TVBR's Daily Morning Epaper

Volume 24, Issue 210, Jim Carnegie, Editor & Publisher

Friday Morning October 26th, 2007

TV News ®

Scripps on track
for Q2 2008 separation
Declaring this a "momentous month" for the E.W. Scripps Company with last week's announcement of plans to split in two (10/17/07 TVBR #203), CEO Ken Lowe reported yesterday that the separation plan is on track to be completed in Q2 of 2008. Scripps Networks, the cable TV networks, which will anchor the spin-off company, Scripps Networks Interactive, was again the star performer in Q3, with revenues up 16%, even exceeding Wall Street expectations. Look for that strong performance to continue. The company says Scripps Networks revenues are expected to grow 10-12% in Q4. Meanwhile, TV is pacing down 15-20% in Q4 against tough political comps, after declining 10.3% in Q3. Newspaper revenues are projected to fall 5-7% in Q4, after dropping 7.8% in Q3, which was a smaller than expected decline. For the newspaper/TV company that will remain once the cable/interactive properties are spun-off, Lowe said Scripps believes in the future of its local markets, in particular the Florida and California markets currently suffering from the housing slump. The TV group is looking forward to heavy political spending in 2008. For Q3, "We saw some improvement in local and national advertising, but those results were tempered somewhat by softer automotive than we'd hoped," Lowe noted.

TVBR observation: Meredith CEO Stephen Lacy raised the issue a day earlier when asked whether his company might join the parade of splitters. "Will it, in fact, unlock value?" he asked. Well, Scripps' stock had jumped on the split announcement last week, but then fell right back down to where it had been previously - before bumping up yesterday on its good earnings and guidance. Belo has also given up some of its split announcement price bump. So, the jury is still out on whether investors really like these splits as much as they thought they would when they pressured management to make the move.

FCC puts localism on the Halloween docket
The FCC's October Open Meeting will include the final localism forum in the set begun way back under former Chairman Michael Powell. It will follow four other items in a meeting scheduled to run from 9AM until 2PM at FCC headquarters. And the announcement drew immediate fire both within and from outside the Commission.

Commissioners Michael Copps (D) and Jonathan Adelstein (D) issued a joint statement, saying "Tonight's Public Notice doesn't bode well for the future of the Commission's localism and media ownership proceedings. Over two weeks ago, we agreed to clear our calendars for the possibility of a localism hearing in Washington on October 31st. But neither we nor the public received any confirmation that the hearing would occur until tonight -- just five business days before the event. This is unacceptable and unfair to the public. And it makes putting together an expert panel nearly impossible. Is the Commission serious about allowing the public to participate in the agency's decision-making? Or is the goal to be able to claim that hearings have been held, even if the public has not had a chance to fully participate?" Watchdog Free Press piled on. Its Executive Director Josh Silver said, "Chairman Martin's actions suggest that he's never been serious about paying attention to the public. He's already made up his mind, and is hell-bent on gutting the rules. This is a slap in the face to the vast majority of Americans who oppose consolidation and a direct insult to the bipartisan members of Congress who have called for a fair and transparent public process." The agenda also includes a vote on a "directive that local franchising authorities not unreasonably refuse to award competitive franchises" looking to enter business where cable service is already established.

TVBR observation: It hasn't been a good week for Chairman Martin. Conventional wisdom has it that his main goal is to loosen cross-ownership restrictions, which the Third Circuit almost praised while remanding the rules back to the FCC for changes or better justification. But in the absence of any firm guidance on just what changes are in the works, the imaginations of anti-consolidationists are free to run wild. Nonetheless, this may have worked better if Martin had announced back in July that he'd hold meetings on this and that date with an eye toward a 12/18/07 vote. The recent announcement of the December target date, and only after that the announcement of the localism meeting -- with a Washington State public forum still to be worked in -- does make this look like a rush job.

Will Supremes enter expletive fray?
The Second Circuit ruled in favor of programmers when it considered FCC fines over the utterance of fleeting expletives, including the f-bomb, on live television. The FCC wants to appeal upward, and the Supreme Court may decide whether or not to take the case soon. According to USA Today, that decision may arrive by early next year. The FCC's indecency rules used to hinge on whether questionable content was repeated or intended to pander or titillate. Inadvertent unplanned incidents were generally excused with at worst an admonition. But in the heightened awareness of the topic following Janet Jackson's moment in the Super Bowl back in 2004, the FCC unilaterally modified the rule to automatically include the f-bomb under any circumstances. The immediate case concerns f-bombs uttered during various awards programs broadcast live on the Fox Network.

