| WGA Strike Central: Day 89 |
WGA gives CBS a break
More good news for ongoing WGA-AMPTP negotiations: The WGA scrapped a controversial event it had planned in New York next week targeting CBS Corp. investors. The guild had invited dozens of Wall Street analysts to a one-hour presentation set for 2/5 on how the strike has negatively affected the television networks and their ratings--CBS in particular.
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TV News ®
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 Republican candidates
strapped for cash?
The Mitt Romney (R-MA) campaign has indicated that it will not be going in for a major national media buy, or even numerous local spot shots in the run-up to Super Duper Tuesday, when the presidential nominations for both parties may hang in the balance. Add to that the fact that the John McCain (R-AZ) campaign began the year in the red and that Mike Huckabee (R-AR) has always been cash-strapped, and it would appear that the Republicans will not be funding a political cash windfall over the weekend. However, it may be a different story on the Democratic side. The fourth Republican still up and running, Ron Paul (R-TX), has seen contributions flow in consistently, but his other consistency is that he remains a prisoner of sub-double-digit poll numbers. It will be interesting to see if Paul uses some of his cash to try for a splash in selected states where his message is resonating above and beyond his national numbers.
On the Democratic side, the incoming cash spigots seem to be operating in overdrive. Such is the case for Barack Obama (D-IL) at any rate, who is reporting a surge of 30M+ into his warchest in January of 2008 alone. (Q4 2007 contribution totals for all campaigns should be available from the FEC soon.) If Hillary Clinton (D-NY) is enjoying anywhere near the same amount of fund-raising success, the two remaining Democrats could possibly make up for any spending shortfall on the Republican side.
TVBR observation: The obvious place to spend some cash would be the Super Bowl, but that event has been sold out and is priced well beyond the means of most campaigns anyway. The real winners could be the states holding primary events directly after Super Duper Tuesday, if the results on that day prove inconclusive. A small, manageable number of contests, with the stakes accelerating higher and higher, could be a cash magnet for broadcasters.
 TNS and DirecTV
to measure TV viewing
TNS Media Research and DirecTV announced plans for a national panel of 100,000 DirecTV subscribers to measure live and time-shifted viewing of TV programs and commercials on a second-by-second basis. TNS DirecTView will be launched this year and data from the set-top-box system will be marketed by TNS. "By working with TNS Media Research, our goal is to develop a panel capability that will provide important insights across our advertising platform. These insights will in turn provide our advertisers and programming partners an unparalleled level of measurement accuracy and accountability when partnering with DirecTV," said Eric Shanks, EVP DirecTV Entertainment. The partners also publicized a thumbs-up for the new service from a key advertising agency. "This announcement is exciting as it is further proof that the digital evolution is fueling a revolution in television audience measurement. With the TNS DirecTView service, Starcom is thrilled to be able to take another important step in understanding and using second-by-second behavioral data to acquire more knowledge and deliver greater accountability on behalf of our advertisers," said Tracey Scheppach, Senior Vice President, Video Innovations Director, Starcom Worldwide.
TVBR observation: Not a direct challenger to Nielsen, obviously, since this is strictly gathering national data, not local. Also, while the satellite TV set-top-boxes can produce lots and lots of data, it is not a representative sample of the US viewing public - it excludes everyone who subscribes to cable and Dish Network or watches over-the-air broadcast TV via an antenna. Still, there will be considerable advertiser and agency interest in the sizeable aggregation of data on second-by-second viewer behavior.
Legal eagle view of enhanced disclosure
One of the many actions taken at the FCC's exceptional 12/18/07 Open Meeting was the ratification of a new questionnaire which will require television operators to keep track of many categories of local programming in detail. These details were finally revealed just recently (1/24/08). Attorney Michael Shacter of Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC has taken the questionnaire completely apart and described in step-by-step detail what needs to be reported. This proceeding is referenced frequently in a notice of proposed rulemaking on enhancing localism in broadcast programming. As such, Shacter's dissection will be instructive not only in and of itself, but will offer a window in what's still coming down the pike - and it is our belief that even though radio operators were not roped in by this first round of enhanced disclosure, they will be caught in the next go-around.
