| WGA Strike Central: Day 60 |
AMPTP: Strike now costing more than could have gained
The public war of words continues: AMPTP's website released a statement over the holidays, paired with a video listing numerous statistics and quotes from WGA leaders that back up its short, but direct comment: "It's official: The people in charge at the WGA have led working writers into a strike that has now cost those working writers more in salary and benefits than the WGA's organizers ever expected to gain from the strike. And the strike continues because the union's leaders are focused on jurisdictional issues that would expand their own power, at the expense of the new media issues that working writers care most about." WGA later responded in a statement, saying the contract proposals by the studios would cause writers even more economic harm in the future. "To sidestep this fact, they erroneously claim we are focused on other issues. The conglomerates are responsible for creating the economic havoc. They should put their energies into making a fair deal with writers rather than issuing misleading statements."
 Late night talkers return
with hands tied; more picketing
NBC's Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien, ABC's Jimmy Kimmel returned to the airwaves last night, and Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert come back to Comedy Central 1/7. David Letterman's Worldwide Pants production company reach its own deal with writers to bring his show's writers back onboard for his return last night (see related story). All of the hosts, sans NBC's Carson Daly are also members of the WGA, making them subject to union rules that severely limit their performances and comedy. They can't write or perform any material that would normally be written for them. For example, Jay Leno couldn't perform a monologue, because his writers normally write his jokes. The skits that are a part of several late-night shows would also be off-limits without writers. Comic ad-libbing, musical performances and lengthier appearances by guests willing to cross picket lines are the most likely solution. "I think that people will see some interesting television," Chris Albers, former president of WGA East and a comedy writer for O'Brien told the AP. "Obviously, these are some of the funniest people in the country so they're probably going to do a very good job. It's just a different animal than what they're used to and what we're used to."
"I don't know what they're going to do," said Mike Sweeney, head writer for O'Brien's NBC show told the AP. "My obvious speculation would be more guests, and maybe talk to them more slowly." Stewart and Stephen Colbert would appear to have the toughest time reconfiguring their programs, which have a large amount of scripted material. By a strict interpretation of the guild's rules, a member would be prohibited from performing as a character if union writers normally write material for the character. Colbert performs his entire show in the character of a blowhard political commentator. The WGA also began picketing yesterday outside the TV studios of each of the late-night shows that went back on air last night, except for the Late Show with David Letterman and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, because of the separate deal with WGA and Worldwide Pants (see related story).
TVBR observation: Their hands are tied, but it could be interesting. Remember, these hosts didn't get where they are because they relied on writers their whole careers. The shows, while they'll be different, could be a throwback to the early days of late-night television when there was more improvisation. The guests-and there will have to be more of them-will also be encouraged to be more entertaining and zany than ever. We'll have to see how this "pans" out.
Letterman's Worldwide Pants
strikes separate deal with WGA
 As predicted, David Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants, struck an interim, independent deal with WGA to allow its two late-night shows to return to production with their writers on the CBS TV network. The Late Show with David Letterman and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson returned yesterday. "I am grateful to the WGA for granting us this agreement. We're happy to be going back to work and particularly pleased to be doing it with our writers," Letterman said in a statement. "This is not a solution to the strike, which unfortunately continues to disrupt the lives of thousands. But I hope it will be seen as a step in the right direction."
Said WGA: "Today's agreement dramatically illustrates that the Writers Guild wants to put people back to work, and that when a company comes to the table prepared to negotiate seriously, a fair and reasonable deal can be reached quickly. It's time for NBC Universal to step up to the plate and negotiate a companywide deal that will put Jay Leno, who has supported our cause from the beginning, back on the air with his writers."
AMPTP responded: "While it is good news for viewers that the jokes will be back on the late-night shows, the biggest joke of all appears to be the one the WGA's organizers are pulling on working writers. The people in charge at WGA have insisted on increasing their own power by prevailing on jurisdictional issues such as reality, animation and sympathy strikes. Yet today, the WGA made an interim agreement to send writers back to work that by definition could not have achieved these jurisdictional goals -- gains that would at a minimum require the company making an agreement to actually produce reality and animation programming. The WGA's organizers are also misrepresenting the fact that Worldwide Pants is an AMPTP member. Today's agreement is just the latest indication that the WGA's organizers may not have what it takes to achieve an industry-wide deal that will create a strong and sustainable economic future for writers and producers alike."
