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Volume 24, Issue 152, Jim Carnegie, Editor & Publisher
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Monday Morning August 6th, 2007
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TV News ®
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 Nexstar no longer in sales talks
Citing "difficult conditions in the financing markets" Nexstar announced that it has decided to suspend discussions with potential buyers of the company. CEO Perry Sook tells TVBR that a "hiatus" is an accurate description and it is likely that sale talks will resume when the markets improve. Nexstar announced in May (5/18/07 TVBR #98) that it had retained Goldman Sachs to assist the company in reviewing strategic alternatives, including a sales of the entire company. TVBR estimated that the company would bring over one billion in the auction. Immediately after the company announcement on Friday, Nexstar's stock price took a nosedive of more than 13%. The stock had already fallen from a high just over 15 bucks in early July to slightly above 10 - and is now back into single digits.
TVBR observation: The rumblings in the financing markets have become louder in recent weeks. Tribune allayed fears when it declared that all of the financing is committed for its buyout. And KKR drew headlines in the financial press for holding its bankers feet to the fire for financing commitments they'd made to its deal to buy Dollar General. But for deals not yet done, terms are tightening and financing is becoming harder to get.
Inventory coming off the market?
Bear Stearns analyst Victor Miller was not surprised by Nexstar's announcement. Just a few hours earlier he'd published a note to investors predicting that both Nexstar and LIN would be pulled off the auction block because of the deteriorating financing markets. He was quickly proven right about Nexstar. Will there be an announcement from LIN as well? News Corporation also has nine of its smaller market TV stations on the market and Lincoln Financial Group is investigating possible sales of its Lincoln Financial Media radio and TV groups. Miller thinks those sale processes will continue.
Telemundo suspends anchor for 2 months
Following an internal investigation, Telemundo President Don Browne has suspended KVEA-TV (Ch. 52) Los Angeles anchor Mirthala Salinas for two months for violating the conflict-of-interest policies of the NBC Universal company. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has acknowledged having an affair with Salinas (7/9/07 TVBR #132) "First, let me emphasize that while the content and accuracy of KVEA's newscasts were not compromised, our news policy standards with respect to conflict of interest were clearly violated," Browne said in a memo to employees that was also made public. He noted that KVEA had taken Salinas off the City Hall news beat at the end of 2006 because of her "friendship" with the Mayor and she was assigned duties that did not involve covering him. "In April 2007, she was given the role of temporary news anchor and read lead-ins and other materials involving stories on the Mayor and politics. This decision conflicted with our guidelines and with management's prior decision. Subsequent to this, her reading of copy during newscasts on June 8 and June 11 regarding the Mayor's separation from his wife was a flagrant violation of these guidelines. The failure to respond appropriately in the following weeks further compounded these errors," Browne said. Following the internal investigation, with assistance from faculty of the Poynter Institute regarding journalistic ethics, Browne suspended Salinas and KVEA News Director Al Corral each for two months without pay. KVEA President and General Manager Manuel Abud has been reassigned and Ibra Morales, President of the Telemundo Television Stations Division, has been reprimanded.
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 Newspaper editor assassinated
That may sound like a headline from a third world country, but this happened Thursday in the USA. Chauncey Bailey, editor of the Oakland Post, was gunned down by a masked man on a downtown street in the California city. Bailey had a long career as an aggressive journalist for East Bay news outlets, including KDIA-AM, local cable TV channels and 12 years at the Oakland Tribune. Bailey had been editor of the Oakland Post, a weekly aimed at the African-American community, only since June. Local news reports say the masked gunman, wearing dark clothing, approached Bailey as he was walking to work from his nearby apartment, shot him once in the back and once in the head, then ran away. Police believe Bailey was specifically targeted and are trying to determine the motive for his killing.
