Burling attorney Gerry Waldron played host to Democrats Colin Crowell and Johanna Shelton, and Republicans Jay Cranford and Neil Fried, all with key roles in the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. The NTIA will also get its share of scrutiny, particularly when its comes to its role of handling the distribution of digital-to-analog set-top converters to people who otherwise may be left behind by the 2/17/09 conversion to digital television broadcasting. And Ed Markey (D-MA), Chairman of the key Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, said he'll be holding a hearing on the proposed XM/Sirius merger next week, 3/7/07, one week after Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) gets a crack at it in a hearing which convenes this afternoon. The Democrats have many issues on their mind, but at this point they will mostly be content to gather information and study. Look for hearings on issues such as the aforementioned DTV conversion, the competitive marketplace (with DARS services figuring prominently and, due to recent events, soon), video franchising/net neutrality, retransmission consent/must carry, the broadcast flag, and media ownership.
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 Sirius says receivers
won't be obsolete
Like would-be merger partner XM, Sirius Satellite Radio is trying to reassure Wall Street and the public that business will go on as usual while the companies wait to see if regulators will approve their proposal to merge. In their quarterly conference call yesterday, Sirius execs said repeatedly that consumers should not be afraid to buy Sirius receivers or subscribe to the service - that it is guaranteed that the receivers will not be made obsolete by the merger. Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin will be on Capitol Hill this morning trying to make the case for the merger, insisting, as he did yesterday, that it will be a win for consumers as well as XM and Sirius stockholders. Regardless of what happens with the merger, Karmazin says Sirius will have revenues approaching a billion bucks this year and end 2007 with more than eight million subscribers. With more than six million subscribers at the end of 2006, Sirius saw revenues for Q4 increase 142% to 193.4 million and its net loss improved to 203 million. As calculated by Sirius officials, the company also reached positive cash flow from operations in Q4 and Free CF of 30.4 million. "The definition of free cash flow is the sum of net cash provided by (used in) operating activities, capital expenditures and restricted and other investment activity," the quarterly release explained.
RBR observation: As we noted yesterday in discussing XM, a company can define FCF however it wants. We will give the Sirius folks credit for making it clear during their call that they were talking about pre-marketing cash flow and EBITDA being positive. They even included what we would call the real world figure of adjusted loss from operations for Q4, which was 166.8 million. To claim that 85.1 million for sales and marketing and 121 million for subscriber acquisition costs (also a form of marketing) are not operating expenses is pretty silly.
Cox sees growth continuing, despite too many units
Cox Radio CEO Bob Neil told analysts that Q1 should be up in the low single digits after reporting that Q4 revenues rose 3.8% to 113 million and station operating income grew 6.4% to 47.6 million. Neil said January was up 4%, February will finish in positive territory. He did not give pacing data for March. Neil has never been shy about sharing his opinions, and he was critical yesterday of stories which have been written repeatedly in the general press about "the death of radio due to audience erosion." Sure there is more fragmentation than ever, but Neil insisted that radio has held most of its listenership and is better positioned for the future than most of its competitors. Not that there aren't problems to be dealt with. The CEO got into a bit of a debate at one point with analyst Victor Miller of Bear Stearns over whether shorter spots are holding down pricing. Neil has long been a critic of Clear Channel's Less is More initiative to push shorter spots, claiming that it has raised the unit count and hurt pricing. "There are just too many advertising units chasing demand," Neil insisted.
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Leverage Your Station's Brand
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Advertisement
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 The Fast Track to HD at NAB
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| Wall Street Media Business Report TM |
CBS by the numbers
Broadcasting may be the primary business at CBS Corp., but the red-hot outdoor business was the top performer in 2006. TV enjoyed strong political revenues, but that was partly countered by the shutdown of UPN. Radio suffered through its first year with out Howard Stern on many CBS stations. Here are the revenue figures broken down by segment.
| View the Chart |
Solid Q4 for Saga
Saga Communications reported net operating revenue for Q4 increased 7.8% to 38.2 million, operating income increased 68.8% to 8.8 million and station operating expense increased 2.3% to 27.6 million. Net income increased 94.3% to 3.7 million, or 18 cents - beating the Thomson/First Call consensus by five cents. On a same station basis, net operating revenue increased 7.6%, operating income increased 70% and station operating expense increased 1.9%. Both radio and TV posted higher revenues. Radio revenues rose to 33.2 million from 31.4 million a year ago and TV revenues were 5.0 million, up from 4.1 million. In the company conference call with analysts, CFO Sam Bush reported that Q1 is pacing up 2-3%.
