TVBR's Daily Morning Epaper

Your colleagues have a need to know about business conditions today.
Do them a favor and send them this report with your note to have them sign up for a Trial TVBR.
Trial Subscription Sign Up

Volume 23, Issue 155, Jim Carnegie, Editor & Publisher

Thursday Morning August 10th, 2006

TV News ®

Don't look for a Google
mega-deal at Disney
Rupert Murdoch may have committed Fox Interactive to a 900 million bucks plus Internet ad deal with a single partner, Google (8/8/06 TVBR #153), but Bob Iger wants to play the field. In his quarterly conference call, the Disney CEO told analysts not to expect his company to do a mega-deal with a single Internet player. Rather, he said Disney is in talks with various Web companies on potential deals. While there was talk in the Westwood One conference call of rumors that the agreement to sell ABC Radio to Citadel Broadcasting is about to fall apart, Disney officials say it is still on track. Disney CFO Tom Staggs told analysts that he expects Disney to complete the divestiture of ABC Radio by the end of this calendar year. Radio, by the way, was not a stellar performer for Disney in its most recent quarter (fiscal Q3). Staggs said radio revenues were down in the single digits and the current fiscal Q4 is pacing pretty much the same. The ABC O&O TV stations group had a good quarter, though, with revenues up in the mid single digits, although Staggs said the current quarter is pacing flat.

NBC takes on the world
Well, it's taking on the Land Down Under, at any rate. Australian interests are wondering why China has scheduled certain prime events for the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games for the morning, a very noticeable break with their more traditional evening slots. They could not help noticing that the prime events would then be available during prime time in the USA. According to Reuters, the 3.55B NBC has invested into three years worth of Olympics is the reason Australians suspect the scheduling change was made. One Australian Olympian said it was "pandering to the American dollar." The schedule is only in draft form and was revealed via a leak, and is not final.

CEA, RIAA lock horns over flag
The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is taking the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to task for its failure to participate in interdisciplinary talks on a workable solution to the problem of copyright protection in the digital era. The trick is to allow consumers to retain the right to make fair-use copies of copyrighted material they purchase, while preventing mass bootlegging. According to CEA, RIAA indicated in a letter to Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) that it would not participate in the Copy Protection Technical Working Group, which is searching for a technical solution to the problem. CEA charged that "...RIAA's interest lies solely in preserving its existing ways of business, with the hope that it can maximize profits by limiting innovation and undermining long-standing consumer rights." It goes on, saying, "The recording industry's campaign over disaggregation is nothing but a thinly veiled attack on lawful, private, noncommercial, in-home consumer recording practices." CEA, of course, wishes to retain its right to provide innovative products to consumers, and to that end, wants consumer's rights to making home copies preserved, and promises to fight for consumers as the Capitol Hill battle over the issue continues.

Prather takes long-term view
"Wall Street has just written off the TV industry," Gray Television President Bob Prather complained to analysts as he compared the stock prices of public TV companies to the multiples being paid in private market deals for TV stations. But he sees great value in the new CW and MyNetworkTV multicast stations Gray is launching next month, reports rapid growth in ad revenues for his stations' Internet sites and generally remains bullish on the business. Looking a few years out, he says political spending in 2008 is going to be beyond what anyone can now imagine, followed by 100% digital TV penetration in 2009, with every TV station being able to deliver at least four channels, maybe more. Then, maybe, investors will again realize that television is an attractive business. For Q2, Gray reported that revenues were up 20%, including recent acquisitions, to 81.4 million. Local revenues jumped 17% to 52.6 million and national rose 14% to 21.4 million, both figures excluding 4.7 million in political revenues. On a pro forma basis, local was up 2% and national was down 3%. For Q3, Gray is telling Wall Street to expect same station growth of 3%, excluding political. On top of that, Gray is anticipating 10-12 million in political advertising.

Big drop at WW1
still beats expectations
CEO Peter Kosann sees another tough quarter ahead for Westwood One after reporting Q2 revenues down 9%, with the network radio business flat and the local/regional business of Metro Networks, which supplies local traffic and news to radio and TV stations, down 15%. Kosann called it a "choppy marketplace" and said to expect Q3 to be similar, with revenues down in the high single to low double digits. Since Wall Street had expected WW1 revenues to be down 10%, the 9% drop actually gave a boost to the company's stock. It also produced earnings of 14 cents per share - three cents ahead of the Thomson/First Call consensus. Following recent layoffs of 100 staffers and other cost-cutting measures, Kosann assured investors that WW1 is moving "full steam ahead" on three initiatives: "upgrade the quality and distribution of our core broadcast programming; second, digitize our content to offer terrestrial radio and television affiliates compelling content for their HD and Web platforms; third, expand our distribution of our digital content, specifically our traffic content, to non-broadcast outlets."