Edwards goes Fox hunting
Presidential candidate John Edwards (D-NC) is calling for all Democratic candidates to return any donations from News Corp. executives in light of the company's pending acquisition of Dow Corporation and its flagship Wall Street Journal. Edwards was also first to boycott a debate which is scheduled to air on Fox News Channel. "The time has come for Democrats to stop pretending to be friends with the very people who demonize the Democratic Party," he said. Edwards' statement was seen by many as a thinly-veiled attack on front-runner Hillary Clinton (D-NY), who has received contributions from several top officials at News Corp., including Peter Chernin and Gary Ginsberg, not to mention James Murdoch, the son of News Corp. honcho Rupert Murdoch. Fellow Democratic candidate Chris Dodd (D-CT) called for an FCC investigation into the merger (despite the fact that the FCC's jurisdiction over the matter is questionable at best). Dodd noted that the very fact that News Corp. will form a committee to protect the journalistic integrity of the Wall Street Journal underlines the questionable nature of the deal. "It should be a given that The Wall Street Journal's reporting will not be affected by its parent company," he was quoted as saying. As for Edwards, he is using the controversy to raise campaign funds, just as he did after previous flaps with pundit Ann Coulter. An email entitled "Unfair and Unbalanced" went out to his supporters asking for help in making a stand against the company.
TVBR observation: Last we heard, the Congressional Black Caucus/Fox News Channel debate was still on the September schedule, but only Joe Biden (D-DE) and Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) has agreed to participate. For their part, Republican candidates are showing equal antipathy to a CNN/YouTube debate that was happily embraced by the Democrats. The question is: Are we edging toward a journalism system where each party has its own media platforms? We doubt we're there yet, but it sure looks like its trending in that direction.
A legal eagle eye's view of DTV outreach
 Congress has instructed the FCC to educate the people about the upcoming transition to digital television, to forestall a massive case of blank screens after analog switches are set to the off position for good on 2/17/09. In fact, John Dingell (D-MI) and Ed Markey (D-MA) would like the FCC to throw its weight around to the extent it is legally entitled. The FCC has decided to be kind enough to allow affected stakeholders to weigh in on this matter before it takes any action, and attorney Peter Gutmann of Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice has been kind enough to handicap this process for us. As usual, the opinions of Mr. Gutmann are not to be cited in a court of law.
| Legal eagle eye view here |
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| Wall Street Media Business Report TM |
Post-Newsweek revenues down only slightly
TV revenues were down only 1% in Q2 for The Washington Post Company, with the Post-Newsweek station group bringing in 87.9 million bucks, despite a 1.5 million decline in political advertising. Operating income fro the TV group declined 13% to 35.2 million. Newspaper revenues dropped 7% to and magazine revenues plunged 13% during the quarter. The bright spots for the Washington Post Co. were education, with revenues up 23% and cable TV, up 9%. All in all, revenues rose 8% to 1.05 billion. Net income was 69.8 million, or 7.19 per share, down from 78.7 million, or 8.17 per share, a year earlier. The company does not conduct a conference call with analysts, nor does it provide any forward guidance.
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Ad Business Report TM
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State Water Heaters up Hispanic marketing efforts
State Water Heaters recently announced plans to launch an integrated marketing effort aimed at Spanish-speaking contractors in key U.S. markets. Campaign initiatives include new Hispanic-themed print advertisements, Web enhancements, and a television sponsorship, all designed to raise State brand awareness among Hispanic communities. A dedicated section on State's Web site, www.statewaterheaters.com, provides an opportunity to view the new Spanish print adv and a link to the Web site of "De Casa a Hogar," a new home improvement show on Spanish language television. The new print ads will help engage Hispanic viewers by featuring Spanish messaging, and are expected to grow advertising recall and State brand visibility among this rapidly growing audience. The ads will also appear in English versions to attract English dominant Hispanics. State's broadcast efforts include a Latino home show sponsorship with "De Casa a Hogar," scheduled to air on a major Latino network in early fall. The show will provide viewers with home improvement segments, technology tips, and a peak into Hispanic celebrity homes. State's sponsorship includes opportunity for product demonstration in addition to Web site, print, and broadcast sponsor recognition.