Letterman's lineup this week:
*Wednesday, Jan. 2 Actor Robin Williams; musical guest Shooter Jennings
*Thursday, Jan. 3 Comedian/talk show host Bill Maher; actress Ellen Page; a performance from the Broadway musical "Young Frankenstein"
*Friday, Jan. 4 Donald Trump; musical guest Lupe Fiasco
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TV News ®
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It Didn't Happen in 2007
A lot of things happened last year, but a lot more things that might have happened did not. Here is our take on the most significant non-events of the year. You might call this the woulda-shoulda-coulda lists, except in some cases -- like the lack of any significant new indecency fines -- the non-event status is good thing. So without further ado, here are 18 things that did not take place:
| The List |
 The political windfall year has arrived
Happy New Year 2008! Now get ready to count the money from what promises to be a political showdown where ad expenditures will easily break past records. Analyst Victor Miller and his Bear Stearns associate Tracy Young some time ago projected that political ad spending for the 2007-2008 cycle will total 2.5 billion bucks. That windfall will not be evenly divided, of course. Some TV groups are better positioned than others to cash in. For the presidential primaries/caucuses, spending on local stations hinges on where their state falls in the schedule. And then once the candidates are selected, the main swing-states will get the heaviest ad spend as the campaigns battle for large blocks of electoral votes that are in play. But there are also hot races at the state level which could produce heavy spending. The Bear Stearns analysts see hot US Senate races in Colorado, Nebraska, Louisiana, Maine and Minnesota. Governor races are expected to be strongly contested in Missouri, Washington, Indiana and North Carolina. Taking into account which states are expected to be "hot" politically, based on key races and the number of electoral votes, Miller and Young matched those up with the major TV groups. Based on their analysis, they project that the CBS O&Os will have the biggest haul, taking in 164.9 million in 2008 political revenues, with Hearst-Argyle also in triple digits at 100.9 million. But while those giants are expected to get the biggest ad spending from political, the impact will likely be greater on some mid-sized companies. Gray Television is projected to get 60.5 million, a boost of 41.8% over 2006. Belo is expected to gain 21.3% to 57.5 million.
2008 Political Beneficiaries ($ in millions)
|
Television Company
|
Est. '08 Political Rev.
|
Gain over '06
|
|
Gray Television
|
$60.5
|
41.8%
|
|
Belo Corp.
|
$57.5
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21.3%
|
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Sinclair Broadcast Group
|
$36.7
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14.5%
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Nexstar
|
$29.0
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14.5%
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Hearst-Argyle Television
|
$100.9
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14.5%
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E.W. Scripps
|
$48.2
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9.1%
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Young Broadcasting
|
$28.8
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6.4%
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Walt Disney (ABC)*
|
$63.8
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6.4%
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CBS Corporation
|
$164.9
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6.4%
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Gannett
|
$97.1
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6.4%
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Tribune Company
|
$34.6
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6.4%
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Meredith Corp.*
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$36.7
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0.9%
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LIN Television
|
$47.1
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-4.5%
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*Adjusted to calendar year. Source: Bear Stearns & Co.
Converter box coupon program kicks off
Or does it? It is now possible to go to the NTIA website, ntia.doc.gov, and find out everything you need to know about getting your coupon for a shiny new digital-to-analog converter box for your old-fashioned, MVPD-free television set, on the off-chance you can find one at your local retail electronics outlet. The 40 dollar head start on procuring one of the devices, currently expected to sell for between 50-70 bucks a pop, is available to any citizen with a television or two pulling signals off-air with rabbit ears or other such antennae. The coupon program is accessible from site dtv2009.gov, or by calling 1-888-388-2009. However, TVBR readers have expressed difficulty getting the system to work. As of the late morning of 1/2/08, TVBR was not able to load the coupon website, nor was it able to get the NTIA communications department on the phone. (The 1-888 number seems to be working, but since we do not want a converter box we could only follow that path so far.)
