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Volume 24, Issue 208, Jim Carnegie, Editor & Publisher
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Wednesday Morning October 24th, 2007
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TV News ®
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SoCal broadcasters cut programming
for 'round-the-clock coverage of wildfires
 Local broadcasters in California have been providing around-the-clock news coverage of the California wildfires, in many cases canceling regularly scheduled programming and the ad revenue that goes along with it. This is just another chapter in the long history of broadcast service during times of crisis. Said NAB President and CEO David Rehr: "NAB salutes California's local radio and television broadcasters for serving as a lifeline to listeners and viewers with timely, around-the-clock coverage of the horrific wildfires. From emergency weather warnings to AMBER Alerts, broadcasting's public service ethic is well-documented. It is unfortunate that it sometimes takes a disaster of the magnitude of the Southern California fires to remind people of local broadcasting's day-in and day-out commitment to serving the public interest."
Excerpts from an LA Times story: "As with other stations, KNBC-TV Channel 4 deployed almost all of its news operation for fire coverage. The NBC Universal O&O station broke from its wall-to-wall fire coverage only for a few hours of NFL football and live "Today" show feeds. "This is what local television is supposed to be about," KNBC news director Bob Long told the paper.
Except for the early morning hours, duopolies such as KCBS-TV and KCAL-TV-and KTTV-TV and KCOP-TV-were able to run coverage on at least one of their stations over almost all of Sunday and Monday. The twin-sister station arrangement allowed both KCBS and KTTV to broadcast major sporting events-the NFL for CBS and the American League Championship Series for Fox-Sunday without losing fire coverage.
On Monday, KABC notably bumped its afternoon syndicated hit "Oprah" for fire coverage. It used a news scrawl to alert viewers that preempted daytime soaps could be seen on the network's sister cable stations. But KTLA-TV scaled back by mid-afternoon Monday, returning to its regular daytime programs. The scope, unpredictability and ferocity of the fires exhausted news crews, leaving even the largest local operations scraping for extra bodies. 'Everybody that is on our list-staff, freelance, anybody who has ever worked for us-is getting a phone call, 'Hey, can you come in?'' said Paul Button, KCBS' assistant news director, told the paper. 'We've got all our live trucks, both choppers out there. Everything feels very, very taxed'."
 Cross-ownership:
NAB appeals for repeal
If consolidation of media ownership is such a bad thing, there should be empirical evidence of the harm, said the National Association of Broadcasters in comments filed with the FCC. In fact, it argues, relaxed rules that allow broadcasters to more effectively compete with nationally-targeted competitors support the goal of localism. NAB notes that "the Commission's studies generally demonstrate the lack of harm, and, indeed, the benefits that would be gained, from allowing local broadcasters to adopt more economically viable ownership structures," noting that this particularly applied to newspaper/broadcast combinations. The true challenge for local broadcast companies, argues NAB, is to "...maintain their economic vibrancy in the face of multichannel and other competitors that are not constrained by restrictions on local ownership structure." Broadcasters must be able to rely on solid local advertising revenues to continue providing local service. NAB also agrees with numerous watchdog organizations that the FCC should "... address the under-representation of minorities and women in the broadcast industry through public/private partnerships and market-based stimulants, including tax incentives, which will promote entry and long-term viability of minority and female entrants into a competitively vibrant broadcast industry." In summary, NAB asks that cross-ownership restrictions be repealed; that small-market television duopoly rules be eased; and although it does not ask for higher local caps for radio groups, it argues against reducing current local caps.
