TVBR's Daily Morning Epaper

Are you reading this from a forwarded email?
New readers can receive our TVBR Morning Epaper FREE for the next 30 Business days! SIGN UP HERE

Volume 22, Issue 172, Jim Carnegie, Editor & Publisher

Thursday Morning September 1st, 2005

TV News®

Broadcasters struggle in
post-hurricane floods
It will be some time before life returns to normal in areas hard-hit by Hurricane Katrina, including New Orleans, LA and Biloxi-Gulfport, MS - - and that goes for broadcasters as well. WLOX-TV Biloxi has its STA tower lying on the ground in front of its building, but the station has apparently managed to remain on the air, connected to the outside world by only a single satellite telephone. Fellow Liberty Corp. stations, particularly WAVE-TV Louisville, are updating the WLOX website with information sent out by the WLOX staff and gathered from other news sources. TV stations in New Orleans continue to operate from borrowed studios in nearby markets with technical assistance from co-owned stations. But in some cases, they're broadcasting primarily on the Internet, with transmitters off the air for extended periods of time. Of course, many areas are without electricity, cable TV and telephone service (either wired or cellular), making battery-operated radios the primary link to the outside world. Radio stations have been struggling to remain on the air, even as some whose staffs rode out the hurricane had to evacuate due to post-storm flooding and operate from transmitter sites or temporary facilities. While Emmis' WVUE-TV New Orleans remains off the air, co-owned WALA-TV Mobile is broadcasting. The company sent two planes from headquarters in Indianapolis to Mobile yesterday - - one with supplies (water, drinks, toiletries, food, equipment) and the other Emmis TV President Randy Bongarten and other key personnel (Engineering, IT and HR) to assist Emmis employees at WALA-TV. Many WVUE employees have been temporarily moved to Mobile and Emmis said it hoped to account for all 94 of its New Orleans employees yesterday.

Aid efforts kick off across the nation
As broadcasters in hurricane and flood-ravaged regions struggle to deliver emergency information to their communities, their brethren across the country are cranking up efforts to send relief aid to the victims. Some examples: Clear Channel Radio Philadelphia announced "StormAID," using the resources of all six of its Philly stations to generate cash donations to the Red Cross; In Los Angeles, KABC-TV, KABC-AM, KSPN-AM & KLOS-FM joined with parent The Walt Disney Co. to collect donations for the Red Cross at Dodger Stadium and a site in Anaheim; Disney also announced a corporate contribution of 2.5 million to relief and rebuilding efforts; morning man Don Bleu at CC Radio's KIOI-FM San Francisco is asking listeners to drop off cash and checks at a live remote today; in Milwaukee, Journal's WTMJ-AM & TV are jointly promoting "Katrina: You Can Help" all day today to gather donations and the TV station will have a phone bank to take contributions during halftime of tonight's Packers-Titans NFL pre-season game; and broadcast equipment maker Orban/CRL was offering free technical assistance and loaner equipment to help damaged radio and TV stations get back on the air. What's your station doing to help? Let us know at tvnews@rbr.com.

FCC relieves broadcast Katrina victims

The FCC will do everything it can to help radio, television and MVPDs which found themselves in the path of Hurricane Katrina to get back up and running, and/or to get emergency information out to citizens in the stricken areas. Recognizing the essential role broadcasters play in such situations, it will expedite repairs and issuance of special temporary authority requests. It will also add additional time to the build-out deadline on CPs in the area. Here's the list of FCC measures to benefit affected broadcasters.
| More... |

NAB puts on full court press
for multicast must-carry
The need for a strong, locally-oriented broadcasting system has been highlighted yet again by a state of emergency, this time in New Orleans. With that in mind, NAB is putting a DTV multicasting must-carry mandate at the top of the list as legislation pertaining to the transition wends its way through Capitol Hill. To that end, a fly-in of local broadcasters is scheduled for Thursday, 9/8/05. The target: Members of the Senate and House Commerce Committees, both of which are expected to get legislation through in the very near future. Two prominent members of the Senate Commerce Committee, are already on board as powerful multicast must-carry backers, Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME). NAB is emphasizing that multicast puts no additional capacity burden on cable operators - - indeed, switching to digital should save them capacity whether used for HDTV or split signal. NAB contends that cable, which is working just as hard to thwart a mandate, is simply trying to avoid competition for its own programming services. Said NAB President/CEO Eddie Fritts, "Multicasting is about more competition to cable, and that's why the cable gatekeepers are fighting multicasting so fiercely. Cable operators don't like competition. They like carving up exclusive territories, and providing programming in which only they own a financial stake." NAB will also push for some kind of subsidy for over-the-air, analog-only viewers left behind by the transition. Fritts said the NAB is comfortable with a 2009 date certain for the end of analog, and is willing to consider public interest mandates if they go along with the necessary must-carry mandate. It will also spend its own dime on a consumer education push. More to come.

