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Volume 23, Issue 2, Jim Carnegie, Editor & Publisher

Wednesday Morning January 4th, 2006

TV News ®

Is CBS News choice between
Smith and Couric?
Was he joking, or did CBS Corporation CEO Les Moonves really drop a bombshell yesterday on Fox News Channel's "Your World" with Neil Cavuto? After joking around earlier in the interview when Cavuto asked whether Katie Couric from NBC or Sheppard Smith from Fox News Channel would be worth 20M a year to anchor the CBS Evening News, Moonves seemed to confirm at the end that they are the finalists for the job. Cavuto slipped it in by suggesting that they'd agreed that it's down to those two. "That's exactly right," Moonves said with a sly smile. But earlier in the interview he'd refused to say anything at all about Couric and insisted that no decision had been made about the future format or anchor structure (one or two?) for the network newscast. "We need a news that's more user friendly," he said and spoke of how CBS and the other networks face an uphill battle in reinvigorating their evening newscasts, since big stories are already well known before the daily newscasts air. And yes, he'd love to buy CNN, saying it's clear that broadcast networks and cable work well together, but Moonves doesn't think it will ever come up for sale. As for the first day of trading for CBS Corp., that went quite well. CBS rose 2.8% from its previous "when issued" price and closed at 26.20. It had been up over 6% during the day's trading. New Viacom rose 1.4% to 41.59. Moonves and New Viacom CEO Tom Freston had been at the NYSE to ring the opening bell, along with Sumner Redstone, who is Chairman of both companies.

Gray completes newspaper spin-off
Gray Television is now a pure play TV company, having completed the spin-off of its newspaper and wireless businesses to a new company, Triple Crown Media, which merged with Bull Run Corporation (8/4/05 TVBR #152). If you've been a Gray shareholder, you now have shares of Triple Crown Media (Nasdaq ticker "TCMI) as well - - one share of Triple Crown for each 10 shares of Gray you owned on December 14th. Triple Crown began trading yesterday at 10.50, peaked at 11 bucks and finished the day at 9.95. "With the completion of the spin-off, Gray will now be able to focus its financial and operating resources on its television broadcasting business, and we believe that in Triple Crown Media we have created value for the Gray and Bull Run shareholders," said Gray President and COO Bob Prather. As it began its life as a separate company, Triple Crown announced that it had entered into new credit facilities totaling 140 million. At the same time, it made a 40M cash distribution to Gray, which Gray used to pay down debt.

2005 was a decent year
Can 2005 go down in the books as a decent year? It can insofar as the FCC's indecency enforcement is concerned. Despite rumors to the contrary, the FCC was mum on the topic throughout the month of December, meaning that no new indecency fines or exonerations were acted on during the year. That does not mean, of course, that there were no actionably indecent broadcasts during the year - - just that none made it all the way through the regulatory process. In fact, although the number of complaints received in 2005 was a mere fraction of the total for 2004, which included perhaps the indecency marquee event of all time - - the Janet Jackson Super Bowl Wardrobe Malfunction - - the number of separate programs which drew complaints more than doubled. And it only takes one complaint to trigger an adverse FCC ruling. While the cash total assessed from fines and consent decrees went from over 7.9M in 2004 to zero in 2005, broadcast TV shows drawing complaints went from 140 to 317; radio went from 145 to 319; and cable almost tripled, going from 29 to 84.

TVBR observation: Totalled, that's in increase of 406 programs, from 314 to 720. Add to that pending complaints from prior years, and it becomes clear that the dam burst, when it finally happens, may be quite impressive. And Ted Stevens (R-AK) will be revisiting the topic in his Senate Commerce Committee in two weeks. Stay tuned, and/or head for high ground.

Trump nixes political bid (for now)
Rumors ran wild over the holiday weekend that Donald Trump was preparing to throw his hat into the ring to run for the GOP nomination for Governor of New York. But those rumors were quashed yesterday, as the New York Daily News quoted The Donald: "I have no interest in running for public office at this time." Rather, he'll continue to host NBC's "The Apprentice," run his various real estate and business ventures, and lecture at the Learning Annex.