TVBR observation: Seemingly not an auspicious start for this 1.5B program, but if there are going to be bugs to work out, now's the time, since hardly any of the people who will need a converter box seem to know that they need one. The key, it seems to us, is for DTV educational messages to become an unavoidable feature of any set tuned to any program service (like soft drinks, dish detergent and other high-profile retail commodities), and for the boxes themselves to be prominently displayed where these needy-but-don't-know-it citizens shop. By then, we would hope that all bugs that seem to be infesting the system are exterminated. Stay tuned - and we know you'll be able to, since TVBR is not offered on an analog basis to begin with.
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LIN in another retrans battle
As of New Year's Day, two LIN Television stations were pulled off the local cable systems of Suddenlink Communications after talks failed on a new retransmission consent agreement. Suddenlink, formerly known as Cebridge Connections, discontinued carriage of KXAN-TV (Ch. 36, NBC) in the Austin, TX DMA and KBIM-TV (Ch. 10, CBS) Roswell, NM, which is a satellite of KRQE-TV (Ch. 13, CBS) Albuquerque, NM, in the southeastern portion of the Albuquerque DMA. According to the Austin Statesman-American, Suddenlink serves about 35,000 customers in the greater Austin area, mostly in Pflugerville, Georgetown and Leander. Time Warner is the market's major cable provider. According to the KRQE/KBIM website, the Suddenlink systems affected in New Mexico are in the Clovis and Portales area.
 Fox draws fire for Paul omission
Fox News Channel is hosting a Republican presidential candidate debate on 12/6/08, two days before votes are cast in the nation's first primary, and just three days after the first delegates are awarded via the Iowa caucuses. Five candidates will be on the stage: John McCain (R-AZ), Rudy Giuliani (R-NY), Mitt Romney (R-MA), Mike Huckabee (R-AR) and Fred Thompson (R-TN). The campaign of Ron Paul (R-TX) sees his absence from this list as a glaring omission. "Given Ron Paul's support in New Hampshire and his recent historic fundraising success, it is outrageous that Dr. Paul would be excluded," said Ron Paul 2008 campaign chairman Kent Snyder. "Dr. Paul has consistently polled higher in New Hampshire than some of the other candidates who have been invited. Paul supporters should know that we are continuing to make inquiries with Fox News as to why they have apparently excluded Dr. Paul from this event." The NH Republican Party concurred. "Limiting the number of candidates who are invited to participate in debates is not consistent with the tradition of the first in the nation primary," said party chairman Fergus. "The level playing field requires that all candidates be given an equal opportunity to participate - not just a select few determined by the media prior to any votes being cast." Underscoring Paul's argument is the fact that he is well ahead of Thompson in polls from New Hampshire. According to reports, Fox is looking for double-digit national rankings in determining who will be invited.
TVBR observation: We understand attempts to weed out the true pretenders from debates at some point. But Paul has demonstrated strength by a number of measures, not the least of which is his astonishing grassroots fundraising ability. Some have pointed out that a New Hampshire breakout is a key strategic element of a campaign which needs a boost to move into the upper echelon of candidates. The latest national polls we could find showed Thompson in the low teens -- and one had him at 10% even and sinking, while Paul was at 6% or so and gradually moving up. In short, Paul has earned national attention, is raking in cash, has a committed support base, and is polling ahead of one of the invited candidates in the state of the debate. Fox should make room.
Introducing the TVBR Television Index
For the past 10 years our sister publication, Radio Business Report, has calculated and published a Radio Index showing the relative movement of the group of radio stocks traded on Wall Street. Today we introduce the TVBR Television Index. Each day we will calculate the average movement of the group of publicly traded companies whose primary business is operating television stations and related TV businesses. All stocks included in the calculation must trade above one buck. In alphabetical order, the 12 component stocks are: ACME, Belo, CBS, Equity Media, Entravision, Fisher, Gray, Hearst-Argyle, LIN, Nexstar, Sinclair and Young. The baseline of 100 has been set as of Monday, using the closing prices from the last trading day of 2007. With TV stocks down, on average, a bit over 6% for 2007, we'll see where they go from here. The TVBR Television Index will be reported daily in TVBR's "Stock Talk" section.