TVBR observation: A court ruling could be narrow and not really answer the question everyone wants answered: What is and is not OK. An example of a narrow ruling is that the FCC changed the fleeting rule without opening the issue up for public study and commentary, and without public hearings on the matter. The issue could then be remanded to the FCC for reconsideration in a process that provides for public input. Or, we suppose, a court could rule that the fleeting and inadvertent standard was correct all along, and anything less would have an unacceptably chilling affect on live broadcasting. An earth-shaking ruling would be that under the broadest possible reading of the First Amendment, anything goes. The FCC would simply like to be able to levy fines for what it considers to be definitively obscene. Stay tuned.

Others have spoken: Cue Hinchey
You didn't need the Hubble Telescope to see this coming. Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) is right on top of FCC Chairman Kevin Martin's plans to bring as-yet unrevealed media ownership rules changes up for a vote by mid-December. Hinchey is founding member of the Future of American Media Caucus, and despite the unrevealed nature of the changes, he apparently believes the FCC has an "expedited plan for massive media consolidation." That's how he headed a release on the matter, written on behalf of 42 Democratic members of the House of Representatives.

"After all of the controversy that this proceeding has generated over the past four years, we believe that another round of public commentary is essential before a final vote," he said. "At its heart, the debate over the future of media ownership in America is a debate over the future of our democracy. Therefore, we hope you will agree that the Federal Communications Commission must do everything it can to be able to honestly say that it is ending this proceeding after having considered every factor on behalf of the public whose airwaves it purports to represent." He concluded, "Chairman Martin's proposal would only serve to further shrink an already limited diversity of opinion found among American news outlets. His plan is the exact opposite of what is needed in this country. The FCC ought to be looking for ways to expand the variety of viewpoints and diversity of ownership rather than limiting and further consolidating them."
| House letter signers here |

TVBR observation: With all due respect, and without taking sides on any possible facet of the issue, we see little use for any further public forums on the topic. They invariably attract the same group of watchdogs: You can agree with them or not, but we've all already heard it. In most cases there have been ample representatives of the broadcast community, but the average citizen who attends a forum comes not to praise broadcasters but to grind axes. That is their right, and many of them may have valid points. But we've heard them, too. We think this boils down to what Martin thinks he can get past both the 8th Floor and the courts, tempered by the now almost certain response it will attract from Congress. Get ready for lots of noise between now and 12/18/07, and maybe even more noise thereafter.

Copps presses for
News Corp/Dow Jones hearing
Commissioner Michael Copps is still upset about the pending 5.6 billion bucks acquisition of Dow Jones & Co. by News Corporation and is insisting that the FCC should do something about it. In a letter to Chairman Kevin Martin, Copps calls for the Commission to open an inquiry into whether News Corporation should be allowed to own one of the big four TV networks and two of the nation's largest newspapers. Copps insists that the FCC needs to look into the implications for the New York market - never mind that the Wall Street Journal is a national newspaper with only 302K of its 1.7 million print subscribers in the New York metropolitan area. Copps wants to reexamine whether national newspapers should be counted when examining local media ownership, insisting that the precedents which concluded that they should not be were reached "with very little specific economic or legal analysis."

TVBR observation: This is absolutely idiotic! Suppose the FCC held the inquiry that Copps wants. What then? No FCC approval is needed for the Dow Jones acquisition to close. It has no authority over whether News Corporation, Google or the Government of North Korea buys Dow Jones & Co. Would the Commissioners be so ridiculous as to hold a non-binding straw poll on whether or not they want the deal to take place? It would have no more legal effect than polling the staff of TVBR.

Wall Street Business Report TM

Belo running on all cylinders
Belo Corporation's Q3 results exceeded Wall Street expectations for both its newspaper and television operations. TV revenues rose 1.8% to 182.4 million, despite a sharp drop-off in political advertising - only 3.2 million vs. 7.5 million a year ago. TV EBITDA rose 1% to 70.6 million. Newspaper revenues were down 7.8% to 181.9 million, but analysts had expected an even bigger drop. Newspaper EBITDA was down 11.7% to 30.7 million. Online revenues, though still a relatively small portion of total revenues, were up double digits in both divisions. TV website revenues shot up 41% to 6.7 million and newspaper online revenues grew 25% to 13.9 million.

