| WGA Strike Central: Day 85 |
 Daytime ratings down this season
Even before effects of WGA strike are felt, Live program ratings for network daytime are down this season at a critical juncture as drama programming transitions to scripts written mostly by non-members of the Writers Guild. On average, the three networks are down double digits this season versus year ago, and this is before we see any possible effects on dramatic storylines due to non-union scripts (note that ABC's The View and CBS's The Price is Right continue on largely unaffected by the strike, although ratings for both are down in key female demographics along with the rest of the daypart). The good news? While "live" program ratings are down, a preliminary look at commercial minute ratings in this daypart (the "C3" metric which most ad buys were based on this season) reveal some of the lost "live" audience is being recaptured via delayed viewing on DVRs.
| See chart here |
Latest network primetime schedule changes
Carat Programming's Broadcast and Video Beat reports that based on "same day" viewing, Fox's 1/23 debut of quiz show, Moment of Truth attracted over 23 million total viewers and retained 85% of American Idol's lead-in. It also held on to 94% of the Adults 18-49 rating. Interestingly, there was a 7% ratings increase in Adults 18-34. The real "moment of truth" for this new reality show will be how these ratings hold up in subsequent weeks.
Scheduling update: The new Drew Carey-hosted version of Price is Right will be joining CBS's prime time slate for a six week run on Fridays at 8 p.m., effective 2/22. As part of this move, Ghost Whisper will shift to the 9 p.m. timeslot and freshman vampire drama Moonlight will go on hiatus. CBS also just gave the hook to Carey's other game show, Power of Ten. While moderately successful during its summer launch, the show averaged only 3.6 million total viewers during its most recent telecast on Wednesday, 1/23. Repeats of Old Christine will air in its place.
Recently we had written about NBC's decision to recycle programming content from cable sibling USA. Now the network is going to acquire used content from the internet. Quarterlife, which comes from the producers of My So Called Life, is an adaptation of the eight-minute webisodes, which have been airing on both MySpace and quarterlife.com. Quarterlife is a coming of age drama, which follows six individuals in their twenties.
| See the latest January-March primetime grids |
WGA signs Lionsgate, Marvel
The WGA gas signed interim deals with indie movie distributor Lionsgate and Marvel Studios. Lionsgate is the first motion picture distributor to sign an interim deal with the writers. So far, the individual deals have been with production companies who distribute their movies through other companies. The agreements with Lionsgate and Marvel is reportedly similar to deals already struck with Worldwide Pants, United Artists, Spyglass Entertainment, Sidney Kimmel Entertainment and others.
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TV News ®
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ABC stations fined 1.4M for bare buns
 It took the FCC five years to decide that a February 25, 2003 episode of "NYPD Blue" broadcast on ABC Television was indecent, but late Friday the Commission announced plans to fine two ABC O&Os and 50 affiliates a total of 1,430,000 bucks because the program showed the bare buttocks of a woman as a young boy was depicted as entering a bathroom and discovering the woman nude as she was about to enter the shower. The fine was proposed for the 52 stations in the Central and Mountain time zones, where the program aired 9-10 pm, while it was broadcast after the 10 pm "safe harbor" began for the Eastern and Pacific time zones. The fine proposed for each of the stations is 27,500, which was the maximum possible in 2003. The current maximum is 325,000. The company hit hardest by the fines proposed by the FCC on Friday is Hearst-Argyle. It had six stations on the list, for a total penalty of 165,000. ABC itself is being assessed a combined fine of 55,000 for its two O&O stations in Chicago and Houston.
Don't look for ABC to be sending the government a check. "NYPD Blue, which aired on ABC from 1993 to 2005, was an Emmy Award-winning drama, broadcast with appropriate parental warnings as well as V-chip enabled program ratings from the time such ratings were implemented. When the brief scene in question was telecast almost five years ago, this critically acclaimed drama had been on the air for a decade and the realistic nature of its storylines was well known to the viewing public. ABC feels strongly that the FCC's finding is inconsistent with prior precedent from the Commission, the indecency statute, and the First Amendment, and we intend to oppose the proposed fine," the network said in a statement sent to TVBR. The American Family Association applauded the FCC action, asserting that the ABC stations "violated a sacred trust to serve the public interest." Similarly, Parents Television Council President Tim Winter declared that "the delay in getting here has been frustrating, but we are delighted by the decision."
