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Volume 23, Issue 1, Jim Carnegie, Editor & Publisher
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Tuesday Morning January 3rd, 2006
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TV News ®
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 Sinclair signs
retransmission agreements
Just before the New Year 2006 began, Sinclair Broadcast Group announced a series of retransmission consent agreements. The owner/operator of 60 TV stations in 37 markets said it had reached multi-year retransmission consent with two cable MSOs - - Wide Open West (WOW) and Insight Communications - - and a deal with Verizon's new FIOS-TV service. The WOW deal covers systems in the Columbus, OH area and the Insight agreement covers systems in Illinois, Ohio and Kentucky. The deal with FIOS covers the Baltimore and Tampa markets - - the two Sinclair markets where the new cable competitor is being launched by Verizon. Sinclair noted in each announcement that it had reached a deal to receive compensation for supplying its analog, digital and multicast signals. And there was a hint in the Insight announcement that Sinclair is ready to play hardball with other MSOs. "Sinclair has previously indicated that it does not provide cable operators with its digital signals without receiving adequate consideration. Sinclair continues to negotiate with other cable systems, and as a reminder, in those markets and for those cable operators where agreements have not been reached, viewers can access the high definition digital signal for free over-the-air," the company said.
Retransmission settlement in Wyoming
Bresnan Communications cable subscribers in Wyoming didn't begin the New Year without their ABC, CBS and Fox stations after all (12/27/05 TVBR #250). Just before the weekend, the MSO reached an agreement with WyoMedia, which owns or supplies services to the Fox and CBS stations, and Chelsey Broadcasting, which owns the ABC affiliate. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed, but the Casper Star Tribune reported that it focused on ad purchases by Bresnan, rather than any per-subscriber payments. The newspaper also says Bresnan now has some 5,000 sets of rabbit ear antennas which it had been prepared to hand out to subscribers - - but now has no use for.
 CBS and Viacom begin
separate trading today
The mother ship separated over the weekend and the long-pending separation of "old" Viacom into two companies is reality. The new CBS Corporation was promoting its new logo and separate stock listing in TV spots on New Year's Day and today investors will be able to buy the pure play broadcasting stock - - although, in truth, there's also outdoor, book publishing and theme parks thrown in. The stocks of New Viacom (the cable TV/movie studio company) and CBS had already been trading on a "when issued" basis for several weeks. Based on Friday's trading, the market is giving a bit more value to the parts than to the former whole. The more widely held non-voting Class B stock of "old" Viacom closed forever at 32.60. In when issued trading, CBS Class B closed at 25.50 and New Viacom Class B at 41.15. Add together and divide by two (shareholders receive a half share of each new company for one of the old) and you get 33.32 and half penny. Beginning tomorrow, TVBR's daily stock listings will include CBS Class A (ticker "CBSA) and Class B ("CBS"). To square up bookkeeping for the separation, New Viacom" announced January 1st that it had paid a 5.4 billion bucks dividend to CBS Corporation. In an SEC filing, the companies also said that they would jointly determine the 2005 bonus for Sumner Redstone, who is now Chairman of both New Viacom and CBS. His new contract with CBS entitles him to a 1.75 million salary and 1.3 million in deferred compensation annually, plus a bonus. He signed a contract with identical terms for New Viacom.
TVBR observation: 6.1 million bucks, plus two bonus checks. Not bad for a couple of part time jobs.
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Planning for the war for the Senate
As we saw in 2004, when it comes to raking in dollars in the political category, location is everything. This time around, US Senate races in at least 10 states may make it onto the national party radar screens, meaning cash flowing from out of state may supplement home-grown supplies of green. Each party has 14 defending incumbents, and there are five open seats. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee will be trying to regain the upper chamber, and according to AP, with 22M in the bank, it has more than double the cash on hand of its Republican counterpart. The Dems will be targeting seven states currently held by Republicans: Arizona (Jon Kyl defending), Missouri (James Talent defending), Montana (Conrad Burns defending), Ohio (Mike DeWine defending), Pennsylvania (Rick Santorum defending), Rhode Island (Lincoln Chafee defending), and Tennessee (open, Bill Frist exiting). The Republicans are of course conceding nothing, and think they may take a few out of the Democrat's column, including Maryland (open, Paul Sarbanes exiting), Minnesota (open, Mark Dayton exiting), and New Jersey (Robert Menendez defending, filling out remainder of term for Governor-elect Jon Corzine).
