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Volume 24, Issue 211, Jim Carnegie, Editor & Publisher
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Monday Morning October 29th, 2007
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| Publishers Perspective |
 At the stroke of midnight
12/31/07 we shout "Happy New Year 2008!" Let me be the first to say now Happy New Year, as the new two-year business cycle has already begun. The 2008 clock is ticking right this second. TVBR/RBR has stated this numerous times, "Technology Waits for No One." LPM and PPM are rolling, gathering real time data. Therefore, I am not waiting for the New Year's baby to arrive to bring forth our electronic improvements.
Right now, TODAY, TVBR/RBR goes completely electronic. We will cease printing our monthly SmartMedia magazine with the December '07 issue. We are no longer paying alimony to the US Postal Service and we will save a tree by not printing paper. The valuable content in SmartMedia will be delivered electronically, where you can control and print our informative content on your color printer. YES! Permission granted to forward to your staff and clients at no charge.
This is the 2nd time in 25 years I have had to make this hard decision. The first time was 07/08/02 RBR Epaper #1 (worth a history read). Then 19-year-old RBR was a weekly mag. It ceased appearing in print and went daily, electronically, as the now-familiar RBR Morning Epaper and TVBR quickly followed a few months later. Back then my colleagues thought I had lost my friggin' mind. This time the decision was easier. It began at the 4A's convention and ended recently at the NAB Radio Show in Charlotte where at both confrences I saw executives, even the old guys like me, carrying their hand-held devices -- and knowing how to use them! And I saw the trade publication bins - mine and everyone else's - overflowing, as nobody was picking up anyone's magazine or newspaper. Nobody brought extra luggage to take all that paper back home. You, our readers, are online. We go where you are.
What you will receive 100% electronically:
1. TVBR or RBR Epaper: 250 issues a year at 7:30am sharp Monday-Friday, with Observations.
2. MBR afternoon update: 4:30pm sharp with a tweaked design.
3. TVBR/RBR Special Biz Info reports: (content formerly printed in SmartMedia) now delivered 9:00am sharp on key days.
4. Website: You've asked for it and now we deliver. Our new Internet site will be up and running, with access by year's end. It will take time to populate 25 years of content and archived history, but be patient and it will be accomplished.
5. Software: Improvement also brings Software Upgrading. You will be notified to perform a simple and painless task of filling out fewer boxes and submitting it to our Mail Server. Then you are solid in our system for another three years.
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Lastly, I shall personally attempt to contact by phone every executive that is conducting marketing business with TVBR & RBR to answer any questions, as your sponsorship support has been and always will be appreciated. When we wish all a Happy New Year 2008, RBR will turn 25 years young, our Silver Anniversary. The TVBR/RBR Team will celebrate every day by delivering the best content possible. You have known this and depended on us for the first 24 years. As we begin our 25th year, the best is on the way as "Technology Waits for No One." Have a comment?, send with a photo to publisher@rbr.com
Jim Carnegie
Publisher
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TV News ®
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 Lincoln sales likely this week
Despite a huge price reduction from original expectations, TVBR sources confirmed last Friday that Lincoln Financial Group is set to swallow hard and exit the broadcasting business for a mere 1.2 billion bucks. The company releases its Q3 results after the closing bell tomorrow and conducts its conference call with analysts on Wednesday, Halloween, so the sale announcements could come by then. As first reported by Reuters, Raycom appears to have the inside track to buy the Lincoln Financial Media TV group for around a half billion. The radio group will likely have multiple buyers for a total of 650 million, and then there's another 50 million for the sports syndication business. Yep, that's a total of 1.2 billion for assets that were expected to bring around 1.5 billion when they were put on the market last spring. As we reported last week, bidders for the radio properties included Joel Hollander, Randy Michaels, Entercom and Greater Media. That list is now said to also include Cumulus and Bonneville International. Which markets to whom? We wait to find out.
TVBR observation: We thought that the people who run big insurance companies are supposed to be smart money guys. Oh, well. One person involved in the bidding noted that in the current credit environment, 1.2 billion works out to more than what 1.5 billion was back in the spring. OK, that may be true for the buyer - but not for the seller.