Alaska/Hawaii ruling ads DTV ammo
The recent FCC ruling mandating multicast must-carry for direct broadcast satellite video service in Alaska and Hawaii, such as it is, has no direct effect on the relationship between broadcasters and MVPD services in the 48 contiguous states. However, according to NAB's John Orlando, it did accomplish two things. First, it debunked the contention that multicast must-carry is somehow an extra burden on the MVPDs. It's not. It is just a different way of using the same amount of transmission capacity the broadcast stations are entitled to anyway for their high-definition programming. Second, it underscored the importance and desirability of local programming for the citizens of Alaska and Hawaii.

TVBR observation: The AK/HI ruling was based on a very focused reading of legislative language. Perhaps it's time to recap the FCC's prior and much bigger ruling on the issue, which came on February 10 (2/11/05 TVBR #30). One of Michael Powell's last acts as FCC chair was to shoot down multicast must-carry over cable systems. He got a 4-1 vote, but it was really more like 2-2-1. He and fellow Republican Kathleen Abernathy didn't say multicast would be a technical burden on cable, but did say it would be a First Amendment burden doomed to get shot down in court. Democrats Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein said lack of public interest mandates opened the possibility that local viewers would get nothing but time shifted programming and home shopping channels and said nay. Only Kevin Martin voted for multicasting, in particular to protect small, local niche broadcasters. The battle's shifted to Congress. But Martin's now chair. With some assurances to the two Dems on public interest, plus support from Martin, the FCC could've been won over on a bipartisan basis. There is already demonstrated bipartisan support for localism in Congress. This is doable. As NAB's Eddie Fritts told reporters yesterday, "I predict that multicasting will be a way of life in America."

Reuters demands release of Iraq staffers
Reuters appears to be getting nowhere with demands that the US military release two staffers held in Iraq - - or at least explain why they're being held. Both are Iraqis who were working as cameramen for Reuters' TV news service. One has been held since Sunday, when he was wounded and his soundman killed when their car was hit by gunfire, apparently from US troops, while they were driving in Baghdad. The other has been held since August 8th, when US troops arrested him after searching his home in Ramadi. He's being held at the Abu Ghraib prison and US authorities say he can be held up to 180 days for his case to be reviewed - - the first 60 days without being allowed any contact with his family or an attorney. "I am shocked and appalled that such a decision could be taken without his having access to legal counsel of his choosing, his family or his employers. I call on the authorities to release him immediately or publicly air the case against him and give him the opportunity to defend himself," said David Schlesinger, Reuters Global Managing Editor.

Adbiz©

Omicom scores B of A
While four senior execs from agencies owned by Interpublic have visited Bank of America headquarters in Charlotte in recent days to try to retain the bank's advertising biz with Draft Worldwide, Initiative Worldwide, Jack Morton and MWW Group, Omicom got the client after a review. The 600 million dollar account is valued at 60 million to 65 million in annual revenue for IPG.

chemistri Becomes Leo Burnett Detroit
chemistri, a Publicis Groupe agency, took the name Leo Burnett Detroit, celebrating with an employee event at its Troy, MI HQ. The new name is a natural evolution for the advertising agency, which has been an independent Leo Burnett Worldwide operating unit since 2003, as it has become more closely aligned with Burnett's HQ in Chicago over the past two years. The Leo Burnett branding will further assist the Detroit agency in partnering with other Burnett offices worldwide to address the increasingly global nature of the GM business. Leo Burnett Detroit will be led by agency President Jim Moore, who will report to Leo Burnett Worldwide CEO Tom Bernardin. Tor Myhren will lead the agency's creative department as executive creative director, reporting to Worldwide Deputy Chief Creative Officer Mark Tutssel. Leo Burnett Detroit will continue taking multi-disciplinary approaches in creating and developing idea-centric integrated marketing campaigns as it has been over the past three years. Publicis created the Chemistri name for the Detroit-area office of the now-defunct D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles. Publicis acquired D'Arcy's parent, Bcom3 Group. Meanwhile, the Chemistri Martin Group, the agency's partner for 300-plus Cadillac, Pontiac, Hummer and GM Service and Parts regional dealer ad groups, changes its name to the Martin Retail Group.