TVBR observation: Senate seats rival governorships are the highest profile elective offices at the state level, and these high-profile campaigns just can't resist leaning on TV. Well-designed campaigns targeting the stations in a handful of cities is generally all that is needed in most states. However, we must pity the candidates in New Jersey, who must pay through the nose to reach people who don't vote in the state via stations in the New York and Philadelphia markets. Maryland candidates are in the same boat, forced to waste impressions on Washingtonians and Virginians.
 Spray it to say it
Advertising is already ubiquitous, and now, to coin a word, it is even ubiquitouser. It's not enough that you can't watch the entertainment portion of an advertiser supported TV program; you can't sit on a subway car or ride a bus; you can't look at the gear of a professional athlete; you can't watch a homerun sail over a fence at a baseball game; you can't look at the name of the stadium; you can't enter a public restroom, and in some bars you can't talk to a seeming innocent civilian or even look into a urinal; you can't look at the floor of your local supermarket; you can't even look at the forehead of certain enterprising youths with temporary tattoos; all of these things you cannot do without seeing somebody's commercial message. Now, another venue is in play, according to the Associated Press: graffiti. Wall art is said to be in use as part of a stealth campaign promoting PlayStation. Philadelphia, San Francisco and New York are said to be among several locations where the campaign is being run. In Philadelphia, the campaign is being assailed as fomenting urban blight and being otherwise illegal. Observers feel that fines for large corporations such as Sony could easily be swallowed as a cost of doing business. The best hope is that the corporation can be shamed into eschewing the practice.
Product placement fight may move
from Hollywood to Washington
Actors and writers want a cut. If more and more advertising cash it going directly into a program instead of into the breaks surrounding the entertainment portion of the program, actors and writers who make it happen want some of the money to be diverted in their direction. According to a Reuters report, unions representing both groups are making zero headway with major networks and studios which would just as soon keep the income to themselves.
TVBR observation: Some observers think the unions are using product placement as leverage to gain traction on other issues. On the other hand, the Writer's Guild has threatened to make an FCC issue out of product placement. Although one attorney cited in the article thinks the FCC threat is no more than a ploy, it is a fact that product placement is prominent on the list of things that concern Democratic Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, meaning that ploy or not, the WGA will be able to find at least one set of sympathetic ears at the Commission - - and probably two, if you take Michael Copps into consideration. Payola issues have been center ring in the New York state circus run by AG Eliot Spitzer, and could well become a more prominent issue in Washington is the Dems can goad Chairman Kevin Martin into some kind of action. Stay tuned.
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| Cable Business Report TM |
 Two nets pulled from EchoStar
Subscribers to EchoStar's Dish Network found themselves short two of their usual networks as of New Year's Day. Both Lifetime and Lifetime Movie Network were removed from the company's satellite offerings after the parties failed to come to an agreement as their old contract expired December 31st. EchoStar charges that Lifetime had demanded "an exorbitant increase of 76%" and said it refused because it would have had to pass the increased cost along to consumers. Lifetime insists that EchoStar is misrepresenting the situation and that it had offered to extend the contract through the holiday period, but EchoStar unilaterally pulled its programming. EchoStar is now offering subscribers a free preview of Women's Entertainment Network (WE), which it says "provides similar content to that on Lifetime."
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| Wall Street Media Business Report TM |
2005: Tough year for TV stocks
It appears that the best way for a TV company to boost its stock in 2005 was to sell itself. Of the 35 stocks that TVBR reports on daily, only five showed growth last year and three of those were driven by transactions in which they were the seller. Jefferson-Pilot announced a deal to be acquired by another insurance company, Lincoln National, with its radio and TV stations included. Liberty Corporation has a deal pending to sell the entire company to Raycom for nearly a billion bucks. And Emmis Communications rose because it spent much of the year selling off its TV assets, with a couple of deals yet to be announced, choosing to focus on the radio business. The year's biggest winner was McGraw-Hill, driven by its educational and financial data businesses, rather than its small TV station group. So, of the five gainers, the only one to move up on the strength of its broadcast performance was Univision - - and it rose only 0.4% for the year. At the other end of the scale, Young Broadcasting plunged 75.4% and became a penny stock as a year of poor advertising demand was particularly poor in San Francisco, home to its largest station, KRON-TV. Spanish Broadcasting System dropped 51.6% as investors punished the radio company severely for announcing plans to enter TV as well.