TVBR observation: This is going to be a really tough one for the FCC to defend in court, so here is some free legal advice for the Commission's lawyers. First, make certain the judge has no access to a dictionary. This is absolutely critical to upholding your position that a buttock is a "sexual organ." Secondly, don't let the judge find out how arbitrary, vague and inconsistent your indecency standard has been over the past several decades. And finally, make sure he/she doesn't learn that not a single one of the complainants actually saw the broadcast, as they certified to the FCC. The monitoring sites for these zealot groups are in the Eastern time zone where the broadcast was within the safe harbor. But they ginned up complaints via email blasts that got followers to lie to the FCC and claim that they had viewed the broadcast in the Central and Mountain time zones.
Hedge fund wants board seats at
Media General, NY Times
Harbinger Capital Partners has made good on its threat to try to place directors of its own choosing on the board at Media General (1/21/08 TVBR #13). The hedge fund has formally filed to nominate Eugene I. Davis, F. Jack Liebau Jr. and J. Daniel Sullivan to stand for election at the annual shareholders meeting set for April 24th - presumably opposing candidates nominated by company management. The New York Times Company also announced that it has received word from Harbinger that it plans to nominate four candidates for that board. Of the Harbinger nominees at Media General, Dan Sullivan is familiar to TVBR readers. He was CEO of Sullivan Broadcasting, before it was acquired by Sinclair in 1998. Davis and Liebau are both money managers. Until recently, Davis was a director of Ion Media Networks. Media General CEO Marshall Morton immediately fired off a letter to employees assuring them that "Harbinger cannot, under any circumstances, gain control of Media General." He also issued a press release charging that Harbinger seemed to be unaware of the actions that management has been taking to reduce costs and sell non-core assets. Morton said Media General management had made repeated attempts to contact Harbinger, but that the hedge fund managers "persistently refused to return our calls." Less is known of Harbinger's intentions regard the New York Times Company. The hedge fund has not made any sort of recent filing with the SEC regarding any stake it holds there and no board nominees have been publicly identified. Chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. issued a statement that the company would "review the nominations and make a recommendation to our shareholders in due course."
TVBR observation: Harbinger cannot be anything more than an irritant on the board in either company, since both have two-tiered voting structures that guarantee voting control for the founding family. That is the Bryan family at Media General and the Ochs-Sulzberger family at the New York Times Company.
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 WCVB football ratings underreported again
For the second time in less than a month, Nielsen is reprocessing ratings data for the Boston DMA after again underreporting viewing of Hearst-Argyle's WCVB-TV (Ch. 5, ABC). The problem has been blamed on an encoder malfunction coupled with a monitoring site failure. As you can imagine, WCVB President and GM Bill Fine is not a happy Nielsen subscriber. "Today, I can repeat and paraphrase my recent observation regarding NSI's major corrections to ratings on WCVB, of three Patriots/ESPN simulcast games. It turns out the ratings of WCVB in early January, that were unbelievable are, in fact, not to be believed," Fine said in a statement Friday. A WCVB spokeswoman told TVBR the station does not yet know what the financial fallout is, if any, from the ratings error. Nielsen sent clients for the Boston ratings data a notice that it will issue reprocessed ratings for WCVB and WMUR-TV (Ch. 9, ABC) Manchester, NH for January 1-9. A software error is being blamed for causing the WCVB encoder's internal clock to jump ahead 23 hours on New Year's Day. Nielsen VP Gary Holmes told TVBR the company was not aware of any similar problem with any other station's encoder. At the same time, Nielsen was experiencing problems with its Media Monitoring Site in the Boston market. The two problems combined to credit much of the viewing of WCVB to WMUR, due to ABC having two affiliates in the Boston DMA. Both, by the way, are owned by Hearst-Argyle Television. Nielsen says the encoder clock problem was fixed with a software download. Holmes said there have been only a handful of problems with either encoders or monitoring sites in various markets.
