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TV News ®
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 Frog net shocker: Levin out at the WB
Just a few months after being named co-CEO of the WB Network and becoming the sole possessor of the title last month when founder Jamie Kellner completed his two-step exit, Jordan Levin (pictured) has also left the network. His abrupt departure reportedly came after Levin was told he would report to new Chairman Garth Ancier, reducing Levin's authority. Rather than accept the demotion, Levin resigned. The shakeup apparently leaves Ancier alone at the top of the WB. He's expected to name a new head of entertainment, but keep the top executive titles for himself. Since the network's creation in 1996, Kellner, Ancier and Levin had worked together as a management triumvirate. That approach didn't sit well with Barry Meyer, Chairman of Warner Brothers Entertainment. With Kellner gone, Meyer wanted just one boss at the WB unit, which reports to him. He chose Ancier and Levin refused to go back to his old job of the network's President of Entertainment. "Taking a non-traditional organizational route was a noble effort, but having a sole leader is simply more productive, efficient and effective," Meyer said in announcing the change
TV up 9.5% in May at Gannett
As the latest newspaper/TV company to report on May revenues, Gannett says TV group revenues were up 9.5% to $69.5 million. Local revenues were up 2.2% and national 21.2%. Gannett doesn't separate out political ad revenues in its tally. "Based on current pacings, television revenues for the quarter would be ahead of last year's second quarter results in the high single digits," the company said. Gannett's pro forma newspaper ad revenues were up 9% to $389.5 million. Local rose 4.9%, national 9.3% and classified 13.1%.
 Howard Dean lauds local media
Former Vermont Governor and Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean appeared before the National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation to discuss broadcast debating in particular and the relationship of politicians and the media in general. He remarked several times that the best of all media, on several levels, is local television. Editor's note: Dean blames a noise-squelching mic as he was attempting to buck up spirits and was using a loud tone of voice because he had to be heard over the crowd. Well Mr. Dean radio can make any face for TV sound good. If you missed it the first time then take another listen for old time sake. Radio's production of
 The Dean Scream. | More... |
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Debating the debate
The NABEF panel spent at least part of their time discussing their topic, which was the state of debates in the broadcast media. Moderator Leon Harris noted the presence of both perpetrators and victims on the panel when he launched the discussion. | More... |
Broadcasters serve up $9.6B to the public
The numbers are in for 2003, and they show a record of public service by the broadcast community second only to the off-the-charts year of 2001 in the donation of time and generation of charitable funds. $9.6B was either raised for charity and relief efforts, or donated for gratis public service announcements. The total represents a slight drop from 2001, which included a $1B one-time surge attributable to 9/11. Broadcaster participating in the survey used to generate stats were specifically instructed to limit their reporting to the above categories. PSAs aired for partial payment did not count, nor did the value of advertisements canceled in order to cover breaking news. "This census confirms again that local, over-the-air radio and television stations are collectively the number one provider of public service in America," said NAB President/CEO Eddie Fritts. The total was well beyond those of 1999 ($8.1B) and 1997 ($6.8B).
 No drama for today's NAB board meetings
With no threat remaining of a challenge to the re-election of Phil Lombardo, CEO of the Citadel Communications TV group, as NAB Joint Board Chairman, it looks like today's voting will be a pretty sedate affair. The Vice Chairs of both the Radio and TV Boards should move up without opposition. TV Board Chairman Michael Fiorile of Dispatch Broadcast Group is also stepping down, although he'll remain a board member for another year. Andy Fisher (pictured) of Cox Television will apparently face no opposition in his run for Chairman. In Radio, Carl Gardner of Journal Broadcast Group, whose term on the board is ending, will be succeeded by Bruce Reese of Bonneville. If there is to be any contested election at all it is likely to be for the at-large seat on the Radio Executive Committee. Russ Withers of Withers Broadcasting, having decided he didn't have sufficient backing to challenge Lombardo, has reportedly been testing the waters to challenge incumbent Alan Harris of Wagonwheel Communications for that seat on the Radio Executive Committee. TVBR was unable to reach Withers to learn his intentions. Of course, board members are expected to overwhelmingly approve a new two-year contract for President and CEO Eddie Fritts and begin the search for his successor as he heads toward retirement after a run of more than two decades.