Elevation down on traditional media
With 1.9B to spend and high-profile investor Bono of U2 fame on its roster, Elevation Partners is making inroads into the media, entertainment and tech fields. According to BusinessWeek online, it's invested in a game developer, and has put 250M-300M into the acquisition of Forbes stock with an eye toward helping the magazine grow on the Internet. What media is it not interested in? Co-founder Roger McNamee told BusinessWeek, "Traditionally private equity was really active in big media companies: cable, cellular, TV, radio, billboards, all that kind of stuff. But that's not what we're doing. We're only interested in content." That's because Elevation believes that consumers increasingly control the where and when, and even the price aspects of media. So the company is looking for content success stories "...ready to embrace all the opportunities that the Internet allows."

TVBR observation: We believe there is ample room for traditional media in the modern world, but there can be no doubt that it needs to change with the times and adapt to ever-increasing waves of new competition from just about every conceivable source, from the ubiquitous Internet right on down to ridiculous but growing trends like tattooed foreheads. Pack light, embrace change, and make sure you're making effective use of that Internet yourself.

Wall Street Media Business Report TM

Q2 2006 Conference Calls
Young Broadcasting touts 365
We're not talking days, but rather a 365% increase in Q2 operating income to 7.6 million. That big jump came as revenues moved up 11.6% to 56.8 million. As you would expect, CEO Vincent Young is a happy man. He credited the huge improvement to new sales programs to promote local sales and better performance at KRON-TV (Ch. 4, Ind.) San Francisco, along with expense management. "To put this quarter's performance in perspective, not only did the company dramatically beat the same quarter last year, but non-political revenue was virtually the same as the second quarter of 2004 and 5.9% higher than the second quarter of 2002. Our strong local sales initiatives and retransmission consent revenue have made up the 2.2 million decline in quarterly network compensation between 2002 and 2006," Young said. He also said the company is upbeat about next month's premier of the new MyNetworkTV, which will have KRON as its San Francisco affiliate.

Lincoln National gains from merger
Lincoln National Corporation CEO Jon Boscia had good news to report to shareholders for the first quarter since the insurance company acquired Jefferson-Pilot. Net income in Q2 jumped to 349 million, or 1.23 per share, compared to 197.9 million, or 1.13 per share for Lincoln National alone a year ago. Of course, our readers are most interested in Lincoln Financial Media, the former Jeff-Pilot Communications. The company reported that income from operations for the radio/TV group of 11.9 million, down about three million from a year earlier, which was attributed mostly to expenses associated with stock options and the amortization of merger-related intangible assets. Lincoln National also provided some details for Q2 and RBR/TVBR looked up the Jeff-Pilot Communications results from a year ago for comparison. Revenues were up 0.5% to 57.5 million, but costs were higher as well, so broadcast cash flow slipped 0.4% to 27.7 million.

Tough quarter for Westwood One
However, not as bad as many had expected, so the stock was up yesterday. Q2 revenues for Westwood One fell 8.9% to 129.2 million. CEO Peter Kosann hailed the network radio sales force for hustling to achieve flat revenues in a tough market, while local/regional revenues for Metro Networks fell 15%. Operating income plunged 31% to 26.7 million. On the bottom line, net income fell to 12.2 million, or 14 cents per share. That was down sharply from 23 cents a year ago, but still three cents ahead of the Thomson/First Call consensus expectation of 11 cents.