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| Media Business Report TM |
Talkers spread out the topic smorgasboard
During the week of 7/22-27/07, according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism, talkmeisters stuck to their usual script, in which they take the top topics on the news and amplify them. They took #1 news story, the 2008 campaign, up from 12% to 18% of available time, and upped #2 topic Alberto Gonzales from 6% to 9%. A murder story out of Connecticut and the immigration debate each got 6% of the hole, and then the talk world's attention began to drift in all directions (just as the news attention did in a relatively slow week). Terror, Iraq, health care, Michael Vick, Lindsay Lohan and the fired attorneys all subject to a modest amount of chin music.
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| Media Markets & Money TM |
 FCC approves
Springfield double deal
The sale of ABC KSPR-TV Springfield MO is a double deal in two ways. One, it'll pair the station at arm's length with NBC KYTV-TV. KYTV parent Schurz Communications is paying physical 10.6M+ for certain of the station's physical assets, and Perkin Media is paying 10M for the station's license. Perkin will then enter into several operating agreements with Schurz, including a shared service agreement, an advertising representation agreement and, in the event the local television caps are ever liberalized, a purchase option agreement. Two local competitors, EBC Harrison (KWBM-TV) and Koplar Communications (KRBK-TV) objected, calling Perkin a "straw man" and the deal a sham designed to get around current ownership caps. Koplar admitted that Perkin will employ four full-timers, however, and as long as it maintains its active control over KSPR, the FCC reaffirmed that there is nothing whatsoever illegal about any of the agreements between Perkin and Schurz (they are basically variations of what many call an LMA or local market agreement). Since there is no evidence that Schurz has de facto control of the station, the dual purchase, with Perkin getting the license was approved, and the petitions to deny were dismissed.
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__FIRST__ __SECOND__,
here is another transaction brokered by Kalil & Co., Inc.
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| Washington Media Business Report TM |
 Senate searches for
a chip for all media
No, the Senate Commerce Committee is not looking for snack food to take with it on its August recess. Mark Pryor (D-AR) believes that there are too many content outlets nowadays, and he'd like the FCC to research the possibility of giving parents a universal blocking device that can possibly protect children from all of them. As we expected, the vote on Pryor's S. 602 the "Child Safe Viewing Act of 2007" was unanimous. Pryor's bill instructs the FCC to begin a rulemaking proceeding within 120 days of the bill's enactment in order to encourage of require the use of advanced blocking technologies, to identify such technologies, and to match up such devices across a wide spectrum of communications media including broadcast, cable, satellite, DVRs and other outlets. It also instructs the FCC to look into devices that "can filter language based upon information in closed captioning; operate independently of ratings pre-assigned by the creator of such video or audio programming; and may be effective in enhancing the ability of a parent to protect his or her child from indecent or objectionable programming, as determined by such parent." Some are calling what he is after a "super v-chip," and at least one observer, gizmodo.com, thinks the project is doomed to failure. Gizmodo observes that the vast array of distribution platforms are what will make the project impossible. "It's like trying to hold back the ocean with a fishing net."
TVBR observation: Gizmodo went even further - all the way to an Orwellian extreme - suggesting that we implant a v-chip into actual children at birth. This would protect them from objectionable content not only found in the media but also from the vast amount of objectionable speech and images that occurs in real life. You never know when tense and crowded road conditions combined with a rude and unpredictable act perpetrated by an incompetent driver is going to inspire an f-bomb right there in the family vehicle.