TVBR observation: Notice the "at this time" qualification - - indicating that Trump may have some political ambitions in the future. That would have been quite a race, though - - Trump vs. likely Democratic candidate Eliot Spitzer - - the self-styled dealmaker against the equally self-styled crusader against corrupt businessmen. It would be hard to find two larger egos anywhere. The debates would have been something to behold. But, alas, it is not to be.

Advertising linked to underage drinking
Georgetown University's Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) is citing a study in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine in its ongoing battle against alcohol advertising. The study, which includes radio, television and print media, says that there is a one-to-one relationship - - that is, for every one impression above the average for underage individuals, there is a 1% increase in drinking. The study further quantifies the relationship between advertising and underage drinking, saying that every ad dollar spent per capita locally results in a 3% increase in underage drinking. Citing CAMY research which shows that often more 12-20 year-olds per capita are seeing or hearing alcohol ads in all three media, CAMY's David Jernigan said, "We need to reduce youth exposure to alcohol ads as a necessary and effective step in curbing underage drinking." CAMY's recommendation: "alcohol companies limit ads to programs with youth audiences of less than 15%, the proportion of 12- to 20-year-olds in the general population 12 and above. A recent CAMY analysis showed that by adopting this policy change, alcohol companies could reduce youth exposure by 20 percent, with virtually no change in their ability to reach young adults of legal drinking age and with a reduction in their advertising expenditures."

TVBR observation: As always, the mere mention of the word "children" never fails to get a reaction in Washington. 2006 figures to be a busy year on both Capitol Hill and at the FCC, so there will no doubt be many opportunities for CAMY to try and interject this issue into the discussion. We know that children are in a hurry to grow up, and that includes watching as much adult-oriented material as possible (with the exception of those old-guys-in-suits-just-talking shows that dominate Sunday morning schedules). Producers of such programs which attract a substantial number of teenagers and list beer and wine companies on their client lists had best be prepared to mount a defense.

Wall Street Media Business Report TM

2005: A year best forgotten
If you made money on TV stocks in 2005, you must be one heck of an investment guru. Only five of the 35 stocks that TVBR tracks daily were up for the year. Mostly those were companies on the sell side of M&A activity: Jefferson-Pilot, Liberty Corp. and Emmis. Meanwhile, Clear Channel spent the year reinventing itself. First there was Less is More, which cut radio inventories and revenues, then the decision to IPO 10% of CC Outdoor and completely divest CC Entertainment (now Live Nation) to shareholders. So, how did it all play out with investors? Not too badly. CCU's stock was down only 6.1%. And if you subtract the 12/30 value of Live Nation (1 share for each 8 of CCU), that 2.04 decline is cut to less than 41 cents, or a drop of only 1.2% for the year. Univision rose 0.4% as it continued to dominate the Spanish media marketplace, but other Spanish broadcasters didn't fare so well. All in all, we're sure most CEOs of public TV companies would like to forget about 2005.
| Read 'em and weep |

Ad Business Report TM

The NBC Agency produces video promoting Olympics
The NBC Agency, the full-service agency servicing the marketing, advertising and promotional needs of all NBC Universal-owned entities, has produced a music video in partnership with the popular Hip-Hop group, Flipsyde, (www.flipsyde.com) as a unique promotional element in support of NBC's coverage of the upcoming Torino Olympic Winter Games. Featuring the hit single "Someday," the video salutes the athletes striving to make the team that will represent the US in Torino, Italy, February 10-26. "Someday," from Flipsyde's recently released debut album, "We The People" (Cherrytree/Interscope Records), encourages everyone to strive for their dreams, a belief shared by Flipsyde's band members, as well as the Olympic athletes who appear in the video. The video was produced by The NBC Agency in a variety of lengths and is being run on the network as well as online, on cable and in retail. The agency is working closely with the band's label, Interscope, on a variety of promotional elements to drive awareness of both NBC's coverage of the upcoming Games and the Flipsyde debut album. Flipsyde will make their national television debut performing "Someday" on "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno, 1/5 on NBC.

