Long John Silver's debuts sponsorship with Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
and Martin Truex, Jr.
Long John Silver's has partnered with Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and will sponsor the NASCAR Busch Series car owned by Earnhardt and driven by his protege Martin Truex, Jr. Truex will drive the No. 8 Long John Silver's Chevy Monte Carlo at the Kroger 200 at Indianapolis Raceway Park on 8/7, and at the Bashas' Supermarkets 200 at Phoenix International Raceway on 11/6. Truex is the current Busch Series points leader. | More... |

Subaru narrows it down to three finalists
wSubaru of America has named three finalists for its $165M account - - DDB NY, GSD&M Austin, TX and The Martin Agency of Richmond, VA. AAR Partners handled the search. The incumbent, TM Advertising Irving, TX, did not make the cut.

Red Roof Inn unveils new logo
Red Roof Inn has unveiled a new logo which will begin appearing at newly renovated properties across the country. Part of an overall strategy to redefine the economy brand by parent company Accor North America, the logo change is a direct effort to convey to guests what they will find at newly renovated Red Roof Inn properties. | More... |

Close encounter in Dallas
Liberman Broadcasting (LBI) has completed its $15.5M entry into the Dallas-Ft. Worth radio market with the acquisition of KNOR-FM from A.M. & P.M. Broadcasters (3/24/04 TVBR Daily Epaper #58). The deal doesn't constitute a completely fresh start for LBI - - it's already proud owner of a television station which it bought from Daystar Television Network last year for $37M (8/18/03 TVBR Daily Epaper #161). LBI is also active in TV and radio in Los Angeles and Houston.

Pay raises at Viacom
Following the recent shakeup in the executive suite at Viacom, the post-Karmazin occupants have all gotten pay raises. According to a filing with the SEC, Chairman and CEO Sumner Redstone's new contract is for a base salary of $3.5 million a year - - up from the $1 million that he and Mel Karmazin were previously paid. New Co-Presidents and Co-COOs Les Moonves and Tom Freston each have a base salary of $3 million. They and Redstone each got options to buy 1.5 million shares of Viacom's Class B stock at an exercise price of $35.51.

Broadcast stocks were also higher, with investors apparently upbeat ahead of Clear Channel's Friday report on earnings. Clear Channel rose 4.4% as the day's leader. Emmis rose 3.7%.

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This reader advises you to pay the government early, rather than later.

The item in today's RBR and TVBR on the "official" opening of the 2004 regulatory fee window (7/22/04 TVBR Daily Epaper #142) is technically correct, but the Commission made clear (both this year and last) that the fee forms and payments may be submitted earlier. We suggest that, especially when dealing with the government, it's generally best to avoid the last-minute rush.

Roy R. Russo
Managing Partner
Cohn and Marks LLP
Washington, DC

Fazio's got Game
Former Toon Disney and ABC Kids executive Lou Fazio has joined GSN, once known as Game Show Network, as Vice President of Scheduling and Acquisitions.

Vacancy at EchoStar
EchoStar said its CFO, Michael McDonnell, is resigning, effective August 13 for personal reasons. No successor was immediately named.

Infinity moving all national business to Interep
The p-match between Infinity and Clear Channel continues: While 75%-80% of Infinity's national sales biz is currently with Interep, the rest (20%+) will be moving from Katz over to Interep, say Infinity sources. However, "it won't be happening for a while." The news is so new that Interep couldn't yet comment on it. Where did the 20-25% come from? Most of that was left over under the old American Radio Systems group (ARS) after its acquisition by CBS/Infinity. Mel Karmazin had wanted to keep something over at Katz so Infinity could keep a finger in both pies, so to speak. The 20%-25% is worth over $100M in revenue according to the source.

RBR observation: Makes sense to bring that money into your own bank. But word of caution again to Interep, and not put yourself as a company in harm's way. There has been and always will be this stigma - that's why certain groups like Citadel and possibly Saga may have left Interep for Katz - that former Viacom COO 'Zen Master' Mel Karmazin and Infinity wielded all of the power and influence inside Interep for the national dollar. Nobody likes to feel like a second tier player. We all know the normal on air disclaimer. Words from Hill Street Blues - "Lets be careful out there."