| Read 'em and weep |
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Ad Business Report TM
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 2006 brings major branding
campaign by new AT&T
AT&T, the company created by the merger of the former long distance company AT&T into regional bell company SBC, has kicked off the New Year with a major advertising campaign to establish its renewed 120-year-old brand. "Your World. Delivered." is the slogan for the massive branding campaign, which kicked off its first TV spot on ABC's "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve 2006." The year-long, multifaceted campaign will feature nationwide ads for the company's long-distance service and regional ads for its other services in the 13 states where people now get their local telephone service from AT&T. "The new AT&T will lead the industry in delivering the next generation of integrated solutions that deliver on the promise of virtually anywhere, anytime connectivity. This campaign will bring to life our pledge to deliver the real and proven solutions that enable our customers - - consumers, small businesses, federal government agencies, global and regional corporations - - to take charge of their world," said AT&T CEO Edward Whitacre Jr.
Home of the chronic iconic
A new Kansas City museum is scheduled to cut the ribbon in 2007. It will be devoted to preserving the legacy of advertising icons which have risen above their initial promotional purposes and become part of American pop culture. Aptly named the Advertising Icon Museum, it'll kick off with over 2K examples, led by Jolly Green Giant, Cap'n Crunch and Kool-Aid Man. There will be a 3-D "Walk of Fame" for new inductees selected by online voters, including this year's winners, Juan Valdez and the Geico gecko. There will also be a two-story mock-up of a typical US residence with each inducted icon represented in the appropriate room.
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| Media Markets & Money TM |
First spin-off from Raycom
With plans to divest a dozen stations as it acquires Liberty Corporation (11/2/05 TVBR #215), Raycom has now announced the first spin-off buyer. Morris Multimedia Inc. will pay 18.5 million bucks for WWAY-TV (Ch. 3, ABC) Wilmington, NC. Raycom had to dispose of one station in the Wilmington market and had already indicated that it would keep its own WECT-TV (Ch. 6, NBC) and divest WWAY, which is coming from Liberty. Morris Multimedia CEO Charles Morris called the acquisition a "great strategic fit" for the company's broadcast group, headed by President Dean Hinson. Morris, which owns more than 90 newspapers, currently has TV stations in Columbus, MS, Gulfport, MS and Macon, GA.
TVBR observation: Although not the largest market put on the auction block by Raycom, WWAY is one of the most attractive properties it had offered for sale. It's the only VHF station from the Liberty acquisition that was put up for sale. Raycom faced a dilemma in Wilmington, where it had to choose between two well-established big-three network affiliates, so it kept its own top billing WECT and sold off #2 WWAY.
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| Washington Media Business Report TM |
Arkansas station wins battle with EchoStar
The FCC has granted a special relief petition filed by KWFT-TV (CH. 34, WB) Eureka Springs, AR owner TV 34 Inc. which will require EchoStar's Dish Network to carry the station on its local-to-local service in the Ft. Smith-Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR market. Although Eureka Springs, its city of license, is in the Springfield, MO DMA, its transmitter is in Benton County, AR, in the Ft. Smith- Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR. EchoStar had previously rejected KWFT's carriage request and didn't carry it in either market, since Springfield, MO has its own WB affiliate. The FCC rejected EchoStar's contention that KWFT had no right to seek a change in its status until Nielsen publishes its market definitions for the next election cycle and said it would be less disruptive to the public to grant KWFT's waiver request now, since the alternative would have been for KWFT to demand must-carry by EchoStar for the Springfield market now, only to move to the Ft. Smith- Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR in the next cycle.
 TV stations slip off the hook
If you are honest in your dealings with the FCC, and if the violation is minor enough and promptly corrected, sometimes you can close the book on an infraction without having to open the old checkbook. Such was the case for a number of television stations as 2005 came to a close - - five of which belonged to Hearst-Argyle. In three cases, it simply had licenses renewed after reporting minor overages in commercial run-time during children's programming - - this was the case at WXII-TV Winston-Salem NC, KHBS-FM Ft. Smith AR and KHOG-TV Fayetteville AR. The other two were somewhat more serious, but resulted in cash-free FCC admonishments. Both involved public file omissions, relatively brief instances where children's programming and/or issues programming info was missing from the file. Such was the case at WBAL-TV Baltimore, where the information was misplaced after a remodeling project, and WLWT-TV Cincinnati, where children's info was absent for three quarters in 1997-1998. The sixth station, Beach TV Properties' WPCT-TV Panama City Beach, was also admonished for a 1998-1999 hiatus in children's programming data. All six licenses were renewed.