Be sure to catch a OneonOne interview in RBR/TVBR's January Solutions Magazine with NBC Agency's President and Creative Director Vince Manze. As Manze tells us in the interview, "What we're trying to do is constantly build loyalty from a new Olympic audience, a younger audience. There's an older audience that's a built-in audience and they're just there. These are people like me who came through the Communist era when you actually played for your country and your way of life and not just the professional hockey players. To anyone born in the last 20 years the Olympics are a fine event but don't quite have the same meaning as with the older viewers. So we're constantly going after younger viewers. The Winter Olympics presents a great opportunity because they're edgier, more dangerous sports. All the spots are kind of hip and cool. We're also promoting that we have a good team. We have one of, if not the best, team that America has ever assembled for the Winter Olympics."

Study claims booze ads boost youth drinking
Proving, once again, the effectiveness of advertising: A new study reveals young adults and teens drink more under the influence of advertising for alcoholic beverages. This, after previous studies suggested a link between advertising and drinking but were unable to determine whether the ads influenced consumption, or whether people who tend to drink more notice the ads. A survey of people aged 15-26 found that for each additional alcohol ad viewed per month, there followed a 1% rise in the average number of drinks downed, said study author Leslie Snyder of the University of Connecticut. The study looked at alcohol advertising in 24 media markets across the U.S. On average, respondents reported consuming about 38.5 drinks per month and seeing an average of 23 ads per month. For each additional dollar spent per capita on alcohol advertising in a particular media market, study participants drank 3% more per month. In markets with heavy alcohol advertising of more than 10 dollars per capita per month, alcohol consumption increased over time and reached a peak of 50 drinks per month by age 25. The study measured advertising exposure on television, radio, magazines and billboards. "The results also contradict claims that advertising is unrelated to youth drinking amounts: that advertising at best causes brand switching, only affects those older than the legal drinking age or is effectively countered by current educational efforts," Snyder wrote.

TVBR observation: The biggest measuring stick differentiator in the study would be how the ads were placed on a local spot basis. On a national basis, the ad exposure would likely be static for all markets. We wonder about other demographic data that may have influenced consumption. For instance an economically depressed market where the parents tend to drink more might influence their offspring's drinking behavior as well. As would the number of nightclubs and bars per capita in each market. Is it a major college town? While a number of factors other than advertising may influence studies such as these, bottom line is (no big shock) advertising works-whether it's for alcohol, cars or Wonder Bread.

Carmaker ads dominate car sites
More evidence online is hotter than ever: Automakers have already purchased more than 80% of available ad space for 2006 on independent, third-party auto research sites, according to an AdAge story. A year ago, the auto marketers had purchased only about 50% of the inventory, the story said. The trend reflects the auto industry's growing appetite for online advertising and a decrease in spending in more traditional mediums, since many 2006 automotive budgets are expected to be flat.

Media Markets & Money TM

Paxson completes refinancing
After clearing up relations with its biggest shareholder, NBC Universal, and bringing in Brandon Burgess as CEO, Paxson Communications has now cleaned up its balance sheet, completing the 1.13 billion bucks refinancing that it announced a month ago (12/5/05 TVBR #236). The refinancing consisted of a first and second priority secured notes offering and a term loan facility, with all proceeds after expenses used to redeem existing bonds. "This refinancing is an important first step towards maximizing the full potential of our unique distribution platform. We have lowered our cost of debt, eliminated near term liquidity constraints, extended all repayment maturities until after 2012, and now have debt covenants with flexibility to manage the business strategically," said Burgess. Citigroup Global Markets Inc., UBS Securities LLC, Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc., CIBC World Markets Corp. and Goldman, Sachs & Co. were joint book-running managers for the offering.