MasterCard International
launches "Get Wired" sweepstakes
MasterCard International today announced the launch of its "Get Wired" sweepstakes. The sweepstakes provides all MasterCard BusinessCard and Debit MasterCard BusinessCard cardholders with a chance to win one of three 50,000 technology makeovers for their small business, including a technology expert to help put it all together. The sweepstakes is one component of a larger global "Get Wired" campaign that will run through the remainder of 2005 and extend into 2006. The global campaign will feature unique events and initiatives in national and local markets. Every time small business owners use their MasterCard BusinessCard or Debit MasterCard BusinessCard between 9/1 and 11/30, they will be automatically entered to win a complete technology makeover. Sweepstakes will also launch this year in the UK, Netherlands and Canada, and extend to other countries in 2006. To support the campaign, MasterCard plans to rollout new broadcast, print and online "priceless" advertising that highlights the difference technology can make for small businesses. A new TV spot entitled "Flex" follows a small business owner on his way to work and captures the confidence that empowered small business owners feel when they have the tools they need to succeed. The broadcast commercial launches this week and will be featured during TV broadcasts of this year's World Series. Print will appear in BusinessWeek, TIME, US News & World Report, Business 2.0, Entrepreneur, Fast Company, Fortune, Golf Magazine, National Geographic Gold and New York Times Magazine. Online advertising will appear on sites such as BusinessWeek.com, Yahoo! Small Business, Inc.com and Entrepreneur.com.

DMA to host panel discussion
at Advertising Week
The Direct Marketing Association will demonstrate the essential role direct marketing plays in successful integrated marketing strategies when the Association hosts a full range of activities during Advertising Week 2005, commencing on 9/26 in NYC. "As consumers pay less attention to overly-broad advertising appeals, and new marketing channels are being created by advances in technology, businesses now have new opportunities to direct their advertisements to consumers who are seeking information that's relevant to them," said John A. Greco, Jr., The DMA CEO. "Although the lines between advertising and direct marketing are blurring, when integrated effectively the return-on-investment is crystal clear."
| More... |

Media Markets & MoneyTM

Merger of broadcast manufacturers
Harris Corporation announced a deal to acquire Leitch Technology Corp. for approximately 450 million bucks. Leitch is a leader in providing high-performance video systems for the television broadcast industry, including routers and distribution equipment, signal processing, signal management and monitoring, servers and storage area networks, branding software and post-production editing systems.

Washington Beat

Will DTV date certain move back?
The movement in Congress to set a date certain for the end of analog over-the-air television broadcast was seemingly insurmountable. Members of both parties were in agreement that the benefits of DTV should start to be realized. More importantly, they want spectrum freed up for first responders, and they want to begin filling the Treasury with cash from the ample supply of bidders anxious to buy some of the beachfront spectrum which the broadcast exodus will open up for repurposing. However, the generally reported date of 12/31/08 may be subject to change, according to Congress-watchers at the NAB. The reason? Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK), head of the powerful Senate Commerce Committee, may want to make sure that such a momentous change actually transpires while Congress is in session, in case there are any last minute issues to deal with, etc. Congress is generally not in session on New Year's Eve, so don't be surprised if the actual analog cut-off date moves back by a month or more.

Programming

"Prison Break" breaks strong
Despite mixed reviews, the two-hour premiere of "Prison Break" pulled strong numbers on Monday night as the first series debut for the fall season. Fox is getting started early because it will be into the Major League Baseball playoffs when the other networks introduce their new series. "Prison Break' drew a healthy 4.6 rating in the 18-49 demo, scoring best with male viewers, but also posting the night's best numbers with young adult females. In all, some 10.5 million people watched the series debut.

Ratings & Research

Lima leaps in market re-rankings
TVBR reported in June (6/6/05 TVBR #110) that Lima, OH was the top TV revenue growth market in the country, based on BIAfn estimates for 2000-2004. Now it's moved up in market rank, gaining more ground than any other market in the latest Nielsen re-ranking (8/26/05 TVBR #168). Lima jumped nine spots, from market #194 to #185 - - from 54,200 households to 70,940. Greg Phipps, President of local station owner Metro Video Productions, tells us that's due to the addition of Auglaize County, which the Lima stations recently won away from Dayton, which dropped three slots to #59. "Although our stations can not lay whole claim to the credit for the recent significant growth in Lima's status, I do believe that our Fox, UPN and new CBS triopoly is beginning to make a sizable contribution to the changes in our market and in the region," said Phipps. In addition to his three LPTVs - - WOHL (Ch. 25, Fox), WLQP (Ch. 18, UPN) and WLMO (Ch. 38, CBS) - - Lima has one long-established full-power network affiliate, Block Communications' WLIO (Ch. 35, NBC), full-power commercial Religious WTLW (Ch. 44), non-commercial WBGU-TV (Ch. 27, PBS) and a Religious LPTV on Ch. 23. After Lima, the next-biggest move in the Nielsen re-ranking was by Palm Springs, CA, which moved up six slots to #153. Lafayette, IN dropped five to #191 and La Crosse-Eau Claire, WI gained four to #123.