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Ad Business Report TM
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 Project Apollo results
show promise
The second Project Apollo results to be released at the AAAAs convention in Las Vegas from the Arbitron-Nielsen joint venture demonstrate an actual link between advertising and increased consumption. Arbitron and Nielsen recently signed an agreement that will govern completion of development and testing of the Project Apollo marketing research service and the expansion of the pilot panel to a full national service if the test results meet expectations and generate marketplace support. They've formed a jointly-owned LLC to help make it happen (2/2/07 RBR #23). In the trial, 11,000 participants that were exposed to several months of TV and radio advertising for 13 mid-to-large brands spent 5%-8% more on the brands compared with spending before the ads ran. Consumers in the brands' target demo boosted purchases 8%-12% said an advance article in the Wall Street Journal. Arbitron's PPM system and A.C. Nielsen's HomeScan device/panel were employed. PPM picked up audible ad messages from radio and television; HomeScan tracked purchases when participants used it to scan the barcode of every item they bought.
Project Apollo also used data collected through the devices to analyze how effective a cable ad campaign for a painkiller was in reaching its target audience of 25-54-year-olds. After monitoring which media outlets the target audience was exposed to, the study concluded that the painkiller would reach 16% more of its target audience by making certain changes to its ad program, the story said. With Project Apollo, "we have a better understanding of the category and the brands [consumers use]," Don Gloeckler, manager of North American media research for Procter & Gamble, told WSJ. "We're able to better deliver messages to people who are interested in the product and the category." Seven advertisers are members of the Apollo Steering Committee, a group of marketers who have signed agreements for Apollo pilot panel data. In aggregate, these seven advertisers-including Kraft, Pfizer, Wal-Mart, Procter & Gamble, Unilever and SC Johnson-spend more than 6.8 billion for advertising on measured media. Nielsen and Arbitron also plan to release more Project Apollo data over the next few months in a series of papers scheduled for presentation at other conferences.
Century Group acquires BroadcastBid.com
Century Group, Inc. has completed the acquisition of radio Internet auctions provider BroadcastBid.com in a stock swap deal. Terms of the deal call for Century Group to acquire all outstanding stock of BroadcastBid.com, Inc. (www.BroadcastBid.com) in exchange for a majority of shares of Century Group common stock. Century Group said it plans to fully integrate the BroadcastBid.com products and additional online media services and brands into its operations immediately. Through its affiliate network, BroadcastBid.com will enable radio stations to harness the power of the Internet to monetize their listening or viewing audiences. BroadcastBid.com focuses on providing radio stations with addictive content that drives traffic to their sites and keeps the audience buying, opening up an entire new avenue for ad revenue. BroadcastBid.com is entering the marketplace with a product that will offer auctions similar to eBay that may find it increasingly hard to attract revenue from modern Internet media users. BroadcastBid.com offers stations different ways to generate non-traditional revenue, from set-price sales to classifieds.
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| Media Markets & Money TM |
The Beat goes off
Well, maybe not off, but KXBT-FM "The Beat" is exiting the station portfolio of Entercom and sliding over to the Univision book. It will take Entercom down from an enhanced three-FM superduopoly to a simply duopoly that would have been legal in late 1992 (rather than 1996) (the enhancement is an AM station), and Univision goes from an enhanced standalone FM, KINV-FM, to a double. In its case, the enhancement is much more substantial than that of Entercom, coming in the form of O&O KAKW-TV. Brokerage house Media Venture Partners helped Entercom pull in a 20M cash payday for the station. Entercom acquired the Austin stations along with others in Memphis, Rochester and Cincinnati in a 262M deal with CBS last summer.