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| Entertainment Media Business Report TM |
Fox revises fall lineup
Fox announced some changes to its fall lineup on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights. "Bones" moves to Tuesdays at 8:00 pm as of September 25th; "Kitchen Nightmares" shifts to Wednesdays at 9:00 pm, starting September 19th; and "Don't Forget the Lyrics!" will be on Thursdays at 9:00 pm, beginning September 6th. The freshman drama "New Amsterdam," previously announced for Tuesdays at 8:00 pm in the fall, will be rescheduled in midseason.
| See the updated schedule |
"24's" next mission: fighting global warming
"Cool Change," Fox's company-wide program to reduce the network's impact on global warming has the seventh season of "24" taking steps to reduce and offset the carbon emissions from the show's production, with the goal of having the season finale be entirely carbon-neutral, according to The Washington Post. It may sound like a publicity stunt, but Fox spokesman Chris Anderson tells the paper the network isn't after bigger ratings: "We are publicizing '24's' commitment to climate change for two reasons and two reasons only: to inspire the public to take global warming seriously and hopefully to motivate other studios to make changes to their production practices as well," he says. When production begins this month, the show's 26 diesel vehicles and five generators will run on a biodiesel blend, which will start at 5% biodiesel and gradually increase, according to the story. The show's electricity bills will go toward renewable-energy credits that will bring a share of wind, solar and water power to LA's grids. A diesel-powered soundstage will be converted to electricity, thus lessening the show's contribution to the local air pollution problem, and the show's five location scouts will be given Priuses to drive. Scripts, schedules and memos (Previously hand-delivered by car) will now be sent via e-mail.
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| Internet Media Business Report TM |
 NBCU CTO Darren Fehrer to create
new media tech organization
Darren Feher, EVP/CTP for NBC Universal, will take on a new role within the company, focusing more deeply on the creation of a media technology organization dedicated to digital product innovation and emerging technology. Feher will continue to report to John Eck, President, NBC TV Network and Media Works, who made the announcement today. In his new role, Feher will add new technology and engineering teams concentrating on the areas of digital asset management, content distribution, production and commercial planning across NBCU's portfolio. He'll continue to lead the company's external industry technology outreach efforts and oversee NBCU's Technology Growth Center (TGC), which houses NBCU's Research and Development, anti-piracy and technical product development groups for mobile, interactive TV, gaming, and online sites and video. As part of this change, he will turn responsibility for the Information Technology Operations team over to Chris Furst, EVP and CIO for NBCU's Global Enterprise Systems, who also reports to Eck. "Darren is an exceptional leader and has been an integral part of our technical transformation from an analog to a digital media company," said Eck. "He has led the charge in developing technology to ensure our content remains accessible, user friendly and protected and is the ideal candidate to continue our focus on areas of digital growth, including the development of new search technologies, advances in content protection and customized solutions for digital advertising."
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| Ratings & Research |
Multitasking continues, new media
increasing in purchase influence
Consumers continue to multitask their media and are relying on new media more for making purchase decisions, according to BIGresearch's Simultaneous Media Survey (SIMM 10) of 15,439 consumers. "The consumer continues to be a moving target and marketers who employ outdated media models will find it difficult to achieve increased ROI for their marketing dollars," said Gary Drenik, BIGresearch CEO. "The key for advertisers will be the integration or holistic allocation of new media with traditional based upon their customers media consumption. For example, many marketers recognize the value of Internet search but it's also important to understand which of the traditional media can be used to trigger online search for their consumer target."
| Top 10 Media that Trigger an Online Search (Adults 18+) |
CEO Confidence continues to rise in July
 The Chief Executive magazine CEO Confidence Index, which measures the confidence of chief executives about five specific areas of the economy, rose for a second straight month in July, jumping by 8.5 points, or five percent, to 169.3 points. The results of the July survey, conducted among 258 C-level executives, marked the second largest one-month boost to the Index since January of 2006, when the leading economic indicator hit an all time high. The Business Conditions Index, which rose by 12.3 points, or seven percent, led the sharp increase, followed by the Employment Index, which increased by 11.7 points, or 6%. In fact, the Employment Confidence Index has been increasing steadily in the past four months and "the unemployment rate is the lowest it has been in a long time." As such, the percentage of CEOs that expressed strong employment confidence reached a new high, hitting 59%, a level that has not been witnessed since Chief Executive Group began tracking these sentiments in October 2002. However, when asked about their future hiring plans, most respondents, 46%, indicated that they expected the current employment levels to remain unchanged over the next quarter.