Scripps beats expectations
TV revenues fell 10.3% in Q3 at Scripps to 73.3 million, but that was better than expected, given the lack of political revenues. Local was up 1.1% and national 4.2%, while political was only 700K, vs. 11.7 million a year ago. The 16.3% gain for Scripps Networks to 289.4 million also beat expectations, as did the decline of only 5.7% for the company's newspapers to 158.3 million. Q3 income from continuing operations was 87.9 million, or 54 cents per share. Excluding a four cent one-time gain, EPS still beat the analysts' consensus by eight cents.

Another shareholder
pressuring Emmis
This time it is Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder Advisers LLC calling for the creation of a special committee of independent directors to work with CEO Jeff Smulyan on a "value-creating transaction." And the owner of some 4.6% of Emmis’ Class A shareholders wants the directors to let shareholders vote on selling the company to Smulyan, even if they don’t like the price. The letter to independent directors Susan Bayh and Peter Lund states agreement with filing by other shareholders saying that "aggressive action" must be taken by the board of directors to benefit minority shareholders. Since Smulyan has voting control of the company via his super-voting shares, the latest letter says the only practicable solution is a going private transaction to sell the entire company to Smulyan "We strongly support the idea of a buy-out, funded in part by asset sales, that delivers a substantial premium to the current trading price of approximately five dollars per share," the letter says. While a new offer from Smulyan might not value the company at what the independent directors believe the company is worth on the open market, the letter appeals to the board to put such an offer to the shareholders anyway - and let them decide. "Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder are longtime shareholders of Emmis, and we value their input," the company said in a statement sent to TVBR. It said the letter will be forwarded to its directors.
| Read the letter |

TVBR observation: The question is, what could Smulyan offer now? Given the company's ongoing problems, it won't be the 15.25 per share that he offered last year, only to have it rejected by the board - and certainly not the 16.80 that was discussed during the failed negotiations. It sounds like Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder Advisers are ready to take about anything that's a significant premium to where the stock price has been lately, but would other shareholders be as willing to take what they can salvage and run away licking their wounds?

Ad Business Report TM

Applebee's rebrands with new campaign
Via by McCann Erickson, Applebee's will introduce a new campaign 10/28 that begins a restaging of the brand and repositions the restaurants as a special place for people to come together. The humorous effort, which uses Internet and TV to feature the restaurant chain's new "spokesapple," introduces several new brand elements including an updated logo; new menu design and strategy; hip uniforms for restaurant associates; and the new tag line, "Together is good." The campaign, which premieres during Extreme Makeover, Desperate Housewives and the fourth game of the World Series, features three, 30-second and 15-second TV spots where a red delicious apple with a voice encourages people to come together at Applebee's. The TV spots will run for eight weeks, promoting Applebee's popular Pick n' Pair lunch combos and the new Applebee's Steakhouse Classics. Other components include radio spots, print and in-store signage. Applebee's also will run Web ads on sites that bring people together, such as reunion.com, evite.com and classmates.com.

Washington Business Report TM

FCC will not help with zone defense
John Stokes and his Skyline Broadcasters are trying to upgrade KGEZ-AM in Kalispell MT. The station has had an easement since 1949 allowing its two-tower array to exist on a 160-acre plot owned by local farmers, of which it uses only 31 acres. Stokes came on the scene when he acquired the station in 2000. Stokes informed the farmers, the Anderson family, that he wished to enlarge or move the towers within the 160 acres; they argued he was limited to the original 31 acres. Further, they argued the site was in disrepair and took him to court, seeking to oust him from the property altogether. The Montana Eleventh Judicial District Court ruled that Stokes could stay on the 31 currently-occupied acres if and only if the repairs were made. Stokes appealed to the FCC, saying that local governments "have absolutely no jurisdiction to order an alteration, change, modify, remove, deny construction, deny placement, or restrict use of any approved FCC radio station facilities." The FCC said it takes precedence over local government in matters of spectrum allocation. However, that authority does not extend to land usage matters. "For example, the Commission has adopted no rules preempting local zoning requirements affecting the construction of broadcast towers." End result: Stokes is at the mercy of the court.

Cable Business Report TM

Downturn for Comcast
Cable giant Comcast disappointed Wall Street with a 54% drop in Q3 net income, although that was up 2% excluding special gains for the quarter a year earlier. Even so, investors had been expecting better. The problem is slowing sales of so-called "triple-play" packages, bundling cable TV, broadband Internet and digital telephone service. Comcast's Q3 results were actually in line with analysts expectations overall, but the stock took a sizeable drop because the company's guidance for Q4 included a 10% drop in FCF, whereas the Street had been expecting cash flow to be flat with last year.