Washington Media Business Report TM

New Commissioners
take their oaths
There was some swearing taking place at the FCC yesterday, but no one will be fined. Chairman Kevin Martin swore in Commissioners Debi Tate (R) and Michael Copps (D). Tate is a first termer, with her term running through June 30, 2007. Copps has been on the FCC since 2001 and his new term will take him through June 30, 2010. Tate's first official statement didn't give much indication of just where she'll weigh in on the most contentious issues facing the FCC. Rather, she pledged to "endeavor to bring a spirit of consensus and bi-partisanship to the FCC."

Lampson wants back in Washington without Delay
Nick Lampson is running for Congress against Tom Delay (R-TX). He has a four-term stint in the US House of Representatives on his resume, and he has a bigger bone to pick with incumbent Delay than most - - it was the redistricting scheme often credited to Delay that was largely responsible for Lampson's exit from his Washington gig. Delay is facing a criminal indictment, and beyond that was seen by Democrats as potentially vulnerable, based on his last re-election campaign. In that one, he faced a relative unknown whom he outspent 2.9M to 630K, but won by only a 55%-41% margin (4/11/05 TVBR #71).

TVBR observation: The cash spent on the 2006 race figures to eclipse the 2004 total with ease, given the intense national interest in this race. In the past it was pointless for Democrats to invest too much in trying to topple the House leader. Now that there appears to be a chance, look for the Dem's national cash machine to put the pedal to the metal. Normally, a suburban Congressional race in the shadow of a large and expensive television market - - the 22nd is part of the Houston DMA - - would tend to dampen each campaign's enthusiasm for television advertising. This is one time when there may be so much cash floating around that TV becomes a major component in the battle over the airwaves.

Entertainment Media Business Report TM

More ABC, Disney content to iTunes
Disney will now offer additional programming from ESPN and ABC Sports, ABC Entertainment and Touchstone Television, ABC Family, ABC News, Buena Vista Television, Disney Channel, and SOAPnet, as well as content produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation on the iTunes Music Store. Condensed versions of all four BCS Bowl Games from ABC Sports will be available, and later this month, ESPN will make additional content available, including the Best Of The X Games; "SportsCentury" interviews from ESPN Classic's biography series; "This is SportsCenter" commercials; and ESPN Original Entertainment programs including "Knight School," the forthcoming reality program featuring Texas Tech basketball coach Bobby Knight, which will premiere on iTunes. Additional ABC Television Group programming includes ABC Family's original series "Wildfire," Disney Channel's "Kim Possible" and "The Proud Family" and SOAPnet's original biography series "Soapography," as well as ABC Entertainment and Touchstone Television library product including "America's Funniest Home Videos," "School House Rock" vignettes and episodes of Buena Vista Television's "Ebert and Roeper." Additionally, free, ad-supported video podcasts from ABC News will be available, including daily segments from "Good Morning America" and the "World News Tonight" webcast, as well as ABC News Now's "Money Minute," "Medical Minute" and "Buzz Cut." Available for 1.99 per episode, all of this new content joins the other Disney ABC Television Group programming including "Commander in Chief," "Desperate Housewives," "Lost," "That's So Raven" and "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody".