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| Wall Street Business Report TM |
 Ion buyout gets FCC nod
The final pieces are falling into place for Citadel Investment Group to complete its buyout of the shareholders of Ion Media Networks and take the former Paxson Communications private along with partner NBC Universal. The FCC ruled on Monday (12/31/07) that Citadel could become the majority owner of Ion and its 59 O&O television stations. The Commission rejected arguments from objectors who claimed that NBC Universal had already taken control of Ion without FCC approval. Commissioner Michael Copps concurred in the unanimous decision, but again called for the Commission to begin an inquiry into private equity funds and their impact on media ownership. Citadel already owns nearly all of the publicly traded shares of Ion, but it can now close on its long-pending acquisition of Bud Paxson's super-voting shares and have voting control of the company. What now remains to be wrapped up are some lawsuits filed in Delaware Chancery Court by disgruntled preferred shareholders who wanted a bigger payout. Most, however, tendered their shares and took the cash offered by Citadel when the court refused to issue an injunction blocking the tender offer.
Bond holders give consent to CCU
No surprise here. Clear Channel Communications reports that the overwhelming majority of its bondholders tendered their bonds to be bought back as the company goes private and also gave their consents to amend the terms of the bonds to allow for the buyout. CCU said it received tenders and consents for 94.76% of its 7.65% Clear Channel senior notes due 2010 and 86.16% of its AMFM Operating Inc. 8% senior notes due 2008 by the December 31st deadline. The company has now extended the deadline to January 16th, with the same terms, including the 30 bucks per 1,000 face value bonus for those who give their consents to the amendments. In all, the tender offers cover about 1.4 billion worth of bonds.
CommScope closes Andrew acquisition
As 2007 neared its close, CommScope Inc. closed on its 2.65 billion bucks acquisition of electronics equipment maker Andrew Corporation (6/28/07 TVBR #126). Former Andrew shareholders received 13.50 in cash and 0.031543 shares of CommScope stock for each share of Andrew stock that they held. That fractional share, based on the recent trading price of CommScope shares, was valued at a buck-50, so the total value was 15 per share.
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Ad Business Report TM
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 Coca-Cola and ExerciseTV announce partnership
Coca-Cola North America a two-year agreement with ExerciseTV, the first comprehensive, on-demand network dedicated to fitness, sports training and motivational programming. The sponsorship deal began 1/1 and highlights numerous brands from Coca-Cola's portfolio of beverages through a variety of integration channels. Coca-Cola and ExerciseTV will co-create original programming and integrate beverage brand messages and product attributes. Additionally, customized brand message integration, product placement, and signage will be featured on existing ExerciseTV original and non-original programming. Additional elements include exclusive content for MyCokeRewards.com. ExerciseTV offers access to the world's leading fitness videos/DVD's 24 hours a day, seven days a week via VOD platform offered with Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications and online at excercisetv.tv.
Match.com launches "Rewind"
Match.com unveiled a new campaign showing that, for successful relationships, "It Starts With a Look" at Match.com. The new effort, dubbed "Rewind," brings to life the hundreds of thousands of couples who find love on Match.com every year and the way those lives were forever changed as a result of Match.com. It showcases couples in the present, depicts their relationships unfolding in reverse, and ends highlighting that it all began with a look at Match.com. "Rewind" is a continuation of Match.com's "It's Okay to Look" campaign, which aimed to reduce the stigma some singles feel about going online to find love. AOR Hanft Raboy and Partners handled. Match.com also launched a new dating application for social networking site Facebook. "Little Black Book" by Match.com brings Match.com's matching functionality to Facebook users to find potential matches based on compatibility and shared interests.
BBDO's Phil Dusenberry passes
Phil Dusenberry, former Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of BBDO North America, died 12/29 after battling lung cancer at 71. He joined BBDO in 1962 as a junior copywriter and later helped create GE's "We bring good things to life"; Visa's "It's everywhere you want to be" and Pepsi's "The choice of a new generation." His work won numerous industry awards. Dusenberry was named CCO of the NYC agency in 1986. In 1995 he was named Chairman of that office, and was named Chairman of the agency's NA operations until his retirement in '02.