Applause for Martin from the WSJ
Most of the commentary on FCC Chairman Kevin Martin's plans to bring media ownership rules up for a December vote has been severely negative, not to mention wildly speculative. However, Wall Street Journal weighed in supporting loosening the rules so that market forces could decide who owns what. Whereas some consolidation opponents have given free rein to their imaginations, WSJ speculated that Martin's goals are "less ambitious," confined to repealing or relaxing cross-ownership restrictions. (For the record, there has been no official word as to what will and will not be on the table.) WSJ said that the anti-consolidation outcry is a reflection of "the political left's paranoia about corporate media ownership," arguing at the same time that the left has "operational control" of public broadcasting outlets. It argued that "the free market should determine the size of a company," and further noted that consumers have more media choices now than ever before. "If federal media ownership regulations are to encourage such dynamism rather than inhibit it, they need to be updated." Meanwhile, industry labor union AFTRA is asking it members to fire off a letter to everybody in Congress asking them to slow the FCC down. Among their fears are less local news coverage, homogenized formats, decreasing opportunities for airplay and "fewer and less diverse opportunities for actors."
TVBR observation: WSJ's argument would do a better job of holding water if it confined itself to economic theory and the actual situation on the media ground. By using the issue to attack the left, it opens itself to question due to the fact that the loyal opposition to consolidation is well-populated with members of the right wing community. Indeed, one of the most highlighted factors when opposition to Michael Powell was blossoming back in 2003 was that the issue managed the unlikely feat of bringing the NRA and Code Pink together. And on Capitol Hill, the ideological gulf between Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Trent Lott (R-MS) is about as wide as such gulfs get, but there they were the other day, standing together in opposition to further consolidation. Finally, the issue is not whether or not public broadcasting acts as some sort of counterweight to commercial broadcasting. The question is where the line is between diversity of ownership and economic viability. In other words, it is obviously better to have 20 viewpoints active in a market, but not if 17 of them are one bad book away from going out of business. What's going on down on the bottom of the radio dial or over at PBS really is immaterial.
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 Negotiators about to get fed
That's fed as in federal assistance. The Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers and the Writers Guild of America still are not close to an agreement as Friday sessions proved fruitless. The result will be a session with an assignee from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. AMPTP offered numerous concessions. Nick Counter, president of the alliance, agreed to consult lead writers when products are placed in TV shows; agreed to raise the ceiling on health and pension plan contributions but continued to reject WGA demands for higher home video payments and increased residuals for webcast TV shows and movies. John Bowman, chair of the WGA Negotiating Committee, responded: "Our employers are growing and dominate the global entertainment industry. Yet their opening offer would have rolled back our compensation by 50%. Now they decrease the rollbacks to 45% and proclaim that they are truly bargaining. Minor adjustments to major rollbacks do not constitute forward motion. To make a deal, the AMPTP must engage with us on the issues that matter in this negotiation." The two sides took a break over the weekend and today, but will meet with the mediator on Tuesday. The current contract expires this Wednesday 10/31/07, and a strike could begin the next day.
TVBR note: Our TVBR observation from last Monday 10/22/07 TVBR #206 still holds true. The real culprit of the potential strike is New Media, everyone wants a piece of the action, called Money. The last strike by the WGA was in 1988 and it cost the industry around 500 million bucks. Now do the math today and see what that same 500 million would be today.
Cross-spectrum opposition to white space invaders
NAB's Dennis Wharton got off a good one in Congressional daily "The Hill," which was reporting on the strange bedfellows joining in opposition to the misguided effort to allow unlicensed devices into the white spaces between television allocations. "We have got Broadway theater, God and sports on our side," remarked Wharton. The television industry has ample reason to be concerned, since untraceable unlicensed spectrum devices will have the ability to completely disrupt a digital broadcast signal, putting the all-important DTV transition at risk at precisely the worst time imaginable. Tests of the devices have yet to show that they can operate safely. Remote broadcasters covering news and sporting events, along with theaters, concert halls and churches, rely on wireless microphones which operate in this spectrum and which will also be at risk. According to the Hill, over 40 legislators have written to the FCC in opposition to allowing unlicensed devices at this time. At least one, Jay Inslee (D-WA), is pushing in favor of them.
