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Volume 24, Issue 1, Jim Carnegie, Editor & Publisher
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Wednesday Morning January 3rd, 2007
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TV News ®
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 The puzzle is coming together:
A Nielsen stock in 2007?
That would be a pretty good bet. New VNU CEO David Calhoun has begun reconfiguring the company to create a payoff for its new private equity owners. As predicted by RBR/TVBR, one was a move to increase the influence and importance of the head of the main profit center, Nielsen Media Research. Susan Whiting is still the top dog for the TV ratings operation, but she is now Executive Vice President of the entire company and her title at Nielsen Media Research is Chairman, up from President. At the same time, VNU announced that it had found a buyer for its European business-to-business magazines, mostly computer titles, in 3i, a European venture capital and private equity company. And VNU confirmed that it is looking to reduce its worldwide payroll by about 4,000 people, or 10% of its workforce. That is not an across-the-board reduction, so the US publications/trade shows division and ACNielsen will face deeper cuts than the cash cow, Nielsen Media Research.
TVBR observation: There is much weight on CEO Calhoun but more weight and pressure on newly appointed inside veteran now EX VP Whiting. What is next? Well, still much work to be done inside the mega company in all of their various divisions that TVBR has little space to outline what is needed and VNU has so little time. One thing TVBR does know that if the little things or certain divisions are not properly repaired and prepared for 2007 it will make what is ahead more difficult. Look for the big push this year: Job one for CEO Calhoun, recruited from the upper echelons of GE, is to improve profitability and prepare VNU for an IPO. Job two: Look for a reincorporation in the US from The Netherlands, Job three: A name brand change to something emphasizing the strength and brand recognition of the Nielsen name and Job four: an IPO filing. All of that could well happen this year.
CBS and Time Warner settle with Granite
The owners of the new CW network, CBS and Time Warner, have agreed to make payments to Granite Broadcasting to settle a lawsuit by Granite that the shutdown of the WB network violated its contractual rights and led to the collapse of a 180 million bucks deal to sell its stations in San Francisco and Detroit. Granite, now in Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, will receive cash payments totaling 13.2 million (a 15.5 million settlement, minus 2.3 million that Granite owed under programming contracts). However, the filing in the bankruptcy case states that Granite will gross over 24 million from the settlement via the cash payments and waivers of past due amounts otherwise payable to either Time Warner or CBS. Granite will not have to pay anything for 2.7 million in claims under its affiliation agreements or six million in claims related to "The Drew Carey Show." The filing does not spell out how Time Warner and CBS will split the payment to Granite, but the programming contracts in question are all with Warner Bros. Television, owned by Time Warner. Granite plans to emerge from Chapter 11 as a privately owned company, with Silver Point Finance LLC as its primary owner.
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The regulatory battlefield for 2007
All three branches of government left unfinished communications business on the table as Old Man 2006 tottered off the playing field and the Cherub on 2007 took over. Here is a recap: The executive branch, represented by the FCC, is in the midst of its 2006-2007 review of the media ownership rules that began way back in 2002-2003. A handful of rules, including the switch to an Arbitron-BIA market/geographical approach to determining radio markets (where Arbitron is present) and a new rule making JSAs attributable for cap compliance purposes made it through judicial review, but most of the rest of the package did not. Official FCC public forums have been held in Los Angeles and Nashville, with four more to go. This project seems likely to drag on throughout the year. Across the Mall on Capitol Hill, the legislative branch attempted to pass legislation granting a national franchise policy to telcos looking to compete with cable which ultimately were hung up over the issue of network neutrality. Look for Democrats to challenge an FCC attempt to do the same thing. The Democrats are itching to bring oversight back to the forefront in the form of hearings, and will likely have more topics of interest than time to accommodate them. While cable/telco will likely be at the forefront of the agenda, it's unclear what other topics will hit the agenda. Television broadcasters would like to see a mandate for multicast must-carry, something cable interests have been fighting tooth and nail. On the judicial front, the Second Circuit in New York has heard oral arguments for two indecency cases, one involving two Billboard Awards broadcasts on Fox, and the other over the CBS Janet Jackson Super Bowl fiasco. We may see rulings by early springtime, and they will, to say the least, be of extreme interest.