Internet Media Business Report TM

iRadio rolled out by Motorola
Motorola has debuted its iRadio subscription music service that lets users download 435 commercial-free radio channels on the computer and transfer them to play on their phones or on car or home stereos, rivaling the functionality of handheld XM and Sirius units (Motorola offers optional Bluetooth accessories to extend iRadio, including stereo headphones for on-the-go use, an adapter for a home stereo, and a wireless car kit compatible with virtually all car stereos from major manufacturers such as Pioneer, Alpine, Sony and Kenwood). The service costs between 6-10 dollars a month, depending on the wireless phone service the subscriber uses, according to Motorola. iRadio will first run on the Motorola Rokr E2 cell phone. Motorola's pitch was iRadio might be more cost effective because bandwidth is much less expensive downloading from the PC than via the wireless carriers' networks. Consumers can subscribe to the service by tapping an icon on an iRadio-enabled mobile phone, available through wireless service providers later this year. When a call is received, the music is automatically paused, resuming after the call has been completed. Motorola has collected content through agreements with labels and online streaming providers such as Clear Channel Radio and Music Choice. The initial 435 channels cover over 40 styles of Rock, from Grunge to Heavy Metal to Hair Bands to Classic Rock; 12 different Jazz stations; Individual artist channels; Specialty channels spotlighting specific themes such as 1 Hit Wonders, Rockin' Cowboys, Just Broke Up, and Angry Women. Users can choose to download channels and content by genre as well. Other features include bookmarking an individual song by simply pressing a button on the phone or car stereo. Artist, album and song information along with offers to purchase downloads, CDs or even concert tickets will appear on the iRadio "Wish List" viewed on the computer.

TVBR observation: Cingular and Verizon Wireless are also planning mobile music download services for this year to compete with the iPod. Sprint Nextel has already launched music download and streaming services. Some Motorola phones are iTunes-enabled as well, including the ROKR, so we're not sure why two fairly similar services are now being offered. However, reportedly, Motorola is distancing itself from the iTunes deal. The music content deals have sure been struck, but the real questions are what kind of carriage deals can Motorola strike for the service (none were named at the CES unveiling) and are iRadio's bells and whistles that much better than what's already out there or coming from the existing providers to get people interested? It would seem the iRadio would have made a bigger splash debuting a year ago.

Ratings & Research

Univision dominates Hispanic viewing
As is the usual case with a Monday holiday, Nielsen's weekly TV ratings are delayed a day this week. The big change coming in the list that TVBR will publish tomorrow is the inclusion for the first time of Univision and Telemundo. So, as the two largest Spanish TV networks join the general market ratings, let us take a look at the most recent results in the Nielsen Hispanic Television Index (NHTI), which looks only at TV viewing by Hispanic households. With its popular primetime novelas, Univision dominates the NHTI rankings, claiming all of the top 20 spots before Telemundo managed to put four shows in the top 25 for the week of December 19-25.
| Read More... |

Stock Talk

Rate news and CBS debut help stocks
Wall Street cheered as minutes of the last Federal Reserve Open Market Committee meeting showed the Fed's policy makers are agreed that they should stop raising rates soon. The Dow Industrials show up 130 point, or 1.2%, to 10,847.

Meanwhile, broadcast stocks got a boost from enthusiasm about the new CBS Corporation. CBS saw its Class A stock shoot up 3% from Friday's "when issued" close and the more widely held Class B gained 2.8%. Gray Television was the day's big winner, after completing the spin-off of its newspapers. Gray's common rose 7.3% and its Class A gained 6.4%.

Stocks

**Here's how stocks fared on Tuesday**
Company	Symbol	Close		Change	Company	Symbol	Close		Change
Acme	ACME		3.76	+0.21	LIN TV	TVL		11.41	+0.27
Belo	BLC		21.70	+0.29	McGraw-Hill	MHP		51.82	+0.19
CBS CI. B	CBS		26.20	+0.70	Media General	MEG		51.38	+0.68
CBS CI. A	CBSa		26.15	+0.75	Meredith	MDP		52.48	+0.14
Clear Channel	CCU		31.85	+0.40	News Corp.	NWS		16.44	-0.17
Disney	DIS		24.40	+0.43	Nexstar	NXST		5.10	+0.09
Emmis	EMMS		20.41	+0.50	NY Times	NYT		27.11	+0.66
Entravision	EVC		7.15	+0.03	Paxson	PAX		0.92	+0.02
Fisher	FSCI		42.31	+0.88	Saga Commun.	SGA		11.02	+0.15
Gannett	GCI		62.03	+1.46	SBS	SBSA		5.22	+0.11
Gen. Electric	GE		35.37	+0.32	Scripps	SSP		48.42	+0.40
Granite	GBTVK		0.21	unch	Sinclair	SBGI		9.24	+0.04
Gray	GTN		9.22	+0.63	Time Warner	TWX		17.65	+0.21
Gray, C1. A	GTNa		8.32	+0.50	Tribune	TRB		30.79	+0.53
Hearst-Argyle	HTV		23.86	+0.08	Univision	UVN		30.04	+0.65
Jeff-Pilot	JP		57.31	+0.38	Wash. Post	WPO		785.10	+20.10
Journal Comm.	JRN		14.03	+0.08	Young	YBTVA		2.83	+0.23
Liberty Corp	LC		47.04	+0.23	-	-	-	-	-

