Be prepared for the 4th quarter with TVBR.
Our middle name is Business for the televisiom business today. It is your business so take control.
Trial Subscription Sign Up
|
|
|
|
|
Volume 23, Issue 162, Jim Carnegie, Editor & Publisher
|
Monday Morning August 21st, 2006
|
|
|
TV News ®
|
 "Fox on Demand" launches
on select O&Os; Toyota is sponsor
Fox Digital Media is launching "Fox on Demand" on the MyFox Local websites of nine local Fox O&O stations. This historic offering marks the first time local stations will stream network programming on their local websites. ABC and CBS also offer free, streaming ad-supported episodes, but not via the affiliate sites. Taking advantage of the MyFox Local platform and video player created by Fox Interactive Media's (FIM) Stations Group, Fox Digital Media will offer free, ad-supported streaming of select episodes.
| Read More... |
TVBR observation: Fox decided to stream via the O&O web sites because it offers the opportunity to target ads locally as well as nationally. While these Toyota spots won't be localized, the ability is there and will indeed be used. The just-announced deal to stream The CBS Evening News (8/18 TVBR #161), has affiliates sharing in streaming ad revenue. We asked Fox spokesperson Scott Grogin if outside Fox affiliates will get a revenue share as well. It will be a possibility. "Right now all the nine stations in the test are O&Os. When we go wide, that will all be resolved."
 Tobacco companies ordered
to light up airwaves
Tobacco companies have lost in the US District Court, and have been found guilty of racketeering and conspiracy in the deceptive marketing of "light" cigarettes. Tobacco companies can no longer use light, ultralight, low tar, or other descriptors designed to suggest that cigarettes bearing those adjectives are less dangerous than others. Among the penalties is the purchase of advertising to correct the misimpressions it created over the years. The requirement covers a number of large newspaper Sunday editions, with a two year term attached. On the television side, they are required to put on at least one 15-second prime time corrective advertisement weekly. They are also required to submit detailed marketing plans to the court for the next ten years.
TVBR observation: It's not often that business comes in by order of the judge. Does this mean broadcasters should start posting media reps in courtrooms to see if this can be part of more outcomes in the future?
DISCUS details ad complaint process
The Distilled Spirits Council has issued its fourth semi-annual report on the compliance of its membership with the association's Code of Responsible Practices for Beverage Alcohol Advertising and Marketing, covering the first half of 2006. It says it fielded only six complaints. Of those, three were found in violation of either content or placement provisions contained in the code. In all two of the three cases, the ads were voluntarily pulled from circulation. In the third, an Internet presentation, the complaint came from within the spirits industry, in reference to a non-DISCUS member, and the organization was trying to get the company to alter the promo. Only one of the six was in reference to a broadcast ad, which drew a third party complaint. Diageo's Bailey's Irish Cream ran an ad in which an individual poured himself a serving into a bucket, violating the code's provision to avoid the depiction of excessive use. Although Diageo claimed it was a timed pour and not in fact excessive, DISCUS said it sure looked excessive and that's what matters to the public. Diageo immediately pulled the ad. President Peter Cressy said, "Since the industry went to transparent public reports in March, 2005, the numbers of complaints and, most importantly, violations have generally declined. The distilled spirits industry's self-regulation through the Code and the transparent public reports have been highly effective."
|
|
|
Journalism isn't just for journalists any more
President Ronald Reagan back in the 80s and recently, President George W. Bush have provided case studies of the truism that public figures should always assume that the mic is hot. You may not be expecting it to be turned on, but speak frankly in front of it at your peril. It has gone beyond that, however. Public figures, and to an extent, anybody, needs to proceed as if there is a hot mic or camera around even when they do not appear to be present at all. Citizens are everywhere, many of them armed with portable recording devices of all types. The odds of an important event being captured for posterity (not to mention the 24/7 news cycle) are greater than they ever have been. But it's even gone beyond that. The off-the-cuff remarks of Sen. George Allen (R-VA) have gotten a great deal of airplay (and he must be kicking himself at some level because he was completely aware he was being videotaped at the time), and in large part it's because the video went viral over the Internet. Citizens no longer have to peddle their nuggets of reality to a broadcast news outlet. They can take the material to the web, where it has the chance to take off under its own power.
TVBR observation: More and more broadcast and network outlets are using their own websites to deputize their core audience members as citizen journalists. It can beef up your local news coverage, give you piles of public interest accomplishments to share with the FCC at renewal time and most important, create a bond with the people that enable you to put food on the table. Formerly safe events may have suddenly become shark-infested waters for the newsworthy, but it's created an opportunity for broadcasters. Anything that makes your best fans feel more like part of the family is a good thing.