Stock Talk

Stock rise on Fed official's comments
Philadelphia Federal Reserve Anthony Santomero did not say that the Fed would stop increasing rates because of the economic impact of Hurricane Katrina, but he did say in comments on CNBC that high oil prices are a "tax," which the markets took as a hint at a change in the Fed's direction. Santomero is a member of the Fed's Open market Committee, which sets monetary policy and the Fed's rates. As a result, the Dow Industrials rose 69 points, or 0.7%, to 10,482.

TV stocks also rose. Saga gained 2.3% and Entravision was up 2.1%.

Stocks

**Here's how stocks fared on Wednesday**
Company	Symbol	Close		Change	Company	Symbol	Close		Change
Acme	ACME		3.87	+0.02	Media General	MEG		65.79	+0.81
Belo	BLC		24.56	+0.15	Meredith	MDP		49.10	+0.11
Clear Channel	CCU		33.30	+0.22	News Corp.	NWS		17.09	+0.08
Disney	DIS		25.19	-0.10	Nexstar	NXST		5.80	+0.01
Emmis	EMMS		23.96	+0.44	NY Times	NYT		31.93	+0.26
Entravision	EVC		8.14	+0.17	Paxson	PAX		0.61	unch
Fisher	FSCI		48.27	+0.17	Saga Commun.	SGA		14.52	+0.32
Gannett	GCI		72.72	+0.12	SBS	SBSA		7.72	+0.07
Gen. Electric	GE		33.61	+0.37	Scripps	SSP		50.00	+0.04
Granite	GBTVK		0.29	-0.01	Sinclair	SBGI		9.39	-0.07
Gray	GTN		12.30	+0.10	Time Warner	TWX		17.92	+0.03
Gray, C1. A	GTNa		11.38	+0.25	Tribune	TRB		37.57	-0.12
Hearst-Argyle	HTV		25.97	+0.02	Univision	UVN		26.90	+0.15
Jeff-Pilot	JP		49.73	+0.20	Viacom, Cl. A	VIA		34.08	+0.08
Journal Comm.	JRN		15.98	+0.07	Viacom, Cl. B	VIAb		33.99	+0.03
Liberty Corp	LC		47.99	+0.37	Wash. Post	WPO		832.00	+16.25
LIN TV	TVL		15.11	+0.14	Young	YBTVA		4.37	-0.33
McGraw-Hill	MHP		48.22	+0.30	-	-	-	-	-

Bounceback

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

A response to WGN-TV's Dominic Mancuso (8/31/05 TVBR #171), who argued that "Nielsen is an unregulated monopoly" that has "no enforceable oversight." Join the debate by sending your comments to tvnews@rbr.com.

I feel it is necessary to remind Mr. Mancuso that the reason Nielsen is a "monopoly" (which it really isn't as there are other research companies) is that stations, in a bid to save money, stopped buying both Arbitron and Nielsen ratings. No matter which one they dropped, the other would be a so-called monopoly. This so-called monopoly is of the stations' doing due to their own shortsightedness. It is a case of "hello pot, this is kettle." We know from the national conversion, that strip programming is over reported in diaries for instance. This is particularly true where that strip programming is available in several places (think broadcast and cable windows overlapping). The problem is not the rating company, it is the programming.

Jon Mandel
Chairman
MediaCom U.S.

More News Headlines

WRAZ launches local TV entertainment portal
Broadcast Interactive Media has launched a new local entertainment Web portal with Fox 50 WRAZ in Raleigh-Durham, NC (www.fox50.com). The WRAZ site targets the 18-49 demo with enhanced entertainment contesting, viewer registration and promotions. Broadcast Interactive supports websites and sales promotions for 60+ TV and radio stations. These sites promote programming and news through locally focused contests, giveaways and events. To supplement the stations' local promotional content, the company provides content on music, movies, health and beauty, as well as video streaming from the networks' promotional archives and local newscasts.