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| Washington Media Business Report TM |
Staff insights on broadcast issues
Here is thinking and in some cases where fault lines are as the 110th Congress looks ahead to a year of looking at broadcast and related issues. Neil Fried (R) noted that Republicans in the Energy and Commerce Committee are very concerned about the ill-fated telecom update of the 109th Congress, and forwarding the DTV transition. Johanna Shelton (D) applauded the idea behind a Republican proposal to distribute set-top boxes, but said its very low allocation of funds wasn't nearly enough.
| Read More... |
 Deal gets a pass from the FCC
Ole Brook Broadcasting has proposed to sell WBKN-FM Brookhaven MS & WMJU-FM Bude MS to C. Wayne Dowdy's Brookhaven Broadcasting in a 1.4M transaction filed at the FCC almost exactly a year ago, on 2/27/06. Southwest Publishers doesn't think the deal should be allowed. It cites Brookhaven's failure to list WTGG-FM Amite LA among its owned properties, Dowdy's unacknowledged interest in WMTI-FM Picayune MS, and says all this gives him an unfair competitive advantage. Brookhaven notes that the WTGG omission was an oversight, and that it has freely owned up to its interest in the station in other documents filed with the Commission. The FCC agreed, and simply cautioned Brookhaven to submit its documents with more care in the future. As for WMTI, Brookhaven notes that the station has been sold and an operating agreement discontinued. Perhaps most significantly, however, is that fact that neither of the stations in question overlap wither WBKN-FM or WMJU-FM, so whether Dowdy has an interest in them or not is completely immaterial insofar as meeting local ownership caps is concerned. The petition was denied and the deal approved.
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| Internet Media Business Report TM |
Hearst bets on Local.com
Local search engine company Local.com Corporation, which trades on Nasdaq as LOCM, announced an eight million bucks private placement to Hearst Interactive Media, a division of Hearst Corporation, and Greenway Capital. The proceeds are to be used for general working capital and strategic initiatives. The investment consists of 9% convertible debentures due February 2009. The convertible debentures are convertible into 1,990,050 shares of the company's common stock at a conversion price of 4.02 per share. The stock closed Monday at 4.35. In connection with the sale of the convertible debentures, Local.com also issued to the investors warrants to purchase up to 796,020 additional shares of the company's common stock at a price of 4.82 and up to 796,020 additional shares of the company's common stock at a price of 5.63. The warrants are exercisable through February 2012. "Local.com is well positioned to capitalize on the consumer and advertiser trends that are delivering growth in the emerging local search advertising industry. We believe Local.com has the right strategy and can become a leader in this area," Said Kenneth Bronfin, president, Hearst Interactive Media. GunnAllen Financial acted as investment banker for Local.com on the transaction.
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| Ratings & Research |
Nielsen Monitor-Plus reports
ad spend growth for dating services
 Ad spend for dating services, especially online services, are growing at an unprecedented rate, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus. In 2004 (January-November) total U.S. media spending was 149 million; 2005 (January-November) total spending was 310 million; for January - November 2006 total spending was 430 million. In 2006, most dating services companies spent their advertising dollars on Cable TV with 130.6 million in reported ad spending, the Internet ranks second at 127.3 million and Spot TV follows with 75.1 million. Total estimated spending on image-based online advertising for dating services was 127.3 million for Jan-November 2006. True (52.2 million), Mate1.com (20.4 million) and InterActiveCorp (match.com) (16.1 million) led the top online personals advertisers in 2006. With the exception of match.com and eHarmony.com the remaining eight companies are almost exclusively using the internet for advertising. Spending for the top 10 dating services represents 96% of total spending for this industry (290 million of the 302 million total). eHarmony.com led the way, spending 110 million in January - November 2006. New York reported 11 million spent on dating services for January - November 2006. Collectively, 58 million was spent in the top 10 markets in 2006, an increase of 30% from 2005. Nine out of the 10 markets showed double digit increases, with the exception of Washington DC. Boston had the largest increase in terms of percent, spending 73% more to find a date in 2006 than the year before.
Satellite radio showing up in ratings
The sum of all listening to satellite channels mentioned by the half million diary keepers in the Arbitron Fall 2006 survey totaled 3.4% of credited quarter hours (rough equivalent of share). The Fall 2006 survey was the first in which new instructions were provided in the diary asking respondents to indicate their listening to satellite and Internet radio in addition to AM/FM radio. Respondents mentioned 297 separate satellite radio channels during the survey. Arbitron's recent analysis revealed that the highest share of quarter hours for an individual satellite radio channel was 0.2%. The average satellite radio channel had a .009% share of quarter hours, which would not be high enough to meet Arbitron's minimum reporting standards. Approximately 5.6% (rough equivalent of reach) of the 468,786 diary keepers who participated in the Fall 2006 Arbitron survey listed a satellite radio channel in their diary. The analysis also showed that satellite listeners are heavy listeners to radio in general including AM/FM radio. Satellite listeners spent an average of 33 hours a week with radio compared with the typical listener who listened approximately 19 hours a week to radio. Also, people who listened to satellite spent more time with AM/FM radio (14 hours) than they did with satellite radio (10 hours 45 minutes) or Internet (8 hours 15 minutes).