 EchoStar and TiVo keep lawyers busy
EchoStar announced Friday that a Federal Appeals Court had temporarily blocked an injunction issued a few hours earlier by a federal judge in Texas that would have prevented EchoStar from distributing any more of its digital video recorders and made it turn off those already deployed in 30 days. But TiVo still has in place a ruling that the EchoStar DVRs violate its patents and an award of nearly 90 million in damages and interest - all now heading to appeal by EchoStar. This all goes back to 2004, when TiVo sued EchoStar, claiming that the DVRs being distributed to Dish Network subscribers violated TiVo patents. A Texas federal jury in July ruled in favor of TiVo on several of the patent violation claims and the judge in the case, David Folsom, last Thursday set damages at 89.6 million bucks, including interest to date, ordered EchoStar to stop distributing any more of the DVRs in question and also ordered the company to shut off service to infringing DVRs in consumer homes within 30 days. EchoStar got a Federal Appeals Court to temporarily block that injunction on Friday. TiVo noted, though that the appeals court hasn't yet looked at the merits of the case, but merely acted to preserve the status quo until it considers arguments from both parties.
|
|
|
|
| Wall Street Media Business Report TM |
Up quarter for Allbritton
Allbritton Communications doesn't conduct quarterly conference calls, but it does have public bonds and files each quarter with the SEC. For its fiscal Q3 (April-June), Allbritton reported that net revenues rose 10.9% to 59.5 million and operating income was up 30.1% to 25.1 million. And there was good news for the Allbritton family, which owns all of the stock. Net income rose 72.9% to 9.7 million. Adding some color to the results, the company said local and national ad revenues were up 8.6% for the quarter, with the strongest growth for its stations in Washington, DC, Birmingham, AL and Charleston, SC. Allbritton owns ABC affiliates in seven markets, plus a 24/7 cable news operation operated alongside its Washington, DC station.
|
|
|
|
|
Ad Business Report TM
|
 Ford making
production cutbacks
No word yet on what it will mean for advertising budgets, but Ford Motor Company announced major production cutbacks that will include temporary plant shutdowns in the US and Canada. Ford said Q4 production will be down 21% from a year ago, a drop of 168,000 cars and trucks. The current Q3 will see a smaller reduction of 78,000 (58,000 of which had previously been announced). "We know this decision will have a dramatic impact on our employees, as well as our suppliers," CEO Bill Ford told employees in a memo. "This is, however, the right call for our customers, our dealers and our long-term future." For full-year 2006, Ford now plans to produce 3.048 million vehicles at its North American assembly plants - 1.134 million cars and 1.914 million trucks -- a 9% reduction from 2005.
TVBR observation: Ford isn't waiting this time around for the losses to hit. The company, suffering in sales now, specifically has very little in new product over the next couple years that consumers are likely to get excited about, according to reports from auto trade pubs. Ford has few solid sellers right now and is more worried about keeping afloat right now than launching new lines. Bottom line for American automakers right now - the lack of investment in improving production capacity from the oil companies is raising prices at the pump dramatically as well as increasing their profits dramatically. Most Americans don't perceive US-made cars to be as fuel-efficient at the Japanese, so they're not buying them as much. New, exciting lines in store or not - the price at the pump bears the most blame for our auto industry's woes right now.
Kodak consolidating media
Kodak will consolidate its 100 million global buying and planning business, which is currently being shared by MindShare and Carat. The review will include incumbent and outside shops. The money-saving move for the struggling company doesn't affect creative, which is handled by AOR Ogilvy & Mather.
|
|
|
|
| Media Markets & Money TM |
For sale sign hung out in Providence
Freedom Communications announced that it is looking to sell WLNE-TV (Ch. 6, ABC) Providence, RI, because the New England outpost doesn't fit with the rest of its portfolio. Freedom has engaged Kalil & Co. to broker the sale.
TVBR observation: It is pretty easy to guess that one of the first calls from the folks at Kalil will be to David Barrett at Hearst-Argyle. His company already owns the ABC affiliates in Boston, MA, Manchester, NH and Portland, ME, so adding a fourth ABC station in New England would seem to be a natural.
 Bidding battle in Boston?