TVBR observation: We've said it before and we'll say it again. We're not technical experts, but if there is any doubt whatsoever, it is insane to experiment in this band with the DTV transition less than 500 days away. If the FCC wants to look at fixed, licensed services in the spectrum, fine. If it wants to let the technicians tinker away in their labs to see if they can come up with legitimately fool-proof devices that will work in an up-and-running, thoroughly debugged digital TV environment, after 2/17/09, fine. To allow them out of Pandora's Box now is utterly irresponsible.
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TVBR News Analysis
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 What about the public interest?
The battle lines have been drawn for the latest attempt by the FCC to reform its media ownership limits. Big financial interests want more deregulation, particularly in the biggest markets. Politicians from both parties have staked out the position that all media consolidation is bad. Both sides occasionally pay lip service to considering "the public interest," but, in fact, neither really gives a damn. If they were really concerned about what would be good for the public they would look at the real world and try to fix what is broken - or in the process of breaking. Everyone knows that daily newspapers are in a world of hurt. New Internet challengers are taking big bites out of what used to be their cash cow - classified advertising. Their news content business is also moving online and they are trying to follow their readers. Increasingly, those readers have broadband Internet access and are demanding video as a part of news coverage. From both an economic point of view and leveraging video and reporting expertise, combining the resources of a local newspaper and a local television station makes a lot of sense, regardless of market size.
While there has been some modest deregulation of TV, allowing duopolies in very large markets, there has been no deregulation at all where there is a real crisis - in small TV markets. Markets that just a few years ago had three commercial stations now have five or six, or even more, responding to the proliferation of new national networks. The available local ad revenues, however, have not increased at the same pace. The result is that in many markets only one heritage TV station is able to staff a local news operation and turn a profit. Sometimes two. But the next station down the pecking order has a tough choice - continue to do news and maybe break even some years, or drop news and turn a profit. But if that station were allowed to acquire one of its competitors, have more ad inventory to sell and spread news programming over a second platform, it would be able to do news profitably. Some operators already have shared services agreements to jury-rig a virtual duopoly, but the real thing would work better for everyone, including local viewers. Radio got its deregulation in 1996. In the largest markets a single company can now own eight stations. We're not aware of anyone who is operating eight stations well in a single market, so radio can be largely bypassed on this round of dereg - except for allowing crossownership with newspapers to, hopefully, boost radio news coverage.
Some dereg ideas that would really serve the public interest:
First: Eliminate the crossownership rule. Let newspapers and broadcasters team up under common ownership in local markets. There are lots of broadcast signals, so let some of them be paired with print to make it economically feasible to do good local news coverage - on air, in print and online. The only limitation we would suggest is not allowing the top billing newspaper in a DMA to acquire the top billing TV station.
Second: Allow TV duopolies in all markets. Keep the current restriction that two of the top four billing stations can't merge for the top 50 markets. Make it no two of the top three for markets 51-100. For 101+, the restriction should be that the top two can't merge. Letting #1 or #2 acquire #3 isn't a problem, since #3, while it may be an affiliate of one of the "big four networks," probably isn't a local news powerhouse by any stretch of the imagination.
Third: Allow local media combinations to be transferred intact. Once a company has built up a potent local news operation across multiple platforms, don't force its breakup because of a sale or merger that makes a different entity the owner. If a daily newspaper buys the #3 TV station in a market and over the course of a decade or two builds it to #1, don't require separate sales because the estate of the original owner wants to sell the media outlets. Let the public continue to benefit from that established local news leader.