RBR observation: Arbitron says estimates of listening for specific satellite radio channels are not yet available while it refines its processes to credit and report listening for satellite channels. While the listening numbers overall are still low for satellite radio, advertisers and agencies will be very interested in listening levels for specific formats. Why? Because they are very narrow-targeted and present new options for hitting precise demos. Of course, most of the music formats are still commercial-free, so their options are very limited. However, we think these formats will end up having some sort of more traditional sponsorship as time goes by, in exchange for lower subscription fees. If the XM-Sirius merger goes through, we could imagine one set of satellites will be used for just that.
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| Transactions |
2.5M KJTA-FM Flagstaff AZ; KJTY-FM Topeka KS; WJTG-FM Macon GA (Fort Valley GA); WJTY-FM Dubuque IA (Lancaster WI); and WJTF-FM Panama City FL from Joy Public Broadcasting Corporation (Thomas P. Bush) to Family Life Broadcasting Inc. (Randy L. Carlson, Alonzo Williams et al. 105K escrow, balance in cash at closing. [File date 1/31/07.]
750K KMOM-FM CP Roscoe SD & KABD-FM CP Ipswich SD from L. Topaz Enterprises Inc./Owensville Communications LLC ([Dale A. Ganske) to Dakota Broadcasting LLC (Duane D. Butt, Dean Sorenson). 25K escrow, balance in cash at closing (375K allocated to each CP). KMOM-FM CP is for Class C1 on 105.5 Mhz with 100 kw @ 456'; KABD-FM CP is for Class C2 on 107.7 MHz with 43 kw @ 492', and it has applied for Class C1 with 55 kw @ 492'. [File date 1/26/07.]
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| Stock Talk |
Blood bath on Wall Street!
A global stock market panic that began in China's Shanghai exchange took its toll on US stock prices before the day was out. Investors worried that the US and Chinese economies are in for slow growth ahead, which would indicate that stock prices are overheated. The Dow Industrials plunged 416 points, or 3.3%, to 12,216.
Radio stocks were not spared from the carnage. The Radio Index fell 6.880, or 4.2%, to 156.212. Not a single radio stock was up. The best performer was Saga, flat after reporting its Q4 results. Hardest hit was Salem, which plunged 12%.
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| Radio Stocks |
Here's how stocks fared on Tuesday
| Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
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Arbitron
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ARB
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44.80
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-0.63
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Journal Comm.
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JRN
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13.34
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-0.10
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Beasley
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BBGI
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8.87
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-0.33
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Lincoln Natl.
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LNC
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66.85
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-3.33
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| CBS CI. B |
CBS |
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30.24
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-1.16
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Radio One, Cl. A
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ROIA
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7.07
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-0.32
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| CBS CI. A |
CBSa |
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30.21
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-1.27
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Radio One, Cl. D
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ROIAK
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7.07
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-0.31
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| Citadel |
CDL |
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10.30 |
-0.15 |
Regent
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RGCI
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2.97
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-0.01
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Clear Channel
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CCU
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35.90
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-0.51
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Saga Commun.
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SGA
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9.49
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unch
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Cox Radio
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CXR
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15.00
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-0.71
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Salem Comm.
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SALM
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11.69
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-1.59
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Cumulus
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CMLS
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9.87
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-0.44
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Sirius Sat. Radio
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SIRI
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3.65
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-0.09
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Disney
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DIS
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33.10
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-2.01
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Spanish Bcg.
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SBSA
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4.19
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-0.43
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Emmis
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EMMS
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8.25
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-0.33
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SWMX
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SMWX
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1.05
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unch
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| Entercom |
ETM
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29.17
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-1.46
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Univision
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UVN
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35.90
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-0.06
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Entravision
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EVC
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8.71
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-0.83
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Westwood One
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WON
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6.80
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-0.33
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Fisher
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FSCI
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46.01
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-0.64
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XM Sat. Radio
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XMSR
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14.32
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-0.61
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Hearst-Argyle
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HTV
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26.18
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-1.21
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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 [email protected]
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Below the Fold
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Ad Business Report
Project Apollo results show promise
What do you know? There is an actual link between advertising and increased consumption.