| See TVBR.com for more from WCSR's Shacter |
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Tribune Company sells LA studio complex
The price tag for the Tribune Studios complex, known to many as "Tara," is 125 million as Tribune Company under Sam Zell seeks to clean up its balance sheet by offloading unnecessary assets. Further avoiding any tax liability, Zell will use the proceeds in a like-kind exchange for Tribune to exercise its option to buy real estate associated with some of its big newspapers for 175 million. The purchase of the newspaper-related real estate will also allow Tribune to exit one of its remaining entanglements with the Chandler family, which had controlled Times Mirror before its merger with Tribune and had been a driving force in seeking a sale of Tribune, leading to the sale to Zell and an Employee Stock Ownership Plan. Tribune had cut a deal in 2006 to restructure the real estate partnerships with the Chandlers and received an option to buy the real estate from two partnerships, known as TMCT and owned 95% by the Chandlers, for 175 million. The date for exercise of that option was January 2008, so Zell, who made his billions in real estate, had a clear target for getting the LA studio deal done as well. Tribune announced in August that it was putting Tribune Studios up for sale (8/31/07 TVBR #171). Tribune had owned the 10.5-acre studio complex, the original Warner Brothers studio, since 1988. Much of it is leased out for various productions. Tribune's KTLA-TV (Ch. 5, CW) will remain at the site through 2012 under a five-year lease with the acquirer, Hudson Capital.
 Media General wants
hedge fund to back off
Media General CEO Marshall Morton repeated yesterday in his conference call with Wall Street analysts that he has repeatedly tried to speak with representatives of Harbinger Capital since last summer, when the hedge fund first disclosed that it had acquired a stake in the company, but that only this week, after saying it would nominate three candidates to the Media General board (1/28/08 TVBR #18), did Harbinger indicate any willingness to have a meeting. "We continue to be puzzled as to what Harbinger hopes to achieve by its actions. This hedge fund appears to have a high portfolio turnover rate, rotating out of numerous holdings every six to twelve months. A board member having such a short-term perspective would be disruptive to our company and would, in our view, be adverse to the legitimate, long-term interests of all Media General stockholders," Morton said of the hedge fund's attempts to place nominees on the board. Still, he's ready to talk. "We welcome Harbinger's willingness to engage in a dialogue with us. We look forward hearing what they have to say and to giving them our perspective on the issues they have raised such as corporate governance, strategic direction and capital allocation," Morton said.
MMTC prescription for DTV success
The Minority Media and Telecommunications Council is lamenting the fact that Congress hasn't been able to find more than 5M to publicize the DTV digital-to-analog converter program. And even more to the point, it has done nothing about the fact that the 20 US zip codes where the need for the converters is greatest are largely unserved by the retailers who will be making the boxes available. MMTC's David Honig said the group compared eight NTIA-certified retailers to the 20 neediest zip codes, and found that out of more than 500 stores nationwide, only six are located in the identified hot spots. It found two each of Radio Shack and Sears, and one each of Target and K-Mart. Missing in action are Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, Aaron Rents, Best Buy and Circuit City. "While NTIA can't require national retailers to stop practicing commercial redlining when they choose sites for new stores, NTIA should encourage certified retailers in close proximity to African American and Latino populations to advertise heavily in Black and Spanish media," suggests MMTC. MMTC further suggests publicizing at sporting events, using entertainers and political candidates (particularly the two presidential nominees once their known); getting young entrepreneurs to distribute coupon applications door-to-door; adopt commercial advertiser creative techniques; get the message out to churches, barber shops, places of employment and recreational/entertainment facilities; taking the message into public schools; conduct effective research; and make sure all involved parties are ready for crunch time as the deadline approaches.
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| Wall Street Business Report TM |
Scripps upbeat on TV for 2008, but not newspapers
With little in the way of political advertising in Q4, TV revenues were down 18.3% to 91.5 million at E.W. Scripps Company. Local rose 14% and national was down 1.6%, while political dropped to 1.3 million from 28.9 million. But we are now in another political year, so CEO Ken Lowe is looking forward to a big year in 2008 for TV as political advertising returns big-time, primarily in the second half of the year. But he's not so optimistic about the company's newspapers, which will be paired with TV when the company splits. Newspaper Q4 revenues fell 9.6% to 165, with local, national and classifieds all down double-digits, while online was up and circulation flat. Meanwhile, the cable nets, Scripps Networks, had another big quarter, with ad revenues up 14% to 255 million and affiliate fees up 21% to 58.3 million. When the company is split in a few months, the cable networks will be spun off with Scripps Interactive Media, which saw Q4 revenues decline to 79.8 million from 86.6 million. That shortfall was blamed entirely on uSwitch, an online service for consumers to switch energy providers operating primarily in the UK.