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| Monday Morning Makers & Shakers |
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Transactions: 6/18/07-6/22/07
It only takes one transaction to break the station trading business out of a slump, and that sort of happened this week. Trades were way down, from 15 to five, and total stations traded were also down from 23 to six, but Radio One's sale of its Minneapolis-St. Paul FM by itself was worth more than the combined total of every other deal filed up to this point of June. [Editor's note: We elected not to tally stations involved in the adminstrative cashless placement of numerous stations into the Aloha Station Trust by Clear Channel.]
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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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3
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FMs
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3
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TVs
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0
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| Value |
31.275M
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| Complete Charts |
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Radio Transactions of the Week
Woodbury scores in the Twin Cities
| More... |
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TV Transactions of the Week
Still snoozing after all these weeks
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| Stock Talk |
Stocks take a dive
Credit worries hit Wall Street hard on Friday. The Dow Industrials fell 281 points, or 2.1%, to 13,181.
TV stocks plunged. Nexstar dropped 11.7% after saying it had suspended sale negotiations because of the credit market situation. LIN, which has also been seeking a buyer, fell 8.4%. Other than penny stocks, the only TV stock that wasn't down on Friday was the Washington Post Company, up 4.2% after reporting its earnings.
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| Stocks |
Here's how stocks fared on Friday
| Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
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Acme
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ACME
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4.00
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unch
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Lincoln Natl.
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LNC
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57.30
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-3.46
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Belo
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BLC
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17.26
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-0.43
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LIN TV
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TVL
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14.30
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-1.31
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| CBS CI. B |
CBS |
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31.57
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-0.96
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McGraw-Hill
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MHP
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56.34
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-3.31
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| CBS CI. A |
CBSa |
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31.51
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-1.05
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Media General
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MEG
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27.20
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-0.71
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Clear Channel
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CCU
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36.75
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-0.13
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Meredith
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MDP
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54.49
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-1.99
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Disney
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DIS
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33.90
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-0.46
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News Corp.
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NWS
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22.40
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-0.55
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Emmis
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EMMS
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6.51
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-0.44
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Nexstar
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NXST
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9.17
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-1.22
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Entravision
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EVC
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9.11
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-0.04
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Ion Media
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ION
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1.40
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unch
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| Equity Media |
EMDA |
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3.80 |
unch |
Saga Commun.
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SGA
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6.97
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-0.18
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Fisher
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FSCI
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45.76
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-0.87
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SBS
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SBSA
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2.92
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-0.29
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Gannett
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GCI
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49.09
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-1.41
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Scripps
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SSP
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40.32
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-0.95
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Gen. Electric
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GE
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38.06
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-0.97
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Sinclair
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SBGI
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12.07
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-0.14
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| Google |
GOOG |
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503.00
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-8.01
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SWMX
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SWMX
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0.11
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+0.01
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Gray
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GTN
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7.62
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-0.47
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Time Warner
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TWX
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18.61
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-0.29
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Gray, C1. A
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GTNa
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7.80
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-0.21
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Tribune
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TRB
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27.49
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-0.69
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Hearst-Argyle
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HTV
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20.40
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-0.17
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Wash. Post
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WPO
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825.50
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+33.60
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Journal Comm.
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JRN
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10.13
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-0.43
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Young
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YBTVA
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2.29
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-0.06
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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
State Water Heaters
Heats up Hispanic marketing efforts launching an integrated marketing effort ...
Media Markets & Money
FCC approves Springfield
double deal
The sale of ABC KSPR-TV is a double deal in two ways...