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| Washington Business Report TM |
National committees break even in November
Both the Republicans and Democrats maintain three national election committees -- one each attached to the Senate (DSCC & NRSC), one each to the House of Representatives (DCCC & NRCC), and then there are the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee (DNC & RNC). Between the six of them, they earned just shy of 25M during the month of November 2007, according to the Federal Election Commission as reported by CQPolitics.com, and almost split that total right down the middle. The Democrats managed a slight edge, 12.7M to 12.5M. The senatorial race went to the Democrats, 4.2M to 2.4M; as did the House, 4.1M to 2.7M. However, the best effort was turned in by the RNC with 7.4M, eclipsing DNC's 4.4M total and bringing the two parties close to even for the month. The Democrats maintained their 2008 cycle lead of over 10M raised. More importantly, they are sitting on 59M cash on hand, more than double the Republican total of 28.4M.
TVBR observation: The committees are an important source of cash in the electoral hot zones. The liquid funds can be directed to close battleground states and districts to take advantage of opportunities to seize new ground in either house (or to seize a state in the presidential race, in the case of DNC and RNC), or the funds can be tapped to mount a defense of currently held territory if needed. This is a big portion of the cash that makes battleground areas beachfront property, with the downside of perhaps eating up too much inventory.
| - |
7-Nov |
Cycle |
On hand |
| Senate (D) |
$4.2M |
$49.3M |
$25.5M |
| House (D) |
$4.1M |
$60.8M |
$30.7M |
| Committee (D) |
$4.4M |
$50.5M |
$2.8M |
| Total (D) |
$12.7M |
$160.6M |
$59.0M |
| Senate (R) |
$2.4M |
$28.7M |
$10.4M |
| House (R) |
$2.7M |
$43.4M |
$2.3M |
| Committee (R) |
$7.4M |
$76.9M |
$15.7M |
| Total (R) |
$12.5M |
$149.0M |
$28.4M |
Source: CQPolitics.com, FEC
FCC prepares two more DTV workshops
 The deadline for the digital television conversion is just over a year away, and the FCC is helping to move the ball forward with a pair of Digital Television Consumer Workshops, to be held at its headquarters in Washington early next year. The first, pegged for 1/31/08, will address concerns about consumers in rural and tribal areas, and the second, scheduled for 2/28/08, will address concerns about citizens with disabilities. Each session is expected to last three to four hours.
TVBR observation: OK, Rural Americans, Native Americans and Disabled Americans, now is your chance! Let's all crowd into the FCC conference room in Washington DC and learn about the DTV transition! What? Can't make it to Washington? Not to worry: About 200 people can pick up a webcast of the event. We kid the FCC. And the fact is, the FCC doesn't deserve this kidding in the least -- at a minimum, these forums will lend a hand to national and local officials and service organizations working with the targeted constituencies. Let us turn or sights instead on Capitol Hill. Certain elements of Congress have sharply criticized the FCC for its modest efforts at preparing the US citizenry for the transition. Others don't seem to think it's a problem at all. The simple fact is that this is the kind of outreach you get when you allocated next to no funding to the Commission. With the 1.5M or so Congress has given the Commission, about all they'll be able to do is put a picture of the missing analog signal on a milk carton. We expect that broadcasters and other stakeholders will get this job done, but we remind our friends on Capitol Hill that if they want meaningful action from the FCC, they need to give it something to act with.
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| Ratings & Research |
Wheel regains lead
After one week on top "Judge Judy" was pushed back to #2 by long-time powerhouse "Wheel of Fortune." As usual, those two were well ahead of the rest of the pack. The weekly syndicated TV ratings come from the Syndicated Network Television Association (SNTA), based on data from Nielsen Media Research.
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SYNDICATION: 12/10/07-12/16/07
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RANK
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PROGRAM
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ORIG
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HHLD Rtg.
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1
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WHEEL OF FORTUNE
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CTD
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8.1
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2
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JUDGE JUDY
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CTD
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7.8
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3
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JEOPARDY
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CTD
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6.6
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4
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TWO AND A HALF MEN
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WB
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6.3
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5
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EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND
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CTD
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5.8
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6
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FAMILY GUY-M-F
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2/T
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5.6
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7
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OPRAH WINFREY SHOW
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CTD
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5.3
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8
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SEINFELD-WKND
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SPT
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4.9
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9
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ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT
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CTD
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4.8
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9t
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KING OF QUEENS-WKND
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SPT
|
4.8
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|
|
|
|
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Source: SNTA; Nielsen Media Research data
 Teen & Tween media
behavior divergent
The Nielsen Company announced findings of a new study, "Kids on the Go: Mobile Usage by U.S. Teens and Tweens." For mobile media and cross media behavior of U.S. "tweens" (ages 8-12), Nielsen found 5% of tweens access the Internet over their phone each month. While 41% of tween mobile Internet users say they do so while commuting or traveling (to school, for example), mobile content such as the Internet is also a social medium for this audience. 26% of tween mobile Internet users say they access the web while at a friend's house and 17% say they do so at social events. 35% of tweens own a mobile phone; 20% of tweens have used text messaging; 21% of tweens have used ring & answer tones.