Two contested primary seasons spur cashflow
It's been a very long time since there was a presidential election without either an incumbent or a sitting VP in the race for one of the parties. And while both parties have been winnowing out most of the longshot candidates, there is still more than enough competition for convention delegates to keep the campaign funds flowing. As we've been predicting for months, many of the candidates are spending cash as fast as they can raise it, and diverting money away from staff paychecks and other frivolities as they struggle to simply remain in the race. However, the New York Times reports that the well-heeled campaigns of Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Barack Obama (D-IL) are already spending cash on national ad flights. This is all thanks to Super Duper Tuesday. In years past, the primary schedule was strung out allowing candidates to focus on one or a handful of states, and when the states were in the handful category, they were often at least located near one another. The February 5 contest will feature over 20 geographically diverse states. A candidate can't be 20 places at once, so a strong advertising budget, along with effective ground forces, will go a long way to determining who emerges from that key date on the campaign calendar. From CQPolitics, here are the states holding election events that day: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho (D only), Illinois, Kansas (D only), Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana (R only), New Jersey, New Mexico (D only), New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Utah.
 Publisher invites Imus to another court date
This time, the plaintiff is Flatsigned Press Inc., publisher of a book by President Gerald Ford. They claim Don Imus changed the script of a host-voiced ad, turning a paid-commercial into a joke at their expense. They want 4M. At issue is "John F. Kennedy: Assassination Report of the Warren Commission," written by Ford and released after his death. The book hit the streets in December 2006, and Flatsigned paid for an Imus-voiced ad in January 2007. Imus is said to have said the script was "cheesy," and that the publisher waited until Ford died to "unload" the books. The suit also charges that Imus punned the word "flatlined" with Flatsigned. The plaintiff says it lost sales after Imus had his fun with the spots, and that some stores refused to stock it in the wake of Imus' comments. Infinity Radio, CBS Radio and WFAN-AM New York are all named in the suit with Imus.
TVBR observation: We know something about advertising. We've run photos of numerous personalities, group heads, consultants, brokers and other well- and not-so-well-known members of the greater broadcast community. Thus far, we have had no trouble at all refraining from drawing Groucho glasses and mustaches on a single one, even though technology makes such a feat easier every day. Imus's representation says the suit is without merit, and maybe that's correct, but common sense dictates that you don't mess with the client who's paying the bills in during the very chunk of time they paid for.
PSAs: Play to the player's culture
17 seconds an hour may not be much to brag about, but broadcast executives were proud of their charitable work, and said so at last week's look at the state of PSA's hosted by the Kaiser Family Foundation. KFF's Vicky Rideout noted that her very own organization has often had great success working with the PSA gatekeepers at various broadcast and cable outlets. However, there is never far more demand than there is inventory to be doled out, a problem which will never be solved.
| Read More... |
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| Wall Street Business Report TM |
 Clear Channel buyout to close in Q1
Thomas H. Lee Partners dealmaker Scott Sperling was quoted as saying that the company has plenty of financing sources and expects to close the 26.7 billion bucks buyout by March 31st. The FCC gave its formal approval to the license transfers last week and antitrust approval by DOJ is expected to come quickly. Clear Channel's stock has traded well below the 39.20 buyout price because of fears that Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital will be unable or unwilling to find financing for the buyout in the current marketplace and either walk away (which would carry a hefty penalty) or try to beat down the price. The stock price moved up, though, after the formal FCC approval and a Bloomberg reporter caught up with Sperling at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Sperling said his firm had every expectation that banks will finance the Clear Channel buyout and insisted that a lot of good financing sources are available. He said the current expectation is that the going private buyout will close by March 31st, the final day of Q1.
