TVBR's Daily Morning Epaper

Have a colleague try us, they'll thank you for it.
Trial Subscription Sign Up

Volume 23, Issue 171, Jim Carnegie, Editor & Publisher

Friday Morning September 1st, 2006

TVBR Returns Tuesday, September 5th
The RBR/TVBR offices will be closed
Monday, September 4th in observance of Labor Day.

TV News ®

Cable competitors get
green light in California
By the time you read this, a bill to offer statewide cable TV franchises in California could be on its way to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for his signature. The bill passed the State Senate 33-4 and only needed a perfunctory concurrence with minor Senate changes by the State Assembly, which had previously given the measure unanimous approval. Local government officials had objected to the legislation, but their cries fell on deaf ears in Sacramento, as Democrats and Republicans lined up behind legislation to create more competition and consumer choice in video/broadband delivery. The good news for broadcasters is that the companies lining up to apply for those state-wide franchises, the Baby Bell phone companies, have been much more willing that the traditional cable MSOs to sign retransmission consent agreements with per subscriber payments, so this is a new revenue stream for broadcasters that will only grow with time. Verizon has been leading the charge for the state-wide franchise legislation. "Verizon is investing hundreds of millions to build its new fiber-optic network in California and the project has already created over 1,000 new jobs. This bill would accelerate the deployment of this all-fiber- optic network, which sets a new standard of quality and value in television delivery to consumers across all income levels, while maintaining local government oversight in appropriate areas," said Verizon West Region President Tim McCallion. Once the bill is signed by Schwarzenegger, California will become the third state to offer state-wide cable franchises. Texas was first, then New Jersey. Similar legislation is pending in Pennsylvania.

TVBR observation: We can't help noticing how this is an issue that cuts across political ideologies. As states go, Texas is about as Conservative Republican as they come and New Jersey is about as far as you can go in the Liberal Democrat direction. Yet they were the first two states to adopt legislation to encourage the phone companies to build cable competitors - and build them fast. Likewise, both houses of the California State Legislature are dominated by Democrats, but support was nearly unanimous on both sides of the isle and the Republican Governor is set to sign it into law. We look for the Baby Bell lobbyists to score victory after victory as they focus on state after state to win enactment of this legislation, so TV station owners can look forward to new revenues - and increased leverage in negotiations with the old-line MSOs. It seems the only people joining the MSOs in opposing such legislation are local government officials who don't want to give up any of their power over cable franchising. (The California bill lets them keep their 5% of cable revenues, so no cash is lost.)

GOP passes on
Tomlinson hot potato
Senate Republicans are wary of a political hot potato in this election year, so it looks like Ken Tomlinson won't even get a hearing on his nomination to a second term as Chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG). But that doesn't mean he won't keep the job. President Bush still has options. Tomlinson's current term has already run out, but he gets to stay in place until the current session of Congress adjourns later this year. Bush nominated the long-time ally of White House political advisor Karl Rove to a second term as Chairman of BBG (which oversees VOA, Radio and TV Marti, Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty) last year, but the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hasn't scheduled a hearing on his nomination and is now planning to just let the clock run out. Tomlinson has become a political hot potato for Senate Republicans, after he stepped down as Chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting amid allegations of partisanship and just this week Democrats made public an internal State Department investigation which concluded that he put a friend on the government payroll and used government resources for his personal business (8/31/06 TVBR #170). So, Tomlinson won't be confirmed to a second term. Not to worry. President Bush can use his authority to fill the BBG Chairmanship during the gap between Congressional terms - a move that doesn't carry much political baggage for a second-term president who can't run again anyway. So Tomlinson will almost certainly stay in the job, one way or the other.

TVBR observation: Not that anyone at the White House is asking for our advice, but President Bush could pile up some political chits with Democrats and put a real broadcaster in the helm at BBG by bringing back Norm Pattiz to run the show. Even many Republicans agree that he is the best member ever to serve on the BBG. The Westwood One founder showed the government broadcasting folks how to create radio stations that people in foreign countries will actually want to listen to, playing popular music, delivering well-packaged news and slipping in the pro-American message without being heavy-handed. But the Conservative ideologues didn't like it. They want wall-to-wall pro-American rhetoric - never mind that no one will listen to the message.