Soft quarter for Media General
As CEO Marshall Morton deals with a hedge fund's hostile attempt to win seats on his board of directors, Media General reported that Q4 revenues fell 10% to 243.8 million, blamed largely on the lack of political advertising in TV and the weak economic climate in Florida. Net earnings plunged to 9.6 million, or 43 cents per share, compared to 31.6 million and EPS of 1.33, but the quarter included lots of special items. Income from continuing operations was put at 10.4 million, or 47 cents per share, still down sharply from 31.3 million, or 1.32 per share. TV revenues fell 14% to 99.4 million and segment profit dropped 42% to24.6 million. Local was the bright spot, up 10%. Newspaper ad revenues dropped 11% and total newspaper revenues were off 9% to 137.1 million. Publishing segment profits fell 22% to 26.6 million.
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Ad Business Report TM
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 What GroupM reorg
means to local buying
Following up on our story that GroupM announced local broadcast buying units at its Mediaedge:cia, MediaCom, and MindShare media agencies will be consolidated into two separate teams called Team Matrix and Team Motion (1/30/08 RBR #20), we observed this follows similar moves as with WPP's Team Detroit for Ford Motor Media and Chrysler consolidating at PHD as well. For national spot, this is a pretty big story, from three aspects:
* For the mega agencies to run a national spot TV/spot radio group, it is exceedingly expensive to manage and maintain in the way of paperwork, real estate, data processing, research, training, churn--human factors. As well, media agencies work on very narrow commissions and the overhead is high. This is likely why the consolidation has been initiated. In general the expense of running these departments on the agency side in general could be one of the reasons national spot has been getting hurt lately.
* This is also going to create a sense of anxiety on the sales staff side, too. The management at the stations might like this, because it forces consolidation on the broadcast side, too. Instead of having all of those different folks calling all of the different agencies, there are less agency contacts to call upon. Salespeople on the staff will now be jockeying for position soon as to who will be the point person to call at these new consolidated agency teams.
* By consolidating on both sides, prices will be driven lower. It will be good for clients getting lower prices. It might be good for stations because it creates a central figure that can make decisions quickly without red tape, but pricing will get hurt which is not good.
TiVo signs CBS to Stop||Watch
TiVo announced CBS Corp. has entered into a research partnership via TiVo's Stop||Watch service, which provides second-by-second measurement of program and specific commercial ratings for both live and time-shifted viewing. This partnership will allow CBS to develop and measure new strategies to deliver results for its advertising clients, including learning how to structure pods and interstitials to better keep audience attention during commercial breaks, and develop new and improved promotional strategies for time-shifted viewers to build audiences for its programs. Additional subscribers to Stop||Watch include NBC Universal, The Interpublic Group, Starcom, Carat USA, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Media IQ and Euro RSCG New York.
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| Washington Business Report TM |
Adelstein weighs in on DTV
FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein (D) contributed his two cents in the wake of reports from NAB and the Consumers Union on the state of public awareness of the upcoming DTV transition. "The good news is that surveys from Consumers Union and the broadcast industry show that more Americans are becoming aware of the DTV transition," he said. "The bad news is there is still a lot of confusion that could turn into widespread panic if the government doesn't take a more proactive role. The FCC needs to present a comprehensive strategy -- a DTV State of the Union -- about how it plans to provide better guidance to the American people. We need to coordinate and work closer with the broadcast, cable, satellite and consumer electronic industries to ensure that no household is left confused by the DTV transition. The word is getting out, but we need a more coherent message to align the mixed signals people are getting." Meanwhile, PR trade Daily Dog says that the FCC may be getting closer to mandating as many as four daily PSAs on the transition on all licensed stations. Broadcasters are said to be pushing for a more limited grab into available local inventory, but supplemented with separate ads on major national networks.
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| Media Business Report TM |
 Amazon.com to acquire Audible.com
Amazon.com has reached an agreement to acquire Audible Inc., an online provider of digital spoken word audio content, specializing in digital audio editions of books, newspapers and magazines, television and radio programs and original programming. In recent months, Amazon has announced a number of innovations in the digital space, including Amazon Kindle, a revolutionary wireless portable reader that provides instant wireless downloads of more than 90,000 books, blogs, magazines and newspapers to a crisp, high-resolution electronic paper display. Under the terms, Amazon.com will commence a cash tender offer to purchase all of the outstanding shares of Audible.com for 11.50 per share and will assume Audible.com's outstanding stock-based awards, for an aggregate transaction value of 300 million which includes Audible.com's cash and short-term investments at closing. The acquisition is expected to close by Q2.