TVBR observation: Despite all of the squeamishness in the market, neither Thomas H. Lee Partners, Bain Capital, nor Clear Channel itself ever took any actions to add credence to the fears that this deal would not close. Rather, they have moved steadily ahead with all of the actions required to complete the buyout as advertised. Shareholders have already approved the deal. The FCC has now approved the deal. The DOJ approval has been applied for - and that should be just a formality. It's still all systems go and it appears likely that arbitrageurs who bought in on the market nervousness will get a nice return.
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Ad Business Report TM
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Destination Television signs with City Blends Gyms
Destination Television has entered into a licensing agreement with City Blends, to provide its revenue based subscription television network in up to 300 City Blends Smoothie Cafes located in high traffic gym and leisure locations in the US. The network will air City Blends' ads featuring its brand, product and services mixed with Destination Television's Gym TV core content of new music videos and movie trailers. The network is designed to reduce perceived wait times, inform employees, entertain patrons and create sales lift for City Blends' products at POS.
Initiative scores Cadbury Schweppes
Initiative has won Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages' 150 million media account, following a review, according to an AdAge story. The review affected Cadbury Schweppes' beverage brands including Dr Pepper. Initiative beat the incumbent Mediaedge:cia, Martin Agency and Mullen in the review that did not include the company's Cadbury Adams candy business, said the story. Creative, via Y&R, was not affected.
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| TVBR News Analysis |
 Spotlighting the localism proceeding: Citizen advisors
The enhanced disclosure form is out there (go to TVBR.com for a look), and it is just the beginning of what may become a laundry list of new obligations and responsibilities for broadcasters, based on what's being looked into in the FCC's NAL on localism. We'll look at a number of the proposals in the coming days. Today, we ask this question: Are you ready to meet four times a year with a "community advisory board?"
| Read More... |
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| Washington Business Report TM |
One good hearing deserves another
The House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet is going to chew up the DTV Transition topic 2/13/08, almost a full year before analog broadcasts go from what is to what was. And it will be precisely to the minute a full day before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Telecommunications takes up the same topic. Neither committee has announced its slate of witnesses yet -- but don't be surprised to see considerable overlap.
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| Media Business Report TM |
 Diller and Malone head to court
John Malone's Liberty Media doesn't object to Barry Diller's plan to split IAC/InterActiveCorp into five companies, but Malone doesn't like the idea of the four new companies each having a single tier of stock, rather than IAC's two-tier structure that has Liberty holding super-voting stock. Malone had threatened to sue, but Diller beat him to it, asking the Delaware Chancery Court to rule that the spin-offs can go ahead. Then Liberty filed its own suit. Liberty's super-voting stock gives it control of IAC - except that it doesn't actually have that control. Liberty backed Diller in creating IAC and owns about 30% of the company. Diller, however, holds the proxy to vote those shares, with voting power of more than 60%, so long as he is CEO of IAC. As it stands, the four spin-offs from IAC (11/6/07 TVBR #217) will each have a single class of voting shares, so Liberty, while it would be a very large shareholder, would not have voting control. So, while Malone, who is on the IAC board of directors, joined in the unanimous vote in favor of the five-way split, he doesn't like that provision. Under the dueling lawsuits, Diller is asking the Delaware court to rule that he has the right to vote the Liberty proxy however he wants and Liberty wants a ruling that Diller doesn't have the right to vote the proxy in a way that will dilute Liberty's voting power in the new companies.
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| Ratings & Research |
"Wheel" back on top
The battle continues for the top spot in syndicated television. In the latest week reported by the Syndicated Network Television Association, based on data from Nielsen Media Research, "Wheel of Fortune" moved back to #1, but "Judge Judy" was close behind.
Source: Nielsen Galaxy Explorer. Excludes sports and children programming. Live+SD AA/GAA.