Entertainment Business Report TM

"The Doctors" sold in 50% of US
CBS Television Distribution confirmed plans for a spin-off from the successful "Dr. Phil" show and announced that it has already been sold in syndication to stations covering 50% of US TV households, including all of the top 10 markets. The working title for the new show is "The Doctors," with Jay McGraw, the son of Dr. Phil McGraw, as executive producer. He'd previously been co-executive producer or executive producer on seven Dr. Phil primetime specials. "This is one of the most exciting launches we've had since 'Dr. Phil.' Every major broadcast group in the country has been talking about it. It's really fun to introduce a whole new genre to first-run syndication, and it'll take CBS Television Distribution to even greater heights," declared Roger King, CEO of CBS Television Distribution.

Hosted by ER doctor, Dr. Travis Stork (yes, he was "The Bachelor" on ABC), other experts making the rounds include Dr. Lisa Masterson, an obstetrician/gynecologist; Dr. Andrew Ordon, a leading plastic surgeon; Dr. Tara Fields, a licensed marriage and family therapist; and Dr. Jim Sears, a renowned pediatrician. These doctors will make appearances on "Dr. Phil" throughout the 2007-08 season. At the same time, "The Doctors" producers will shadow the "Dr. Phil" production team to prepare for the new show's fall 2008 debut. "The Doctors" will be produced by Stage 29 Productions in association with CBS Television Distribution. Stations already signed up include major market properties owned by such groups as CBS, Gannett, Cox, Scripps, Belo, Post-Newsweek, LIN and others.
| See the list |

Internet Business Report TM

"Office 360" site
scores 8 million views
NBC.com announced initial results of its "Office 360" suite of entertainment features. The Dunder Mifflin Infinity site, a social networking site for "The Office" fans, saw over 800,000 unique users coming to view some part of the site, over eight million page views and over 100,000 consumers who signed up to be a part of the virtual work force. "The Office 360" launched 9/22 with Dunder Mifflin Infinity (DMI). Fans who register on the site are given positions in the other "branches" of Dunder Mifflin and asked to perform weekly tasks and challenges that tie in to each week's storyline. Winners have already received exclusive signed items from cast members and "SchruteBuck" rewards which they can spend on their virtual desk environments containing many props taken directly from the set. "Office" fans from all over the country will have the chance to get up close and personal with the stars and writers of the show when they gather for "The Office" Convention in Scranton, PA from 10/26-10/28. Fan events include casino night, autograph signings, performances by the Scrantones, cast Q & A panel, writers block panel, Office Olympic competitions at the street festival and much more.

Ratings & Research

Judy stays on Pat's tail
Don't look back Pat Sajak! "Judge Judy" is sticking right behind "Wheel of Fortune" in the syndicated ratings, as reported by the Syndicated Network Television Association, based on data from Nielsen Media Research.

Syndication: 10/08/07-10/14/07
# Live	PROGRAMS	ORIG	HHLD Rtg. Live
1	WHEEL OF FORTUNE	CTD	7.4
2	JUDGE JUDY	CTD	7.2
3	JEOPARDY	CTD	5.8
4	EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND	CTD	5.3
5	OPRAH WINFREY SHOW	CTD	5.2
6	ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT	CTD	4.8
7	TWO AND A HALF MEN	WB	4.7
8	CSI MIAMI	CTD	4.5
8t	FAMILY GUY M-F	2/T	4.5
10	DR. PHIL SHOW	CTD	4.4

Source: SNTA; Nielsen Media Research data

Drew draws big numbers
If there were worries that "The Price is Right" would suffer an audience loss from the retirement of Bob Barker, those worries have been laid to rest. CBS is crowing loud and clear about the ratings for new host Drew Carey in his first week on the show. Compared to same week last year, Price was up +8% in adults 25-54 (1.3 from 1.2), +10% in adults 18-49 (1.1 from 1.0), +7% in women 25-54 (1.6 from 1.5), +8% in women 18-49 (1.3 from 1.2), +11% in men 25-54 (1.0 from 0.9) and +14% in men 18-49 (0.8 from 0.7). CBS says "The Price is Right" ranked as the #1 daytime program among men 18-49 and men 25-54 last week.

Stock Talk

Stocks off slightly
An unexpected rise in home sales wasn't enough to maintain an early boost in stock prices and the market ended the day down. The Dow Industrials slipped three points to 13,672.

TV stocks were mostly lower. Scripps, however, rose 2.8% on stronger than expected Q3 results. Belo, however, was off 0.6%. Time Warner led the retreat, falling 3.5%.