TVBR had previously reported that LIN came this close to buying WSBK-TV Boston from CBS (5/10/06 TVBR #92), but that deal never came together. Now the Boston Herald reports that a bidding battle is underway for WLVI-TV Boston - the Tribune-owned WB affiliate that will become the market's CW affiliate next month. According to the Herald, Ed Ansin, head of Sunbeam Television, is an aggressive bidder for the station because he desperately wants to keep it out of the hands of another bidder, NBC Universal. The fear is that once NBC owns its own station in Boston, it will not renew the network affiliation of Sunbeam's WHDH-TV two years hence, just about the time that the DTV conversion is complete and VHF vs. UHF differences (WHDH is 7, WLVI 56) will cease to matter. If NBC Uni does buy WLVI, the Herald speculates that WHDH wouldn't even end up with the CW affiliation, which CBS would take to WSBK, leaving WHDH as an independent.
TVBR observation: As Tribune continues to work on divestitures, the only markets where CEO Dennis FitzSimons has ruled out any asset sales are New York, LA and Chicago. So, Boston, #5, could carry a for sale sign. We wait to see if anyone antes up enough to get this big market prize.
|
|
|
|
| Washington Media Business Report TM |
Battle for the Senate
 According to pollster Rasmussen Reports, if the election were held right now, the Republicans would likely retain control of the Senate, if only by dint of having a Republican vice president on hand to tilt any 50-50 tie votes that way. Rasmussen says Republicans would hold a 50-47 seat advantage. Three races are now deemed too close to call. The firm sees Democrat pick-ups in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. The toss-ups are said to be in Ohio, Missouri and Montana. The situation is fluid, however. Several states have contests in which one candidate is holding a slim lead.
TVBR observation: The closer the individual race, and the longer it remains close, the more money that will pour into the state from outside interested sources. And the fact that the margin of error for both parties is exceeding low insofar as control of the Senate is concerned will only heighten the intensity.
|
|
|
|
| Entertainment Media Business Report TM |
The buzz about new fall shows
The first 2006/07 PropheSEE TV report from Interpublic Media details what appears to be hot and what not, as far as public perception of new TV shows is concerned. PropheSEE monitors online consumer sentiment around new TV shows. This preliminary analysis gives a sense of consumer sentiment toward the new fall broadcast programs. It encompasses data collected in May and June from public online discussion boards, blogs and forums. Highlights:
| Read More... |
|
|
|
|
| Tomorrow |
Special report:
The explosion of Hispanic formats and networks
Spanish-language radio in the US used to mean a full time AM that was akin to the old full service station with a little talk, news, music, sports and community service. It has since evolved from that very thin basic radio model into a plethora of different formats that are hyper-targeted based on age, ethnicity, political, informational, sports and current events interests. We look at: Hispanic listeners in the U.S. are at different levels of cultural assimilation, and those levels vary by market; What are Spanish-language stations doing to keep listeners from migrating over to the pure Urban or Pop Rock stations where the young focus? On the Television side, a proliferation of Hispanic television stations in the last 15 years has brought on new networks to provide content. We look at Language and targeting younger generations: Until recently, the only game in town was Univision and Telemundo, but now with multicast digital platforms many non-Spanish language broadcasters are looking to place Hispanic programming in place - some bilingual.
|
|
|
|
| Monday Morning Makers & Shakers |
|
Transactions: 7/3/06-7/7/06
It was a short trading week, what with the Fourth of July falling on a Tuesday, and it showed. Only seven transactions were filed, two of which provided almost all of the value.
|
|
Total
|
|
Total Deals
|
7
|
|
AMs
|
4
|
|
FMs
|
3
|
|
TVs
|
2
|
| Value |
26.118M
|
| Complete Charts |
|
Radio Transactions of the Week
Station abandons its Raftt
| More... |
|
TV Transactions of the Week
Fisher doubles in its hometown
| More... |
|
|
|
|
|
| Transactions |
55M KASA-TV Albuquerque-Santa Fe NM (Santa Fe NM) from KASA License Subsidiary LLC, a subsidiary of Raycom Media Inc. (Paul H. McTear Jr.) to LIN of New Mexico LLC, a subsidiary of LIN Television Corporation (Vincent L. Sadusky). 2.75M escrow, balance in cash at closing. Duopoly with KRQE-TV Albuquerque and satellites. KASA is a Fox affiliate on Channel 2; KRQE is a CBS affiliate on Channel 13. The application includes a declaration from Nielsen stating that KASA is not a top 4 station in the market. It is #5. The top four are the CBS, NBC, ABC and Univision stations. LMA 8/31/06. [File date 7/28/06.]
|
|
|
|
| Stock Talk |
Five in a row
Stock prices were up every day last week, with investors maintaining the view that inflation is under control and the Fed won't resume rate hikes anytime soon. The Dow Industrials rose 47 points on Friday, or 0.4%, to spend the weekend at 11,381.