Young mobile users are also turning to their phones for in-home entertainment. 58% of tweens who download or watch TV on their phone do so at home; 64% of tweens who download or play music on their phone do so at home; 56% of tweens who access the Internet on their phone do so at home. Nielsen also reports that tweens spend less time surfing the Internet than their teen counterparts. In this report, 48% of U.S. tweens said they spend less than one hour per day online. When they are online, 70% of tweens use the Internet for gaming. Comparatively, 81% of U.S. teens say they spend one hour or more per day online, with e-mail being the most pervasive online activity for this age group.
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| Monday Morning Makers & Shakers |
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Transactions: 11/12/07-11/16/07
If you thought last week was slow, and it was, you may be relieved to know that station improved this time around. Actually, results were mixed. There was one less transaction, going from six to five, but more value was traded -- a whopping 659K -- despite the fact that yet again there was a television trade. But like last time, it was a small agreement in a small market.
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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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1
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FMs
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3
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TVs
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1
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| Value |
3.24M
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| Complete Charts |
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Radio Transactions of the Week
Scaling the Mountain to #1
| More... |
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TV Transactions of the Week
Desert deal leads the way
| More... |
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| Transactions |
6.6M KUQI-TV CP Corpus Christi TX from Minority Voice Media TV 38 LLC (Lee W. Shubert, court-appointed receiver) to High Maintenance Broadcasting LLC (Lauryn Hoffman, Deidre Gillis, Vanisha Mallory). 300K escrow, 6.3M note. [File date 12/17/07.]
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| Stock Talk |
Markets begin 2008 with a hangover
Oil hit 100 bucks a barrel and the Institute for Supply Management reported a drop in factory activity for December - enough bad news to send stocks tumbling on the first trading day of the New Year. The Dow Industrials plunged 221 points, or 1.7%, to 13,044.
TV stocks joined in the retreat. The brand new TVBR Television Index dropped 2.381, or 2.3%, to 97.619. The biggest losers included Media General, down 8%, Gray 7.1% and ACME 7%.
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| Stocks |
Here's how stocks fared on Wednesday
| Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
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Acme
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ACME
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2.54
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-0.19
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Lincoln Natl.
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LNC
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 |
56.25
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-1.97
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Belo
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BLC
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16.70
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-0.74
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LIN TV
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TVL
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11.89
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-0.28
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| CBS CI. B |
CBS |
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26.42
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-0.83
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McGraw-Hill
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MHP
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42.72
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-1.09
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| CBS CI. A |
CBSa |
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26.46
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-0.29
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Media General
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MEG
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19.55
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-1.70
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Clear Channel
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CCU
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34.49
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-0.03
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Meredith
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MDP
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53.78
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-1.20
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Disney
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DIS
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31.84
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-0.44
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News Corp.
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NWS
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20.70
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-0.55
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Emmis
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EMMS
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3.54
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-0.31
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Nexstar
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NXST
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8.94
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-0.20
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Entravision
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EVC
|
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7.62
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-0.21
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Ion Media
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ION
|
|
1.36
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+0.03
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| Equity Media |
EMDA |
|
3.30 |
+0.06 |
Saga Commun.
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SGA
|
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5.99
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+0.10
|
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Fisher
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FSCI
|
|
37.78
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-0.18
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SBS
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SBSA
|
|
1.95
|
+0.10
|
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Gannett
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GCI
|
|
37.69
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-1.31
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Scripps
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SSP
|
|
43.38
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-1.63
|
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Gen. Electric
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GE
|
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36.76
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-0.31
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Sinclair
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SBGI
|
|
8.20
|
-0.01
|
| Google |
GOOG |
|
685.19
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-6.29
|
SWMX
|
SWMX
|
|
0.00
|
unch
|
|
Gray
|
GTN
|
|
7.45
|
-0.57
|
Time Warner
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TWX
|
|
16.29
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-0.22
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Gray, C1. A
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GTNa
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8.18
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-0.32
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Wash. Post
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WPO
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791.30
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-0.13
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Hearst-Argyle
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HTV
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21.40
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-0.64
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Young
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YBTVA
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1.07
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+0.02
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Journal Comm.