DG Fastchannel Q2 up 1.1 million
DG Fastchannel's Q2 revenue was up from 15.2 to 16.3 million. EBITDA was up 107%--from 2.1 to 4.3 million and net income was up from a loss of 400,000 dollars to a gain of 1.1 million (-.05 to +0.12 cents per diluted share). DG completed the merger with FastChannel Network on 5/31. Operating results include one month of operations of FastChannel and the 1 for 10 reverse stock split effective on 5/30. The company reduced operating expenses to 12 million from 13 million in the quarter as well. Said Scott Ginsburg, DG FastChannel CEO: "Second quarter results confirm the financial benefits of the company's strategy to constantly improve our technology platform and consolidate complementary businesses under one roof. The quarterly numbers show revenue gains, reduced operating expenses, and improved cash flow. [OUR] Universal Deployment initiative, placing highly sophisticated Spotbox servers in TV stations, cable systems, and TV and Cable networks, is an example of the positive results we provide to our customers. The numbers speak for themselves: 90 percent of our video traffic was delivered electronically during this calendar quarter, an improvement from 82% just a year ago, and 65% two years ago."

Fiscal Q3 2006 conference Call
Strong showing for Disney
Revenues were right on target with a 12% gain to 8.62 billion, but Disney surprised Wall Street by wringing out 53 cents per share of profits, beating expectations by nine cents. Movies led the way, with revenues up 17% and moving from an operating loss a year ago to operating income of 240 million. Media Networks provided the most operating income, 1.15 billion, up 5% from a year ago while revenues gained 10% to 3.74 billion. Within that, cable networks, primarily due to ESPN growth, saw revenues jump 12% to 2.16 billion and operating income rise 15% to 969 million. Higher programming expenses for ABC Television reduced broadcasting operating income by 28% to 183 million. Broadcasting revenues were up 8% to 1.58 billion.

Ad Business Report TM

The CW to hit the mall
in major promo effort
Getting the word out for its debut this fall, The CW will launch a national "Mall Domination" tour, a large promotional initiative featuring the interactive CW Lounge, appearances by CW stars and a major campaign blanketing numerous malls in major markets around the country. Each week beginning 8/12, The CW Lounge, a multimedia interactive experience, will travel to 11 Westfield Malls around the county, as well as the Grove in LA, introducing consumers to The CW shows and brand identity. Stars from The CW's series will visit each location, meeting their fans in The CW Lounge and signing autographs. Inside the Lounge, consumers can create their own customized t-shirts with the new slogan "Free to Be," filling in the blank to express exactly what they're "Free to Be." Photographers will be on hand at each CW Lounge location to take pictures of consumers and their friends, which could also appear in CW promo spots. Each CW Lounge will be outfitted with laptops, where consumers can log on to www.cwtv.com and join the CW Lab Online Community, as well as plasma screen TVs, which will air footage from upcoming series. Additionally, CW will have a massive ad presence in 35 Westfield Malls, including the 12 featuring the CW Lounge - beginning in August and running through the 9/20 launch. Breaking the effort down, CW spokesperson Paul Hewitt says in each of the 12 malls with the CW Lounge and star presence, local CW affiliates will be finding local radio station partners. Affiliates will also be running on-air spots and discussing this on their local news programs (where present). It will be promoted online via websites and email blasts. The malls will be promoting the events in and outside the malls will all available signage. In malls without the lounge and star presence, major signage will be used to hype the programming only.
| See dates, locations and stars here |

NAD issues decision on Mercedes ad
After reviewing the much-publicized ad for Mercedes-Benz's GL Class SUV that concluded in June, the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus determined the automaker should discontinue the ad where a crash sled is knocked aside after slamming into the side of the car. The NAD took issue the sled bouncing off without damaging the car with very impressed engineers in observance. Even though there was a full-disclosure tag with the ad, "Exaggeration. Actual side impact causes significant body damage," the NAD recommended the company modify or discontinue advertising that implies the GL Class offers extraordinary safety and protection. It wrote: "The advertiser's disclosure that '[a]ctual side impact test causes significant body damage' is directly contradictory to the message that the vehicle will not sustain serious damage when impacted from the side and fails to ensure that consumers will understand the crash sequence is an exaggerated metaphor and not a product demonstration. NAD appreciates that humor can be an effective and creative means for an advertiser to highlight its product attributes and performance capabilities. However, humor does not relieve an advertiser of its obligation to support implied performance messages reasonably implied from humorous depictions." The ad, via Merkley and Partners NY, is part of a slate of 15-seond ads using humor and exaggeration to highlight the safety of the GL. Mercedes-Benz said it will appeal the decision to the National Advertising Review Board (NARB).