TV stocks also moved up. The biggest move, however, was to the downside, with Media General falling 2.5% after gaining the previous day. New York Times Company led the gainers, up 1.4%.
|
|
|
|
| Stocks |
Here's how stocks fared on Friday
| Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
|
Acme
|
ACME
|
|
5.19
|
+0.04
|
LIN TV
|
TVL
|
 |
6.59
|
+0.02
|
|
Belo
|
BLC
|
|
16.42
|
-0.08
|
McGraw-Hill
|
MHP
|
|
56.10
|
-0.07
|
| CBS CI. B |
CBS |
|
27.52
|
+0.07
|
Media General
|
MEG
|
|
37.74
|
-0.96
|
| CBS CI. A |
CBSa |
|
27.52
|
+0.12
|
Meredith
|
MDP
|
|
47.15
|
-0.06
|
|
Clear Channel
|
CCU
|
|
27.90
|
+0.03
|
News Corp.
|
NWS
|
|
19.63
|
unch
|
|
Disney
|
DIS
|
|
29.91
|
+0.01
|
Nexstar
|
NXST
|
|
4.51
|
-0.04
|
|
Emmis
|
EMMS
|
|
11.96
|
+0.01
|
NY Times
|
NYT
|
|
21.89
|
+0.31
|
|
Entravision
|
EVC
|
|
6.95
|
-0.03
|
Ion Media
|
ION
|
|
0.93
|
-0.02
|
|
Fisher
|
FSCI
|
|
39.72
|
-0.43
|
Saga Commun.
|
SGA
|
|
7.42
|
-0.08
|
|
Gannett
|
GCI
|
|
55.83
|
-0.57
|
SBS
|
SBSA
|
|
4.35
|
unch
|
|
Gen. Electric
|
GE
|
|
34.00
|
+0.08
|
Scripps
|
SSP
|
|
43.75
|
-0.36
|
|
Granite
|
GBTVK
|
|
0.13
|
unch
|
Sinclair
|
SBGI
|
|
7.95
|
unch
|
|
Gray
|
GTN
|
|
6.10
|
-0.07
|
Time Warner
|
TWX
|
|
16.49
|
+0.06
|
|
Gray, C1. A
|
GTNa
|
|
6.69
|
unch
|
Tribune
|
TRB
|
|
31.62
|
+0.19
|
|
Hearst-Argyle
|
HTV
|
|
22.03
|
+0.10
|
Univision
|
UVN
|
|
33.49
|
+0.01
|
|
Journal Comm.
|
JRN
|
|
10.78
|
-0.03
|
Wash. Post
|
WPO
|
|
750.08
|
-4.67
|
|
Lincoln Natl.
|
LNC
|
|
60.36
|
+0.38
|
Young
|
YBTVA
|
|
2.39
|
+0.05
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bounceback
|
 We want to
hear from you.
This is your column, so send your comments and
a photo to tvnews@rbr.com
Broker Frank Boyle sent this tongue-in-cheek response to our story on the Baltimore Ravens seeking a hyphenated market designation for their town and the nearby nation's capital (8/14/06 TVBR #157).
 Wouldn't you have to follow the patterns of: Wilkes Barre-Scranton-Hazelton and Harrisburg-Lancaster-York by including Philadelphia into this Metroplex strip? IE - you already have the BWI Airport...that leads to: PhiWasBal - or WasPhiBal - or PBW - or PeeWeeBee - I like that one... Whatever happens, Baltimore ends up like the middle child of three - gets no respect...even as Washingmore...
Frank Boyle
|
|
|
TV Media Moves
|
Promotions
at NBC Sports
NBC Sports & Olympics announced a series of personal advancements: Mark Levy has been promoted to VP and Creative Director, in charge of the on-air look an image of all programming, including the Olympics and NFL Football. He was previously Creative Director, NBC Olympics. Joe Gesue has been promoted to Editorial Director, Brian Brown to Producer and Story Editor and Becky Chatman to Senior Producer.
|
|
|
Below the Fold
|
Wall Street Media Business Report
Up quarter for Allbritton
Doesn't conduct quarterly conference calls, But reported that net revenues rose 10.9%...
Ad Business Report
Ford making production cutbacks
What it means to your ad budget...
Media Markets & Money
For sale sign hung out
In Providence, Freedom Communications looking to sell WLNE-TV (Ch. 6, ABC)...
Bidding battle in Boston?
Is underway for WLVI-TV Boston Sunbeam Television, is an aggressive bidder...
Entertainment Media
Business Report
The buzz about new fall shows
The list of what appears to be hot and not, as far as public perception is concerned...
|
|
|
More News Headlines
|
Who holds Fox team?