 Web denizen looks
at FCC and decency
Webzine ars technica seems to have noticed the new possibility open to broadcasters forced to operate under programming restrictions that apply only to them and not to competitors. It noted the recent decision to take a "director's cut" of an NBC Saturday Night Live skit and post it on YouTube. It also noticed the FCC getting twisted into knots by judges at the Second Circuit as it tried to explain and defend its indecency policies. Noting that a positive result for the FCC on this count is certainly at the very least in doubt, ars technica notes that the networks will still have checks on there programming, writing "...it won't quite be the Wild West - the networks will still be accountable to their public. Groups like the Parents Television Council...will shift their focus from the FCC to the networks that will be on the receiving end of email and letter campaigns, boycotts, and punditry whenever they show material that some consider objectionable." It thinks the FCC has three choices. One is to give up and devote its energies elsewhere, two is to start regulating broadcasting competitors, and three is to stick to broadcast-only decency regulation while the networks themselves increasingly turn to the internet for spillover material. It thinks the third course is most likely.
TVBR observation: You'd think broadcast programming was a ceaseless barrage of orgiastic and excretory excess, to hear some accounts. It just isn't true. The vast majority of airtime is completely decent by almost any measure. And even though broadcasters are free to stretch the limits starting at 10PM, most do not. This simply is not the major issue that many want to make it. That said, we believe that the single most effective thing a watchdog can do to register its disapproval of a given program is to damage its income by pressuring advertisers to pull out or by getting a large number of people to refuse to buy an advertiser's goods or services. PTC tries to do this already, and it is a far better tactic than blasting the FCC with copycat click-and-send emails. Combined with very basic, clear, bright line indecency rules of the road (if such a thing is possible) and diligent application of effective blocking technology by programmers, there should be little reason to continue making a mountain out of this molehill.
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 Coming in 2007:
New bosses at Clear Channel
At first glance, the corporate office in San Antonio won't be changing much when Clear Channel Communications is taken private early this year (as early as government approvals can be obtained), but below the surface much is changing. Mark Mays will still be CEO and Randall Mays will be CFO, with the two sharing the title of President. Their father, company co-founder Lowry Mays, receives the title Chairman Emeritus, but no actual vote on the board. Instead, the private equity firms backing the buyout will be firmly in control. Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital will each have four seats, while Mark and Randall Mays fill the remaining two seats on the 10-seat board. So, the Mays family will no longer have de facto control, as they did when Clear Channel was a public company without a majority shareholder. All of this will likely matter much less to TVBR readers at some point this year, since Clear Channel has put its entire TV group up for sale, along with nearly 500 radio stations.
TVBR observation: Lowry and his family will walk away with over a billion bucks from the buyout, but Mark and Randall are going to be faced with a new reality of working for people who don't share their last name. They and Clear Channel Radio CEO John Hogan will have to hit the performance marks set by their new bosses or risk being sent packing. Since the Mays brothers had previously agreed to dramatically reduce their golden parachutes, they obviously believe they are up to the new task, but now they have to prove themselves. We know who will be running the company in 2007, but will they still be there in 2008 or 2009?
Retrans turning into a game of hardball
Another retransmission clash may leave a broadcast black hole in a cable system lineup. In Spokane, Northwestern Broadcasting has announced it is pulling Fox KAYU-TV Channel 28 off of Time Warner cable systems, saying "that a stalemate has been reached in it sincere repeated attempts to negotiate a retransmission agreement..." KAYU used its website to inform viewers that cable systems regularly pay as much as 3-4 dollars per subscriber per month for certain basic cable channels (it mentions Lifetime, CNN, USA, BET, A&E and ESPN, without speculating on any individual carriage fees). The station also charges that Time Warner is threatening to drop a sister station in Binghamton NY if it doesn't get its way in Spokane. The Spokane station is available on DBS, but there is no local-into-local currently available in Binghamton, which has owner Northwestern calling foul. KAYU is actively trying to move its viewers from Time Warner to DirecTV. Meanwhile, Time Warner and Sinclair have decided to keep talking until 1/12/07, according to The Buffalo News, which is interested in the fate of its own local Sinclair outlets, Fox WUTV and MTN WNYO. On a positive note, Sinclair has announced an agreement with McLeod USA, which will retransmit KGAN-TV to about 60% of the Cedar Rapids market. It says that 20K homes affected by the stalled Sinclair/Mediacom negotiations could switch cable operators in order to receive the station without resorting to a DBS subscription.
