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Volume 24, Issue 107, Jim Carnegie, Editor & Publisher
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Friday Morning June 1st, 2007
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TV News ®
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 Nielsen releases first
commercial minute ratings
The Nielsen Company yesterday began offering the first standardized ratings of television commercials, giving clients a way to measure the impact on commercial viewing of DVRs. Because of the increasing use of DVRs and the ability of consumers to fast-forward through commercials during DVR playback, clients asked Nielsen last year to provide a closer measure of the audience for commercials, not only when programs are viewed live but when played back as well. Nielsen also found that several shows had higher commercial ratings than program ratings when delayed viewing on DVRs was included (especially Live Plus 3). For example, NBC's "The Office" had a live program rating among adults 18-49 of 3.11 for the week of 4/30. Its commercial rating for live plus 3 was 3.36. Starting 5/31, Nielsen began offering clients its new Average Commercial Minute electronic data file that provides an average rating for the commercial minutes in each program. This data will be available back to 4/30 and will cover Live viewing; Live viewing plus DVR playback on the same day; and Live viewing plus DVR playback for one, two, three and seven days. The file will come out weekly.
| Read More... |
TVBR observation: A couple of interesting pieces of data agencies are interested in and Nielsen is providing to clients include the percentage of viewers fast-forwarding through commercials. It depends upon the programming, when they're playing it back (closer to live=less fast-forwarding). The programs and program genre lists that detail fast forwarding are going to be more and more important in negotiation as DVR use increases.
Urge to merge hits Wall Street
Two big brokerage and investment banking firms with heavy involvement in the media sector are becoming one. Banking giant Wachovia Corp., which already owns Wachovia Securities, is acquiring AG Edwards for 6.8 billion bucks, creating the nation's second largest retail brokerage firm, behind Merrill Lynch. The combined firm will have 1.1 trillion bucks in client assets and nearly 15,000 brokers. It will be called Wachovia Securities, but the retail brokerage business will be based in AG Edwards' hometown of St. Louis. The research, investment banking, mutual fund and other businesses of AG Edwards will be merged into the existing Wachovia Securities structure. Under terms of the merger, AG Edwards shareholders will receive 35.80 cash and 0.9844 shares of Wachovia stock for each share of AG Edwards stock.
TVBR observation: Did veteran media analyst Mike Kupinski at AG Edwards see this coming? He recently left for a new job at NobleFinancial after 23 years at AG Edwards. It was just last year that Wachovia cut costs by promoting Marcia Ryvicker and giving the heave-ho to veteran analyst Jim Boyle.
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 The party that cried Fox
The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) has planned a Democratic presidential debate, earmarked for 9/23/07, to be held on the Fox News Channel (FNC). The good news: Joe Biden (D-DE) and Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) are in. The bad news: Two other candidates made it official that they do not plan to participate. Bill Richardson (D-NM) and Chris Dodd (D-CT) are the latest to opt out, joining the three candidates widely believed to constitute the top tier in the Democratic race, Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Barack Obama (D-IL) and John Edwards (D-NC). Longshot candidate and former Senator Mike Gravel (D-AK) has not yet said anything one way or the other. Fox recently held a Republican debate with 10 participants (and at least one more angry about being left off the bill), but the perception that Fox carries a Republican bias is credited with the mass snubbing on the Democratic side. According to the Associated Press, another debate being co-sponsored by CBC is scheduled for early 2008 on CNN. Although it does not appear on the list of DNC-sanctioned events, there have been no announced plans to skip that one.
TVBR observation: Nor are there likely to be. No Democratic candidate can afford to anger such a strong segment of the Democratic base, which underscores just how polarizing FNC has become to the Dems. The boy who cried wolf ran into trouble, but the candidates who cry Fox seem to be getting away with it. At any rate, it will be interesting to see if the 9/23/07 event actually takes place.
Tender tally finale
If you tendered shares for the Tribune Company phase one buyout by Sam Zell and the new ESOP, you will get to sell approximately 57% of the shares you offered to sell at 34 bucks each. After counting all of the shares tendered - 218,132,108 - for the buyback of 126,000,000 and accepting all of the odd lots under 100 shares, Tribune says the proration factor for the rest of the shares tendered is 0.5771140650. In other words, 57.7% of the shares will be cashed out and the remainder returned to the current shareholders, who will remain shareholders until phase two gets regulatory approval (or they sell them to someone else in the stock market). For the shares accepted in the tender, Tribune said the cash payouts will be made promptly, no later than Tuesday, June 5th.