TVBR observation: The typical consumer is smart enough to know that this is not a serious ad. For any stupid enough not to know, the disclosure was present. Seriously, why was this flagged? NAD says it was just part of their regular ad review process. If this is indeed the criteria, many more commercials will be called out as well. For goodness sake, humor and exaggeration is so important to so many campaigns' successes. We assume the NARB will rule in Mercedes' favor.

Media Markets & Money TM

Meredith wants its shares back
The board of directors of Meredith Corp. has added three million shares to its authorization for management to buy back company shares. That increases the total authorization outstanding to approximately 4.5 million shares. Meredith also declared its regular quarterly dividend of 16 cents per share.

Washington Media Business Report TM

Outside groups affecting elections
MoveOn.org is claiming a share in the victory of challenger Ned Lamont over Joe Lieberman (D-CT) in the Democratic primary to run for the US Senate from that state. And over in Michigan, Club for Growth is credited with having a hand in ousting incumbent Rep. Joe Schwarz (R-MI), and replacing him with challenger Tim Walberg as the Republican standard-bearer for the 7th District seat. While the MoveOn effort took more of a grassroots, volunteers-on-the-phone approach, the Club for Growth was behind the purchase of airtime, causing further media buying in defense of Scharz.

TVBR observation: In 2004, it seemed that after some initial battleground expansion, the trend was to refine it downward as certain areas became less competitive. Current conditions seem to favor additions rather than subtractions from the battleground list. The lesson is that if for any reason your district gets on somebody's hot spot list, watch out. Media money may start to roll in, but with it may come some unexpected pressure on your inventory which just may damage relationships with clients you need to do business with during the many months when some political post is not up for grabs. So enjoy the political windfall, but as much as possible, proceed with caution, mindful of the fact that politicians have written the advertising laws to favor as much as possible their own purchase of airtime.

Entertainment Media Business Report TM

Messing returning to TV
Following her long run on "Will & Grace" for NBC, Debra Messing has signed to star in a new project for NBC cable sister USA Network. "The Starter Wife" will be a six-hour "television event" based on the novel by the same name, written by Gigi Levangie Grazer. "I am thrilled that the incredibly talented, incredibly versatile Debra Messing is taking on the starring role in 'The Starter Wife,' and I am hoping she will share her wardrobe," said Grazer. The TV dramatization will be executive produced by Grazer and penned by the writing team of Sara Parriott & Josann McGibbon, who will also serve as executive producers along with Stephanie Davis and Howard Klein from 3 Arts Entertainment. NBC Universal Television Studio is producing. Laurette Hayden, senior vice president of longform programming for USA, will oversee all aspects of the project, which will begin production in Australia in fourth quarter 2006.

Bob Saget named host
for NBC's "1 vs. 100"
Bob Saget ("Full House," "America's Funniest Home Videos") revisits his hosting skills as host for NBC's latest primetime offering, "1 vs 100," the newest international game show import from the producers of NBC's "Deal or No Deal" premiering later this season. The announcement was made today by Craig Plestis, SVP/Alternative Programming & Development, NBC Entertainment. In "1 vs 100," one player must outlast a mob of 100 people in a battle of brains and greed for a chance to win a huge cash prize. To stay in the game, the player must answer trivia questions and get every one right - wrong answers from the mob eliminates them from the game, driving up the cash prize for the player. If the player can eliminate all 100 members of the mob, they'll go home with the top prize. The series is produced by Endemol USA and executively produced by Scott St. John.

Ratings & Research

Reality rules again
This week's ratings demonstrate once again just how different the universe of TiVo owners is from the broader US TV audience measure by Nielsen. Reality shows claimed the top 12 places in the weekly stats from TiVo, topped by both nights of Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance."
| Tivo Top 25 |

Group Owners

Another run for Yager
Long-time TV veteran Jim Yager is back again, building another new company from scratch. What does he see in the business that the Wall Street guys don't? And where is he looking for acquisitions to keep filling out the station portfolio of Barrington Broadcasting? Yager is out to do it all again. After so many decades in the television business, no one would have thought it strange if after handling the transition from selling the Benedek Broadcasting group to Gray Communications (now Gray Television), Jim Yager had decided to devote his time to the golf course. But that idea didn't appeal to him, so he jumped right back in to start a new TV group. Thus was born Barrington Broadcasting.