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Ad Business Report TM
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 Questioning Nielsen's commercial ratings in report
Steve Sternberg, EVP/audience analysis at MAGNAGlobal, said in a primetime audience report Friday that the confusion and misinformation about viewing levels for the current television season are the fault of the TV networks, the press and Nielsen Media Research: "Nielsen is happy to sit back, seemingly oblivious to the chaos their scattershot approach to releasing audience data has caused. We sincerely hope that they are expending the considerable resources they seem to be applying to numerous other areas, to streamline their processes, and figure out a way to get average commercial minute audience data to the industry faster than the current three to four week lag time." The main reason, he says this is so critical is because marketplace currency switched from Live Program ratings (LP) last season, to Average Commercial Minute ratings plus 3 days of DVR commercial playback (C3) this season. "Advertisers therefore need to see both metrics to help determine what impact switching audience measurement methodology has on the cost-efficiencies of their national television buys, and to get an indication of how many more or fewer rating points are available for sale in the marketplace (i.e., has supply changed significantly from a year ago)," he said in the report.
Lisa Quan, VP, Director of Audience Analysis, MAGNA Global, tells TVBR one of the issues behind the report was that Nielsen "promised to give us a year's worth of evaluation data. That got cut down to nine months; that got cut down to six months; that got cut down to Summertime data, only. And that was supposed to be the time in which everyone was to agree whether or not this stuff is going to be stable, consistent and accurate. When we're trying to do analyses--and just jumping headlong into the new season using a new metric that hasn't had a track behind it is disconcerting for everybody, not just networks but agencies as well. We've only had Summertime to look at, which is going to be different from television usage in the fall, wintertime, etc. I believe, they are still not prepared to deal with the regional sports feeds they are getting. That was a problem that some of the networks had-I know Fox with football ha d raised some questions whether or not it was being processed properly."
Nielsen SVP/Communications Jack Loftus, pictured, tells TVBR: "We're always looking to be faster. I think that the point about getting information out to the marketplace faster is a good one-we're trying to do just that. But Steve was at the vanguard of those folks who asked us to provide these kinds of commercial ratings data, and that's what we're doing. We are currently working on ways of getting the information out there faster."
| See the report here |
TVBR observation: Nielsen is sort of caught between a rock and a hard place here. They can't rush the data out earlier-and have it be flawed. Their number one concern is reliable data. They have to get it right and it is taking a bit longer than some thought. The good news is Fall data will be coming out soon, and Winter on a faster track. Once the information is established for an entire year, commercial minute ratings will be firmly established as a currency. We all want that to be sooner, but some things are worth waiting for.
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| Media Business Report TM |
Talkers range free during diffuse news week
When the concentration of news coverage for the second hottest story of the week (Pakistan) hits a mere 6%, especially when topic #1 (the 2008 campaign) wasn't particularly hot either at 11%, it leaves Talkers free to chart their own course. That was the case during the week of 10/14-19/07, according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism. Talkers jazzed the campaign up to 21% and took Iraq policy from 5% of the newshole to 11%. But they also revisited areas that weren't on the news list, like the Larry Craig saga and the Nobel Prizes. Talkers passed on Pakistan, but found interest in the twists and turns of US/Turkey relations. Oh, and they made time for one of their own, giving the non-attack on Air America Talker Randi Rhodes 2% of the hole.
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| Media Markets & Money TM |
Close encounter in Decatur
GOCOM Media of Illinois is getting its third TV in the geographical sprawling Champaign-Springfield-Decatur IL DMA, adding WBUI-TV from ACME Communications for 4M. The station, which carries CW fare over Ch. 23, will join a pair of Fox outlets, WRSP-TV Springfield IL (Ch. 55) & WCCU-TV Urbana IL (Ch. 27) in GOMCOM's local portfolio. ACME says the deal allows it to repay its entire outstanding credit facility debt with 1.2M left over for working capital.
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| Washington Business Report TM |
 Early to bed, early to rise
If your AM station is operating with special pre-sunrise (PSRA) and post-sunset (PSSA) authority, the FCC has fired off a reminder that the new extension of Daylight Savings Time into November, pursuant to the US Energy Policy Act of 2005, will affect your broadcast day for the first three days of the month. It says to use "October DST "Advanced" powers and time periods shown on their current PSRAs and PSSAs..." Daylight Savings Time officially ceases at 2AM 11/4/07. If there are any questions or if you're getting interference you shouldn't be, the FCC asks that you call the Audio Division at (202) 418-2700 and ask for either Charles Miller, Susan Crawford or Son Nguyen.