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| Entertainment Media Business Report TM |
 Still rockin' after all these years
As promised, TV icon Dick Clark was back on the air on New Year's Eve, after missing one year in his usual post on ABC due to the stroke he suffered in 2004. "I wouldn't have missed this for the world," Clark said, his voice a bit slurred from the still-lingering effects of his medical problems. At age 76, he left most of the active work to his new co-host, Ryan Seacrest.
TVBR observation: There were a few complaints that having a less than 100% Dick Clark appear was a downer for the New Year's audience, but we suspect that most were enthused to see the old work horse back behind the plow. Now that he's made his point, we wouldn't be surprised to see Clark decide to retire after this victory lap. On the other hand, if he makes a lot of progress in therapy this year, he might decide to keep at it a few more years. Photo Credit: By Heidi Gutman -- ABC Via Getty Images
ABC's new era begins today
Today's the day that ABC News begins its dual-anchor newscast, with Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff teamed up (12/6/05 TVBR #237) to carry on for the network, following last year's untimely death of Peter Jennings. For today's debut, Vargas will be in studio in New York, while Woodruff reports from Iran. With today's unveiling of ABC's new dual-anchor format, the anchor chair transition for the major networks is two-thirds complete. Brian Williams has been ensconced for more than a year as Tom Brokaw's successor at NBC - - and still leading the ratings race. Still to be decided is a permanent anchor (or anchors) at CBS, where Bob Schiefer has filled in for much longer than even he had expected after Dan Rather's not-entirely voluntary retirement last year.
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| Ratings & Research |
 CBS shows tops for TiVo pre-Christmas
With few reality shows and new series episodes in the week leading up to Christmas Eve, TiVo owners turned to a couple of CBS series, making "CSI: Miami" and "Two and a Half Men" the most TiVoed shows of the week.
| Tivo Top 25 List |
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| Monday Morning Makers & Shakers |
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Transactions: 11/21/05-11/25/05
All it takes is one biggie to reverse a slump. TV was no help during Thanksgiving week, but the Susquehanna to Cumulus stock transaction was, pushing a month which barely made it over 40M all the way into over the billion dollar threshold.
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Total
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Total Deals
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5
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AMs
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15
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FMs
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27
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TVs
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0
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| Value |
1.2034B
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| Complete Charts |
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Radio Transactions of the Week
34 stations, 1.2B, need we say any more?
| More... |
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TV Transactions of the Week
Still no action.
| More... |
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| Transactions |
85M WNDU-TV South Bend IN. 100% of Michiana Telecasting Corp. from The University of Notre Dame du Lac (John I. Jenkins) to Gray Television Group Inc. (J. Mack Robinson et al). 1.5M escrow, balance in cash at closing. Includes non-compete. Buyer will also provide 8.5M letter of credit. Cross-ownership with newspaper The Goshen News, 25 miles away in the South Bend DMA. LMA intil closing. [File date 12/5/05.]
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| Stock Talk |
Dow downer closes out 2005
With concerns about Merck and General Motors weighing on the market, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 67 points on the year's last trading day, to end at 10,718. That capped a down year for the stock market, which saw the Blue Chip index fall 0.6% for all of 2005.
TV stocks were also mostly lower on the last day of trading for 2005. A notable exception was Nexstar, which pushed up 3.1% to finish the year a single penny above the penny stock demarcation line of five bucks. Gray Television also had an up day, with its common gaining 2.5% and Class A 2.8%. Viacom finished the year with an up day, just before its split into New Viacom and CBS Corporation. "Old" Viacom's Class A stock gained 1.1% and Class B 0.8%. Friday's worst performers among TV stocks were Saga, down 2%, and LIN, off 1.9%.
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| Stocks |
Here's how stocks fared on Friday
| Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
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Acme
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ACME
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3.55
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-0.10
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Media General
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MEG
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50.70
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-0.53
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Belo
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BLC
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21.41
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-0.30
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Meredith
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MDP
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52.34
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-0.06
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Clear Channel
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CCU
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31.45
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-0.23
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News Corp.
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NWS
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16.61
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-0.06
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Disney
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DIS
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23.97
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-0.20
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Nexstar
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NXST
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5.01
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+0.15
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Emmis
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EMMS
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19.91
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-0.01
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NY Times
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NYT
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26.45
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+0.01
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Entravision
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EVC
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7.12
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-0.03
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Paxson
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PAX
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0.90
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+0.01
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Fisher
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FSCI
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41.43
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-0.53
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Saga Commun.