NFL, United Way
encourage fans
to lend a hand
United Way of America and the NFL announced the launch of Lend a Hand, a new PSA campaign for the 2005 season. The effort, which will debut during the kickoff of the regular NFL season on 9/8, will air on ABC, CBS, FOX and ESPN to an audience of more than 120 million people weekly. Over more than three decades, the series has featured nearly 1,000 players and coaches spots and is the longest-running charitable collaboration of its kind. This year, the NFL and United Way have taken the campaign in a new direction by seizing the opportunity to inspire action on an individual level. Developed and produced pro bono by Gotham NY, each PSA conveys the message that the problems facing America's communities are too large to be solved by one person alone and asks the viewer for help. In this series of seven ads, each NFL player attempts to tackle one of many issues that United Ways are facing in communities across America -- issues like homelessness, infant nutrition and teen mentoring. Featured players include: Keith Brooking of the Atlanta Falcons, Jay Feely of the New York Giants, Tarik Glenn of the Indianapolis Colts, Matt Hasselbeck of the Seattle Seahawks, John Lynch of the Denver Broncos, Richard Seymour of the New England Patriots and Ladainian Tomlinson of the San Diego Chargers.

TVBR Radar 2005

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

Nielsen Monitor-Plus looks at creative in first half
Ad spending for the first half of 2005 rose 5.7% over the same period last year, due to gains across major media, according to figures released. There were 15,798 different creative used on national television in the first half of the year, airing over 4.8 million times, and accounting for 25.4 million. Each creative aired an average of 307 times. The large majority of the commercials were placed on cable television. TVBR observation: Key word why cable had the most - creative since the watchdogs are not always nipping at their private parts. Creative was the big issue this past February at the 4A's and clients demanding better creative to brand their goods. Free media like Radio and TV can't take or will not accept certain creative so you lose and cable wins. End of story as broadcasters can only change their policies or lose more money next year. And, do not blame Nielsen - they are just providing the data - they are not making this stuff up.
08/31/05 TVBR #171

Arbitron claims first for TV:
Out of home viewing numbers
Of course, these numbers are only for Houston, where Arbitron is currently running a test of its Portable People Meter (PPM) to measure radio, TV and even in-store audio.
08/31/05 TVBR #171

AAA, ANA:
Advertisers adopt Ad-ID system
Jointly announced more than 300 of the nation's top advertisers have adopted Ad-ID, a universal ad coding standard. A total of 875 companies have registered in Ad-ID, and over 14,000 individual codes have been created for various forms of advertising. ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox are all Ad-ID compliant, as well as Donovan, Datatech, Harris, Talent Partners, Vyvx, MediaPlex, Verance and other systems.
TVBR observation: No where did they mention Radio and you wonder why? 08/31/05 TVBR #171

Nielsen vs. Arbitron: The top 20
The major ratings services for both radio and TV have released their market ranking updates - - Nielsen for the 2005-2006 TV season and Arbitron for the next year of radio ratings, beginning with the Fall book. If you've spent your entire career in one broadcast medium, you may be surprised to see how different the market rankings are in the other. TVBR observation: Big question? Now do you know how to use your national status to your advantage locally? RBR will show you how in future reports. 08/31/05 TVBR #171

Market re-ranking won't affect LPM roll-out; what about PPM?
Detroit may no longer be a top 10 TV market but it's still getting Local People Meters (LPM) come January. Houston's move into the top 10, displacing Motown, won't change the plan to complete the roll-out of LPM in 10 markets by adding Detroit and Dallas-Ft. Forth in January 2006 and Atlanta in June. TVBR observation: We're sure that Houston's move into the Nielsen top 10 didn't go unnoticed at Arbitron, which is in the midst of testing its Portable People Meters (PPM) there, even though Nielsen passed on participating. Arbitron has made no secret of its desire to follow the 2005 test with real ratings in Houston in 2006 as the first market to make PPM its ratings currency for radio - - and for TV and cable as well if Nielsen signs on for a joint venture. Nielsen's TV clients in Houston will now have to decide whether they want to join their top 10 brethren (plus #11 Detroit) in the LPM camp, or push for PPM.
08/30/05 TVBR #170

Interested in getting into Radio? GSM for Talk Radio

Are you a direct "animal" with the savvy to manage transactional business? Top 20 market waiting for the right GSM. Need a top performer with a proven track record of success to take a new Talk station to record heights. Can you attract and grow top sales talent - build and lead a top performing sales organization? What about maximizing inventory, on air and off, of a high profile talk format? Answer is - Yes - (no calls) send your resume in Confidence to -
cjcarnegie@mediaheadhunters.com

See Radio Careers

Other Links

State Associations
Contact Us

Publisher question:
Reading TVBR from a friend?
Receive your own morning copy at www.tvbr.tv

Help Desk

Having problems with our epapers?
Please send Questions/Concerns to:
Subscriptions@rbr.com

If you wish to unsubscribe
to TVBR ONLY use this link

If you wish to remove your name completely from our database use this link __UNSUB__

TVBR Epaper -- 108 annual
or just 9 a month