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Looking ahead at Journal
The execs at Journal Communications had a difficult Q3 (not uncommon during an off-election year), and the continuing weakness in advertising in general is expected to continue into Q4. This will be exacerbated by comparing the 2007 13-week Q4 to the 14 weeks in the quarter last year, but the company expects to slip anyway. If there were no other reasons, last years 10M take in political, 9M for television and 1M for radio, will be tough to overcome. Journal is looking for some political to start coming in by December, but so far there have been no placements. Chairman/CEO Steve Smith said the company's focus going forward is to pursue growth online, concentrate on developmental business, build ratings increases and place continuing emphasis on cost control. It will be open to acquisition, and will buy back what it thinks is undervalued stock shares. Journal is currently not benefiting from television's latest revenue stream, cable retransmission fees, and expects to begin negotiations on that front soon. With only one major daily newspaper in Milwaukee, grandfathered with cross-owned broadcast properties, there are absolutely no plans to split the company along broadcast/print lines. Broadcast honcho Doug Kiel noted that even though automotive came in at a loss for the quarter, down about 500K, it had been down about triple that amount in Q2, so if ever a negative number might be read as a positive, this would may the time
Biden his time? Senator discusser ownership
Broadcast hearings on Capitol Hill, no matter which aspect of the industry they are addressing, tend to be a hot ticket. Strong opinions rein, with high profile members of the broadcast management often clashing with even higher profile members of the artistic community, while academics and watchdogs weigh in with equally strong opinions. The politicians themselves eagerly throw themselves into the fray, often using the spotlight accompanying these events to further their own political goals. Then campaign time comes around and you don't hear a word about any of it. That's been the tendency, anyway, up until now, but it is appearing that those days are over. With 20+ candidates vying for two presidential nominations, the media has become an issue, and more and more candidates are staking out a position.
 The latest is Joe Biden (D-DE). We doubt that anybody following this issue will be surprised to learn he's against it. Biden said, "The Federal Communications Commission's plan to lift its anti-monopoly regulations could have dangerous consequences. If this plan goes forward, two or three media conglomerates could end up controlling every broadcast medium in the country. From a safety perspective, what happens if one company controls the television, radio and internet services in a region and its servers go down during a natural disaster or terrorist attack? From a constitutional perspective, what happens when one company owns all of the airwaves in an area and it refuses to broadcast certain content? These are important security and constitutional issues best addressed by keeping the current rules in place."
TVBR observation: Say what? We are aware that there are differing views on media ownership regulation among our own readership, and we take no official position on the matter. That said, we have to ask, What plan? Martin has offered no plan of any kind. The Las Vegas line on his intentions, as near as we can tell, is that Martin would be satisfied to ease print/broadcast cross-ownership rules and leave everything else pretty much alone, but that is pure speculation and the simple answer is that nobody beyond of the FCC's 8th Floor knows what the plan is. But it certainly won't lead to a broadcast monopoly for anybody. So the two things to remember are, first, that politicians are now paying attention to what used to be considered arcane, inside-baseball broadcast issues, and second, they often don't have the slightest idea what they're talking about.
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| Wall Street Business Report TM |
It's the advertising environment, stupid
Well, there were also tough comps during a political off-year which led to red-ink results at multimedia Journal Communications. Chairman/CEO Steve Smith explained, "The weak advertising environment persisted in the third quarter of 2007." The loss of political was a big key, along with ongoing weakness in the automotive category and general weakness in national business. The company is mitigating the traditional damage somewhat with increased results online. Overall, operating revenue from continuing operations was down 5.6% to 144.4M. Net earnings actually increased 3.1% to 12.6M, although much of that was attributable to a favorable 825K tax adjustment and a 430K insurance settlement. Broadcast revenue was down 7.9% to 53.7M, reflecting a change in political issue advertising. In Q3 2006, the category was good for 4.2M; this time, 400K. TV was down 11.6% to 31.2M, and radio was down 2.3% to 22.5M. However, radio, on a same station basis, was down only 0.5%.
 The New York Times
reports 2007 Q3 results
The New York Times Company announced Q3 revenues increased 2% to 754.4 million from 739.6 million. Ad revenues decreased 0.1%; circulation revenues increased 3.9%; and other revenues rose 11.5%. Operating costs increased 0.6% to 726.3 million from 721.7 million. Q3 earnings per share from continuing operations of .10, compared with .06 in Q3 last year. EPS from continuing operations was .15 compared with .09 in Q3 last year. Operating profit increased 57.1% to 28.1 million from 17.9 million in Q3 of 2006 while operating profit excluding depreciation and amortization increased 46.4% to 79.9 million from 54.6 million in Q3 2006. The company continues to move assets from print to online. Janet Robinson, NYT CEO, said the company's websites has helped the company become the 10th most visited parent company on the web in the US: "With 44.2 million unique visitors in September, up 12% from Q3 2006, our reach represents nearly 28% of the online audience in the US. Last month, Nielsen NetRatings ranked NYTimes.com the number one newspaper website-a position it has long held." She added, "...in total, our digital businesses grew 26.5% in the quarter and generated 79.7 million or 11% of the company's revenues. Revenue growth for our online properties has been higher than our peers." The Q4 outlook remains in question, said Robinson: "While September was a strong month, with advertising revenues up 5.5%, visibility on the fourth quarter remains limited. To date in October, advertising is not as strong as it was in September."