Clear Channel fires back
with $3M countersuit
against Infinity and Stern
The best defense is a strong offense, so Clear Channel is going on the offensive in its legal battle with Viacom's Infinity over bouncing "The Howard Stern Show."
TVBR observation: We note that one of the allegations that Clear Channel denies in its response to the Infinity lawsuit is the claim that Clear Channel's suspension of Stern's show was politically motivated - - coming a day before Clear Channel Radio CEO John Hogan was due to testify on Capitol Hill about indecency penalties. But we all know this is more about politics than anything else.
07/22/04 TVBR #142

Sirius heading toward
1M subscribers
Q2 conference call the company would get to one million by the end of this year. By comparison, XM announced at the beginning of this month that it had surpassed 2.1 million subscribers. A lot of that difference is due to heavy selling of factory-installed XM receivers by General Motors. Editor's note: Best CYA radio it is coming. The local consumer is not aware of radios in fighting nor would care - so CYA. 07/22/04 RBR #142

Hill bill would restore
broadcast regulation
Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), along with several of his Democratic House colleagues, is introducing HR 4069, the "Media Ownership Reform Act of 2004. TVBR observation: Republican House leaders have to date fended off a vote on the Resolution of Disapproval passed twice in the Senate, albeit in different form. That is precisely what will happen to this bill in the 108th Congress. HR 4069 isn't going anywhere.
07/21/04 TVBR #141

Sumner just keeps
buying and buying...
If you own shares of Midway Games, you're becoming an increasingly rare investor. There seems to be no end to Sumner Redstone's appetite for shares of the video game company. TVBR observation: Oh to be one of the lucky investors who bought Midway stock last year for $2. Redstone obviously sees valuwe in the video games industry that escapes most investors - - and we'd bet that some of it has to do with synergies with Viacom properties, such as Paramount Studios and Nickelodeon - - something only Redstone can bring to the table. 07/21/04 RBR #141

Viacom's Moonves will
stand and fight
Specifically addressed the Jackson/Timberlake wardrobe malfunction, which effectively threw gasoline on an already-raging anti-indecency firestorm last winter. Moonves said a fine for the incident would be unfair and perilous. He vowed to take the case to court. TVBR observation: If court review of FCC ownership regulation usually results in a finding of "arbitrary and capricious," wait 'til they get a load of the indecency regulations and guidelines. If this goes to court, we expect a long, loud fight - - everybody but everybody will weigh in on this one - - but in the end the FCC regs will wind up on the scrap heap and the Enforcement Bureau will be on their way back to the drawing board. 07/20/04 TVBR #140

Analyst says media companies
have to give back cash
With media stocks performing poorly, but the big media companies still throwing off lots of free cash flow, analyst Douglas Shapiro at Banc of America Securities has been looking at the options and concludes that the companies have no choice put to start giving that cash back to their shareholders. 07/20/04 TVBR #140

Boyle applauds Clear Channel
clutter cutting
The Wachovia Securities analyst says Clear Channel is making a move in the right direction. Editor's note: Boyle isn't backing off from his pronouncement that radio's biggest groups will continue to trail industry performance for several more quarters, but he credits Clear Channel for making a move in the right direction by cutting clutter. It is called - resisting the winds of Naples. 07/20/04 TVBR #140

TV take heed - Delivering a
Sales & PD's Dream
Here are the new limits mandated from San Antonio - - Clear Channel's new commercial load limits effective 1/1/05 for all stations all formats. As one source put it - "We get to stop the garbage humpy-humpy bar promotions just to get beer money." Next step on pulling off this spot load strategy will be Clear Channel budgets which are coming into focus as all budgets by all stations are due at the end of August, which is about six (6) weeks away. For spot load all Formats and variations charts see the charts. 07/20/04 RBR #140