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JRN
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8.80
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-0.14
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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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Below the Fold
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Ad Business Report
Coca-Cola and ExerciseTV
Have a a two-year agreement...
Washington Business Report
FCC prepares
2 more DTV workshops, OK, Rural Americans, Native Americans & Disabled Americans, now is your chance ...
Ratings & Research
Wheel regains lead
After one week on top " Judge Judy" was pushed back...
Teen & Tween
Media behavior divergent
findings on Kids on the Go...
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More News Headlines
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TVB ePort Goes Live
TVB's ePort electronic transaction system went live last month as electronic orders were sent by Harmelin Media directly to Philadelphia stations and by Horizon Media to Continental Television Sales on behalf of its client, Gray Television-owned WOWT-TV Omaha. TVB also announced that 644 stations in 186 markets, including 100 of the top 100 markets, are now committed to TVB ePort, and coverage has reached 97.8% of the U.S. "We are thrilled with last month's successful launch and the growing support from television stations across the country," said Chris Rohrs, TVB President. "We look forward to 2008's rollout of the entire suite of open standard transactions--from avail through invoice for stations' airtime, websites, digital subchannels and other multiplatform offerings--which we expect to complete by the end of the second quarter." Both Harmelin and Horizon are clients of Strata Marketing, which owns the first buying system to become compliant with TVB ePort's open standards. Additional Strata agency clients will be connected to TVB ePort in the coming weeks, followed by the clients of other providers as they adapt their software to the nonproprietary standards.
More than half
of US households
own DTV sets
More than 50% of U.S. households now own a digital television (DTV), according to new research released today by the Consumer Electronics Association. As the nation transitions to digital television, consumers are adding DTV to their homes at a record pace. "I am proud to announce our nation has hit this digital milestone. With 50% of U.S. homes able to experience the reality of digital television, we have crossed a critical threshold," said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of CEA. "2008 will continue to demonstrate the growth and success of DTV, with nearly 32 million units forecasted to ship. Consumers are particularly keen to add HDTV to their homes, with high definition expected to account for 79% of total DTV shipments in the U.S in 2008." According to new CEA sales projections, manufacturers will post 11% revenue growth, to over 25 billion, from sales of digital televisions in 2007. CEA also forecasts 13% revenue and 17% unit sales growth for digital television in 2008.
Retro-fitting
Media General
More Media General stations have signed on to carry Retro Television Network (RTN) from Equity Media Holdings on digital multicast channels of full-power TV stations. The most recent deals add RTN affiliations to WJAR-TV (NBC) Providence, RI, WJBF-TV (ABC) Augusta, GA and WJTV-TV (CBS) Jackson, MS. As the name indicated, RTN carries such classic fare as "Rockford Files," "Hogan's Heroes" and "Marcus Welby, MD." Five Media General stations have now signed to be RTN affiliates.
Scripps folds
Cincinnati Post
As promised a few months ago (7/18/07 TVBR #139), E.W. Scripps Company shut down the Cincinnati Post and its related edition called the Kentucky Post on New Year's Eve. Monday's final edition, which ended a 126-year run for the newspaper, carried a large "-30-" on the front page, the traditional symbol for the end of a newspaper dispatch. Scripps announced that it would end publication of the struggling daily because a joint operating agreement with Gannett's Cincinnati Enquirer was due to expire at the end of 2007. Similarly, Scripps recently put the Albuquerque Tribune up for sale, saying that it too would be shut down if no buyer is found. No deadline has been set and the company is reported to be in talks with one potential buyer. Any buyer, however, will have to operate without the current JOA whereby the market's #2 daily is published in conjunction with the Albuquerque Journal.
