TVBR First Part III
Mark LaNeve, GM's new VP/Marketing and
Advertising speaks
Photo: Mark LaNeve and Jim Taylor.
TVBR Q: I was very impressed with the Corvette ad with the kid driving (the ad mentioned it was a dream). That was different and seemed to follow the latest trend, as with Jeep ads in gaming, to target consumers with branding at younger and younger ages. LaNeve: Wait until you see the new STS spot. We've got a ballroom scene with BMWs and Mercedes dancing a Viennese waltz with each other. STS comes screaming in, we crank up the Zeppelin music and totally bust up the party. | More |

Premiere dumping Diamond led to Delilah?
Premiere Radio Networks' Diamond network is going away because of the upcoming inventory cutbacks mandated by CC Radio CEO John Hogan. $30-$35M in billing will be lost, according to RBR sources. We heard Premiere knew that was coming so they got Delilah to replace that lost money. Good theory, but we won't get that confirmed. However, they did confirm, "The Diamond network in RADAR will be reconfigured as part of our 2005 participation in Clear Channel's 'Less Is More'," confirms spokesperson Amir Forester. Natalie Swed Stone, US Director, National Radio Investment, OMD, commented about it in our September RBR print issue: "The Clear Channel cutback of commercials will impact the network/syndication business as CC stations reevaluate what they can afford to carry now that the rules are changing - - we know Premiere is affected with the elimination of Diamond network. There will be other companies affected as well."

Midway may merge with Viacom
Now that Sumner Redstone owns more than 80% of the stock of Midway Games (7/21/04 TVBR Daily Epaper #141), it's hardly surprising that he's thinking of buying out the remaining shareholders. But it may be that Redstone himself wants to be bought out. According to a filing made last week at the SEC, Viacom has appointed a special committee of outside directors to evaluate possible acquisitions or partnerships in the video game industry. That's surprising, since over the time that Redstone has been amassing his stake in Midway, he has insisted that he was acting for himself, not Viacom, which he, of course, also controls.

TVBR observation: Should Viacom pay Redstone 12 dollars each for his Midway shares? Even those that he bought for two bucks or less? After all, Redstone has been single-handedly driving the price of the stock up over the past year with his relentless buying. Would he now dare to stick Viacom shareholders with the bill for his overpaying? Quite a few Viacom investors would protest such a scenario - - and well they should.

Tips on how to buy a station, Part II
In a recent speech to the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, attorney Erwin Krasnow of Garvey Schubert Barer, and co-author of "Radio Deals: A Step by Step Guide," published by RBR, offered tips for people looking to buy a radio or TV station. Here's tip #2 on the negotiating process:

"Do your homework. Learn as much about the station, the competition, and the market as you can. You'll need to have the facts ready to support your negotiating position. A good negotiator is fully prepared to discuss every aspect of the deal and to respond to every question and comment. Consider getting a copy of the asset purchase agreement (APA) used by the seller in acquiring the target property (or if unavailable, other properties purchased by the seller). If it's a strong APA, it will be a great negotiating tool. - 'If a provision was needed by you to acquire a property, why is it not OK for me to use it?'"

As you'd expect, the bad news on the retail front was bad news for broadcast stocks. Paxson dropped 13.3% on news of its court battle with NBC Universal. Granite dropped 8.2% and Entravision was down 2.4%.

08/24 - Get the feel of what you are scrolling down and reading... Listen to this morning's AudioCast and
Hold On To Your Hair!

Listen Now
with Bob DeCarlo'
"In Da Morning"

We want to hear from you.
This is your column, so send your comments to tvnews@rbr.com

Kinsey heads to KELO
Young Broadcasting is shifting WTVO-TV (Ch. 17, ABC) Rockford, IL President/GM Gwen Kinsey to the same position at KELO-TV (Ch. 11, CBS) Sioux Falls, SD. She succeeds Mark Antonitis, who was recently sent to Young's largest station, KRON-TV (Ch. 4, Ind.) San Francisco (7/21/04 TVBR Daily Epaper #141). But, of course, there's now a new GM opening in Rockford.