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Ad Business Report TM
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CBS Partners with Medio to integrate
search advertising into CBS Mobile
CBS Mobile has teamed up with Medio Systems to add search capabilities and search-enabled ad opportunities to its CBS Mobile websites. Medio will provide CBS Mobile users the ability to easily search and navigate content on CBS Sports Mobile (wap.cbssports.com), CBS Mobile News (wap.cbsnews.com), and CW Mobile (wap.cwtv.com) websites. The partnership also expands the menu of ad options CBS mobile offers clients. Here's how it works: Medio Search is implemented on CBS Mobile sites via a search box. Search results will pull relevant information from CBS' site content as well as from the entire mobile web. Relevant ads will appear adjacent to the search results. Clicks on ads surrounding CBS content translate into revenue for CBS Mobile. Also, content from CBS Mobile will be added to the Medio Mobile Web index, which includes content from all of Medio's partner sites.
 IPG and BzzAgent form partnership for WOM campaigns
Interpublic has entered into a strategic partnership with BzzAgent, an international word-of-mouth (WOM) media network, to facilitate the development and execution of WOM campaigns for its agencies' clients. BzzAgent allows brands to activate, manage and measure product-related conversations triggered by its network of 320,000 trained consumer volunteers, called Agents. The agreement, which covers the US, provides Interpublic with preferred pricing and preference for campaign timing and Agent selection. In turn, BzzAgent benefits by having many of the world's biggest agencies develop WOM programs specifically for its network. The companies will also develop joint research to provide WOM marketing insights to Interpublic's clients and agencies. BzzAgent has begun working with Interpublic's Draftfcb, Hill Holliday and Universal McCann on WOM marketing campaigns for key clients. Interpublic's Emerging Media Lab will manage the corporate relationship, serving as a liaison between the agency, client and BzzAgent.
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| Media Business Report TM |
Campaign is the lead in another diffuse week
The five media surveyed by the Project for Excellence in Journalism expressed a great deal of disagreement on which stories were deserving of the spotlight during the week of 10/14/07-10/19/07, but they all agreed that the 2008 presidential campaign was deserving of some degree, putting it back on top of the chart with an 11% overall share of the newshole. No other story earned above 6%, which was the score that Pakistan events earned thanks to a strong showing online. Adding Iraq, Pakistan and terrorism stories together, however, gets one to 18% overall, underscoring the ongoing focus on Mideast strife. The biggest story from the previous week to disappear from the top ten charts entirely was the student shooting in Cleveland.
| Top ten lists here |
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| Washington Business Report TM |
 Dingell calls for slow-down
It is becoming clearer by the minute that Democrats with an opinion about media ownership rules do not want the FCC making any, probably up until the time that a significant portion of the FCC 8th Floor has been appointed by a Democratic president. The latest asking FCC Chairman Kevin Martin to hit the brakes on any ownership rulemaking is powerful Rep. John Dingell (D-MI), Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. He said, "I urge the Commission not to rush to judgment in its media ownership proceeding. Issues of this magnitude and importance deserve nothing less than the full and measured consideration of the Chairman and Commissioners. The Commission's last attempt to craft ownership rules was largely invalidated by an appellate court, and the Commission should avoid that outcome in this instance. It is my sincere hope that the Commission will allow reasonable time for evaluation of the public input received on its media ownership studies and at all of its public hearings before finalizing rules. It is also important that the Commission release proposed rules and then allow sufficient time for comment on them before taking final action."
TVBR observation: Martin obviously believes that there has been plenty testimony on the topic. The question is just what he plans to try and change. We have to admit that given the pace of such matters, getting in two more public meetings (which will almost certainly be near duplicates of those that have gone before), publishing the rules in advance for public comment (something former Chairman Michael Powell did not do last time) and then quickly getting in a vote seems like a tall order. Stay tuned.