Stocks

**Here's how stocks fared on** **Thursday**
Company	Symbol	Close		Change	Company	Symbol	Close		Change
Acme	ACME		3.85	-0.04	Lincoln Natl.	LNC		64.41	unch
Belo	BLC		18.42	-0.11	LIN TV	TVL		13.96	-0.25
CBS CI. B	CBS		28.80	-0.38	McGraw-Hill	MHP		49.25	-0.72
CBS CI. A	CBSa		28.75	-0.45	Media General	MEG		27.93	+0.56
Clear Channel	CCU		37.85	+0.06	Meredith	MDP		61.12	+3.14
Disney	DIS		34.45	-0.61	News Corp.	NWS		22.97	-0.19
Emmis	EMMS		5.13	-0.14	Nexstar	NXST		9.40	+0.05
Entravision	EVC		9.77	-0.03	Ion Media	ION		1.40	+0.05
Equity Media	EMDA		2.85	-0.04	Saga Commun.	SGA		7.74	-0.13
Fisher	FSCI		49.10	+0.26	SBS	SBSA		2.61	+0.03
Gannett	GCI		41.62	-0.18	Scripps	SSP		43.58	+1.17
Gen. Electric	GE		40.16	-0.07	Sinclair	SBGI		11.75	-0.24
Google	GOOG		668.51	-7.31	SWMX	SWMX		0.03	unch
Gray	GTN		9.08	+0.12	Time Warner	TWX		17.71	-0.65
Gray, C1. A	GTNa		9.22	-0.05	Tribune	TRB		28.60	+0.42
Hearst-Argyle	HTV		22.01	-0.57	Wash. Post	WPO		801.07	+7.12
Journal Comm.	JRN		9.00	-0.05	Young	YBTVA		2.28	unch

Bounceback

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Below the Fold

Cable Business Report
Downturn for Comcast
Disappointed Wall Street with a 54% drop in Q3 net income...

Media Business Report
Tribune sells Connecticut
Papers Again, a new buyer is Hearst for 62.4 million...

Washington Business Report
FCC will not help
With zone defense, End result Stokes is at the mercy of the court...

Ratings & Research
Judy stays on Pat's tail
Sticking right behind Wheel of Fortune...

Stations for Sale

Market your Stations For Sale
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Contact
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TV Media Moves

No return
California First Lady Maria Schriver told a conference in Long Beach, CA that she won't return to her previous job at NBC News once her husband, Arnold Schwarzenegger, finishes his term as Governor. Schriver said she made the decision and informed NBC after watching the media circus surrounding the death of Anna Nicole Smith. "It was then that I knew that the TV news business had changed and so had I," Schriver said.

New director
Neal Shapiro, President of Educational Broadcasting Corporation, the licensee of WNET-TV New York, has been elected to the board of directors at Gannett Company. Shapiro was formerly President of NBC News.

Buddy is back
Ex-mayor and ex-con Buddy Cianci has signed on as chief political analyst and contributing editor at WLNE-TV (Ch. 6, ABC) Providence, RI. Since getting out of prison, after serving five years for a corruption conviction, the former Providence mayor has also landed a gig as midday talk host on WPRO-AM.

Laura Ingraham
Joins FNC
Laura Ingraham has joined Fox News Channel as primary substitute host of The O'Reilly Factor and Hannity & Colmes, as well as a contributor, announced Bill Shine, SVP/Programming. In making the announcement, Shine said, "I have been an admirer of Laura's work for quite some time. She is a welcome addition to the Fox News family."

MacDonald to Equity
Veteran broadcaster Jim MacDonald has joined Equity Media Holdings as General Manager of its Amarillo stations, KEYU (Univision) and KAMT (TeleFutura).

More News Headlines

Disney commits
2M for fire aid
With its Southern California corporate home area devastate by wildfires, The Walt Disney Company announced that it will contribute two million bucks to relief efforts for the nearly one million local victims. An initial 200K is being donated to the American Red Cross for immediate relief efforts and the remainder will be earmarked for volunteer centers and future rebuilding, including helping to restore Southern California's natural environment.

Belo working against tough comps in Q4
After surprising Wall Street with its Q3 performance, with TV revenues up despite the lack of political advertising, Belo is continuing to hold the line on expenses as it works against tough comps in the current Q4. "While we expect spot revenue excluding political to be up in the mid-single digits, we expect total Television Group revenues to be down in the mid-single digits as we cycle against 31.6 million of political revenue in the fourth quarter of 2006. Adjusting for one less Sunday in the fourth quarter, we expect Newspaper Group revenues to be down consistent with what we've experienced during the first nine months of 2007. We again expect operating expenses to be less than the prior year after adjusting for anticipated charges related to the spin-off," said CFO Dennis Williamson.