Disney plans ahead
Disney CEO Bob Iger apparently wasn't happy about having to reschedule his quarterly conference call early this month when it turned out that it had originally been set for the same date and time as News Corporation. Obviously, lots of analysts cover both companies and would want to be on both calls. Disney is jumping out ahead of the pack in scheduling its next conference call to make sure that it gets the date and time it wants. So mark your calendars: The Walt Disney Company fiscal Q4 and full year conference call will be Thursday, November 9th, beginning at 4:30 pm ET. Ya got that? It's ours now and nobody else can have it!

Wall Street Media Business Report TM

New ways for Clear Channel to raise cash
Clear Channel Communications Inc. has filed with the SEC to create three new vehicles for selling securities: CCCI Capital Trust I, II & III. At this point it is a shelf filing, with no mention yet of the amounts to be raised. The prospectus covers planned offerings from time to time by Clear Channel of common stock, senior debt securities, subordinated debt securities, junior subordinated debt securities, Class A and Class B preferred stock, warrants, stock purchase contracts, stock purchase units and guarantees. In other words, lots of different ways to access capital, depending on market conditions. "The CCCI Capital Trusts I, II and III are each Delaware statutory trusts that will offer and sell preferred securities, from time to time, in one or more offerings. Each Clear Channel Trust will use all of the proceeds from the sale of its preferred securities to buy junior subordinated debt securities of Clear Channel. The Clear Channel Trusts will receive cash payments from the junior subordinated debt securities, and each trust will distribute these payments to the holders of its preferred and common securities. Clear Channel will own all of the common securities of the Clear Channel Trusts," the prospectus explains.

TVBR observation: CCU notes that it already has a billion bucks of shelf registration remaining from a previous filing, with that filing fee remainder being rolled over to this one. What is new is creating the CCCI Capital Trusts as yet another sophisticated instrument for accessing capital. We expect these new preferred shares to be sold to institutional investors, not the retail account of John Q. Public.

Ad Business Report TM

US ad spend rose 5.1% in first half of 2006
Ad spending for the first half of 2006 rose by 5.1% over the same period last year, due to gains across major media, according to preliminary figures released by Nielsen Monitor-Plus. Advertising spending increased in almost all reported media, led by Internet, Spanish-Language TV and Local Magazines. A number of media haven't shown much movement through the first half including Spot Radio, Local Newspaper, B-to-B magazines, National Cable TV, FSI Coupon, and the smaller Spot TV markets.
| Read More... |

Valassis files to rescind
merger with ADVO
Valassis Communications sued ADVOin the Delaware Chancery Court to rescind its 1.3 billion merger agreement with ADVO based on fraud and material adverse changes, alleging that ADVO management materially misrepresented the financial health of the company and failed to reveal internal control deficiencies. According to the complaint, ADVO intentionally provided Valassis with "materially false financial information" and "withheld material information" at a time when the operating income was materially off forecast. The complaint also alleges that ADVO executives knew of, but did not disclose, significant internal control deficiencies associated with ADVO's enterprise- wide order-to-cash system. "We believe that taking this action is in the best interest of our shareholders," said Alan Schultz, Valassis Chairman, President and CEO. "ADVO left us with no choice. The pertinent information we received was erroneous, projections were grossly inaccurate and we believe we were the victims of fraud." ADVO responded: "While ADVO has not yet had time to fully review the lawsuit filed by Valassis, ADVO believes it is baseless and without merit. ADVO can only surmise that Valassis' action is merely a smokescreen to hide the fact that Valassis is suffering from an extreme case of buyer's remorse. ADVO remains committed to the transactions contemplated by the binding merger agreement, and will take action to enforce that agreement and vigorously defend itself against Valassis' claims."