Why does he keep working instead of taking it easy?
"You know, before my wife passed away she kept asking me the same question, 'Why don't you just stay home,' and today I am delighted I did not do that. She was healthy as could be on the Friday before Labor Day in 2003; had a little pain in her side, we took her to the doctor the next week and she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and passed away in 13 weeks," Yager said. Even before that emotional upheaval, Yager had been talking with some of his key Benedek associates about starting a new company. After losing his wife, he went full-bore on the project. "I've got great kids, but they're all grown and live in different parts of the world, so I was really saying, boy I think it's time I really get engaged and build a company with a strong foundation, so that's what I did," he explained. And, yes, he does have a golf course condo in Arizona - not that he's been there even a single day this year. Yager has been too busy with the biggest deal yet to grow his new company, the $262 million acquisition of 12 stations in nine markets from Raycom, tripling the size of the Barrington group. That big acquisition came after Yager had been building Barrington slowly, in part because there was so little inventory available. The company acquired two former Benedek stations from Chelsey Broadcasting in early 2004, along with one from LIN, and added one from Mel Wheeler Inc. later in the year. 2005 brought two more acquisitions from New Vision Group and Diversified Communications. So the portfolio stood at six stations when the Raycom spin-offs became available. Once the Raycom deal closes, Barrington will have 18 stations in 13 markets ranging in size from #65 to #199.

Tomorrow: We ask Yager how big does he want to get and what size of markets he's interested in being in.

Stock Talk

How low will we go?
If strong earnings from Cisco Systems and the decision the previous day by the Fed to stop raising rates can't get Wall Street traders into a buying mood, what will? The Dow Industrials fell another 97 points, or 0.9%, to end the day at 11,076.

TV stocks were mostly lower. Entravision was down 5.2%. Gray Television President Bob Prather complained about how undervalued his stock was - and it fell a little bit more. Young Broadcasting, a penny stock, jumped 8.1% on its strong earnings report.

Stocks

**Here's how stocks fared on Wednesday**
Company	Symbol	Close		Change	Company	Symbol	Close		Change
Acme	ACME		5.20	+0.02	LIN TV	TVL		6.26	+0.05
Belo	BLC		15.75	-0.38	McGraw-Hill	MHP		56.82	+0.04
CBS CI. B	CBS		26.25	unch	Media General	MEG		36.93	-0.37
CBS CI. A	CBSa		26.27	+0.01	Meredith	MDP		46.18	-0.03
Clear Channel	CCU		27.41	-0.59	News Corp.	NWS		19.90	-0.29
Disney	DIS		28.83	-0.15	Nexstar	NXST		4.54	-0.16
Emmis	EMMS		11.15	-0.19	NY Times	NYT		22.12	+0.09
Entravision	EVC		6.71	-0.37	Ion Media	ION		0.96	+0.01
Fisher	FSCI		39.23	+0.25	Saga Commun.	SGA		7.36	unch
Gannett	GCI		54.11	+0.04	SBS	SBSA		4.34	unch
Gen. Electric	GE		32.28	-0.06	Scripps	SSP		40.90	-0.08
Granite	GBTVK		0.12	-0.03	Sinclair	SBGI		7.90	-0.10
Gray	GTN		5.99	-0.02	Time Warner	TWX		15.84	-0.35
Gray, C1. A	GTNa		6.80	-0.05	Tribune	TRB		29.68	-0.03
Hearst-Argyle	HTV		20.56	-0.44	Univision	UVN		33.45	+0.01
Journal Comm.	JRN		10.41	-0.02	Wash. Post	WPO		728.00	-7.00
Lincoln Natl.	LNC		56.80	+0.16	Young	YBTVA		2.80	+0.21

Bounceback

Send Us Your Opinions We want to
hear from you.
This is your column, so send your comments and
a photo to tvnews@rbr.com

Your article caught my eye (8/3/06 TVBR #150). For many years of my sales career, I traveled throughout the US and into Canada with the companies for whom I worked. Being a woman, I was observant of any activity around me in parking lots and secluded areas I'd have to visit. Many times I didn't arrive at my motel/hotel until after dark. I would never rent a car that had even had a sticker with the rental company logo on it. As a matter of fact, car rental companies stopped placing any indication that the car was rented for the safety of persons traveling in their vehicles. What a target for break-ins will those billboard cars be, not to mention beacons on the highway saying 'I'm from out-of-town, I have a camera, money, and other valuable stuff, follow me!!!' I admire Mr. Malloff's creativity but this idea wasn't very thoroughly thought out in my opinion.