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| Ratings & Research |
Baseball brings Fox a win
The American League Championship series went to the maximum seven games, boosting Fox to an easy win for the week in both 18-49 and Households. The World Series between the Colorado Rockies and Boston Red Sox begins today, so Fox is likely to enjoy a second week on top of the ratings. For the past week, the winning HH tally for Fox was a 7.5 rating and 12 share, followed by ABC and CBS tied at 7.1/12, NBC 5.3/9, CW 2.0/3, Univision 1.8/3, MyNetworkTV 0.6/1, Telemundo 0.5/1, Ion 0.4/1, TeleFutura 0.3/1 and Azteca America 0.1/1. In 18-49, the rundown was Fox, ABC, NBC, CBS, Univision, CW, Telemundo, a tie by TeleFutura and MyNetworkTV, and a tie by Azteca America and Ion. "CSI" was the most watched show.
| Here is the top 20 list |
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| Stock Talk |
An Apple a day...
Apple's strong earnings, announced after the closing bell on Monday, boosted stocks on Tuesday, not to mention good reports from Dow Industrials components American Express and DuPont. The Dow rose 109 points, or 0.8%, to 13,676.
TV stocks were mostly higher. Journal Communications jumped 6.3% after reporting earnings. Saga rose 4.6% and Tribune gained 4.4%.
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| Stocks |
Here's how stocks fared on Tuesday
| Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
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Acme
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ACME
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3.87
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+0.05
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Lincoln Natl.
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LNC
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65.28
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-0.32
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Belo
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BLC
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18.69
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+0.01
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LIN TV
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TVL
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14.82
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+0.24
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| CBS CI. B |
CBS |
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29.46
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+0.36
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McGraw-Hill
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MHP
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50.03
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-0.62
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| CBS CI. A |
CBSa |
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29.40
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+0.33
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Media General
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MEG
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26.95
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-0.21
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Clear Channel
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CCU
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37.81
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+0.01
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Meredith
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MDP
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56.70
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+0.50
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Disney
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DIS
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34.89
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+0.21
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News Corp.
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NWS
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23.21
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+0.46
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Emmis
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EMMS
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5.42
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-0.11
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Nexstar
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NXST
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9.07
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-0.36
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Entravision
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EVC
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9.86
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+0.06
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Ion Media
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ION
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1.29
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-0.04
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| Equity Media |
EMDA |
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2.80 |
-0.05 |
Saga Commun.
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SGA
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7.79
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+0.34
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Fisher
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FSCI
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48.36
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+0.41
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SBS
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SBSA
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2.67
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unch
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Gannett
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GCI
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42.33
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+1.01
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Scripps
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SSP
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42.54
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+0.29
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Gen. Electric
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GE
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40.48
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+0.31
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Sinclair
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SBGI
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12.25
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-0.20
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| Google |
GOOG |
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675.77
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+25.02
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SWMX
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SWMX
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0.03
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-0.01
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Gray
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GTN
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9.22
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-0.04
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Time Warner
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TWX
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18.10
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+0.05
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Gray, C1. A
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GTNa
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9.34
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+0.04
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Tribune
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TRB
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27.55
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+1.17
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Hearst-Argyle
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HTV
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22.70
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-0.40
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Wash. Post
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WPO
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791.00
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+9.30
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Journal Comm.
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JRN
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9.18
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+0.54
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Young
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YBTVA
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2.31
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-0.01
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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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Ad Business Report
CBS Partners with
Medio to integrate search advertising into CBS Mobile...
IPG and BzzAgent
Form partnership for WOM campaigns...
Washington Business Report
Dingell calls for slow-down
Becoming clearer by the minute that Dems w/an opinion about ownership...
Ratings & Research
Baseball brings Fox a win
But CSI was the most watched show...
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Stations for Sale
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 Market your Stations For Sale
in our daily epapers.
Contact
June Barnes
jbarnes@rbr.com
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TV Media Moves
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Joel Cheatwood upped to SVP/Development at Fox News
Veteran television exec Joel Cheatwood has been promoted to Senior Vice President of Development for FOX News, announced Roger Ailes, Chairman and CEO of the network and Chairman of FOX Television Stations. In making the announcement, Ailes said, "Joel has already made a tremendous contribution to FOX News and I'm confident he will continue to be a valuable asset to the organization." Prior to joining FOX News as a Vice President earlier this year, Cheatwood served as the executive director of program and talent development at CNN since April 2004.
Rebecca Campbell upped to WABC-TV President/GM
Rebecca Campbell, President/GM of ABC-owned WPVI-TV in Philadelphia, has been upped to President and General Manager of WABC-TV in New York. She's got responsibility for WABC-TV/Channel 7 and all of its ancillary businesses, including three additional digital TV channels; 7online.com, the station's Internet site; and "Live with Regis and Kelly," the syndicated series produced by the station. Campbell succeeds J. David (Dave) Davis who was promoted to the position of EVP/ABC News.