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Charting the future for the post-Eddie NAB
The Eddie Fritts era at the NAB is coming to an end. The organization has come a long way in his 22 years, but where should it be going once Eddie retires within the next two years? A lot has already been said by some NAB members about wanting a Capitol Hill heavy-hitter. The scenario often mentioned is that Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-LA) would be the ideal candidate, if only he didn't have health problems. But even if he were available, there's no guarantee that NAB could land him. Lots of other trade associations are also looking for leadership and they also have multi-million-dollar contracts to offer. The Motion Picture Association of America has been looking for some time for a successor to retiring Jack Valenti, so far without success. | More... |
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Measuring the Media Moguls
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 Univision: A. Jerrold Perenchio,
Chairman & CEO
2003 stock performance: +62.00%
2003 CEO pay: +/- 0.00%
Univision CEO Jerry Perenchio didn't see a change in his paycheck last year because he didn't get one. He draws no salary or bonus from the company, nor does he receive any stock options or other perks. He isn't even paid the fees that other company directors receive. Instead, Perenchio's entire economic interest in Univision is in having its stock price go up. He owns over 37 million shares, virtually all of them super-voting Class P shares, which give him 56% voting control of the company. At the beginning of 2004, his stake was worth $1.48 billion. | More... |
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CBS, ABC seal upfront ad deals
Viacom's CBS had pretty well wrapped up its upfront yesterday with a total take of $2.4B, up from $2.2B last year. CBS was able to obtain double-digit CPM increases in ad rates, on average, for its primetime shows. Home to such shows as "CSI: Miami" and "Everybody Loves Raymond," top-rated CBS is likely to be the one major network to substantially surpass its upfront ad-sales total from 2003. Viacom's UPN secured about $350M in the upfront, some $100M over its advance commitments in 2003. Viacom had been one of the last to finish this year's upfront, since it had held out for price increases of 10% or better at CBS. | More... |
Charles Schwab joins TiVo's roster of advertisers
TiVo continues pulling advertisers over from traditional media outlets. Charles Schwab & Co. will be the first financial services company to advertise on the TiVo rich media platform. Schwab will treat golf fans to lessons, commentary and more from 2004 Masters Champion and Schwab client Phil Mickelson in a TiVo Showcase that debuts 6/16 in conjunction with the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills in NY. | More... |
P&G signs sponsorship deal with
Reach Media's Tom Joyner
Reach Media announced a partnership between its Tom Joyner Morning Show and Procter & Gamble that includes sponsorship and a study to measure the effectiveness of urban radio and its ability to impact sales. | More... |
 Schwab debuting new radio effort
Charles Schwab & Co. will launch a new radio campaign on 6/15 to highlight the introduction of the company's new lower trading prices, which were announced 5/25. Founder and Chairman Charles Schwab is featured in three 60-second radio spots highlighting the value and choice of services available at the company, while the print portion of the campaign builds upon the recent "Grafitti" ads, emphasizing that investors should not have to sacrifice service and advice to get low-cost trades. The new pricing, which also becomes effective 6/15, will dramatically reduce fees for online equity trades, offering $9.95 trades to clients with $1M in household assets at Schwab and lowering commissions to $19.95 for a wide range of additional clients. The campaign, developed by Austin ad agency GSD&M, consists of a broad range of radio and print placements. Radio ads will run on national networks as well as in key local markets through the week of 6/21. Print placements include national news dailies as well as weekly news magazines and will run from 6/15 into July. Also see our related story on Schwab's first financial services showcase with the TiVo platform.
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Media, Markets & Money tm
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DG closes AGT-Broadcast acquisition
Digital audio and video delivery company DG Systems says it has completed its $15 million all-cash acquisition of AGT-Broadcast from Applied Graphics Technologies (5/14/04 TVBR Daily Epaper #95). The purchase, which DG Chairman and CEO Scott Ginsburg said fulfilled his goals to "continue building a critical mass of operations and further diversify our geographic and industry reach," extended the digital delivery company into the related areas of volume duplication, encoding and captioning, media management and archiving, and digital imaging.
Price revealed as group chugs into Chattanooga
Meredith Corp.'s entry into the Chattanooga market, as well as the world of UPN affiliateship, was announced last week (6/7/04 TVBR Daily Epaper #110), but the value of the deal was not. Now, thanks to the FCC, we know. Documents filed with the Commission show that the deal is for $8.5M cash. Michael Lambert's Chattanooga Media Holdings will get the bulk of that at closing, with a fraction reserved in an indemnification escrow account.
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Washington Beat
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 Still stalled after all these weeks
In case you were wondering, the Broadcast Decency Act of 2004 is still stalled in the Senate. Yet another news outlet - - this time the Washington Times - - has put out a story on that theme. The probable cause is that the Dorgan amendment to temporarily roll back the FCC 6/2/03 ownership ruling, which hasn't had to be rolled back thus far since it is in a court-frozen state of suspended animation - - is every bit the poison pill its critics thought it would be. Anyway, to repeat, time is running out. Congress is facing a truncated schedule due to national conventions, the summer vacation season and general electioneering, so there is little time to hammer out differences of opinion on this or any other matter. The bills sponsor, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) is still said to be shopping for an appropriate bill upon which a simplified version of his bill might hitch a ride.