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Teletubbies to be busted
The Teletubbies are back in the news already. A group called Public Advocate, a 501.c.4 non-profit group which claims to fight for the American family, is using the children's program stars to make a point. The Teletubbies and a man claiming to be Moses will be making the rounds outside Senate office buildings today, and at high noon, some other individuals identifying themselves as Thought Control Police will arrest them for thinking up such things as the Ten Commandments and - well, Public Advocate didn't really get around to explaining what the Teletubbies are thinking about. But it's all to protest The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Protection Act, which would apply hate crime statutes to certain incidents involving homosexuals, which the group opposes, saying it amounts to the "...creation of a new thought crime" and which it calls part of "...the absurdity of the left's assault on the religious liberties." A spokesperson for the group said, "We cannot simply allow Christians, Moses or Teletubbies to say any thoughtful, politically incorrect statements."
TVBR observation: We certainly don't intend to get in the middle of this debate, other than to note that, thanks to the freedoms enjoyed by citizens of the US, Public Advocate is in fact able to express its thoughts on this issue openly and in public, even though in doing so it may well slow down foot traffic in an area we often find ourselves rushing through to meet yet another deadline. All we know is that if it's true that there's no such thing as bad publicity, it will be yet another positive day for the Teletubbies, and quite possibly a great relief for Tinky Winky not to be singled out for once.
 Antitrust lawyers assail XM/Sirius
Crowell & Moring was retained by the National Association of Broadcasters to look at the proposed merger of DARS competitors XM and Sirius satellite audio services. Like many other who have examined the proposal, they see it resulting in a government-sanctioned monopoly, and urge that it be rejected. The firm stated, "The proposed merger would replace this duopoly market structure, set up specifically by the FCC to ensure at least some level of process and service competition, with a monopolist in the downstream subscription market...that is unrestrained in its ability to harm competition. There simply is no 'fix' that will restore the competitive structure of this marketplace, and thus DOJ should challenge the transaction to preserve existing and future competition." On the critical issue of market definition, C&M notes that in the first place, it was determined at the birth of the satellite audio service that it was a separate marketplace from AM and FM radio, and two licenses were granted to assure competition. In the second place, internet-based services are not able to duplicate the mobility of DARS, nor are they likely to have the ability any time soon. In the third place, other audio devices like iPods and MP3s, like tape and CD players before them, are largely incapable of providing anything other than prerecorded programming.
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| Wall Street Media Business Report TM |
Sillerman and Fuller in buyout bid
It wasn't so long ago that Simon Fuller sold his 19 Entertainment to CKX Inc. Now, he and CKX founder Bob Sillerman want to buy out the public shareholders and take the company private. They've offered 13.75 per share, which is a significant premium over yesterday's closing price of 10.63, and values the company at around 1.3 billion. The board of CKX had been considering the proposal before it was publicly disclosed late yesterday and will meet again today. CKX, through 19 Entertainment, owns the rights to "American Idol," its most lucrative property. CKX also owns the name, image and likeness of both Elvis Presley and Muhammad Ali.
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Ad Business Report TM
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Agencies comment on first
commercial minute ratings data
As the upfront ad market unfolds, some agencies have admit they plan to buy commercials based on live plus three commercial ratings, but the industry is still trying to standardize on over how much playback should be counted and what the currency(ies) should be valued at. Will the release of Nielsen's first average commercial minute ratings data (see TV News) change or improve the negotiation process for this upfront?