MaryLynn Krueger -
Marketing Consultant
WROE & wroe.com/Midwest Communications
Appleton-Oshkosh, WI

Below the Fold

Wall Street Media Business Report
Young Broadcasting touts 365
not talking days but rather a 365% increase in Q2 operating income...
Lincoln National gains
From merger of Jefferson-Pilot as net income jumped to 349 million...
Tough quarter for Westwood One
Not as bad as many had expected by hustling to achieve flat revenues...
Strong showing for Disney
Revenues were right on target with a 12% gain...
DG Fastchannel
Q2 up 1.1 million...

Ad Business Report
CW to hit the mall
Mall Domination tour, major promo effort for Fall line up...

Media Markets & Money
Meredith wants its shares back
Added 3 million shares authorized for management to buy back...

Washington Media Business Report
Outside groups affecting elections
MoveOn.org claiming a share in victory...

Ratings & Research
Reality rules again
Just how different the universe of TiVo owners is...

TV Media Moves

Trio of promotions
Granite Broadcasting announced three executive promotions in upstate New York. Les Vann, General Manager of WTVH-TV Syracuse, NY, has been promoted to the newly created position of Executive Vice-President Central & Southern New York. He will continue to oversee WTVH and take on management responsibilities for newly acquired WBNG-TV Binghamton-Elmira, NY. Granite also announced the promotion of Matt Rosenfeld to the position of Vice President Station/Sales Manager at WTVH, where he had been General Sales Manager. In Binghamton, Bob Krummenacker was promoted to Vice President/Station Manager at WBNG.

Upped at NAB
Dennis Wharton has been promoted to Executive Vice President, Media Relations, at the National Association of Broadcasters. He has been at NAB since 1996 and was most recently Sr. VP, Corporate Communications.

New TiVo CFO
Steve Sodello is joining TiVo Inc. as Sr. VP and CFO, effective August 21st. He was previously CFO of Ask Jeeves.

Stations for Sale

For Sale 100+ Market
Spanish TV
Network Affiliate $1,500,000
100,000 watt FM $1,200,000
$2,500,000 combo price
or sold separately
barbaraboff@bellsouth.net

New York City
2 LPTVs reaching 12 million people.
$8mil & $4 mil. or $10 mil for BOTH
Kozacko Media Services
georgewkimble@aol.com
520-465-4302

More News Headlines

Viacom in Web buy
The MTV Networks division of Viacom announced an agreement to acquire Atom Entertainment Inc., a portfolio of four online destinations for casual games, short films and video, for 200 million bucks. MTV Networks said acquiring Atom Entertainment advances the company's multiplatform strategy of building an engaging universe of music, gaming, entertainment, news and interactivity for targeted audiences. Atom Entertainment is a pioneer in online entertainment with four leading brands in both games and video: Shockwave.com and AddictingGames.com are two of the Internet's largest casual gaming sites, offering nearly 1,500 free and downloadable games. AtomFilms.com and AddictingClips.com are two film and video sites for short-form comedy, animation, drama and user-generated content. "This acquisition is right on the money with our digital strategy. It adds great scale with users, improves our growing casual gaming position, and brings a world-class digital video library and a fantastic management team," said Viacom CEO Tom Freston.

July RBR/TVBR
Digital Magazine

Take a look at what's in the July RBR/TVBR Solutions Magazine:
July is our annual sports media and marketing issue. This year, Basketball News Services' lead NBA analyst and Five-Star Basketball Report host Steve Kyler provides opinions on what works and what doesn't work in sports radio; AND1 Brand Marketing Manager Taylor Duffy talks about marketing and branding his company's basketball shoes; Emmis Sports Marketing's David Barnett talks about making money off of sports programming; and Entercom's WEEI Boston Director of Programming and Operations Jason Wolfe writes about how he's helped build WEEI into such a powerhouse.

We interview Magna Global
CEO Bill Cella.

In Media, Markets and Money, the logjam has finally broken and station trading is picking up, in both radio and television. Some prominent brokers tell RBR/TVBR what has changed - and why.

Read RBR/TVBR in 2 simple steps:
1.Create a simple account with Zinio and download the Zinio Reader.
2. You can then download the
July Issue of RBR/TVBR

TVBR Radar 2006

Television News you won't read any where else. TVBR--First, Accurate, and Independently Owned.