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Ratings & Research
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Nielsen reports Reagan funeral ratings
With last Friday's funeral services for former President Ronald Reagan airing on eight networks simultaneously, Nielsen Media Research reports that more than 20 million people watched the mid-day state funeral from Washington, DC and even more, over 35 million, tuned in late in the evening for the graveside service in California. Here are the preliminary audience figures that Nielsen released yesterday. | Charts |
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Transactions
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$44.2M: WISE-TV Fort Wayne IN. 100% of NVG-Fort Wayne II LLC from New Vision Group LLC (Jason Elkin) to Granite Broadcasting Corp. (W. Don Cornwell). Cash, with $180K put into reserve escrow account. Duopoly with WPTA-TV, which, although it is being sold to Malara Broadcast Group LLC, will be operated in an LMA. WISE is an NBC affiliate on Channel 33 (DTV Channel 19). WPTA is an ABC affiliate on Channel 21. [File date 5/11/04.]
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Stock Talk
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Stocks drop on interest rate worries
You had to see this coming if you read yesterday's TVBR Daily Epaper. As traders returned from a three-day weekend, it was their first opportunity to sell stocks after warnings Friday from two Fed officials that higher interest rates may be coming sooner than expected. That sent the Dow Industrials down 75 points yesterday, or 0.7%, to 10,335. Other broad indices were also lower.
Television stocks fell pretty much across the board. Entravision fell 4.1%, Liberty Corporation 3.4% and Young Broadcasting 3.2% as the day's worst performer. A notable exception to the down trend was Paxson. It rose 6.6% as an article in Barron's quoted Guerrilla Capital Management co-founder Peter Siris as saying that when Paxson is sold, "At a minimum, it's worth $9 a share."
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TV Stocks
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Here's how stocks fared on Monday
| Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
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Acme
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ACME
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$6.78
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-$0.16
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McGraw-Hill
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MHP
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$76.49
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-$0.70
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Belo
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BLC
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$28.53
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-$0.30
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Media General
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MEG
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$69.96
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-$0.57
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Clear Channel
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CCU
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$37.23
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-$0.60
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Meredith
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MDP
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$55.20
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-$0.21
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Disney
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DIS
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$24.72
|
unch
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News Corp.
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NWS
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$35.55 |
-$0.46
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Emmis
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EMMS
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$21.02
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-$0.32
|
Nexstar
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NXST
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$10.84
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+$0.09
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Entravision
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EVC
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$8.05
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-$0.34
|
NY Times
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NYT
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$46.33
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-$0.32
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Fisher
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FSCI
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$49.45
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-$0.02
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Paxson
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PAX
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$3.25
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+$0.20
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Fox
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FOX
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$26.70
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-$0.55
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Saga Commun.
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SGA
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$18.50
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-$0.16
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Gannett
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GCI
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$87.10
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-$0.45
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Scripps
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SSP
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$107.95
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-$0.18
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Gen. Electric
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GE
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$31.57
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+$0.08
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Sinclair
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SBGI
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$10.90
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-$0.06
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Granite
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GBTVK
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$1.02
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+$0.02
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Time Warner
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TWX
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$17.30
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-$0.20
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Gray
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GTN
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$14.00
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-$0.10
|
Tribune
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TRB
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$46.58
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-$0.32
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Gray, C1. A
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GTNa
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$12.70
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-$0.06
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Univision
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UVN
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$32.60
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-$0.57
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Hearst-Argyle
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HTV
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$25.84
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+$0.06
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Viacom, Cl. A
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VIA
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$37.45
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-$0.79
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Jeff-Pilot
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JP
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$50.36
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-$0.42
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Viacom, Cl. B
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VIAb
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$36.95
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-$1.02
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Journal Comm.
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JRN
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$18.13
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-$0.12
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Wash. Post
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WPO
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$954.01
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-$1.49
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Liberty Corp
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LC
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$45.76
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-$1.61
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Young
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YBTVA
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$13.72
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-$0.45 |
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LIN TV
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TVL
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$21.94
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-$0.10
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TVBR Audiocast
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06/15 - Get the feel of what you are scrolling down and reading... Listen to this morning's AudioCast and
Hold On To Your Hair!
