Nielsen signs Zenith for new product placement service; Hamilton comments
Nielsen Media Research announced it has signed a multi-year agreement with ZenithOptimedia Group for its new product placement service "Place*Views." ZenithOptimedia is the first major media specialist to subscribe. Nielsen launched the service earlier this year. Place*Views, a web-based application, provides data on brand occurrences that appear on broadcast TV. Place*Views allows users to identify which brands are featured, what type of placement is being used, when and where the placement has occurred, and the audience size and demo composition for the program minute at the time of placement. Product placement data is currently available beginning 9/03 for the 2004 broadcast season. Users are able to search the database by brand, advertiser, product category, program, and/or network. RBR/TVBR asked Richard Hamilton, CEO, Zenith Optimedia Group/The Americas about the move: | More... |

Worldwide Partners media directors meet in Philly
Media directors from 25 of the 37 regional agencies that comprise the American component of Worldwide Partners recently met in Philadelphia to figure out ways of improving accountability from local electronic media-with a heavy emphasis on cable and radio. Worldwide Partners (www.worldwidepartners.com) is a global membership org of independent agencies that collectively represent more than 3.6 billion in annual revenues. TVB, CAB and RAB were invited to make presentations. We tried TVB's Chris Rohrs for any details, but haven't heard back yet. The central focus of the meeting was reportedly to improve follow-up on clients' concerns about ROI and how to do comparable post-buys for local cable and radio. Worldwide agency personnel are frustrated that the local market measurement tools they're seeking from those media aren't being developed quickly enough.

Columbia WB outlet sold
WBHQ-TV 63, which serves the Columbia SC area from its perch in Sumter, has been sold. The station brings WB programming into the market. Value of the deal is 2.2M dollars. The seller is James H. Thompson and his Columbia Broadcasting. Buyer WHBQ Columbia LLC began operating the station under an LMA 8/16/04. At least one of the buyer's principals has been working at the station. In an unusual contract stipulation, Stephanie Rein is paying part of the purchase price, 60K to be exact, to cover sales commissions due her. Her partner is David Canfield.

To sell, or not to sell? Is that your question? Part 8
If you've thought of selling your radio or TV station(s), how do you know if now is the right time to sell? If you sat tight and missed out on consolidation - - and the big players in your market are already full up - - do you still have an opportunity to get a good price out of your station? The brokers tell us there's an art to selling at the right time and the right price. | More... |

TV stocks were also mixed. The big winner was ACME, up 5.4%, with Young up 3.4%. Going the other way, Granite plunged 10% and Clear Channel hit a 52-week low, dropping 2%.

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Hale joins Path 1
Jeff Hale, who was previously at CIENA Corp., has joined Path 1 Network Technologies as Vice President of Sales, heading all sales for the provider of routing products to transmit broadcast-quality video over IP networks.

More outrage at Forbes from broadcasters
We're continuing to hear from radio broadcasters who are boiling mad over the cover story in Forbes magazine that depicts broadcasters as "bullies" who've used their Capitol Hill clout to erect unfair barriers to hold back competition from satellite radio operators. Quite the contrary, says Whitney Radio President Bill O'Shaughnessy, who says it's XM Satellite Radio that has "run rings" around the NAB in Washington.

TVBR observation: First the cover story isn't just questionable, it's downright false. The article accuses broadcasters of fighting against the licensing of satellite radio companies, then getting regulators to impose restraints to protect terrestrial radio.
| More... |

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Analyst applauds broad
core growth in TV revenues
It's not just political advertising that's fueling television's strong growth. After going over the Q2 figures reported by the TVBR, Wachovia Securities analyst Jim Boyle is telling investors that TV is enjoying growth over a broad core of its major advertisers. Hearst-Argyle and Gray Television because they have lots of leading news stations - - and news leaders get the lion's share of political spending. TVBR observation: Stick with news leaders."
08/31/04 RBR #170

Now, Forbes attack has
broadcasters riled
Barron's on Monday, see below, now Forbes paints terrestrial radio station owners as "Broadcast Bullies" holding back satellite radio via Capitol Hill muscle has some broadcasters fighting mad. President and CEO Eddie Fritts has accused the author of regurgitating "satellite radio industry propaganda."
RBR observation: It's one thing to criticize radio with factual information. You've certainly seen some strong words from this publication, such as Publisher Jim Carnegie's "Naples is calling" treatise. Barron's has a largely negative story on radio which, while painful to many in this business, was well researched. Not so the Forbes story and sidebar, which took at face value the claims of terrestrial radio's critics and seemed to devote no effort whatsoever to determining whether those claims were true.
08/31/04 RBR #170

McCain viewed as winner
in attack ad debate
Press accounts hailed Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) as the winner for persuading President George W. Bush (R) to join in efforts to shut down the 527s via the courts or legislation and Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) to withdraw one of his ads. TVBR observation: Give us a break! Why is McCain emerging as some sort of hero in this mess? He's the one who created it! Shame on Sen. McCain for creating this mess. Rather than claiming credit for trying to make Bush and Kerry play nice, he and Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) ought to have the cohones to admit that they screwed up big time a! nd sponsor new legislation to repeal their badly-flawed campaign finance law. 08/30/04 TVBR #169

Barron's digs at radio
Is a scathing attack on radio stocks as a place to invest. After noting the skyrocketing values that followed the 1996 deregulation of radio, the article notes that "the stocks came back to earth with a thud." RBR observation: Sound familiar? Then you've probably read Jim Carnegie's "Naples is Calling" Publisher's Perspective in May RBR Solutions Magazine, if not, here's your chance to read the infamous article that set the ball rolling. Check it out here. Clear Channel's "More is Less" campaign is a step in the right direction, but there are some deeper problems that the big groups aren't addressing. Unless local managers are given the tools and time to refocus on making their stations relate to their local listeners and creative people are encouraged to get into radio and experiment with new ideas, radio is going to continue to fade away into the dull, lifeless medium that critics accuse it of already having become. 08/30/04 RBR #169

TV revenues grew 7.1% in Q2
Based on reports from the public companies, it was clear that Q2 was going to be good for broadcasters and the TVB has numbers to prove it - total TV revenues were up 7.1%, with revenues at the station level (local and national spot) up 8.3%, network up 4.7% and syndicated TV up a whopping 18.4%. One big factor, of coursew, was political ad spending. TVBR has the 2nd quarter summary local broadcast: top 100 market Chart. We have the chart to print out. 08/27/08 TVBR #168

TV Warning Clear Channel's "Less is More" gets feedback
Since our write-up over the last two days about CC Radio's "Less is More" strategy and its impact on syndicators, networks we've been hearing a bit more from folks in the industry - - again off the record, of course: "Quick observation on 'Less is More.' The sales managers and AEs aren't so worried about the spot count. What's scaring everyone is the limitation on 'promos.' Promos have become a euphemism for the 21st century version of the old Bonus Spot. They're a big part of schedules. 08/27/08 TVBR #168