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Nielsen ends separate Spanish ratings
The major Spanish TV networks transitioned to using the same National People Meter (NPM) panel as their English brethren as much as two years ago – and some, we might add, have been posting strong ratings – so the shutdown of the National Hispanic People Meter (NHPM), effective yesterday, is pretty much a non-event. With US Hispanics now 14% of the entire population, some 38.9 million people, Nielsen says the sub-sample of Hispanics within its NPM panel is more representative than the separate Hispanic panel of only 1,000 households nationwide. It also notes that ad spending on Spanish-language TV and cable networks has grown from an estimated 1.8 billion in 2001 to more than 3.05 billion last year.

TVBR observation: If you follow the weekly Nielsen ratings in TVBR, you know that Univision-TeleFutura, Telemundo and Azteca America have all made the transition to the NPM panel alongside ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CW, Ion and MyNetworkTV. In fact, the biggest of the Spanish nets, Univision, sometimes tops one or more of the Big 4 in some of the key demos.

Ion to battle childhood obesity
Ion Media Networks plans initiatives on both its qubo digital network for kids and its Ion Life digital network to combat childhood obesity. The efforts include both campaigns for healthy eating and restrictions on ads which will air on the networks. “Ion remains committed to raising the bar for children’s programming through positive messaging directly in our programming content and by setting distinct standards for our advertisers. We are pleased to join our industry, the Federal Communications Commission and Congress to focus on providing a constructive television environment that will promote healthy lifestyle choices for children. Chairman Martin, Commissioners Copps and Tate and Senators Brownback and Harkin’s leadership is resulting in major positive changes in how our children will be exposed to food advertising on television,” said Brandon Burgess, CEO of Ion Media Networks.
qubo, Ion’s joint venture with Scholastic, NBC Universal, Corus Entertainment and Classic Media/Big Idea, will not air national ads that feature unhealthy food and beverage choices and work with its advertising and marketing partners to promote the importance of healthy eating and active lifestyles. It will also craft storylines addressing good eating habits and physical activity in selected episodes of new original content and create over-the-air packaging and a PSA campaign that will emphasize the importance of eating healthy foods and performing physical activities. Ion Life, a health channel for adults, will provide a dedicated amount of program time focused on the diet, nutrition and fitness needs of children. “In the midst of a public health crisis of surging rates of childhood obesity and diabetes in children – these steps forward show that industry is headed in the right direction. I am hopeful that other media companies will commit to similar responsible initiatives,” said Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) in a statement praising Ion.

TVBR observation: It’s always nice to have friends in Washington. Both FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and Commissioner Deborah Tate issued statements yesterday praising Ion for its actions and its participation in the FCC’s Task Force on Media and Childhood Obesity. Tate also noted that qubo’s popular “Veggie Tales” is produced in her home state of Tennessee. The Commissioner’s frequent references to Tennessee, where she was long active in Republican politics, makes us wonder whether she has designs on running for office back there in future years.

Acer buying Gateway for 710 million
One of the high-flying tech stocks of the 1990s that fell to earth this decade is about to disappear, with Gateway agreeing to be sold to Taiwan’s Acer for 710 million. Why is this a media story? Because Norman Waitt cashed out near the high to buy radio and TV stations, while brother Ted stayed with Gateway to what could now be called the bitter end. While Ted was very public and appeared in Gateway’s TV ads, elder brother Norm, though a co-founder, stayed in the shadows and retired from the company as it soared in the early ’90s. In 1998 Inc. magazine estimated that Norman Waitt’s Gateway stock was worth 1.1 billion just before he began selling it off to the point that he was no longer a 5% owner and, thus, no longer had to report stock sales to the SEC. Norm Waitt chose to invest that cash haul elsewhere, including a group of Midwestern radio and TV stations clustered around his base in South Dakota near Sioux City, IA. Via a merger, he is now a major shareholder of NRG Media, including syndicator Waitt Radio Networks. He also still owns one TV station, KMEG-TV (Ch. 14, CBS) Sioux City, and has other media investments in films, outdoor and interactive, along with real estate and other non-media holdings. Ted Waitt owned many more shares of Gateway, which peaked above 80 bucks a share in 1999, but has lately be trading around 1.20. He no longer runs the company, but remains a major shareholder. The buyout at 1.90 per share looks to be worth about 123 million for him.