Media Business Report
Talkers spread out
The topic smorgasbord...
Entertainment Media
Business Report
Fox revises fall lineup
Changes to its fall lineup on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights...
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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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 Bound for London
Roma Khanna has been named President, Global Networks and Digital Initiatives, NBC Universal International, based in London, effective September 17th. She will work on growing NBC Universal overseas, including partnerships and new channel creation, with a focus on strengthening the content and identity of the Sci-Fi, 13th Street and Universal Channel brands. Khanna joins NBC Universal from CHUM Television in Canada, where she was Co-Head and Senior Vice President of Content.
Doug Checkeris named CEO of MediaCom USA
MediaCom Canada CEO Doug Checkeris has been named the new CEO of MediaCom USA. His appointment is effective October 1. The announcement was made today by MediaCom Worldwide Chairman-CEO Alexander Schmidt-Vogel, who said Checkeris succeeds Dene Callas, who is moving into the newly created role of global Director of Creative for MediaCom Worldwide. Checkeris began his career at MBS, the forerunner to MediaCom, in Canada 24 years ago as a media trainee. He joined the management committee in 1986 and was named managing partner in 1996. He has worked with clients of all sizes in virtually every category and in 2005 served as a Cannes Media Lion jurist. In his new position, he will relocate from Toronto to New York.
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More News Headlines
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FIM selects Rapt
to price, predict and
plan ad assets
Rapt Inc. and Fox Interactive Media (FIM) announced an agreement to deploy Rapt's media monetization platform across FIM's network of online properties. Rapt will provide strategic advisory services and deploy its entire monetization platform to support of FIM's U.S. ad sales operations. The Rapt solutions will integrate with other components of FIM's ad management infrastructure, providing analytic support to monitor and manage business performance. Rapt pricing solutions will deliver smarter rate cards. Inventory solutions will deliver the accuracy, precision, and scalability required to effectively manage inventory dynamics across FIM's network, including the leading social networking site, MySpace (www.myspace.com).
MMTC calls
for commentary
The Minority Media & Telecommunications Council can be excused if it takes time out for a modest victory lap, after its persistent efforts spurred the FCC to take a second look at media ownership by socially and economically disadvantaged businesses (SDBs). But the bureaucratic look-see is only the first step in the process. Now MMTC's Executive Director David Honig is asking for concerned groups and citizens to weigh in on the topic. "The extremely low representation of minorities in broadcast ownership is unacceptable in a multicultural and democratic society," said Honig. "Thus, we're pleased that the Commission has sought comment on a host of minority ownership proposals. We hope members of the public, including broadcasters, will file extensive comments and advance additional proposals."
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RBR - Radio News
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Pregnant and
jobless in Fresno
Clear Channel has gotten itself a load of bad publicity in Fresno, stemming from the May firing of Athena Matsikas as morning co-host on Country KHGE-FM. She was eight months pregnant at the time. KHGE switched from a personality morning show to an all music show with no DJs - "Music first! Mornings." Former co-host Chuck Geiger, known as "Uncle Buck," who is also Program Director, moved to afternoons. The Fresno Bee reports that Matsikas has now sued Clear Channel and Geiger, charging sex harassment; pregnancy discrimination; failure to maintain an environment free from harassment; negligent supervision, hiring and retention; wrongful termination in violation of public policy; sexual battery; intentional infliction of emotional distress; negligent infliction of emotional distress; and retaliation. By the way, the story ranks among the "most read" on the business section of the newspaper's website. Geiger sent out an email denying the allegations. "I have not engaged in any form of discrimination, harassment or terse environment," he said, adding that the firing was "a management decision above my head." Clear Channel Radio Fresno market manager Jeff Negrete did not return a call from RBR seeking comment.
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SmartMedia Magazine
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Coming in September
FALL NAB ISSUE
SPECIAL DISTRIBUTION:
NAB RADIO SHOW
Attn: Only 3 Full page Avails left
Media Markets and Money:
What's attractive to equity capital these days?