Listen Now
with Bob DeCarlo'
"In Da Morning"
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Bounceback
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We want to hear from you.
This is your column, so send your comments to tvnews@rbr.com
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June Digital Magazine
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Complimentary Report
The Indecency Debate
Radio's Talkers Talk Thoughts like:
Tony Snow, Alan Colmes, Doug Stephan, Ed Schultz. Over 20 top Talkers Speak out
in RBR - Get it - Read It !
Read RBR in 2 simple steps:
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TVBR Radar 2004
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Click on these issues for TV News you won't read any where else. TVBR--First, Accurate, and Independently Owned.
The war is over at the NAB
Back at the NAB convention in Las Vegas, it looked like a battle royale was shaping up. Eddie Fritts is getting a two-year renewal as NAB President and CEO, with the search now beginning for a successor as he heads into retirement.
06/14/04 TVBR #115
Measuring the Media Moguls -Tribune Company: Dennis FitzSimons, Chairman,
wPresident & CEO
It was his first year as CEO, although he'd been President of the company since July of 2001. Was paid a salary of $850,000, a bonus of $1.2 million and perks. 06/14/04 TVBR #115
Clear Channel skates on
indecency violation
This one took place right under the FCC's nose, at WIHT-FM in Washington. the station was hit with an NAL for indecency some time ago - - so long ago, in fact, that the statute of limitations expired months ago, on 10/30/03. RBR observation: Did Clear Channel save itself $98.25M? Forget about what Clear Channel's paying. The story is all about what's out of the docket and off the table. Check out the math in this mu! st-read RBR observation.
06/14/04 RBR #115
Univision sues to block LA LPMs
You had to see this coming. As one of four broadcasters who tried unsuccessfully to get Nielsen to further delay its Local People Meter (LPM) roll-out in New York, Univision has now gone to court in California to try to block the LPM roll-out in Los Angeles, which is scheduled for July 8th.
06/11/04 TVBR #114
Broadcast, print news consumption trending downward
Local TV news leads all categories when it comes to regularly used news sources but it has been eroding over the past decade. 77% of Americans used it regularly in 1993, a figure which has dwindled to 59% in 2004. Newspaper, second with 42%, has also dropped - - it stood at 58% as recently as 1994. Radio is in third place as a regular source at 40%. Editor's note: Got to print these current rankings and see the future. 06/11/04 TVBR #114
Measuring the Media Moguls -
Time Warner: Richard Parsons, Chairman & CEO
2003 was a turnaround year for Time Warner, as it shed AOL from the beginning of its name and tried to move on from the disastrous merger that had produced it. For presiding over that transformation, Chairman & CEO Richard Parsons received a bonus of $8 million, after getting none in 2002. He also got a 50% salary increase. 06/11/04 TVBR #114
Network comp slowly slips away
It's been a fact of life in television for the past several years, but hardly anyone talks about it - - at least not in public. TV networks have been insisting on drastic cuts in network compensation payments to affiliates and eventual complete elimination of comp in affiliation contract renewals. Editor's note: TV affiliates got to learn to live without it. Got to see the chart to prove it. 06/10/04 TVBR #113
Indecency: Clear Channel
settles with FCC
Is set to make a $1.75M payment to the US Treasury in order to lay to rest its indecency fine vulnerability with the FCC. That would be in addition to $755K paid earlier to settle indecency tab run up by Bubba the Love Sponge, bringing total payment to over $2.5M. TVBR observation: Clear Channel once again is playing it safe. But we're waiting for the other Stern shoe to drop, and when it does, it's expected to land squarely on Infinity, now owned by Viacom. Even with Karmazin out of the picture, FCC vs. Viacom promises to be a much more spectacular fireworks show than this one, fiery though it is in its own right. 06/10/04 TVBR #113
Cross-platform the wave
of the future?
Consolidation was the name of the game, being a pure-play radio company made you a Wall Street darling. In fact, Emmis got hammered by investors for expanding into television. The future is cross-platform, words of wisdom of Radio One, CFO Scott Royster. Editor's note: Royster is right if you do it correctly! ? 06/09/04 TVBR #112
NBC pulls in 2.9B in the upfront
All but concluded its upfront sales efforts, pulling in a reported $2.9B for the new season, at 7% CPM increases. The big draws were "The Apprentice" and Friends spinoff "Joey." CBS is expected to be the only network to increase its share of the ad market, with its take expected to rise 9% to $2.4B. CBS, still asking for 10% CPM increases, is holding firm with the buying community with 60% inventory sold and dangling the CSI carrot. Editor's note: Who will blink first? 06/09/04 TVBR #112
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