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| Internet Business Report TM |
 Manga.com launched
by Starz Media
Starz Media's Manga Entertainment announced the launch of its new streaming video entertainment website, Manga.com. The site includes a unique blend of video, product-related info and other editorial content for anime-fans to web-video enthusiasts. Manga Entertainment's library of anime offers video in multiple ways, from such popular TV, movie and other video titles as "Ghost in the Shell", "Ninja Scroll," "Street Fighter," "Dead Leaves," "Blood: The Last Vampire" and "Castle of Cagliostro," among others. Manga Entertainment is also responsible for SCI FI's "Animonday" block of programming (airing Monday's at 11pm).
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| Ratings & Research |
Looking at Week 4; Daytime C3
Carat Programming's Broadcast and Video Beat took a look at the fourth week of the television season, week ending October 21, 2007. It also provided a preliminary look at Average Commercial Minute Ratings for Daytime Network Television including up to three days of DVR playback, (C3). The analysis is based on copyrighted respondent level data from Nielsen's NPower system for the week of September 24-September 30, 2007. Highlights include: "Up until recently, VCR penetration in the United States has hovered at around 90% for nearly 20 years. Currently VCR penetration has slipped to about 79% U.S. as the old recording devices broke down and homes gradually replaced them with DVR technology instead. As you know Nielsen is unable to account for VCR playback, so it still treats recording activity as "live viewing" to programs. In daytime television VCR contribution currently ranges from 3-12% of the average household rating. By the way, Household VCR recording activity also gets ascribed to live demographic viewing. In addition, VCR recording activity counts as staying tuned through commercial minutes.
Based on results from the first week of the television season for key daytime target, Women 25-54, average commercial minute ratings including three days of DVR playback (AKA "C3") outperformed the live television rating for nearly every single daytime show with the exception of Price is Right. 2, which was on par with its live program rating."
| See the charts here |
TVBR observation: Carat and other agencies have long complained about the unfair calculations regarding VCR viewing. Eventually, as VCRs are no longer sold, and used less and less, the issue will diminish accordingly.
More color on industry contributions
Stats compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics are showing an undeniable shift in corporate giving toward Democrats this campaign cycle. Out of the top 20 categories, eight are either strongly tilted toward or leaning toward Democratic candidates, compared to three for Republicans (nine are "on the fence"). The Democratic advantage is even more stark when looking at just the top ten, where the score is Democrats five, on the fence five, Republicans zero. The closest of the CRP's categories to the TVBR focus is TV/movies/music, which is the 9th most generous political giver and just one point off being the most severely tilted toward Democrats with 77% of the cash headed in that direction. Here are the totals by industry.
| Read More |
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| Monday Morning Makers & Shakers |
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Transactions: 9/10/07-9/14/07
Radio trading had a third decent if unspectacular week in a row, if you like small market action (there was also a niche AM sold in Denver). However, the television side was absent this week, resulting in a total that just failed to pull into the 30M range. Still, five separate transactions were good for 2M or more, not bad in this lending environment.
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Total
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Total Deals
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9
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AMs
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6
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FMs
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11
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TVs
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0
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| Value |
28.242M
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| Complete Charts |
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Radio Transactions of the Week
GAP adds in Louisiana
| More... |
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TV Transactions of the Week
TV takes a nap
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| Stock Talk |
An up day to finish the week
Mortgage giant Countrywide said it will soon return to profitability and Microsoft reported strong results, so Wall Street traders were happy on Friday. The Dow Industrials rose 135 points, or 1%, to 13,807.
TV stocks enjoyed the optimism. Gray Television led the charge, with its Class A up 5.8% and Common gaining 5.5%. Tribune rose 3.7%.