TVBR observation: For all those inside the beltway shouting loudly to preserve the crossownership rule, please note that even a grandfathered crossownership situation was not enough to save the #2 newspaper in Cincinnati. Scripps continues to own and operate WCPO-TV (Ch. 9, ABC) and it will keep alive a low-cost web-only version of the Kentucky Post operating in conjunction with the TV station. Crossownership is not a panacea, but it might improve the journalistic landscape in some markets, particularly in markets much smaller than the top 20 where the FCC has timidly moved to discard this rule that has long since outlived its usefulness. Anyone who thinks there is any justification for keeping the crossownership rule in any market is simply out of touch with reality.
Conference Board Help-Wanted Ad Index down
The Conference Board Help-Wanted Advertising Index -- a key measure of job offerings in major newspapers across America -- dipped one point in November. The Index now stands at 21. It was 29 one year ago. In the last three months, help-wanted advertising declined in all nine U.S. regions. Steepest declines occurred in the Pacific (-12.8%), Mountain (-12.5%), and West North Central (-12.4%) regions. Says Ken Goldstein, labor economist at The Conference Board: "The forward indicators of labor market activity offer little hope that the labor market will be spared. The latest readings on print want-ad volume show some slowing in recent months, after slowly losing steam through the spring and summer. Data for online advertising also point to reduced job recruitment efforts. Initial unemployment claims have edged higher. It's not good news when more people are signing up for unemployment checks, and the average length of unemployment is lengthening." In November there were 4,072,600 online advertised vacancies, a decrease of 89,100 or -2.1% from the October level, according to The Conference Board Help-Wanted OnLine Data Series. There were 2.65 advertised vacancies online for every 100 persons in the labor force in November.
Wal-Mart drops online movie downloads
Wal-Mart has shuttered its online movie download service it launched less than a year ago. The move follows the company's 2005 decision to abandoned efforts to build an online DVD rental service. The world's largest retailer instead turned its rental service over to Netflix. A Wal-Mart spokesperson said in a statement the company closed the store after Hewlett-Packard, which provided the software running the site, "made a business decision to discontinue its video download-only merchant store service." The move leaves Apple's iTunes store and Amazon.com's Unbox service as the largest providers of movie downloads (in November, AOL also scrapped its pay-for-download movie service). Wal-Mart still operates a music download service and continues to sell CDs and DVDs at retail stores and over the Internet for shipping by mail. And remember, Wal-Mart still accounts for some 40% of all DVD sales, according to The AP.
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TVBR Radar 2008
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Television News you won't read any where else. TVBR--First, Accurate, and Independently Owned.
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WGA Strike Central, Day 54
Striking Writers with pilots pending write letter to AMPTP
On Christmas Eve, a letter signed by 127 striking writers with pilots pending was emailed to CEOs and almost 200 studio and network TV development execs of the AMPTP. The letter was acquired by LA Weekly: "These execs are our partners in these projects so we wanted to reach out in an effort to get the AMPTP back to the table while there is still a chance of getting pilot season back on track....
TVBR note: There is more on the strike and it is not getting any better.
12/28/07 TVBR #250
Now the big game is everywhere
Bending to intense Congressional pressure, the NFL has agreed to but Saturday's New England Patriots vs. New York Giants game on both CBS and NBC (12/27/07 TVBR #249), rather than going with the original plan to have the national telecast only on its fledgling NFL Network.
TVBR observation: The lesson for the NFL owners is that running to Capitol Hill with a business dispute can sometimes backfire. The NFL Network tried to get New England politicians, in particular, fired up to pressure cable companies in the region to sign up to put their fledgling network on their systems - and for Comcast to move it from a sports tier to basic, thereby making it available to more subscribers (and, just by an amazing coincidence, generating much greater subscriber fee payments for the NFL Network). What actually happened was that the politicians got mad at everyone involved - the NFL Network as well as the cable operators. So, the NFL owners, who own the NFL Network, made new enemies in the US Congress, some of whom threatened to reopen the league's antitrust exemption if the owners persisted in keeping one of the biggest football games of the year only on their low-penetration start-up network. The NFL owners thought they had a sure-fire way to bring the cable MSOs to their knees by holding back eight games this season to be shown only on the NFL Network. Instead they've foregone the cash that selling those games to a broadcast network would have brought in, they've generated lots of bad PR for themselves, they've made new enemies of powerful politicians of both parties - and they are stuck with a start-up cable network that the major MSOs are still refusing to pay for.
12/28/07 TVBR #250
The year of yearning to go private
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