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SGA
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10.87
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-0.22
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Gannett
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GCI
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60.57
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-0.48
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SBS
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SBSA
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5.11
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unch
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Gen. Electric
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GE
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35.05
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-0.14
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Scripps
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SSP
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48.02
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+0.02
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Granite
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GBTVK
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0.21
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unch
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Sinclair
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SBGI
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9.20
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-0.13
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Gray
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GTN
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9.82
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+0.24
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Time Warner
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TWX
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17.44
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-0.04
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Gray, C1. A
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GTNa
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9.05
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+0.25
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Tribune
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TRB
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30.26
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-0.24
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Hearst-Argyle
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HTV
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23.85
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-0.20
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Univision
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UVN
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29.39
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-0.19
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Jeff-Pilot
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JP
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56.93
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-0.20
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Viacom, Cl. A
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VIA
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32.76
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+0.34
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Journal Comm.
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JRN
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13.95
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-0.07
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Viacom, Cl. B
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VIAb
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32.60
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+0.25
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Liberty Corp
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LC
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46.81
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-0.07
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Wash. Post
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WPO
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765.00
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unch
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LIN TV
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TVL
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11.14
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-0.22
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Young
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YBTVA
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2.60
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-0.08 |
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McGraw-Hill
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MHP
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51.63
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-0.83
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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 tvnews@rbr.com
Taking issue with the CAB (12/29/05 TVBR #252).
Cable's supposition is ridiculous and insulting on two points.
1.) Cable sells "their" ratings using "their universe" not a universal universe. They also do not acknowledge ADS as being a part of "their" ratings on the local level. [TVB President] Chris Rohrs would do a much better job of quickly pointing this out.
2.) Let's suppose that, in fact, the statement that the more affluent and desirable people are the ones that buy the digital tier is true. (Although the observational and anecdotal data would lead you to believe that every trailer home has a satellite dish, and we have all seen less affluent people driving luxury cars. Affluence matters only with really exclusive or expensive items, not utilities. If affluence mattered with utilities we would have designer power companies or boutique cell service.) We also know that the cash cow of refinancing your home, leasing your cars and spending more than you earn because of easy credit is about to run its course. We can clearly see that those cash strapped consumers are going to either flock to ADS (cheaper) or cut back on the 200 channels they don't watch (practical). Bankruptcies are up in that "desirable" sector anyway, so I do not know how they are anymore desirable than the less affluent who we have already observed to be poor stewards of financial decision making.
I have a question. Has the Federal Government really mandated that I must spend between 100-300 bucks on a digital/HD tuner, 300-2,500 on a new TV with a built in tuner or 600-1,500 a year on subscription television in order to get what was once free? This was done so that they could subsidize some other commercial venture which will become too expensive in five years? Just wondering.
Respectfully,
Ken Maddox
Local Sales Manager
KLKN-TV
Lincoln, NE
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Below the Fold
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Ad Business Report
New AT&T ads
Start with new branding campaign...
Media Markets & Money
First spin-off from Raycom
Plans to divest a dozen stations as it acquires Liberty...
Washington Media Business Report
Arkansas station wins battle
With EchoStaras FCC has granted a special relief petition filed by ...
Entertainment Business Report
Still rockin' after all these years
Dick Clark was back on the air and Bravo to a dear friend...
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NATPE Day Time Planner
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The following will be attending NATPE. Call or email to make your appointment in advance.
The Television Syndication Company, Inc.
Cassie M. Yde, President
THE Hotel at Mandalay Bay,
Phone at THE Hotel: 877-632-7800,
Cell Phone: 407-252-7386
Email: Cassie@tvsco.com
Patrick Communications
Larry Patrick, President,
Greg Guy, Vice President,
410-740-0250,
larry@patcomm.com,
greg@patcomm.com
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RBR - Radio News
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No light at the
end of the tunnel
RAB's report that radio revenues were flat in November was no surprise (12/29/05 RBR #251), but the issue now is figuring out when things will get better. Wachovia Securities analyst Marci Ryvicker is looking for that light at the end of the tunnel, but she doesn't see it yet. "At this point in time, we do not feel that the radio industry has a well-defined near-term catalyst as the sector's fundamentals continue to deteriorate, M&A activity has slowed, and both investors and advertisers have become increasingly more interested in new media. We suggest that investors remain selective in the radio sector," she said in a note to clients. Ryvicker's near-term picks are Univision, for monetization of its World Cup rights and strong upfront sales (both TV driven), and Clear Channel, for its easy comps from LIM and positive ratings trends. After factoring in the flat November (she'd been looking for +1%), the Wachovia analyst is now looking for radio revenues to be down 2% in Q4, worse than her previous -1% projection, with December coming in up 2%.