Media Business Report TM

Rashid Tobaccowala,
chief innovation officer of Publicis Groupe Media (PGM) and Denuo CEO
Publicis Groupe's Denuo unit is a new strategic initiative designed to anticipate and exploit the rapidly changing digital, interactive and mobile communication environment. Denuo is a standalone business but not based on any pre-existing industry model. Denuo functions as a strategic consultant, an inventor of solutions and as an investor in partnerships. The company is also venturing with a variety of startups including Brightcove, an open Internet TV service, and Shadow TV, a streaming video service that provides access to live and archived television content via the web. Denuom meaning "afresh," "anew" in Latin, is led by Rishad and has offices in Chicago and NYC. Yesterday, we asked about the future of ROI measurement (8/31/06 TVBR #170).
| Read More... |

Media Markets & Money TM

Closing leaves Emmis with two to sell
Emmis Communications has just two TV stations left to sell, after selling off 14. Closing was yesterday on the 217.5 million sale of WKCF-TV (Ch. 18) Orlando to Hearst-Argyle for a duopoly (5/9/06 TVBR #91). The closing is just in time for Hearst-Argyle to oversee the conversion from the WB to the new CW network, launching on Tuesday. Still no word on a buyer for "The Daily Buzz," which will continue to originate out of the old WKCF studio, which Emmis has retained. "The Daily Buzz" is owned 50/50 by Emmis and ACME Communications. The two Emmis TV stations remaining to be sold are WVUE-TV (Ch. 8, Fox) New Orleans and KGMB-TV (Ch. 9, CBS) Honolulu.

Washington Media Business Report TM

Fines for airing Bush?
You knew this was coming. The FCC has apparently received a couple of dozen complaints from people wanting broadcasters to be fined for indecency for broadcasting President George W. Bush using the s-word in a conversation picked up by a microphone during a private conversation with British Prime Minister Tony Blair during the July G-8 summit (7/19/06 TVBR #137). Most of the complaints apparently concern CNN, so no FCC action is possible. However, a handful claim that the Presidential swearing was carried on a local broadcast station. No word on whether they have tapes to back up those claims. And if they do, would the FCC actually fine anyone 325K for broadcasting, in a bona fide newscast, words spoken by the President who signed the legislation upping the maximum fine to 325K?

Entertainment Media Business Report TM

Have a Howie Christmas
When you think of Christmas, you of course think of...Howie Mandel. OK, why not? He has been picked to narrate an unusual holiday movie for USA Network, "The Great American Christmas." Although it is a made-for-TV movie, it is also reality TV. The unscripted movie will follow the lives of six families, filmed in the days leading up to Christmas last year. One of them is the Schullers of the Crystal Cathedral in Orange County, CA. The others will be kept a surprise for a while yet, but since they are being described as "ordinary" (how does the family of televangelist Dr. Robert Schuller qualify as ordinary?) we probably won't recognize their names, anyway. "The Great American Christmas" is produced by NBC Universal Television Studio and Go Go Luckey Productions with Gary Auerbach serving as executive producer and Julie Auerbach as co-executive producer. The project was developed by Optomen Productions. The movie debuts on USA Tuesday, November 28th.

Original Star Trek coming back to syndication
Star Trek is getting a 21st century makeover. CBS Paramount Domestic Television is releasing digitally remastered episodes of the iconic 1960s sci-fi series, with all new special effects and music, to celebrate the groundbreaking series' 40th anniversary, it was announced by John Nogawski, president of CBS Paramount Domestic Television.
| Read More... |

Ratings & Research

Ethnic markets grow again
Hot on the heels of re-ranking all 210 DMAs (8/24/06 TVBR #165), Nielsen Media Research is out with new estimates for Hispanic, African-American and Asian-American TV households in all of those markets. The top 10 haven't changed much (although all have grown in ethnic HH). The only new top 10 market is in the Asian-American rankings, where Houston displaced Boston as #10. Here are the top 10 markets for all three ethnic designations.
| View the Charts |

Coming Next Week...

DIGITAL MEDIA
Beth Comstock, President, Digital Media and Market Development, NBC Universal
Beth was named president of Digital Media and Market Development in December 2005. She's accountable for driving NBC Universal's digital strategy and leading the company's content and distribution efforts to capitalize on new and emerging digital platforms.

...and...

GM Talkback
Hispanic media managers:
Tell us about their ratings and audience trends.