CP for TV Marti
Which fires off programming to Cuba on Channel 13, has received an FCC go-ahead to modify its facilities, based on a request from President George W. Bush and the State Department. TVBR observation: The message is clear - - it doesn't matter who you are, don't mess with the FCC. The purveyors of Channel 13 - - particularly the good folks at Media General's WMBB in Panama City, which appears to be closest to Cuba - - can rest assured that the watchdog is on the job. 08/23/04 TVBR #164

TV a lesson here...
RAEL releases first study:
How Radio Ads Affect Consumers
How radio and radio advertising works with listeners, how to maximize ROI and how radio ads can improved upon for effectiveness.
RBR observation: We're still not sure if the radio groups are kicking in enough dollars to fund all of this (RAB doesn't supply the funding details for RAEL), but the big showed up and that's a good sign. Bottom line: Any study can say people have a more personal feeling with radio spots, but too many spots and annoying spots from any medium will turn them away. Next step: Let's fix the programming and invest in the creative production of radio's content. 08/19/04 RBR #162

Analysts' conclusion:
Infinity blinked
You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone in radio or on Wall Street who believed that Infinity's refusal to renew its ratings contract with Arbitron in June was the final word on the matter. But many had expected a longer hold-out by Infinity.
TVBR observation: If you bought Arbitron's stock back in June, figuring this is exactly what would happen, it looks like you made about 3.4% over less than two months. But if you were lucky enough to buy in at the recent low just last week, your profit was over 18% if you sold yesterday. Not a bad return either way. Analysts Kit Spring and Alissa Goldwasser tell it like it is.
08/19/04 TVBR #162

Newspapers face circulation
inflation conflagration
In a way, broadcasters are lucky. A station may wish to wring the necks of the good folks at Arbitron, Nielsen and Eastlan when facing a decline in audience, but at least someone the temptation to take matters into their own hands are nonexistent. They can't physically count the tune-ins occurring in the market.
TVBR observation: Newspapers face another problem - - the availability of news and info on the Internet. There will still be ferocious competition between print and broadcast. Bottomline, newspaper's problems are broadcasting's gain. The scandals are another arrow in the quiver for broadcasting's street forces.
08/18/04 TVBR #161

Infinity signs multi-year
deal with Arbitron
By bringing a good offer to the table, what it is we just are not sure yet, but whatever it is Infinity decided it was fair. RBR had stated the hard posturing from Infinity, may have been, but was, a bluff and wouldn't last a quarter. In fact, many in the industry said they knew this was all a "joke" from the start.
RBR observation: Infinity's biggest problem with Arbitron was and always will be price.
08/18/04 TVBR #161

Telemundo seeks rulemaking
to move into Phoenix
Holbrook AZ is over 200 miles away from downtown Phoenix, a location NBC Telemundo Phoenix finds to be an ineffective staging area in its effort to compete with Univision for the eyes and ears of the Arizona capital's Hispanic population.
08/17/04 TVBR #160

Broadcasters responded to
changing Charley
Broadcasters jumped into action and fulfilled their most important role - - informing the public - - as Hurricane Charley devastated Florida. The Olympics took a back seat to storm coverage for NBC affiliates and just about every station - - AM, FM, TV and local cable - - pulled out all of the stops to deliver emergency information to viewers and listeners. TVBR observation: This was broadcasting at its best. Radio coverage was less impressive, for the most part, given the limited scale of radio news operations in recent years, but at least they were providing useful information - - even if, in some cases! That meant carrying audio from a better-staffed TV partner. For NBC affiliates, general managers had to decide on Olympic coverage and they made the right decisions. Read the total report. 08/16/04 TVBR #159

Hearst-Argyle ready to go private
Anyone who follows broadcasting stocks knows that Hearst Corporation has been a voracious buyer of Hearst-Argyle stock on the open market. Hearst has continued to be the company's largest shareholder throughout those seven years. TVBR observation: They have the right idea and if they go private Hearst just may be the leader some public companies, especially in radio, need to get the heck out of that Wall Street rat race. We've heard the saying - 'If Wall Street doesn't Love us then we will buy back our stock' - can't continue saying it forever. 08/16/04 TVBR #159

Emmis assents to consent,
agrees to pay
Enriching the US Treasury by 300K dollars following in the footsteps of Clear Channel, but not leaving anywhere near as large a footprint in payment. It will also scrub clean the radio group's file. As part of the deal, Emmis admitted that is broadcast at least some actionably indecent material. TVBR observation: There must've been something at least mildly juicy in the hopper.
08/13/04 TVBR #158