Influentials are talking about vehicle brands
"Influentials," adults who describe themselves as either "very" or "extremely knowledgeable" about vehicles, are much more likely than ordinary consumers, referred to as "Non-influentials," to say they know many people who are also knowledgeable about vehicles. And, they are more likely to talk to other knowledgeable people about the vehicles they are considering. With this in mind, Harris Interactive decided to take a closer look at "Influentials" in the automotive market. Overall, one in five US adults (19%) fit into this category. Males (82%) dominate the Influentials. The average age of Influentials is 45, which is in line with Non-influentials. Influentials have higher incomes, with more than half (53%) earning $75,000 or more compared to 40 percent of Non-influentials. Close to three in five (57%) Influentials know many people who are at least very knowledgeable about vehicles, compared to just 18 percent of Non-influentials. Influentials talk about vehicles mostly to family (60%) and friends (58%), while Non-influentials are less likely to talk about vehicles with family (38%) and more likely to talk with friends (65%). While Influentials talk to each other about vehicle choices, Non-influentials actively seek out advice from Influentials. Slightly more than half (55%) of Non-influentials initiate conversations about their vehicle choices with Influentials "always" or "most of the time."
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| Engineering Business Report TM |
 The Weather Channel nears completion of HD facility
With a new 12,500-square-foot HD facility on track to be completed this month, The Weather Channel has passed a milestone in the HD project begun last May. The next steps will be to install 10,000 square feet of access flooring and 480 electric circuits for studio lights in the new facility that adjoins company headquarters. By early May, sets will be in place for the start of rehearsals from the four- story-high HD studio. The Weather Channel is well on its way to the launch of its first HD studio programs, Your Weather Today and Evening Edition, on 6/2. On the distribution side of its HD initiative, The Weather Channel has reached agreements for carrying The Weather Channel HD with all six of the top programming distributors. These are: Charter Communications, Comcast Cable, Cox Communications, DirecTV, EchoStar Communications and its Dish Network, and Time Warner Cable.
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| Monday Morning Makers & Shakers |
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Transactions: 12/10/07-12/14/07
The generally slow trading environment oozed along toward the end of 2007, maintaining a trading pace that a snail would be proud of. There was action in the larger markets, but it was of the niche variety. The bottom line is that the 14.5M in value dutifully recorded at the FCC during the second week of December was not enough to bring the two-week total to 50M. And there still hasn't been a television transaction.
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Total
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Total Deals
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5
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AMs
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5
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FMs
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4
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TVs
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0
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| Value |
14.5M
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| Complete Charts |
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Radio Transactions of the Week
Salem gets down to Business
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TV Transactions of the Week
Long pre-winter's nap continues
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| Transactions |
100M KBEH-TV Los Angeles CA (Oxnard CA, Ch. 63/DT 24, MTV Tr3s) and KMOH-TV Phoenix AZ (Kingman AZ, Ch. 6/DT 19, MTV Tr3s) from Bela TV LLC/Phoenix 6 TV LLC (Robert Behar, Michael Jesselson et al) to HERO Broadcasting LLC (Robert Behar, Marisol Messir et al). 90M cash at closing, 10M convertible note. Each station comes with various translators/LPTVs. [File date 1/7/08.]
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| Stock Talk |
Stocks end week with a loss
Traders decided to lock in some profits Friday after two days of gains. Also, investors saw that there are still economic concerns, despite the stimulus package put together in Washington. The Dow Industrials declined 171 points, or 1.4%, to 12,207
TV stocks were also lower. The TVBR Television Index was off 0.737, or 0.8%, to 92.696. Young dropped 5.5%. News Corporation declined 3.3% and Nexstar 3.2%. One of the few gainers was LIN, up 2.2%.
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| Stocks |
Here's how stocks fared on Friday
| Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
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Acme*
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ACME
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2.79
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-0.06
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Journal Comm.
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JRN
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 |
7.73
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-0.22
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Belo*
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BLC
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16.71
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-0.38
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Lincoln Natl.