Transactions

56M WTAJ-TV Johnstown-Altoona PA (Altoona PA) and WLYH-TV Harrisburg-Lancaster-Lebanon-York PA (Lancaster PA). 100% of Television Station Group of Pennsylvania License Subsidiary LLC from Television Station Gruop Holdings (Ian Guthrie) to Nexstar Broadcasting Inc. (Perry Sook). 2.8M escrow, balance in cash at closing. WTAJ is CBS affiliate on Channel 10; WLYH is a UPN-headed-for-CW affiliate on Channel 15 and is LMA'd to WHP-TV 21 CBS (Clear Channel Communications). [File date 8/18/06.]

Stock Talk

A pretty flat day
August unemployment figures are due out today, so traders were cautious about whether to buy or sell stocks yesterday. The result was a pretty flat market. The Dow Industrials slipped two points to 11,381.

TV stocks didn't move much either. Most were up slightly. An exception was ACME, which fell 5.8%. LIN led the gainers, up 3.8%. fisher rose 2.4%.

Stocks

**Here's how stocks fared on Thursday**
Company	Symbol	Close		Change	Company	Symbol	Close		Change
Acme	ACME		5.07	-0.31	LIN TV	TVL		7.30	+0.27
Belo	BLC		16.30	+0.02	McGraw-Hill	MHP		55.91	-0.74
CBS CI. B	CBS		28.55	-0.26	Media General	MEG		39.32	-0.22
CBS CI. A	CBSa		28.56	-0.26	Meredith	MDP		47.34	+0.03
Clear Channel	CCU		29.04	+0.29	News Corp.	NWS		19.87	+0.07
Disney	DIS		29.65	+0.08	Nexstar	NXST		4.45	+0.09
Emmis	EMMS		12.23	-0.09	NY Times	NYT		22.52	-0.35
Entravision	EVC		7.43	+0.03	Ion Media	ION		0.90	-0.01
Fisher	FSCI		42.90	+1.01	Saga Commun.	SGA		7.96	-0.07
Gannett	GCI		56.85	-0.20	SBS	SBSA		4.35	+0.04
Gen. Electric	GE		34.06	-0.21	Scripps	SSP		45.47	+0.53
Granite	GBTVK		0.12	unch	Sinclair	SBGI		7.72	+0.04
Gray	GTN		6.39	+0.04	Time Warner	TWX		16.62	+0.04
Gray, C1. A	GTNa		7.10	+0.14	Tribune	TRB		31.21	-0.06
Hearst-Argyle	HTV		22.86	unch	Univision	UVN		34.56	+0.23
Journal Comm.	JRN		10.97	-0.05	Wash. Post	WPO		767.77	+2.27
Lincoln Natl.	LNC		60.70	-0.04	Young	YBTVA		3.00	+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

TV Media Moves

MTV Networks
puts Close in charge
of US ad sales
MTV Networks has named Hank Close President of U.S. Ad Sales. Close, who was formerly WVP/Ad Sales, MTVN Music/Comedy/Logo Group, will be responsible for managing MTVN's entire U.S. sales organization across all of the company's brands and multiplatform offerings. Close will continue to be based in New York City and report to Michael Wolf, President and COO, MTVN. In his new role as President of U.S. Ad Sales, Close will be adding Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, The N, TV Land and Spike to his responsibilities. Since February 2005, Close has served as Executive Vice President of Ad Sales for MTVN Music/Comedy/Logo Group, which includes MTV, mtvU, MTV en Espanol, VH1, VH1 Classic, CMT, Comedy Central and Logo.

Below the Fold

Ad Business Report
US ad spend rose 5.1%
in first half of 2006
Nielsen Monitor-Plus says the gains were across all major media...

Media, Markets & Money
Closing leaves Emmis
with two to sell
Emmis Communications has just two TV stations left to sell, after selling off 14...

Washington Media Business Report
Fines for airing Bush?
The FCC has apparently received a couple of dozen complaints...

Entertainment Business Report
Have a Howie Christmas
When you think of Christmas, you of course think of...Howie Mandel.