TVBR observation: We again would urge both sides of the retrans battle to exercise due caution. Speaking as one consumer, we would not be thrilled about the necessity to switch from cable to satellite, or vice versa, because of arm wrestling over retrans fees by people who are also going to be inflicting ads on us. We'll bet there aren't any average viewers seated at the negotiating table getting a chance to put in their two cents before the monthly fee is jacked up two dollars. With increasing competition for attention coming in from all quarters, shouldn't the focus of all programmers and distributors be on growing and maintaining audience, rather than on pricing and/or inconveniencing more and more people away?
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| Wall Street Media Business Report TM |
 DG FastChannel
stuffs its own stocking
Rather than wait to see what Santa might bring, DG FastChannel went shopping for itself and struck a deal December 22nd to buy an 11.4% stake in Point.360 from three Midwood Capital entities. The price was 3.25 per share for a total of just over 3.6 million. Both companies are publicly traded. In fact, you could have bought shares in Point.360 for about half that price a few weeks earlier. DG FastChannel indicated in an SEC filing that it does not plan to be just a passive investor in Point.360, but rather that it may hold active discussions with officials of Point.360 about such things as strategic alternatives and a recapitalization or sale of the company. DG FastChannel said it may also buy additional shares of Point.360 and even seek control of its board of directors. Point.360 calls itself "an integrated media management services company." It provides film, video, and audio post production; archival; duplication; and distribution services to customers operating in the entertainment and advertising industries. That fits pretty well with DG FastChannel's primary business lines of distributing advertising to radio, TV, cable, print and online outlets, along with digital management tools for archiving and such.
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Ad Business Report TM
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Trends to watch for in 2007
JWT, the largest advertising agency in the US and the fourth-largest in the world, is marking the New Year with a list of 70 "in" products, services and trends that will help to define 2007. "Trends are illustrated by the products and services that exemplify them," says leading trendspotter Marian Salzman, EVP, chief marketing officer of JWT Worldwide and co-author (with Ira Matathia) of the new book Next Now, a travelogue into the near future. "By examining what resonates with consumers, we can identify the larger patterns that will shape our lives in the years to come," she said. "As globalization continues to make our world seem smaller, localization will come to a head in 2007. We'll put great emphasis on sourcing everything from food to textiles. Decadent and excessive consumption will fall to the wayside as we stress quality, minimal environmental impact and support of local producers," said Ann Mack, director of trendspotting at JWT. Without further ado, here is your guide to trends in 2007.
| The List |
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| Media Markets & Money TM |
Close encounter in Pennsylvania
Nexstar Broadcasting pick-up of a pair of Pennsylvania TV stations is a done deal. The 56M transaction brought in CBS WTAJ-TV Johnstown/Altoona, and CW WLYH-TV, hailing form the Lancaster portion of the Harrisburg-Lancaster-Lebanon-York DMA. The seller was Television Station Group Holdings. WLYH is currently being run pursuant to an LMA with Clear Channel's CBS WHP-TV that's scheduled to run through 2015. Nexstar's Perry Sook noted that the deal came in at less than 8.5X pro forma 20006 EBITDA and that existing retrans agreements would be overlaid at WTAJ. The group's other active Pennsylvania DMAs are Wilkes Barre-Scranton and Erie.