RBR observation: Ryvicker's analysis is to the point and all should pay extreme caution to her words as RBR could not have said it any better - - "At this point in time, we do not feel that the radio industry has a well-defined near-term catalyst as the sector's fundamentals continue to deteriorate, M&A activity has slowed, and both investors and advertisers have become increasingly more interested in new media." The key is simple - - New Media - - ad clients are going to test and try all new technology delivering content as this holiday should new developments in hand held technology.
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TVBR Radar 2005
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Television News you won't read any where else. TVBR--First, Accurate, and Independently Owned.
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CAB: It's ratings,
not ADS that count
TVB likes to crow about how cable can't deliver all local households, because a growing percentage subscribe to alternate delivery systems (ADS), predominately satellite TV. CAB says that's not the point. Advertisers buy advertising based on ratings, and he notes that cable ratings continue to grow.
TVBR observation: No matter how each association views cable or satellite delivery the common fact is the consumer is in control and it boils down to cost. Cable is higher since their costs of maintaining employees, trucks, etc are higher. Satellite is positioned on the roof and it is up to the consumer to maintain the dish. It is cost control time in 2006.
12/29/05 TVBR #252
2005: The year of penny stocks
No, we're not saying that 2005 was a year to make a killing playing the penny stock market. We have no idea whether it was or not. What we do know is that three public TV companies who began the year in the reputable part of the stock market, where stocks of five bucks or more per share can be readily traded and even bought on margin, are ending the year in penny stock hell - - being traded by the market's scavengers.
TVBR observation: How many group heads have we heard from this year who'd been bitten by the Wall Street bug a few years back, but didn't get their IPO preparations together in time? They're breathing a sigh of relief that they didn't get caught up in the rat race of having to answer to The Street's expectations quarter after quarter - - and seeing their stock price fall for reasons beyond their control. Now it's the guys who did make it through the IPO window who are trying to figure out how to go private - - and that ain't easy in the current market.
12/28/05 TVBR #251
Next retransmission
showdown: Wyoming
Now that Nexstar has resolved that battles that pulled its TV signals off systems owned by two cable MSOs, the retransmission payment battleground is shifting to Wyoming, where New Year's Day could see CBS affiliate KGWC-TV Casper and its KGWL-TV Lander, WY satellite removed from systems owned by Bresnan Communications. At that's just the beginning.
TVBR observation: Following the Nexstar battles with Cox and Cable One which began almost a year ago, we had expected to see several other broadcasters in showdowns with cable systems for January 1, 2006. Have the MSOs become more accommodating, or are there other threats to pull signals off cable that jut haven't been made public yet?
12/27/05 TVBR #250
Publisher Perspective
Where's the media going, TV,
the blogs, Internet, cable?
This is not my question but one that was asked this past Christmas morning by NBC's Washington Bureau Chief Tim Russert to former NBC 'Nightly News' anchor Tom Brokaw and former ABC 'Nightline' host Ted Koppel. Brokaw summed it up by stating it is a new universe in the media or a new frontier like the Oklahoma land rush as it is a new landscape where they (we all in the changing media) are hoping to find land with a pot of oil somewhere. The internet was unknown five years ago and today it is a powerful tool to deliver news or propaganda and as I see it there is a very thin line between the two. There is a new universe of media and media business like planets but only the brightest are gonna survive or support life. I can only say for the record that if you do not have a strong stomach for combat then it is time for a career change as 2006 is going be a wild ride.
12/27/05 TVBR #250
Moody's downgrades VNU
There's more financial pressure on the management of Nielsen parent VNU. Moody's Investors Service has downgraded its long-term debt and that of its Nielsen Media Ratings Inc. subsidiary - - and kept them under review for a possible further downgrade. Unless VNU is sold (and the company has acknowledged getting takeover bids), Moody's says VNU is likely to focus on its core assets, particularly! its media ratings and data businesses, while suggesting that divestitures are likely in its B-to-B businesses (trade publications and trade shows).
Publisher Courtesy: Any reader to a VNU trade such as Billboard, Ad or Media Week are welcome here at RBR, TVBR, Media Mix and our monthly Solutions Magazine - Independently owned for 23 years and dependable. We are going to grow again in 2006. Start this morning to receive
12/21/05 TVBR #248
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