Wall Street Media Business Report
CBS by the numbers
Broadcasting may be the primary business at CBS Corp., but the red-hot outdoor business was the top performer in 2006.
Media, Markets & Money
The Beat goes off,
and into cross-ownership
Well, maybe not off, but KXBT-FM "The Beat" is exiting the station portfolio of Entercom and sliding over to the Univision book.
Ratings & Research
Diarykeepers listening to satellite
Arbitron's Fall book shows satellite radio channels finally cracking the ratings.
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Stations for Sale
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NorthEast FM's For Sale
Clusters, standalones, sticks
8x - 12x BCF, 950K - 7.2M
[email protected] or
781-848-4201
10 TX, AZ, NC, and GA
FM radio stations at an exceptional value offered for sale. Broker cooperation encouraged. Please visit www.toweritrust.com for complete information including pricing.
 Market your Stations For Sale
in our daily epapers.
Contact
June Barnes
[email protected]
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Radio Media Moves
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To star on Star
KYSR-FM "Star 98.7" Los Angeles has named Yvonne Velazquez to take over the weekday 10AM -3PM "All Request Workday." Velazquez will take the place of Lisa Foxx, who was recently promoted to the "Valentine and Lisa Foxx" morning show on the station. Velazquez most recently held the night time slot at WNEW-FM New York after being the voice of MTV Satellite Radio.
Johnson to White House
Fox News Radio has named Rich Johnson White House Correspondent. In addition to covering the President, Johnson will take part in Fox News Radio's You Decide 2008 political coverage and other large form broadcasts. Johnson joined FNR in 2005 as a correspondent based in Washington, DC. Previously, he was a weekend news anchor for KIRO in Seattle, Washington and served as a business news anchor for KIRO's sister station, KNWX.
Arbitron director to exit
From an SEC filing: On February 21, 2006, Director Alan W. Aldworth notified Arbitron Inc. that he would not stand for reelection at the Company's 2007 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which will be held on May 15, 2007. Mr. Aldworth's decision not to stand for reelection was not the result of any disagreement with the Company related to its operations, policies, or practices.
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More News Headlines
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SQAD to measure transactional buy-data of Internet display ads
SQAD Inc. announced a commitment at the annual AAAA Conference in Las Vegas yesterday to create a service that delivers ROI info and accountability to the online media marketplace. Through collaborative analysis and research, SQAD recognized a void in the marketplace and is creating a system to measure the transactional buy-data of Internet display advertising. SQAD has already begun cultivating data with charter partners for the new service. One of SQAD's flagship products - NetCosts, an independent database providing national network, syndicated and cable television cost data to evaluate ad buys against actual costs the market paid on a unit-by-unit basis. "Our Internet product aims to be what NetCosts is to the television community, a true measure of what people actually pay for their media buys," said Neil Klar, president and CEO, SQAD. "The Internet is uniquely positioned for a product like this. People are already measuring Internet navigation with click-through rates, time spent per page, and numerous other measures, but until now, there has been no correlation between that data and how much is really being spent at the transaction level. Our Internet Display Advertising database will provide media and industry professionals with that intelligence."
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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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Mixed quarter for Clear Channel
Radio revenues were up 7% in Q4 for Clear Channel Radio to 966.8 million, but that was less than Wall Street analysts had expected. Also, it was barely ahead of the revenues of 964.5 million booked in Q4 2004, before CC Radio took a deliberate hit for a year with its Less is More (LIM) program. For the full year, CC Radio even finished behind pre-LIM 2004. Meanwhile, CC Outdoor surged 13% to 830.7 million in Q4, even better than Wall Street had expected, and "other" rose 25% to 179 million.
RBR observation: The Q4 data cuts both ways for shareholders trying to decide whether to approve the buyout bid, with votes due by a March 21st special meeting. Radio growth going forward is still a question mark, which argues in favor of taking the cash offer. But opponents of the buyout have complained that they are being shortchanged for the value of CC Outdoor. There growth is even better than anticipated and the entire outdoor industry is on a growth spurt. With two-thirds approval required for the 26.7 billion buyout to go to closing, it could be a cliffhanger vote.