Tax planning at Univision
With Univision set to be taken private in 2007 by Haim Saban and his private equity backers, some top executives of the company were making some prudent tax maneuvers as 2006 drew to a close. President Ray Rodriguez exercised options for 515,000 shares at prices ranging from 15.69 to 28.55 each, then sold most of them (all but 100K) immediately for market prices of 35.36-35.45. CFO Andrew Hobson exercised options for 400,000 shares at 15.69-17.06 and sold most of them (keeping over 97K) for 35.35-35.38). Both will be pocketing lots more cash when the entire company is sold for 36.25 per share, but each will also have to send Uncle Sam a hefty check for capital gains.
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| Washington Media Business Report TM |
 FEC fines set new standard
The Federal Election Commission assessed over 6.2M worth of fines in 2006 for violations of campaign regulations, an amount is says is more than double the previous single-year total. That would mean that one fine, a 3.8M whopper levied on Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), is by itself greater than the total for any one year. "The Commission has demonstrated a renewed commitment to vigorous enforcement this year" said 2006 FEC Chairman Michael Toner. "Our performance this year sends a strong message that while we will do our best to encourage voluntary compliance, we will also seek significant civil penalties when we uncover serious violations of federal election laws." Of greater interest to broadcasters, however, was the 630K dropped on a trio of 527 organizations. This category of non-profit benefited from an unclosed loophole that allowed them to use unrestricted donations for certain types of advertising. The three 527s were nailed for behaving like an undeclared political action committee during the 2004 election season. One of them, MoveOn.org, already moved to small donations during the 2006 midterms.
TVBR observation: Although on the face of it, closing the 527 loophole would seem to lower the amount of cash associated with campaigning, it seems that the cash always finds its way into the system one way or another. Our guess is that political spending will continue to grow regardless of what the FEC does.
Compromise moves Telco merger forward
The Federal Communications Commission finally approved the 85M AT&T acquisition of BellSouth after AT&T agreed to conditions in return for the two Democratic votes they had hitherto been unable to win, ending a standing 2-2 8th floor deadlock. When FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell decided to turn down the opportunity to vote on the transaction, it apparently exhausted that last "Hail Mary" pass in the playbook of Kevin Martin to get the DOJ-approved merger approved by his own agency. The goal-line stand from Democrats Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein has resulted certain agreements in exchange for allowing the transaction to move forward. AT&T said that it "...commits that it will maintain a neutral network and neutral routing in its wireline brand Internet access service." It will offer no deal to any service, even if it is co-owned, that "privileges, degrades or prioritizes any packet transmitted over AT&T/BellSouth's wireline broadband Internet access service..." It also committed to offer affordable digital service on a standalone basis.
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| Cable Business Report TM |
Monday Night Football a big hit for ESPN
It is hardly a surprise, but ESPN has assembled the numbers for just how well Monday Night Football did in its first season after moving from broadcast TV on ABC to cable on ESPN, easily claiming the title of most-watched series in cable TV history. The 17 games averaged 9,109,000 homes (12,325,000 P2+), based on a 9.9 rating, and are the biggest 17 household audiences for cable television in 2006. Those were increases of 39%, 43% and 41%, respectively, compared to last years ESPN Sunday Night Football (7.1 rating, 6.388 million homes, 8.735 million viewers). The accompanying Monday Night Surround content on ESPN.com sparked an increase of Monday traffic to the site of 52%. Broadcast TV was also a beneficiary. Each MNF game was simulcast on local over-the-air channels in the local markets of the competing teams, boosting ESPN's audience to an estimated average of 9,600,000 households. This would represent over a 10.0 rating on ESPN. The total also includes those viewing in high definition on ESPN HD.
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| Entertainment Media Business Report TM |
 "Scrubs" return
gets YouTube preview
NBC's comedy "Scrubs" returns to the lineup tomorrow (Thursdays, 9-9:30 pm ET), but fans have been able to get a sneak preview since last Friday on YouTube of a unique musical episode set to air January 18th. "Everything Comes Down to Poo," performed by Golden Globe nominee Zach Braff, Donald Faison and guest star Stephanie D'Abruzzo, is available exclusively on YouTube and is the second preview to hit the Internet. "Guy Love" performed by Braff and Faison, a song that outlines the unique relationship between their characters, is also available on YouTube and for download on iTunes through February. Life is but a song for the cast of "Scrubs" in tomorrow's musical episode featuring songs written by the Tony Award-winning composers of "Avenue Q," Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx. The episode showcases original "Avenue Q" cast member D'Abruzzo as a patient who checks into Sacred Heart complaining of hearing incessant music - and the hospital is soon turned into a stage. "Scrubs" is produced by Touchstone Television. Bill Lawrence is the executive producer and creator. By the way, the episode airing tomorrow on NBC is also unusual, in that it pays homage to the medical drama series "House," which airs on Fox.