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LNC
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50.97
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-0.49
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| CBS CI. B* |
CBS |
|
23.88
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-0.08
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LIN TV*
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TVL
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12.42
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+0.27
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| CBS CI. A |
CBSa |
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23.86
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-0.05
|
McGraw-Hill
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MHP
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42.00
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-0.70
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Clear Channel
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CCU
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33.80
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+0.08
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Media General
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MEG
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19.06
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+0.09
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Disney
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DIS
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28.68
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-0.55
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Meredith
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MDP
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46.21
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-0.19
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Emmis
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EMMS
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2.80
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-0.11
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News Corp.
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NWS
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19.26
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-0.65
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Entravision*
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EVC
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6.57
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+0.12
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Nexstar*
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NXST
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7.69
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-0.25
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| Equity Media* |
EMDA |
|
3.25 |
+0.01 |
Ion Media
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ION
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1.39
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unch
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Fisher*
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FSCI
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32.64
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-0.11
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Saga Commun.
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SGA
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5.80
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+0.06
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Gannett
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GCI
|
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35.47
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-0.42
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SBS
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SBSA
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1.73
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-0.01
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Gen. Electric
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GE
|
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34.00
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-0.65
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Scripps
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SSP
|
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39.11
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-0.57
|
| Google |
GOOG |
|
566.40
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-8.09
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Sinclair*
|
SBGI
|
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8.94
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-0.18
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Gray*
|
GTN
|
|
7.88
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+0.06
|
Time Warner
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TWX
|
|
14.96
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-0.47
|
|
Gray, C1. A
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GTNa
|
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8.56
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+0.04
|
Wash. Post
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WPO
|
|
727.90
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+0.80
|
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Hearst-Argyle*
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HTV
|
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20.77
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+0.20
|
Young*
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YBTVA
|
|
0.69
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-0.04
|
*Component of the TVBR Television Index
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Bounceback
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 We want to
hear from you.
This is your column, so send your comments and
a photo to tvnews@rbr.com
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Below the Fold
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TVBR - News Analysis
Spotlighting localism
The proceeding - Citizen advisors mas the enhanced disclosure form is out there...
Ad Business Report
Destination Television
Signs with City Blends Gyms...
Media Business Report
Diller & Malone head to court
Malone's Liberty Media doesn't object to Barry Diller's plan...
Engineering Business Report
The Weather Channel
Nears completion of HD facility w/new 12,500-square-foot HD facility...
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Stations for Sale
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 Market your Stations For Sale
in our daily epapers.
Contact
Jim Carnegie
jcarnegie@rbr.com
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the Hot List
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Issues on TVBR.com focused and investigated, proving insight and ideas working now.
1. The Nielsen Company's 2008
Guide to the Super Bowl
2. Who needs HD Radio
Conditional Access?
3. Form for substance?
4. National pacings dismal for Q1
5. Fred Jacobs assesses
Jim Boyle's P1 advice to radio
Set TVBR.com as your homepage and stay informed of exclusive info only on TVBR.com.
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TV Media Moves
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Getting digital
Bruce Haymes has joined The Nielsen Company as Senior Vice President, Product Leader - Digital Media. He will lead Nielsen Digital Media Manager, a new service that will enable companies to monitor, manage and profit from the distribution of traditional media content on the Internet. Haymes was formerly Corporate Vice President, Business Affairs at Time Warner Cable.
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More News Headlines
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Familiar names on "Best CEOs in America" list
The annual list put out by Institutional Investor magazine includes a number of CEOs whose names pop up in RBR and TVBR. Only one, though, is the CEO of a pure-play broadcast station operator - David Field of Entercom, who made the list for the second year in a row. Among diversified media/entertainment companies, Disney's Bob Iger was ranked #1, followed by Rupert Murdoch at News Corp., Richard Parsons at Time Warner, Les Moonves at CBS Corp. and Gregory Maffei at Liberty Media. In the cable and satellite media sector, the magazine's top pick was Brian Roberts at Comcast, which may come as a shock to the folks at Chieftain Capital, a big Comcast shareholder which is trying to give him the boot. He was followed by Charlie Ergen at EchoStar, James Dolan at Cablevision and Glenn Britt at Time Warner Cable. And finally, in the publishing and advertising agencies category, the top ranking went to John Wren of Omnicom Group, with Terry McGraw of McGraw-Hill #2. Then, strangely, Neil Smit of Charter Communications is listed as #3 - not that he's not a good CEO, but his company is clearly in the cable and satellite sector.