Commissioner #5 weighs in;
Kicks must-carry to The Hill
Robert McDowell held his first meeting with the press on the occasion of his 69th day in office...he called it a Q&D session (question and dodge).

TVBR observation: This is a laundry list of topics so best check out TVBR for complete details.
08/09/06 TVBR #154

Hogan insists that listeners
don't hear spots as units
Clear Channel Radio CEO John Hogan isn't buying the argument from Cox Radio CEO Bob Neil and others that radio needs to hold down units per hour to attract listeners.

RBR observation: The jury is still out on whether Less is More accomplished all it was supposed to. Is clutter coming back by packing more, but shorter spots into each pod? Wall Street analysts are trying to get a handle on whether Clear Channel is succeeding in putting upward pressure on pricing now that Less is More has been fully implemented for over two quarters. RBR noticed as we listened to the conference call, that whenever an analyst asked a question about just how many units are airing vs. a year ago, Hogan and Clear Channel Communications CEO Mark Mays managed to talk a lot about other questions, without ever getting around to answering that one.
08/09/06 RBR #154

eBay system is worth a try
Of course, some networks in the industry are pretty standoff-ish on the new pilot program to test online buying and selling of advertising (admarketpilot.com), which is working with eBay to develop and manage the framework. However, Andy Donchin, Carat Americas Director of Broadcast Buying, had a few good points. He agrees it's not going to work for everyone, but it's worth exploring. He said the agency side is just looking for alternative systems, and while there are indeed many out there now-from SWMX to DMarc to Spotbuy.tv-the strong will survive.

TVBR observation: It's apparent that multiple systems will be in the space from here on out. Yes, the strongest will survive in the end, but as far as auctions for media inventory go, it should be interesting to see who ends up surrendering their inventory-beyond remnant and last-minute scatter-to such a system.
08/08/06 TVBR #153

Earnings rolling fast but
Not keeping pace
LIN sees pacing picking up; Puerto Rico sale next month. SBS pleased with TV investment. Emmis' stock takes a nosedive trading volume shot up to about seven times normal as traders bailed out of Emmis stock and remember they still have two TV to sell. Fisher turns to profit. Complete details
08/08/06 TVBR #153

Advertisers launch eBay experiment
TVBR first reported in May that an advertising industry taskforce was working on a pilot program to test online buying and selling of advertising - and we reported hints that it would involve eBay 5/11/06 TVBR #93. Sure enough, the task force announced Friday that it has launched a website for interested participants to sign up - admarketpilot.com - and is working with eBay to develop and manage the framework. Advertisers already committed to participate include Wal-Mart (whose Julie Roehm was an early advocate of the project), Toyota, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and Home Depot.

TVBR observation: There are certainly Internet-based advertising buying and selling sites already in operation for various media. What is different about this one is who is running it - the advertisers and agencies, who obviously will be seeking a system designed to do business the way they want to do business. That's not necessarily a bad thing for broadcasters, but they should want to offer some input on how the platform should function as viewed from the other side.

Publisher note: Just a few agency people have a way of running head first to get what they want before thinking with which they have to do business with to get their ad and brands across. The broadcaster. Over the last few weeks I have been fielding a number of questions on internet-based buying services being asked the difference and my only answer today is when I hear Google I only think Search Engine. Now with eBay I think Bidding on someone's used goods. On any internet service my recommendation to our colleagues is to do your own research and you determine who you want to do business with and go a little slow as this is no time to be running into the wall head first.
08/07/06 TVBR #152

Regional Account Executive
LIN Television West Michigan is looking for a Regional Sales professional for WOODTV8, WOTV 4 and WXSP TV. Candidate must have proven success in retaining solid client relationships and ability to target accounts and strategize rate and share increases. Time management and organizational skills a must. Knowledge of VCI, One Domain, Marshall Marketing a plus. No Phone calls but Send resume.
See TV Careers

Editorial & Sales Reps
Working for a print trade with no growth? Working for B&C, MediaWeek, TVWeek, or any other TV/Cable Trade publication? TVBR is looking for that one or two key experienced pros. Capitalize on your experience, contacts, relationships, and secure your future growth. NO Relocation necessary. Contact TVBR publisher Jim Carnegie in confidence at publisher@rbr.com

Other Links

State Associations

Contact Us

Help Desk

__FIRST__ __SECOND__ :
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