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| Ratings & Research |
Survivor finale tops with TiVo-ers
Overall ratings for the finale of "Survivor" on CBS may have been down from previous years, but the reality show was still a big hit with people who own TiVo machines. It was the most watched/recorded show in the weekly TiVo ratings.
| Tivo Top 25 |
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| Monday Morning Makers & Shakers |
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Transactions: 11/13/06-11/17/06
The on-again off-again autumn trading pattern reverted back to the off setting. Actually, it's pretty much been off, but every other week it seems that a one nine-digit transaction has been filed to create the illusion of rampant trading activity. This week, the Inner City Philly spin-off of WHAT beat out Armada sailing into McCook NE and vicinity for top dollar honors.
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Total
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Total Deals
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11
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AMs
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7
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FMs
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12
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TVs
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0
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| Value |
10.756M
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| Complete Charts |
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Radio Transactions of the Week
Marconi gets what's WHAT
| More... |
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TV Transactions of the Week
Nothing going on here
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| Stock Talk |
Soft end to strong year
Trading was subdued Friday, ending a generally good year for Wall Street, having seen the Dow Industrials push to a record close above 12,500 shortly before the end of 2006. For the final day of trading, the blue chip barometer was down 39 points, or 0.3%, to 12,463.
But while the Dow was up 16.3% for 2006, it was a disappointing year for most TV stocks as traders turned away from "old media" stocks. That held true Friday, with most TV stocks lower. Saga was down 2.2%, with Media General and Tribune each down 2.1%.
2007 trading begins today, following an extremely rare four-day closure of the nation's stock exchanges. After closing as usual for Saturday and Sunday, the markets were closed Monday in observance of New Year's Day and then Tuesday as well, the official national day of mourning for the death of former President Gerald Ford.
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| Stocks |
Here's how stocks fared on Tuesday
| Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
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Acme
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ACME
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5.02
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-0.06
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McGraw-Hill
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MHP
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68.02
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-0.43
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Belo
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BLC
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18.37
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-0.27
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Media General
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MEG
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37.17
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-0.79
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| CBS CI. B |
CBS |
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31.18
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-0.32
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Meredith
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MDP
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56.35
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-0.49
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| CBS CI. A |
CBSa |
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31.22
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-0.35
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News Corp.
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NWS
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22.26
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-0.12
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Clear Channel
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CCU
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35.54
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-0.02
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Nexstar
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NXST
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4.65
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+0.06
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Disney
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DIS
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34.27
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-0.25
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NY Times
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NYT
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24.36
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+0.07
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Emmis
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EMMS
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8.24
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+0.01
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Ion Media
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ION
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0.50
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unch
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Entravision
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EVC
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8.22
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-0.12
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Saga Commun.
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SGA
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9.61
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-0.21
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Fisher
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FSCI
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44.21
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-0.68
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SBS
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SBSA
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4.11
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-0.02
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Gannett
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GCI
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60.46
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-0.70
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Scripps
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SSP
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49.94
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-0.52
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Gen. Electric
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GE
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37.21
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-0.27
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Sinclair
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SBGI
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10.50
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-0.17
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Granite
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GBTVK
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0.13
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+0.03
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SWMX
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SWMX
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2.10
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+0.10
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Gray
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GTN
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7.33
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-0.01
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Time Warner
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TWX
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21.78
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-0.22
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Gray, C1. A
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GTNa
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8.22
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-0.08
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Tribune
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TRB
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30.78
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-0.61
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Hearst-Argyle
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HTV
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25.50
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-0.26
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Univision
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UVN
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35.42
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-0.03
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Journal Comm.