TVBR observation: Wow, Smit must be an incredible CEO - the third best in a sector where his company doesn't even compete!
Chicago anchor
killed in accident
CBS O&O WBBM-TV (Ch. 2) Chicago President & GM Joe Ahern announced in a statement on the station's website that morning news anchor Randy Salerno was killed Thursday night in a snowmobile accident in Eagle River, WI. Salerno had been with the station since 2004, having previously worked 11 years at crosstown WGN-TV. He was 45.
Judge Judy show accused of racism in suit
CBS Paramount Television's "Judge Judy" has a policy of racial screening, according to a new suit from Jonathan Sebastien, a former senior producer who worked on the show for seven years. He claims he was wrongfully dismissed in March 2007 after he complained black litigants were excluded from appearing on the show. Sebastien's lawsuit, filed in LA County Superior Court, also alleges he was berated and mocked for raising his complaint before he was canned. He claims his supervisor Randy Douthit told producers, "We're not doing any more black shows. I don't want to hear no black language on the TV. I don't want to hear black people arguing." Sebastien, who doesn't name host Judy Sheindlin in his legal action, is seeking unspecified damages from Douthit, CBS, Paramount and Big Ticket Television.
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RBR - Radio News
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Clear Channel orders deep cuts as recession looms
Clear Channel Radio CEO John Hogan sent out an email Friday ordering all VPs, GMs and Business Managers to make immediate cost cuts to curtail Q1 expenses. This follows RBR's recent report on how soft national sales pacings were early in the quarter (1/23/08 RBR #15). Apparently the shortfall is deep and wide for Clear Channel as management struggles to keep profits up in preparation for the going private buyout by Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital, which is expected to close by the end of the quarter. "No one anticipated how challenging Q1 would be for us and while the plans we put in place last Fall made sense then, clearly we are operating in a different environment and thus need an adjustment to our plan," Hogan told the troops. He has ordered a cut off of all spending for audience research as of February 1st, along with an end to all spending on advertising and promotion as of the same date. All new hires of sales people have been banned, effective immediately. Hogan also told the managers not to make any other new hires, even if they are already budgeted. If any employee leaves, they are not to be replaced unless specifically approved by the Exec. VP of Operations overseeing the market. Managers were also told to cut out any and all discretionary spending, such as travel, meals and entertainment. "If you can save it, do so," Hogan said.
| Read the entire email at TVBR.com |
RBR observation: For a company that had already long ago cut expenses to the bone, further cuts could very likely create opportunities for competitors to increase audience and/or revenue share. But with the economy sliding into recession, it's not clear that very many will have the resources to grow as the radio industry giant shrinks. It will be hard to ramp up promotions and hire more sales people at a time when, in many cases, flat revenues will be seen as good news. For Hogan and his bosses, Mark and Randall Mays, the top priority right now is getting the Clear Channel buyout across the finish line. The stars appear to be in alignment, but anything that knocks the Q1 financial numbers severely off-course could be disastrous.
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TVBR Radar 2008
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Television News you won't read any where else. TVBR--First, Accurate, and Independently Owned.
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WGA Strike Central, Day 82
Andy Donchin on WGA strike fallout; NBC moves
Andy Donchin, Carat Americas Director of Broadcast Buying, spoke out about the latest issued surrounding the WGA strike and what fallout it has caused-including the recent statements from NBCU CEO Jeff Zucker that NBC will not be doing any upfront presentations and has all but cut funding for pilots. The one-on-one in this report of TVBR.
01/25/08 TVBR #17
Form for substance?