Bounceback

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Below the Fold

Ad Business Report
NBC Agency
Produces video promoting Olympics...

Media Markets & Money
Paxson completes refinancing
Clearing up relations with its biggest shareholder - NBC...

Internet Media Business Report
iRadio rolled out by Motorola
Subscription music service download...

Ratings & Research
Univision dominates
Hispanic viewing, two largest Spanish TV nets join the general market ratings...

January RBR/TVBR Digital Magazine

2006 - Time Waits
For No One!
Exclusive on Clutter
What have we done???
Ms Jean Pool, EVP/Director of North American Operations for Universal McCann and Chairman of the Media Policy at the AAAAs outlines and truly kicks all in gear - "Just why is it we're hell bent on irritating the very people that we are trying to sell our products and services to? Clutter is the death of the media." - page 12 Solutions Magazine

Read RBR/TVBR in 2 simple steps:
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TVBR Radar 2005

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

Product placement fight may move from Hollywood to Washington
Actors and writers want a cut. If more and more advertising cash it going directly into a program instead of into the breaks surrounding the entertainment portion of the program, actors and writers who make it happen want some of the money.

TVBR observation: Some observers think the unions are using product placement as leverage to gain traction on other issues. On the other hand, the Writer's Guild has threatened to make an FCC issue out of product placement. When it comes to money everyone wants their slice of the pie.
01/03/06 TVBR #1

'06 No light at the end of the tunnel
RAB's report that radio revenues were flat in November was no surprise, but the issue now is figuring out when things will get better. Wachovia Securities analyst Marci Ryvicker is looking for that light at the end of the tunnel, but she doesn't see it yet.

RBR observation: Ryvicker analysis is to the point and all should take extreme caution to her words as RBR could not have said it any better - "At this point in time, we do not feel that the radio industry has a well-defined near-term catalyst as the sector's fundamentals continue to deteriorate, M&A activity has slowed, and both investors and advertisers have become increasingly more interested in new media." Key is simple - New Media - ad clients are going to test and try all new technology delivering content as this holiday sales proved it with hand held technology.
01/03/06 TVBR #1

CAB: It's ratings,
not ADS that count
TVB likes to crow about how cable can't deliver all local households, because a growing percentage subscribe to alternate delivery systems (ADS), predominately satellite TV. CAB says that's not the point. Advertisers buy advertising based on ratings, and he notes that cable ratings continue to grow.

TVBR observation: No matter how each association views cable or satellite delivery the common fact is the consumer is in control and it boils down to cost. Cable is higher since their costs of maintaining employees, trucks, etc are higher. Satellite is positioned on the roof and it is up to the consumer to maintain the dish. It is cost control time in 2006.
12/29/05 TVBR #252

2005: The year of penny stocks
No, we're not saying that 2005 was a year to make a killing playing the penny stock market. We have no idea whether it was or not. What we do know is that three public TV companies who began the year in the reputable part of the stock market, where stocks of five bucks or more per share can be readily traded and even bought on margin, are ending the year in penny stock hell - - being traded by the market's scavengers.