Ad Biz:
Gennele Niblack, Katz Political President
News/Talk:
Using your website to get, keep and grow your audiences
Legal Ease:
Gregg Skall:
"The FCC rules on political ads-Network exception issue".
New Media:
Gary Arlen: YouTube, Joost and the emerging Fox-NBC website are just the start of big bandwidth video via the Internet.
For advertising
information, contact:
June Barnes
jbarnes@rbr.com 803-731-5951;
Jim Carnegie
jcarnegie@rbr.com 813-909-2916 or
Carl Marcucci
cmarcucci@rbr.com 703-492-8191.
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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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Fox sister a drag on Sinclair
Bear Stearns analyst Victor Miller has a new name for News Corporation's MyNetworkTV - My NOTwork TV. He notes that revenues for Sinclair's MyNet affiliates were down 21% in Q2, helping to drag revenues down 1.4% for the company overall. Sinclair also indicated that Q3 will be worst than Miller had projected, down 1.9-3.1%. So, the analyst has lowered his target price for the stock by a buck to 17 bucks, which is still well above where Sinclair is now trading. Miller expects full year 2007 EBITDA to be 232 million, rather than his previous estimate of 242 million. That's because of weak ad trends and accounting for the sale of Sinclair's ABC affiliate in Springfield, MA. In 2008, though, Miller sees TV stocks benefiting from political ad spending and retransmission consent payments - the latter an area where Sinclair has been particularly aggressive.
TVBR observation: MyNOTwork TV, Ouch - but if the Buster Browns fit.
08/03/07 TVBR #151
Arbitron defends
PPM training for agencies
Responding to the blistering attack from Cox Radio CEO Bob Neil (8/2/07 RBR #150), Arbitron notes that is has provided training on Portable People Meter (PPM) ratings to hundreds and hundreds of agency buyers, planners and managers. By the numbers, Arbitron says it conducted about 200 training session in 2006 (stations and agencies combined), about 240 station training sessions and nearly 200 agency training sessions in the first six months of 2007, with most in Houston and Philadelphia, the first two markets to go live with PPM. Thus far, some 234 planner buyers, 284 media planners, 701 media buyers and 451 agency managers have attended Arbitron PPM training sessions. "All those facts aside: Training the agencies does not preclude them from testing radio t! o see if they can get lower prices. How radio responds to this pressure will be important to the outcome," said Arbitron Sr. VP of Press and Investor Relations Thom Mocarsky.
RBR observation: This disagreement is no doubt going to drag on for some time. After reading of Arbitron's training claims in yesterday afternoon's MBR, Neil emailed RBR his view that, "unfortunately if they produced these numbers the same way they've been handling their sample sizes, it's probably about half of that and they weighted them up."
08/03/07 RBR #151
Copps wants Murdoch buy investigated by FCC
Since the Wall Street Journal is a national newspaper, it has been assumed that Rupert Murdoch's deal to buy Dow Jones & Company is a non-event as far as the FCC is concerned. Commissioner Michael Copps (D) begs to differ. "It's interesting to hear the "experts" claim the transaction faces no regulatory hurdles. Not so fast! This deal means more media consolidation and fewer independent voices, and it specifically impacts the local market in New York City. What's good for shareholders of huge media conglomerates isn't always what's good for the public interest or our civic dialogue..."
08/02/07 TVBR #150
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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.
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Help Desk
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__EMAIL__ :
Having problems with our epapers?
Please send Questions/Concerns to:
Memberships@rbr.com
If you wish to remove your name completely from our database use this link __UNSUB__
TVBR Epaper -- 108 annual
or just 9 a month
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©2007 Radio Business Report, Inc. All rights reserved.
Television Business Report -- 2050 Old Bridge Road, Suite B-01, Lake Ridge, VA 22192 -- Phone: 703-492-8191
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