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JRN
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12.61
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-0.05
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Wash. Post
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WPO
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745.60
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-10.90
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Lincoln Natl.
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LNC
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66.40
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-0.06
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Young
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YBTVA
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2.82
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+0.07
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LIN TV
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TVL
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9.95
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-0.08
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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 tvnews@rbr.com
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TV Media Moves
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ACME addition
Rick Wasserman has been named to fill a vacant seat on the board of directors at ACME Communications. Wasserman is COO and CFO of Mitchell & Ness Nostalgia Co., a privately-held manufacturer and distributor of licensed sportswear and authentic team apparel.
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Below the Fold
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Wall Street Media Business Report
DG FastChannel
Stuffs its own stocking went shopping for itself...
Ad Business Report
Trends to watch for in 2007
A travelogue into the near future and the list is vast...
Entertainment Media
Business Report
"Scrubs" return
Gets YouTube preview...
Ratings & Research
Survivor finale
Tops with TiVo-ers...
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Stations for Sale
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New York City
2 LPTVs for Sale
Price Reduced-both for $9 mil
Washington DC - $5 mil
Philadelphia - $2.5 mil
Atlantic City - $1 mil
GeorgeWKimble@aol.com
Kozacko Media Services
520-299-4869
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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Is pay-per-post
a wave of the future?
Web Pro News says that a group of selected bloggers has been receiving special holiday gifts from PR firm Edelman, apparently on behalf of Microsoft and AMD. The gift is a no-strings-attached high end laptop computer loaded with Windows Vista. At least one blogger disclosed how the process worked. He received an email from Edelman that the gift was coming, and it did. There was no request for favorable blog mentions, for payment of any kind or a request for return of the laptop for any reason. Still, many feel that the gift is an unethical attempt to generate positive buzz on the Internet for the Vista launch, basically an updated payola scheme called pay-per-post by one blogger. Another noted that the plan may actually generate negative buzz from bloggers in the software review universe who were left out of the bonanza. It joins a number of methods, such as corporate-generated efforts disguised as grassroots blogs, in the armory of unethical computer buzz techniques.
ABC gets digital
in Yuma
The Yuma, AZ-El Centro, CA market is no longer without one of the big four nets. A new ABC affiliate launched New Year's Day as a digital multicast of KECY-TV, the Fox affiliate owned by News-Press & Gazette.
Parallel lessons from
the primate world
It is important when programming music to make sure that the balance between types of songs is such that it provides contrasting styles to keep listener interest at a high level. Love songs are great, but too many of them in a row and your audience will be pushing buttons looking for some excitement, some angst, or a simple dance beat. We not learn from the Associated Press that gibbons residing in Thailand use song in their daily routine (we have personally heard the gibbons in action at the local zoo, and they would have an excellent future in the biz if they can only find the right agent and a patient record company with a pantry well-stocked with bananas). Much of the gibbon music, like that of humans, involves the hunt a mate or the proclamation that a matrimonial bond has been formed. But scientists have discovered they also use a different style of song as a warning when certain predators are in the vicinity.
TVBR observation: Nevertheless, human nature being what it is, it's probably only a matter of time before some watchprimate group complains to the FCC that no matter where you go in the rain forest, you hear the same set of gibbon songs, which are obviously being force-fed to local gibbons from song-guru sitting in an ivory tower in some far-off corporate headquarters. And so it goes.
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TVBR Radar 2006
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Television News you won't read any where else. TVBR--First, Accurate, and Independently Owned.
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TVBR observation: Things didn't work out as Sumner planned
A year ago, Sumner Redstone had it all planned out. By splitting Viacom in two, he could create two companies - one a high-energy Wall Street growth vehicle and the other a stable, profitable but slow-growth media company. It sort of worked out that way, but the reverse of what was planned. As 2006 came to an end, "new" Viacom's stock price remains stuck in neutral and CBS Corporation is the Wall Street darling. Les Moonves and the "old media" gang at CBS have been spinning off non-core assets, like Paramount Parks and smaller market radio stations, while moving into cable TV, podcasting and online streaming. The guy who supposedly got the better deal, Tom Freston, is unemployed - forced out in early September after failing to deliver on Redstone's view of the cutting-edge new media company that Viacom was supposed to become. Redstone called it "humiliating" that Freston let News Corporation grab a deal to acquire MySpace from under his nose. At this point, Wall Street has definitely embraced CBS as the better bet. Its stock is up more than 23% this year, while Viacom is down over 2%.