| Read More... |
Chase sponsors Spanish-language Telenovela
Chase, one of the nation's leading residential housing lenders, announced it is the exclusive advertising sponsor of Nuestro Barrio (Our Neighborhood), a Spanish-language TV mini-series about Hispanic life in the United States, when it airs in the New York City/New Jersey and select California markets. The 13-episode series subtly combines storylines with educational messages on important financial issues including money management, credit and homeownership. These are played out against the traditional Hispanic novela (soap opera) themes. Chase is the exclusive sponsor of Nuestro Barrio when it airs on V-Me in New York/New Jersey Metro (Jersey City) and Sacramento/Stockton/Modesto at 5 p.m. on Friday, June 1, and at 4 p.m. on Sunday, June 3 -- all times are local. Chase also will be the exclusive sponsor when the show airs in Los Angeles and San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose - the dates and times are still being finalized. Chase, along with other lenders, also is sponsoring the show in additional markets nationwide. Freddie Mac, one of the nation's largest investors in residential mortgages, funded the production of Nuestro Barrio. Non-profit consumer advocacy organization, Community Reinvestment Association of North Carolina, produced the show. Filmed in Spanish, the show features two longtime U.S. residents of Hispanic origin helping friends and family navigate life in the U.S. by sharing their experiences, offering guidance and connecting them to community resources. As part of the sponsorship, Chase will air a 30-second Spanish-language commercial. The commercial's storyline revolves around a couple imagining and dreaming about what their individual visions of homeownership entail. It also provides the toll free number to direct consumers to the closest Chase mortgage office with bilingual loan officers.
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| Washington Media Business Report TM |
 All quiet on the FCC front
The FCC tabled an agenda item which would have looked into market designations for the carriage of broadcast stations on MVPDs at yesterday's open meeting. That left the largely secondary issue of EAS regulation as the item of most interest to broadcasters. The FCC acted to make sure that upcoming FEMA regulations are put in place within 180 days of adoption by the emergency response agency for the purpose of ensuring that a new, state-of-the-art next-generation EAS system is up and running as fast as possible. Wireline video providers are included in the system. The item almost completely ignored its title issue - it was entitled "Review of the Emergency Alert Systems (EB Docket No. 04-296); Independent Spanish Broadcasters Association, the Office of Communication of the United Church of Christ, Inc., and the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, Petition for Immediate Relief." Since that issue was already the subject of an ongoing proceeding, mention of that fact was as far as the Commission got on the topic on this occasion. Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein said it should nevertheless have been handled during the meeting. Adelstein also applauded the voluntary efforts of the NAB and MMTC to settle the issue.
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| Media Markets & Money TM |
Still some spin left on ex-Emmis TVs?
According to reports, stations being run by Montecito Broadcast Group after being acquired in a transaction filed with the FCC 10/7/05 may be ready to sell again. The Blackstone-backed group picked up KOIN-TV Portland OR, KHON-TV Honolulu HI & KSNW-TV Wichita KS (along with numerous satellites in Hawaii and Kansas) from Emmis Communications for 259M. Station management warned staffers that although there were no plans to sell the stations and no brokers have been retained, an offer from an undisclosed prospective buyer was determined to be too good to brush aside, and for that reason, the company has opened a window to see if there is any competing interest in the station trading marketplace. Montecito management put out word of the situation to make sure employees did not find out about it via rumors on the street.
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| Entertainment Media Business Report TM |
MyNetworkTV unveils Fall sked
 MyNetworkTV has revealed its new schedule for the Fall 2007 season. The lineup, announced by Greg Meidel, President, MyNetworkTV, includes four reality programs, as well as a host of "Access Hollywood" produced specials and live sporting events. Upon completion of the run of "American Heiress" and "Saints & Sinners," Wednesday nights will feature relationships and reality with "Divorce Wars" (working title) and "Meet My Folks." Tuesday night will take a look inside the world of law enforcement with the FOX Reality original, "The Academy," and the new unscripted series from the producers of "COPS," "Jail." Produced by Scott Sternberg, FOX Reality original "The Academy" follows the rigorous 18-week course at Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Training Academy as cameras capture every moment of the mental and physical training process.
| See the full prime lineup here |
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| Ratings & Research |
Idol finale goes out on top
The weekly ratings numbers were delayed by the Memorial Day holiday, but you already know that Fox won the official TV season in 18-49 and CBS in Households. And you've surely guessed that the finale of "American Idol" on Fox was the week's top show, with the finale of "Dancing With the Stars" on ABC #2. Fox, of course, won the 18-49 demo, with ABC 2nd and then CBS, NBC, Univision, CW, Telemundo, MyNetworkTV, TeleFutura and a tie by Ion and Azteca America. (It is also worth noting that Univision tied NBC for 4th place in the 18-34 demo.) In HH, it was Fox at the top with a 6.9 rating and 12 share, followed by CBS 6.0/11, ABC 5.8/10, NBC 3.7/7, Univision 2.0/3, CW 1.3/2, Telemundo and MyNetworkTV tied at 0.6/1, Ion 0.4/1, TeleFutura 0.3/1 and Azteca America 0.2/0. Here are the top 20 shows.