Ratings & Research
Ethnic markets grow again
Nielsen is out with new estimates for Hispanic, African-American and Asian-American TV households...

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

RBR - Radio News

It didn't get
any better in July
The Radio Advertising Bureau revenue numbers for July are in - and they aren't any improvement over the earlier months of 2006. In fact, July was dead on track with the overall results for the first seven months of the year: spot revenues (local and national combined) down 1% and the grand total (including NTR) flat with a year to go. The differences were in the details. Local was down 2% in July, but only down 1% for the year-to-date. National was up 5% in July and up 1% YTD. Non-spot revenue was up 12% in July and 9% YTD.

TVBR Radar 2006

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

TVBR has the real story behind
General Motors drops "Survivor"
General Motors, after 14 cycles of CBS's reality hit "Survivor," is pulling advertising for the show's upcoming season, filmed in the Cook Islands. While many assume the decision is based on CBS's controversial decision to divide the next Survivor tribes by race, Dennis Donlin, President/GM Planworks, tells TVBR the real reasons. As well as Ryndee Carnee, top GM spokesperson, points to the key Marketing Strategy of GM with Brand Entertainment. All in TVBR as we give you the details others do not.

TVBR observation: Nonetheless, the timing is interesting: NYC City Council members 8/28 held a protest in front of CBS HQ and reportedly were planning to write letters to the show's sponsors. If more sponsors pull out, we will assume those letters may have been sent. No advertiser wants to get on a boycott list. However, in this case, it may just be coincidence. Donlin and Carnee made perfect sense in their explanations for the pullout. In this entire GM and Survivor issue the key word every broadcaster better become familiar with is called Branding. Ryndee Carnee's statement sums up how the business will take shape in marketing of products and advertising today. All in TVBR as we give you the details others do not. Branding is the key. See this report
08/31/06 TVBR #170

NBC and Clear Channel claim
toilet contract hanky-panky
Two broadcast-related outdoor advertising companies are heading to court against the City of New York, claiming that they were cheated out of the contract to put ads on the city's bus shelters, newsstands and public toilets. When the contract was announced (5/17/06 TVBR #97) it appeared that Cemusa, a subsidiary of the Spain-based conglomerate Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas, had simply outbid other contenders, including Clear Channel Outdoor, CBS Outdoor and a joint venture of NBC Universal and JC Decaux. But after further inspection, details in TVBR.
08/30/06 TVBR #169

OMD backs away on
liability language
After the Broadcast Cable Management Association (BCFM) sent out a bulletin to members about new contract language being used by OMD to shift potential liability away from the ad agency and solely to the station, BCFM reports that it had a talk with the agency and OMD has reprogrammed its computers back to the language it was using prior to July.
08/30/06 TVBR #169

Google and eBay pact for
"click to call" functionality
Internet giants Google and eBay announced a multi-year deal involving text-based advertising and "click-to-call" advertising functionality. Google will become the exclusive text-based ad provider for eBay outside the US. Yahoo struck a parallel deal in May to handle all of eBay's U.S. ads. The click-to-call functionality will leverage both Skype and Google Talk globally in each company's respective shopping and search platforms.

TVBR observation: Hard to over come perception being reality and when you say Google it is automatic to think search. eBay similar one thinks selling others people, well, junk. RBR continues to remind executives to research before you commit to a internet service.
08/29/06 TVBR #168

EchoStar settles with
affiliates for 100M
Facing a federal court order that would require it to end delivery of distant network service to all subscribers, EchoStar has struck a 100 million bucks settlement with the ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox Affiliate Associations. Having previously settled with the ABC, NBC and CBS networks and O&O groups, along with many other station groups, EchoStar is just one step away from settling all litigation over distant signal delivery, with the Fox network and its O&O stations as the last holdouts.

TVBR observation: Gee, do you suppose Fox being the final holdout has anything to do with its parent company, News Corporation, being the controlling shareholder of EchoStar's only satellite TV competitor, DirecTV? Why not let Charlie Ergen squirm a little longer...
08/29/06 TVBR #168

State Broadcast Association
President for one of the nation's top broadcast associations seeks a replacement for its retiring executive.
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.

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