02/26/07 RBR #39
Global online ad revenue
to reach 81.1 billion by 2011
Piper Jaffray & Co. Internet Media and Marketing research team published an in-depth, comprehensive research report titled, "The User Revolution," discussing the new advertising ecosystem and the rise of the Internet as a mass medium. In the report, the team outlines its expectations that global online advertising revenue will reach 81.1 billion by 2011, representing a 21% compound-annual-growth-rate (2006-2011). If you missed or did not print it out you can do so by reading here at RBR this report page.
02/26/07 RBR #39
Radio One review not a scandal
Wall Street analysts say the stock option accounting review at Radio One is not the same as the backdating practice that several high tech firms are in trouble for. Rather, they say, it appears to be a bookkeeping issue, not unethical behavior.
02/23/07 RBR #38
Hub-bub over the merger
Scott Cason from LaGrange, KY writes RBR - I don't understand the hub-bub over the merger of XM and Sirius. In every interview I have seen with various radio execs over the last couple of years, they all say they are not worried about the impact of satellite radio on their over the air stations. Judging from the programming I hear out of these same stations, I would say that's true. (More of Scott's observation in RBR)
02/23/07 RBR #38
The hurdle XM and
Sirius must clear
Back in 1997 when the FCC issued its Report and Order creating the satellite radio service (DARS, the redundantly named Digital Audio Radio Service by satellite), it anticipated the situation we see today with the two licensees seeking to become one. In this RBR report is the language the FCC adopted back then regarding license transfers...
RBR observation: Convincing the FCC and their overseers on Capitol Hill that an XM-Sirius merger should be allowed may hinge on one thing that was around in 1997, indecency, and one that wasn't, the iPod. It was no mere coincidence that Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin spoke of ala carte offerings. The two satellite radio companies don't have any ala carte offering now, although there is nothing to stop them. There is more RBR observation details in
02/22/07 RBR #37
eBay Media Marketplace
set to launch
The much-anticipated eBay Media Marketplace for automated TV buys is set to launch 3/15 in beta. While no networks are officially on board as of yet, agencies and advertisers are. The Q2 cable scatter market will be the first marketplace the system will tackle, assuming networks decide to put some inventory in the fray.
RBR observation: Interesting that this system seems to have so much interest, while the Google electronic offering is still in a general holding pattern for TV. If the eBay system gets off the ground, perhaps it will get the attention of radio broadcasters for this type of transaction-beyond what we've seen for Bid4Spots. Janice Finkel-Greene, EVP/Local Broadcast, Initiative Media (Initiative is testing the system, too), tells us while the system's first test go-around is for national cable, national TV broadcast could be next-assuming no big hurdles with cable. Bottom line, this could make things easier on buyers and sellers. Whether it could drive rates up or down remains to be seen.
02/22/07 RBR #37
What are the XM-Sirius odds?
Sirius Satellite Radio CEO Mel Karmazin insisted in a joint Wall Street conference call with XM Chairman Gary Parsons that there is a "better than 50/50 chance" that regulators will allow the two companies to merge. Plus look for the XM-Sirius team to make their case for a merger as RBR has details with charted details (see RBR) that will likely play a key role. Karmazin states, "In today's expanding audio entertainment market, consumers have a huge array of choice - and sometimes they don't want to settle for one." And it even gets better with the Consumer Coalition for Competition in Satellite Radio (C3SR) was formed (1/13/07 RBR #9) by satellite radio subscribers who don't want to see the two satellite radio companies become one, eliminating any competition and consumer choice. Now they have an actual fight on their hands. And it is only going to get better and hotter.
02/21/07 RBR #36
If I were the FCC
Dan Mason at Dan Mason LLC writes RBR and sees it from this view point - I would approve the Sirius-XM merger as long as they would agree to carry on HD chip inside the radios...then it would be non-monopolistic. They (Sirius-XM) will most likely have to give up some things to get this approved. Seems like a convenient way for the FCC to bring digital radio into the cars for several years to come. I don't think this merger creates impossible barriers for radio, but I do believe there is an opportunity to bring all the technical aspects in line with this deal.
RBR note: What would your recommendation be if you were the FCC? Join the discussion. Send your comments to [email protected]
02/21/07 RBR #36
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