The FCC's "Standardized Television Disclosure Form" is officially available, and it's a doozy. We clock it in at eight pages. It asks for all kind of information. What market are you in? Are you a network affiliate? Publicly owned? Independent? Commercial/noncommercial? It asks for information on primary and non-primary programming streams, the amount of time weekly for different types of programming, and how much is in high-definition. Go to TVBR.com to see the entire form |
TVBR observation: This form is going to be a great deal of fun to keep up to date. And we can see where it would be fun to go to a station's public file and dig into this stuff, especially for the watchdog community. It may not be a bad thing for every station, either.
01/25/08 TVBR #17
Clear Channel approval released
RBR reported over a week ago that the FCC had voted unanimously to approve the sale of Clear Channel Communications to Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital for 26.7 billion, including debt assumption, but the paperwork finally came out last Thursday. Although they both voted for the license transfers, Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, the FCC's two members from the Democratic Party, expressed some misgivings.
RBR observation: Will Commissioner Copps ever wake up and realize that private equity firms have been radio and TV group owners for decades? In fact, Commissioner, these buyers that you refer to as "new entities" are, in fact, "no different than our traditional broadcast licensees" because entities structured and funded exactly the same way have long been among the traditional broadcast licensees.
01/25/08 RBR #17
WGA Strike Central, Day 81
NBCU also quashes pilots
It's a cost-cutting frenzy over at NBCU - anything to please the Jolly GE giant! Jeff Zucker, NBCU CEO, just days after confirming their upfront presentations are done, said Tuesday NBC was moving to save as much as 50 million a year by reducing its reliance on pilots of new series. The decision was made as the company looked for ways to cut costs in response to the WGA strike and slowdown in the economy.
TVBR observation: Is the WGA strike actually a godsend to the TV networks and movie studios if the US economy is heading into recession? Automatic cost-cutting and no worries about your rivals having any potential advantage over you. Sounds like a decent business plan.
01/24/08 TVBR #16
Fox, CW cut script counts
The recent force majeure development deal cuts are rolling downhill: Fox and the CW have lock-stepped with CBS on dropping script development slates (CBS cut nearly 20 last week). Fox has cut some 24 scripts (no pun intended) and the CW dropped about half that. Most of Fox's cuts are from 20th Century Fox Television and Warner Bros. TV.
01/24/08 TVBR #16
National business isn't tanking
After reading our report yesterday, which you can still find on www.RBR.com, Bear Stearns analyst Victor Miller told clients that national spot sales for radio are not really tanking. "Perception: RBR Suggests 1Q National Advertising 'Tanking'-Down 17%. This AM, RBR, an influential radio trade, suggested that 1/7/08 national ad pacings for one major radio rep firm were 'tanking'; down 17.2% for the top 100 markets," Miller wrote. But he said the reality is better.
RBR observation: We hope he's right. While a high-single-digit decline in national business is better than a double-digit one, it is still hardly anything to cheer about. Miller concluded by telling clients not to expect much for the first half of 2008, but he thinks increased political and online spending will offset a decline in core advertising dollars, resulting in a flat year. Last time we look up the word Flat we read no air in the tire. We hope you have a spare in the trunk.
01/24/08 RBR #16
WGA Strike Central, Day 79
Directors deal "template"
for others: MPAA chief
Dan Glickman Motion Picture Association of America CEO, said last weekend what we're all thinking: that the new contract between AMPTP and DGA offers a template for deals with the WGA and SAG (contract expired 6/30). The DGA deal addressed how directors should be compensated for work in new media, including provisions that double the rate paid for Internet downloads of movies and TV shows.
01/22/08 TVBR #14
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TVBR Classifieds
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Sales & Special Events Coordinator
Bow Tie Cinemas, a fast-growing, family owned cinema chain seeks energetic, detail oriented and organized individual to manage group sales, special events, house rentals. Must have excellent communication, multi-tasking and follow-up skills. Base salary, attractive commissions and benefits. To send resume and salary requirements via email see -
TV Careers
Hard finding that key person
to fill the important position at your organization? TVBR Classifieds, Results with Service. Contact April McLynn at classifieds@rbr.com
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