The wife of abducted Fox News cameraman Olaf Wiig made a televised appeal to his captors Friday to release him and reporter Steve Centanni. "Please let him come home. Please," Anita McNaught, herself a freelance journalist, implored the hostage takers. A similar plea came over the weekend from Centanni's brother on Al Jazeera television. But the abduction is proving to be a mystery. Major Palestinian groups all denied any involvement in the Gaza kidnapping (8/15/06 TVBR #158) and no one had claimed responsibility or made any demands that should be met to secure their release. That made the abductions unusual in a region where kidnappings are not unusual, but kidnappers usually make demands known quickly for the release of their captives.
More MyNetworkTV markets
Another hole has been filled for next month's debut of MyNetworkTV. We learned of this one in a round-about way. Retro Television Network (RTN) announced that its programming would run along with MyNetworkTV primetime programming on two Media General digital multicast channels in Savannah, GA and Myrtle Beach-Florence, SC. MyNetworkTV had previously announced that WSAV-TV (NBC) Savannah would carry it on a DTV multicast, but it was the first word that Media General would do the same on WBTW-TV (CBS) Myrtle Beach-Florence. RTN, by the way, is owned by Equity Broadcasting. While we're at it, LIN CEO Vince Sadusky revealed in his quarterly conference call that WNAC-TV (Ch. 54, Fox) Providence will be carrying MyNetworkTV programming, but not in primetime.
|
|
|
TVBR Radar 2006
|
|
Television News you won't read any where else. TVBR--First, Accurate, and Independently Owned.
|
Online simulcast for
CBS Evening News
"The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric" will become the first network evening news broadcast to be simulcast live on the Internet, beginning September 5th when it debuts on the air. In addition, the complete broadcast may be viewed as an on-demand program any time after the live simulcast or, as has been the case for the last few years, viewers may build their own broadcast by choosing individual reports from each program. To access the simulcast, viewers will be asked to register so that they view it when the television broadcast is aired in their time zone.
TVBR observation: The model has been cast and reach will be improved. Believe it or not, eventually all television stations and cable networks will be simulcasting on the net. Some for free, some ad supported. We've all heard it before - it's not about how it gets to the viewer/listener anymore, it's about the content and getting it to them in as many ways as possible. Advertisers will pay for that exposure and the technology is there to show the exposure was made. We've made it a global marketplace, well, it's a global media marketplace too. When someone watches CBS Evening News while traveling overseas, it should be counted as part of the total reach and it will. Ad dollars from new and traditional media all add up in the same column. Congrats to CBS for taking the "live" plunge.
08/18/06 TVBR #161
Product placement
continuing to surge
Advertisers more and more are trying to move from around to within broadcast programming, resulting in huge growth margins for the product placement business. According to PQ Media Research, placements globally grew 42.2% in 2005 and will come pretty close to matching that pace by the end of this year. The 2005 total revenue for product placement was pegged at 2.21B. It is predicted to hit 3.07B by the end of the year, a 38.8% growth rate.
TVBR observation: There is no earthly reason for TV to have all the PP fun. Radio and the print media can dig their forks into this pie too. I say this, refreshed from a mouth-watering sip of Famous Olde Tyme Diet Barq's Root Beer (It's Good!), and after moving my in-office supply of Morton Salt and McCormick Pepper (do they have some kind of LMA going?) out of the way so I can reach my store-brand CVS dual power hand-held calculator. I'm working with my Audiovox CD plus cassette player turned off, because I'm distracted enough thinking about getting into my Hyundai Sonata and taking off for a vacation at North Carolina's fabulous Outer Banks resort area. See how easy that was?
08/18/06 TVBR #161
Farallon wants Emmis
to go Dutch again
Now that Emmis CEO Jeff Smulyan has pulled his bid to take the company private, Farallon Capital is left holding a big stake that it had expected to cash in. So, the big investment fund, which is advised by Connoisseur Media CEO Jeff Warshaw, is proposing Plan B so if you want to read the letter see
08/17/06 TVBR #160
|
|
|
|
 |
State Broadcast Association
President for one of the nation's top broadcast associations seeks a replacement for its retiring executive. Applicants must have broadcast management experience; knowledge of broadcast governmental, legal and regulatory affairs; an awareness of small and medium market broadcaster needs; ability to plan and coordinate a convention, workshops, seminars, and solicit event sponsors. Must have excellent verbal and written communication skills.
See TV Careers
Regional Account Executive
LIN Television West Michigan is looking for a Regional Sales professional for WOODTV8, WOTV 4 and WXSP TV. No Phone calls
See TV Careers
Hard finding that key person
to fill the important position at your organization? Media HeadHunters is the place that key media firms use to get results. See Media HeadHunters and get results with service--Period.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
©2006 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
|
|