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| Stocks |
Here's how stocks fared on Friday
| Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
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Acme
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ACME
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3.78
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-0.07
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Lincoln Natl.
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LNC
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66.58
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+2.17
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Belo
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BLC
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18.55
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+0.13
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LIN TV
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TVL
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14.31
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+0.35
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| CBS CI. B |
CBS |
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29.00
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+0.20
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McGraw-Hill
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MHP
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49.75
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+0.50
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| CBS CI. A |
CBSa |
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29.01
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+0.26
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Media General
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MEG
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28.46
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+0.53
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Clear Channel
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CCU
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37.85
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unch
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Meredith
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MDP
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61.43
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+0.31
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Disney
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DIS
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34.38
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-0.07
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News Corp.
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NWS
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23.00
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+0.03
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Emmis
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EMMS
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5.23
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+0.10
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Nexstar
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NXST
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9.99
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+0.59
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Entravision
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EVC
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9.35
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-0.42
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Ion Media
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ION
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1.33
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-0.07
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| Equity Media |
EMDA |
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2.83 |
-0.02 |
Saga Commun.
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SGA
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7.45
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-0.29
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Fisher
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FSCI
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49.76
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+0.66
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SBS
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SBSA
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2.62
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+0.01
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Gannett
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GCI
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41.93
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+0.31
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Scripps
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SSP
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43.92
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+0.34
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Gen. Electric
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GE
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40.38
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+0.22
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Sinclair
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SBGI
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11.96
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+0.21
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| Google |
GOOG |
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674.60
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+6.09
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SWMX
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SWMX
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0.02
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unch
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Gray
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GTN
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9.58
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+0.50
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Time Warner
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TWX
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18.35
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+0.64
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Gray, C1. A
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GTNa
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9.75
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+0.53
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Tribune
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TRB
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29.65
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+1.05
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Hearst-Argyle
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HTV
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22.74
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+0.73
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Wash. Post
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WPO
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801.51
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+0.44
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Journal Comm.
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JRN
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9.04
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+0.04
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Young
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YBTVA
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2.33
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+0.05
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TVBR/RBR
Looking for Talent
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Imagine Media
Ad Sales Without...
Long Commutes, 8:30 Sales Meetings, Bonus Spots, or selling Print in an Electronic medium. More Reasons to consider Selling Advertising with TVBR. Honestly, we are so busy we can not service all the accounts. Can you help us? Our Budgets Are Realistic. Compensation plan is good. If you are good, our Compensation plan is Great. If you are Great, our Compensation plan is Unbelievable! TVBR - Where Making Money is Fun - One click at a time. If your at a dead end Print Trade, in Confidence, contact Publisher Jim Carnegie at publisher@rbr.com.
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See TV Careers
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Bounceback
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 We want to
hear from you.
This is your column, so send your comments and
a photo to tvnews@rbr.com
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Below the Fold
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TVBR News Analysis
What about the public interest?
The battle lines have been drawn for the latest attempt by the FCC to reform its media ownership limits...
Ad Business Report
Questioning Nielsen's
Commercial ratings in report Steve Sternberg at MAGNAGlobal fires it off at Nielsen...
Media, Markets & Money
Close encounter in Decatur
GOCOM Media of IL is getting its 3rd TV...
Ratings & Research
Looking at Week 4; Daytime C3
Carat Programming's Broadcast and Video Beat...
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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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Upped at Nexstar
 Philip Dubrow has been promoted to Vice President and General Manager of Nexstar's WTAJ-TV (Ch. 10, CBS) Johnstown-Altoona-State College, PA, effective November 1st. Dubrow has been with the station for 12 years, most recently as Station Manager.
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More News Headlines
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 New name,
same family
Morgan Murphy Stations has rebranded itself as Morgan Murphy Media. "This name change reflects how our industry and the media landscape have changed in just the past few years. I'm a third-generation owner and just as my grandfather pioneered in newspapers and my father in radio and television, my generation has welcomed the digital world as part of our news, information, and entertainment delivery service. It's only natural that we change our name to reflect today's reality in the media industry. Our company has grown beyond its 'station' base to expand into magazine and Internet ventures. We expect that expansion to continue and our new name allows that growth to occur under an appropriate corporate banner," said President Elizabeth Murphy Burns.