TVBR observation: There is no indication that Norman Waitt saw what was ahead for Gateway or had any animosity toward his brother. He just wanted to go do other things instead of selling computers for the rest of his life. According to his WaittCorp LLC website, the entertainment investments grew out of his “passion” for music. “From movies and production, to broadcast and outdoor, to new media technologies, WaittCorp is itself an example of how doing what your love can also mean living what you dream,” the website states. Seems like a pretty good philosophy for a happy life.

Credit crunch shaves price
Home Depot’s sale of its construction supply business, HD Supply, to private equity investors appears to have fallen victim to the current scarcity of credit for big deals. Not that the deal is dead, just reduced. According to Bloomberg and other reports, Home Depot has agreed to an 18% price cut to get the sale done, to 8.5 billion, down from the original 10.3 billion announced in June. Why? The bankers who were supposed to lend the cash for the buyout insisted on better terms to cut their risk. Bain Capital, Carlyle Group and Clayton Dubilier & Rice are the private equity investors in the deal, but, as with all such deals, they are borrowing most of the purchase price in hopes of future profits from the leverage. Bain is also one of the participants in the pending buyout of Clear Channel Communications.

TVBR observation: Worries about the credit markets have put some downward pressure on the stock prices of broadcasting companies with buyout deals pending, notably Clear Channel, Cumulus Media and Tribune Company. As far as we can tell, all three have their financing in place with little chance of the lenders being able to drop out, which is good news for arbitrageurs looking to make a quick buck. But the sub-prime mortgage fiasco that’s echoing throughout the credit markets has definitely put a damper on doing any new deals in the billion-plus category.

Ad Business Report TM

Heinz invites America to vote for next commercial
Heinz received 4,157 qualified video entries for its "Top This" TV Challenge asking consumers to create the next great Heinz Ketchup commercial that will air on national TV. Now, Heinz is asking America to select the winner by visiting TopThisTV.com between 8/27 and 9/10, to view the top 15 semi-finalist ads and vote for their favorite. The semi-finalists share a common goal of wanting to win 57,000 and a well-earned place in the 130-year history of a bona fide cultural icon, when their commercial airs on national TV during the "Primetime Emmys, Live!" 9/16 on FOX. Additionally, four runner-up ads will air during NBC's "The Today Show" the following day with the creators each receiving 5,700.

South Park creators, Comedy Central strike ad sharing deal
Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the creators and executive producers of “South Park,” and Comedy Central have signed a joint venture that involves millions in up-front cash and a 50-50 split of ad revenues, the network and the two creative partners have agreed to create a hub to spread South Park-related material across the Net, mobile platforms, and video games, reports The NY Times.
The deal begins with a three-year extension of the show and its creators’ contracts through a 15th season, in the year 2011, and gives Stone and Parker sizable raises, both in their salaries and in their guaranteed advances against back-end profits from DVDs, merchandising, syndication and international sales. It also creates an entity called SouthParkStudios.com, to be housed in the show’s animation studio in Culver City, Calif., that is intended to be an incubator not only for new applications for characters the likes of Cartman, Kyle, Stan and Kenny, but for new comedy concepts that could one day mature into TV series of their own. The paper says the deal is worth some 75 million to Parker and Stone over the next four years.

Home sales down, so are stocks
A slowdown in home sales worried Wall Street and sent stock prices lower on Monday. The Dow Industrials fell 57 points, or 0.4%, to 13,322.
TV stocks followed the down trend. Saga was off 5.2% and Sinclair declined 4.8%. Traders apparently are still banking on a raised buyout bid for Hearst-Argyle from Hearst Corporation. The stock rose another 0.6% on Monday.