TVBR observation: How many group heads have we heard from this year who'd been bitten by the Wall Street bug a few years back, but didn't get their IPO preparations together in time? They're breathing a sigh of relief that they didn't get caught up in the rat race of having to answer to The Street's expectations quarter after quarter - - and seeing their stock price fall for reasons beyond their control. Now it's the guys who did make it through the IPO window who are trying to figure out how to go private - - and that ain't easy in the current market.
12/28/05 TVBR #251

Next retransmission
showdown: Wyoming
Now that Nexstar has resolved that battles that pulled its TV signals off systems owned by two cable MSOs, the retransmission payment battleground is shifting to Wyoming, where New Year's Day could see CBS affiliate KGWC-TV Casper and its KGWL-TV Lander, WY satellite removed from systems owned by Bresnan Communications. At that's just the beginning.

TVBR observation: Following the Nexstar battles with Cox and Cable One which began almost a year ago, we had expected to see several other broadcasters in showdowns with cable systems for January 1, 2006. Have the MSOs become more accommodating, or are there other threats to pull signals off cable that jut haven't been made public yet?
12/27/05 TVBR #250

Publisher Perspective
Where's the media going, TV,
the blogs, Internet, cable?
This is not my question but one that was asked this past Christmas morning by NBC's Washington Bureau Chief Tim Russert to former NBC 'Nightly News' anchor Tom Brokaw and former ABC 'Nightline' host Ted Koppel. Brokaw summed it up by stating it is a new universe in the media or a new frontier like the Oklahoma land rush as it is a new landscape where they (we all in the changing media) are hoping to find land with a pot of oil somewhere. The internet was unknown five years ago and today it is a powerful tool to deliver news or propaganda and as I see it there is a very thin line between the two. There is a new universe of media and media business like planets but only the brightest are gonna survive or support life. I can only say for the record that if you do not have a strong stomach for combat then it is time for a career change as 2006 is going be a wild ride.
12/27/05 TVBR #250

Moody's downgrades VNU
There's more financial pressure on the management of Nielsen parent VNU. Moody's Investors Service has downgraded its long-term debt and that of its Nielsen Media Ratings Inc. subsidiary - - and kept them under review for a possible further downgrade. Unless VNU is sold (and the company has acknowledged getting takeover bids), Moody's says VNU is likely to focus on its core assets, particularly! its media ratings and data businesses, while suggesting that divestitures are likely in its B-to-B businesses (trade publications and trade shows).

Publisher Courtesy: Any reader to a VNU trade such as Billboard, Ad or Media Week are welcome here at RBR, TVBR, Media Mix and our monthly Solutions Magazine - Independently owned for 23 years and dependable. We are going to grow again in 2006. Start this morning to receive
12/21/05 TVBR #248

Publisher observation
On VNU and the attention
Reality time, what is facing the Nielsen side of VNU is going to be difficult with forward motion of 'LPM' and making a decision during the first quarter next year on the Arbitron 'PPM' front as it takes commitment from the top of the company at VNU with technology and money. Not to say the toll it takes on the people inside of Nielsen. Remember this is research not a durable good like a TV station. Research is a fickle business especially when you are the leader as the business executives (the customer) loves you then hates you at any given time. Publishing side - To some extent the same can be said here but to a lesser degree as the money or the prize is Nielsen. Plus, whoever wins the potential battle better know something about the businesses of the titles that are being tossed around for headline attention like Billboard, Hollywood Reporter, Media Week. They look pretty on paper but you better know what the hell you are doing because this is not the old days with those brands. There is tremendous competition on the computer screen(s) today and to print those trade publications mentioned are not getting any healthier as trade publishing print consistently faces difficult time as I personally know from experience as the inevitable decision was faced and made in 2002 by us at RBR & TVBR.
12/12/05 TVBR #241

Local Sales Manager
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TVBR Searching for 2 Pros
To join the best TV business publication in the media B2B today. Searching for one (1) Top flight Editor that does not need direction and one (1) Top Experienced Sales person that knows how to Sell/Market quality and wants to make money. Team work expected. Only the pros need apply as TVBR's expansion is now. Confidentiality honored by TVBR publisher Jim Carnegie (813 909 2986) Email qualifications to publisher@rbr.com

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