TVBR note: Madison, WI-based Morgan Murphy Media operates KXLY-TV (ABC) Spokane, WA; KAPP-TV (ABC) Yakima, WA; KVEW-TV (ABC) Tri-Cities, WA; WKBT-TV (CBS) La Crosse, WI; and WISC-TV (CBS) Madison WI. In each of its TV markets, the company operates a MyNetworkTV affiliate. Other media operations include seven radio stations in the Spokane/Coeur d'Alene, Idaho market; five radio stations in Southwestern Wisconsin; Madison Magazine, a monthly lifestyle publication in Madison; and Murphy Entertainment Group, which produces programming for broadcast and cable networks and Internet delivery.
Colbert drawing
solid support
Stephen Colbert, Comedy Central's faux political bloviator, is adding faux candidate for president to his resume, a form of schtick that first saw Pat Paulson of the old Smothers Brothers show engage in. In this instance, however, pollster Rasmussen Reports ran some numbers, and in selected matchups, Colbert pulls double digits running as a third-party independent. Colbert has said he will run in the primaries of both parties in his native South Carolina. Rasmussen went ahead and tested him as in independent in a race against Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Rudy Giuliani (R-NY), and the results were Clinton 45%, Giuliani 35% and Colbert 13%. When Fred Thompson (R-TN) was substituted for Guiliani, the results were almost identical: Clinton 46%, Thompson 34%, Colbert 12%. His power demo is 18-29, where his draw was 28% in the first contest and 31% in the second, in both cases outpolling the Republican candidate.
TVBR observation: Some are pointing out that this is bad news for marginal candidates who are struggling to get into the spotlight. The more it shines on Colbert, the less may be left over for the Gravels and Hunters of the campaign. You can tell us whether that is a good or a bad thing.
Dale Clark dead at 93
Veteran Atlanta newsman Dale Clark died last week at age 93. He was heard on WAGA-AM from 1944 and became the first News Director of WAGA-TV in 1958. He retired in 1980.
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RBR - Radio News
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Carmel Group
revisits XM/Sirius
Research firm Carmel Group has been retained by the NAB to study the proposed merger between XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio. They note the same problems with the merger that other antitrust experts have testified to before Congress. "The competition between Sirius and XM is a critical matter for artists, performers, agents and technicians who work for and with these two entities. Many will lose their jobs in a merger. Perhaps more important, continued competition is critical to consumers." That's because the competitive action between the two has been extensive, as Carmel documents in its "Ping-Pong" chart. Going back to 2001, it notes an improvement made by one and the subsequent competitive answer from the other. The categories include everything from program offerings, receiver qualities, factory-installation deals with auto makers and even use of geostationary satellites. Merge the two, and the need for this competition goes away. Further, there is no was for a land-based radio station to compete with the DARS services' massive channel capacity and national mobility. "Put shortly, if you can't obtain huge swaths of channels and programming anywhere else, how can AM, FM, HD radio, Internet radio, music-to-cell phones and MP3 devices be labeled competitive to satellite radio?"
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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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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.
TVBR observation: Someone has to be Stuck on Stupid. 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.
10/26/07 TVBR #210
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."
RBR 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? (Read the details and the Letter in this special page report in RBR)
10/26/07 RBR #210
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.
TVBR observation: 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.
10/26/07 TVBR #210
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
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TVBR Classifieds
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General Sales Manager
KSBI-TV, Oklahoma statewide independent network, is seeking an experienced GSM. Candidate with proven track record. Key is to have knowledge is sales strategy with contacts in national and regional business. Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Management or Business preferred. Enjoy making a great income. Opportunities are tremendous. See TV Careers
Additional Positions
Available in TVBR Classifieds.
See TV Careers.
Hard finding that key person
to fill the important position at your organization? TVBR Classifieds, Results with Service. Contact April McLynn at classifieds@rbr.com
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