12/28/06 TVBR #250
Radio boycotters face
advertiser boycott in Philly
Arbitron is just weeks away from going live with PPM ratings in Philadelphia, but a reliable source in the market tells RBR/TVBR that neither Clear Channel nor Radio One stations are encoding. That's 37.5% of the market's billings. We also heard, but couldn't confirm, that Carat told Arbitron they are not going to buy any stations that are not encoded. If there were several agencies doing that, it would put enormous pressure on the radio companies to encode. The deadline for PPM encoding is Jan 11 in the market.
TVBR observation: In some ways this is a bit of a déjà vu recalling the initial struggle over acceptance of Nielsen's Local People Meters, except that no encoding was needed for LPM and the major groups fighting the new meters had already signed contracts to subscribe to the new service. Since it is in the midst of going private, Clear Channel has the luxury of being able to take a hit in one market while continuing to push for testing of an alternative to PPM being developed by The Media Audit/Ipsos - and Radio One has its own quarrel with Arbitron over pricing. Meanwhile, we wondered about PPM data for TV in Philly. After all, broadcast and cable TV channels there were part of the initial US test of PPM and Arbitron has continued to produce some TV data in the current test market, Houston, even though Nielsen decided to pass on a joint venture. Arbitron tells RBR/TVBR that encoding by TV stations in Philadelphia will be a "Custom Research" service, not as part of the syndicated radio ratings service.
12/28/06 TVBR #250
DirecTV: Malone takes over
in billionaire swap-meet
This deal had been percolating for so long that the only way Wall Street would have been surprised is if it had not gotten done. In the end, the terms to resolve the long standoff between News Corporation CEO Rupert Murdoch and Liberty Media Chairman John Malone were right in line with what we spelled out earlier this month (12/8/06 TVBR #238). Total details in this issue of TVBR.
TVBR observation: Early on there had been talk that Malone might take some of the smaller market Fox O&O group TV stations, which combined with the DirecTV stake would have been sufficient to get the non-cash portion of the 11 billion bucks swap over the hurdle to make it essentially tax-free for Liberty. Malone is known for going to great lengths to avoid having to pay the IRS when he does a deal. In the end, however, it was the regional sports nets that were used to fill that gap. So, we can begin speculating once again on whether News Corp./Fox will put some of its smaller O&Os on the market, as NBC did this past year. Murdoch came close to a deal to sell those smaller stations to Emmis a few years back. After failing in that effort to greatly expand his TV group, Jeff Smulyan eventually decided to get Emmis out of the television business, so he would not be a bidder if there is a new go-round.
12/27/06 TVBR #249
Bidders getting
serious about Tribune
The initial bids from private equity firms may have been underwhelming, but interest in Tribune Company is heating up - at least to the point where it appears there are at least four potential bidders getting serious about whether to make formal offers.
TVBR observation: Initial bids were said to have been only around 32 bucks a share, which was about where Tribune's stock has been trading for some time. But then Burkle and Broad entered the picture to stir up a little excitement. The latest presentations have been designed to open the books to the bidders and convince them that Tribune's assets are worth more than the value Wall Street has been ascribing to them. It appears all of the bidders are planning on major spin-offs, particularly since there is little hope of retaining the temporary FCC waivers that Tribune has for its newspaper-broadcast combinations. That means that the sell-off of TV stations begun by CEO Dennis FitzSimons, but limited until now to non-core markets, will likely jump into high gear once a buyer is chosen for the entire company. It is not often that you see stations for sale in New York, LA and Chicago, so 2007 will likely be a hot year for TV station trading.
12/22/06 TVBR #248
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