| View the Chart |
Katie's balloon just keeps deflating
Ratings for "The CBS Evening News With Katie Couric" have gone down again, last week hitting the lowest point for the Eye network's evening newscast since 1987. Meanwhile, ABC's "World News With Charles Gibson" was on top of the heap for the 5th straight week, beating the once dominant "NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams." For last week, the ABC newscast had an average audience 2+ of 7,784,000, compared to 7,192,000 for NBC and only 5,959,000 for CBS.
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| Stock Talk |
Not much movement
Wachovia's 6.8 billion buyout deal for AG Edwards wasn't enough to drive the entire market higher. Rather, traders were a bit disappointed by the government's estimate that Q1 GDP growth was only 0.6%. So, the market closed mixed. The Dow Industrials retreated five points to 13,628, but the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were up a bit.
TV stocks were also mixed. ACME had a strong day, up 4.8%. Hearst-Argyle was the worst performer, down 2.4%.
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| Stocks |
Here's how stocks fared on Thursday
| Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
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Acme
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ACME
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5.50
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+0.25
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Lincoln Natl.
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LNC
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72.50
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+0.25
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Belo
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BLC
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22.23
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+0.04
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LIN TV
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TVL
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19.53
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+0.01
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| CBS CI. B |
CBS |
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33.26
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-0.09
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McGraw-Hill
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MHP
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70.31
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-0.59
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| CBS CI. A |
CBSa |
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33.23
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-0.08
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Media General
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MEG
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36.45
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+0.72
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Clear Channel
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CCU
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38.40
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-0.02
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Meredith
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MDP
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62.21
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+0.02
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Disney
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DIS
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35.44
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-0.47
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News Corp.
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NWS
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23.63
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-0.34
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Emmis
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EMMS
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10.39
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+0.06
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Nexstar
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NXST
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14.04
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-0.28
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Entravision
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EVC
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10.19
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+0.24
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NY Times
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NYT
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25.11
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+0.01
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| Equity Media |
EMDA |
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4.10 |
-0.06 |
Ion Media
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ION
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1.44
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unch
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Fisher
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FSCI
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50.21
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+0.06
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Saga Commun.
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SGA
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9.28
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+0.13
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Gannett
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GCI
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58.82
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-0.21
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SBS
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SBSA
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4.73
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-0.02
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Gen. Electric
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GE
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37.58
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-0.15
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Scripps
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SSP
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45.62
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+0.42
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| Google |
GOOG |
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497.91
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-0.69
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Sinclair
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SBGI
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15.32
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unch
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Granite
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GBTVK
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0.16
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unch
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SWMX
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SWMX
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0.25
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+0.02
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Gray
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GTN
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10.27
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+0.07
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Time Warner
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TWX
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21.37
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-0.18
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Gray, C1. A
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GTNa
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10.57
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+0.09
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Tribune
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TRB
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32.20
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-0.05
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Hearst-Argyle
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HTV
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26.00
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-0.65
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Wash. Post
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WPO
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769.00
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+4.95
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Journal Comm.
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JRN
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13.75
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+0.10
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Young
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YBTVA
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3.98
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+0.03
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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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Below the Fold
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Ad Business Report
Agencies comment on
First commercial minute ratings data...
Media Markets & Money
Still some spin left
On ex-Emmis TVs? According to reports stations being run by Montecito getting ready...
Entertainment Media
Business Report
MyNetworkTV unveils Fall sked
Includes four reality programs...
Ratings & Research
Idol finale goes out on top
Fox won the official TV season but the Stats are worth a look see...
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Stations for Sale
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 Market your Stations For Sale
in our daily epapers.
Contact
June Barnes
jbarnes@rbr.com
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TV Media Moves
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Jones gets the biz
Brian Jones has been named Sr. VP of Operations for the Fox Business Channel, managing new gathering and having responsibility for staffing and operations on the programming side. He was previously VP of Programming for American Sky Broadcasting.