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More News Headlines
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Zell in for the long haul
Billionaire mogul Sam Zell told those gathered at an Inland Press Association meeting this week that he sees his proposed acquisition of Tribune Company as a positive investment, predicated on changing the company's corporate culture. He said that will start to happen automatically the moment it exits the stock market. The reason? Executives will be able to plan for a future a little farther out than the 90-day leash Wall Street ties around the neck of public companies. Zell added that the structure of the deal precludes a quick in-and-out strategy on his part -- he's expecting a stay with the company of at least 10 years. Without going into his strategy if and when he takes over the company, he did express his opinion that his eventual competitors have been slow to adapt to change.
National Traffic Director's Day is November 2nd
November 2nd is the day of recognition for Traffic Director's, Traffic Managers and more than 20 other titles used by personnel in the Traffic & Continuity Departments of over 20,000 Radio, Television, Cable stations in the United States and around the world. Says Larry Keene, founder of TDGA- The Traffic Director's Guild of America: "It's become a major event in our internal world as State Broadcast Associations, Traffic Vendors, Trade news organizations and station personnel themselves get involved."
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RBR - Radio News
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Watchdogs, broadcasters, labels to converge on the Hill
The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation has a panel set up representing a wide range of interests for hits hearing today on the Future of Radio. Broadcast veteran Russ Withers will be going up to the plate for radio interests. Also on the guest list are Mac McCaughan, Merge Records; Tim Westergren, Pandora; Derek Turner, Free Press; Carol Pierson, National Federation of Community Broadcasters; and Dana Davis Rehm, National Public Radio. We'll be there so you don't have to be. And, right on cue, Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Trent Lott (R-MS) will hitchhike a press conference onto the hearing to discuss the rapidity with which they suspect FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is attempting to get some new rules through the 8th Floor.
RBR observation: This event was scheduled just ahead of Martin's announcement that he was looking to vote on possible changes to media ownership rules at the FCC's 12/18/07 open meeting. We suspected we'd hear a good deal about that, and now we know we will. And since the FCC is not being represented, we fully expect another hearing on this in the very near future.
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TVBR Radar 2007
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Television News you won't read any where else. TVBR--First, Accurate, and Independently Owned.
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Martin told to slow down
More particularly, Barack Obama (D-IL), one of the leading candidates for the Democratic party's presidential nomination, wants issues on minority ownership and localism addressed before moving on to easing ownership restrictions, if that is FCC Chairman Kevin Martin's goal. Noting media reports stating Martin's goal of a 12/18/07 on as yet unspecified media ownership rules.
TVBR observation: We doubt that Martin was under the illusion that he could slip this matter through quietly, and that truth has already been amply demonstrated. Watchdogs and politicians alike seem as if they've been waiting to spring into action on the first mention of acting on the court-ordered reconsideration of the 6/2/03 rulemaking attempt. And although media ownership issues were being hotly debated in 2004 but played virtually no role whatsoever in Bush v. Kerry. Not so this time: Candidates on the Democratic side are clearly aware of the issue this time and will speak out about it, even as Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill go to work on it. This is going to be a contentious, noisy debate.
10/23/07 TVBR #207
Moody's downgrades Emmis
Citing "continued weak operating performance," Moody's Investors Service has lowered its ratings on Emmis Communications debt. Moody's does, however, say the company's large market radio assets provide adequate coverage of its debt load.
RBR observation: Jeff has faced tough times before and managed to come out smiling. But he's also had to make some hard choices along the way, such as selling WFAN-AM New York to Infinity (now CBS Radio). With pressure from big shareholders, the Moody's downgrade making it potentially more expensive to borrow and continuing ratings problems in Emmis' biggest markets, we wait to see what tough choices Jeff will make this time.
10/23/07 RBR #207
WGA authorizes strike;
It means what to ya
The Writers Guild of America voted to authorize a strike against studios, networks and producers if the two sides can't agree on a new contract (the current one expires 10/31).
10/22/07 TVBR #206
Martin ownership plans
draw immediate fire
The watchdog community was ready, and the aiming seemed already to have been done, when FCC Chairman Kevin Martin announced his intention to try for a media ownership vote on 12/18/07. Most who commented were against any further deregulation.
10/22/07 RBR #206
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TVBR Classifieds
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New Listing
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