CEO Robert Decherd was on the quarterly conference call, despite having spent recent days at the bedside of his wife, who remains hospitalized in critical condition after being struck by a car. Decherd said he'd only returned to company HQ about 30 minutes before the call, but had been keeping up on business and expressed confidence in his management staff. The CEO remains upbeat on the planned split of Belo into two companies and said the spin-off of the newspaper business into a new A.H. Belo Corporation, which he will head, should take place in Q1 of 2008. Decherd announced that the new company will have the NYSE ticker symbol "AHC." The television group will retain the Belo Corporation name and "BLC" ticker, with Dunia Shive as CEO.

Tribune sells Connecticut papers again
Tribune Company has a new buyer for its Stamford and Greenwich, CT newspapers after a previous 73 million bucks sale to Gannett unraveled (5/29/07 #104). They are now being sold to Hearst for 62.4 million and they will be managed by MediaNews Group under its new joint venture with Hearst. The deal with Gannett fell apart after a judge ruled that the buyer had to assume a union contract at The Advocate, the newspaper in Stamford, CT. A Tribune spokesman told RBR that Hearst has agreed to assume that contract with the United Auto Workers local. The other newspaper being purchased is the Greenwich Time. Tribune will retain the real estate for a separate sale, as it had also planned to do under the previous sale deal.

TVBR observation: Just a few days ago Hearst Corporation finally consummated a long-pending deal to acquire a 31% equity stake in MediaNews Group's operations outside the San Francisco Bay area for 317 million bucks. The deal had been held up for more than a year while regulators studied whether to allow Hearst to swap The Monterey County Herald in California and St. Paul, MN, Pioneer Press to MediaNews Group for the equity stake, along with 27 million in cash. MediaNews Group owns quite a few newspapers in New England, where Hearst-Argyle Television, of which Hearst is the majority owner, has several TV stations, so you might think this has FCC crossownership implications. Nope. Hearst got Class C stock in MediaNews Group. The voting Class A stock is mostly held by trusts for the Scudder and Singleton families. Also, Hearst-Argyle's New England stations are in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont, so there is no crossownership issue with these two newspapers in Southern Connecticut.

TVBR Radar 2007

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

Dorgan comes out with guns blazing
If the FCC is planning to act on media ownership by 12/18/07, "they should understand they are going to be in for a huge battle." That is how Byron Dorgan (D-ND) opened up Wednesday's Senate Commerce Committee hearing on the Future of Radio, and it was the entire theme of his subsequent press conference which also included Trent Lott (R-MS).

TVBR observation: Call it stumping of bumping the air is hot inside the beltway and some of these political guys are looking for ink and sound bites and again they do not know the broadcasting business. So, they will make life a pain and RBR recommendation is not to wait for NAB to do all the work, get on the phone and call your elected official a sound of and give them a lesson in broadcast 101. And when they get back home go see them face to face and put the pressure on.
10/25/07 TVBR #209

CBS Radio reorganizes
Hires Interep's CBS Radio Sales President Michael Weiss to be in charge of sales for all CBS Radio-owned stations. Here's one lead that many at the top level should follow, CEO Dan Mason is taking a more hands-on role, overseeing 57 stations in 10 top markets. (for the total reorganization plan see RBR)

RBR observation: It's really a more direct form of management, moving away from the Clear Channel style of RVP roles. The changes have Market Managers now reporting directly to top management at CBS Radio, providing faster response and more efficient communications. This is a big leg up for Herman, who adds Riverside, Sacramento, Las Vegas, Denver, Rochester, NY, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Orlando, Palm Springs, Phoenix, Tampa, West Palm, Hartford, Charlotte, Atlanta, Baltimore, Minneapolis, San Diego and St. Louis. At the top, though, it emphasizes again what a hands-on guy Dan Mason is. He's already been dealing personally and directly with re-formatting stations in the largest markets that have been the biggest problems for CBS. How's that working out? We get his latest report card a week from today when CBS reports its Q3 results.
10/25/07 RBR #209

Ownership profile won't stay low
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. The latest is Joe Biden (D-DE). We doubt that anybody following this issue will be surprised to learn he's against it.

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.
10/24/07 TVBR #208

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