Three upped at FSI
Fox Sports International (FSI) has promoted Frank Uddo to VP of Programming and Acquisitions for Fox Soccer channel, Fox Sports en Espanol and Fox Sports Latin America. Marvin Zepeda has been promoted to Director of Programming for Fox Sports Latin America, Northern Cone. Joshua Glassel has been upped to Programming Director for Fox Soccer Channel and Fox Sports En Espanol.
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More News Headlines
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Regal Guest Response System offered in 114 theatres
Regal Entertainment Group announced 114 locations are now utilizing the Regal Guest Response System (RGRS). With RGRS, patrons can utilize an in-theatre paging device to alert management of any disturbances in an auditorium. In addition to Regal's existing program of auditorium checks by staff members, RGRS provides another way for management to be better informed and to react more quickly. "Our initial test of the Regal Guest Response System was a success, and we are happy to offer this service to more of our moviegoers. The Guest Response System works in combination with regular auditorium checks by our staff to assist managers in providing superior customer service," stated Dick Westerling, Regal Entertainment Group Senior Vice President of Marketing and Advertising. "We work hard to ensure the best possible moviegoing experience in our theatres, so if a guest has a concern, we want to know about it. With the Guest Response System patrons can be our extra eyes and ears to alert us if there is a disturbance without having to miss part of the show." Regal theatres participating in the Guest Response System invite selected patrons to carry a paging device with them into the auditorium. One patron may participate for each of the theatre's auditoriums and for each movie showtime. The Guest Response device is a hand-held pager with four buttons. Each button alerts local management of a different problem such as: sound, picture, piracy or other disturbance. When the patron pushes a button, a message goes to a pager worn by a manager which tells them the nature of the concern, and in which auditorium. Regal will continue to roll out the system as the program is further developed.
TV cameraman
killed in Iraq
A cameraman for AP Television News is the latest journalist killed in Iraq. The AP says Saif M. Fakhry, age 26, was on his day off and was shot twice and killed yesterday while walking to a mosque near his home in Baghdad.
Bancrofts taking bids
Bancroft family resistance to Rupert Murdoch's bid for Dow Jones & Co. is crumbling. The family announced late yesterday that it will meet with representatives of News Corporation to discuss the five billion bucks takeover bid. The statement from the Bancrofts, however, indicated that they will consider other bidders and options for the company, which includes the Wall Street Journal as its marquee property.
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TVBR Radar 2007
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Television News you won't read any where else. TVBR--First, Accurate, and Independently Owned.
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CBS Corp. acquires Last.FM
CBS Corp. has acquired Last.fm, a global, community-based, music discovery network, for 280 million in cash. Founded in 2002, the company creates communities around music by bringing together listeners, artists and music.
TVBR observation: Most of the CBS Radio websites are not very developed, so this may be a good shot in the arm for them. CBS tells us the details of monetization and cross promotion are still being worked out, but it is looking at a number of ways to further monetize the site such as offering sponsorships to clients - for instance a client could sponsor a country music stream for a month. We figure the venture will likely begin harvesting radio listeners before television viewers, because of the music focus. (Note: See agency comments in Ad Business Report section in this issue of TVBR)
05/31/07 TVBR #106
Highfields comes onboard
Approval of the revised Clear Channel Communications buyout/recapitalization seems virtually assured, with former dissident shareholder Highfields Capital signing a voting agreement to vote its 5% stake in favor of the deal. Highfields will be seeking as much as it can get of the 30% stake available to current shareholders and will get one of the 12 seats on the new board of directors. (More details in RBR)
RBR observation: No date has been set for the actual vote on the revised offer, since the complicated terms have to be reduced to writing and new proxies mailed out to shareholders, but it is looking more and more like this is in the bag. For other radio companies, that means that once Clear Channel finishes off the current auction of a group of small market radio stations, it will have to get ready for some big market sales that will be required to comply with FCC ownership limits as the change of ownership takes place. That will put some very interesting big radio properties up for grabs.
05/31/07 RBR #106
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Hard finding that key person
to fill the important position at your organization? Media HeadHunters is the place that key media firms use to get results. See Media HeadHunters and get results with service--Period.
Need assistance
contact Cathy Carnegie
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