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| Cable Business Report TM |
RFD signs with Comcast: Imus to add big metros
Viewers in D.C., Boston, Chicago and San Francisco, among other big cities, moved a step closer to being able to see a simulcast of Don Imus's morning radio show on TV. Patrick Gottsch, RFD-TV President, said on Wednesday morning that he had signed an affiliation agreement with Comcast, reported a NY Times story. That means RFD-TV can begin negotiations to be carried on Comcast systems including Baltimore, Detroit, Philadelphia, Seattle, Denver and Nashville. RFD is seeking a similar agreement with Time Warner Cable, which could pave the way for Imus to be seen again in NYC and LA.
 MTV spearheads
mass-media event Saturday
The assets of cable, broadcast , satellite and the Internet will be harnessed 2/2/08 at 6PM Eastern in an effort to give voters, particularly youthful voters, access to presidential candidates just three days before Super Duper Tuesday. Myspace, MTV and the Associated Press will be harnessing the media power, and so far four candidates have agreed to participate, including Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Barack Obama (D-IL), Mike Huckabee (R-AR) and Ron Paul (R-TX). The organizers say invitations have also been extended to John McCain (R-AZ) and Mitt Romney (R-MA), neither of whom has indicated they'd sign on as yet. Several of MTV's cable channels will carry the event; it'll be on Myspace; AP will make it available online and to radio stations (as will MTV as well); it'll be available on MTV Mobile; it will be carried on XM Satellite Radio, and will also be translated into Spanish and carried on the ImpreMedias LaVibra project. And you can catch it live at Times Square in New York. MTV specifically notes the excellent access the event will provide to the exceptionally interested younger demo, but of course the event is available to anybody who is interested. MTV says 200M citizens will have access.
MD county fines Comcast
The Montgomery County Gazette reports the suburban DC county that includes Bethesda, Rockville and Potomac, has charged Comcast 12,000 so far this year for violating customer service standards in the required in the franchise agreement. The county has charged Comcast 74,000 since last January for franchise violations. "We take customer service very seriously here in Montgomery County," said County Executive Isiah Leggett in a statement. Leggett recently proposed the county council approve a fourth cable television franchise from Cavalier to compete with Comcast, RCN and Verizon. ''One way to ensure good customer service is to give cable TV customers choices," he said. Since June 2006, the county has fined Comcast each quarter with progressively larger fines, the county said.
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| Internet Business Report TM |
Univision.com to power NFLatino.com
Univision Online and the NFL announced they will jointly manage and operate NFLatino.com powered by Univision.com, the official U.S. Spanish-language website of the NFL. NFLatino.com is the only Spanish-language website in the US to feature NFL video game highlights. The site also includes live radio broadcasts, stats, Hispanic player diaries, Fantasy Football and an insider's view of all 32 teams. The unveiling comes just in time for Super Bowl XLII.
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| Entertainment Business Report TM |
New York Times back into TV
Not as a station owner, of course. That era is history. But V-me announced a deal with The New York Times News Service to bring The Times's content into the Hispanic television market for the first time. The two media companies will collaborate on a new weekly program called "Páginas del New York Times." The program, hosted by journalist Marian de la Fuente, debuts on V-me on March 1st. V-me has commissioned Plural Entertainment to produce the series for the network. V-me is a national network partnered with public television stations to bring programming to American Latino families in Spanish. The network has broadcast and cable/satellite coverage of approximately one-third of US Hispanic TV households.
 Boston is Super Bowl crazy
RBR and TVBR have been getting announcements from stations in Boston going all out for Sunday's Super bowl in Phoenix, which they hope will cap an undefeated season for the New England Patriots. WCVB-TV has been airing special programming leading up to the big weekend. On Sunday, since it is an ABC affiliate, WCVB won't actually have the game broadcast, but it will air its own "Pursuit of Perfection" post-game show at 10:30 pm. WFXT-TV, which does have the live broadcast from Fox, is happily billing itself as "New England Patriots Headquarters." New England is bigger than just the Boston market. In Providence, LIN's duopoly has sent Internet journalist Dan Haggerty along with its news and sports crews to Phoenix to focus on original coverage for the stations' websites. Among other things, he'll be interviewing local fans who've made the trek to Arizona. LIN has the game broadcast on Fox WNAC-TV, but is also going heavy with Super Bowl coverage on CBS affiliate WPRI-TV.
WAAF's Hill-Man Morning Show has been originating live from the NFL Media Center in Phoenix, with a wrap-up show set for Monday after the Super Bowl. Tom Doyle of WROR-FM's Loren & Wally Morning Show wrote a song, "Patriots are 16 & 0." Video has been added by BostonSportz.com and the song has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times on YouTube. "This is, by far, the most important Super Bowl of all time," declared Jason Wolfe, Vice President of Programming at WEEI-AM. His station launched what it termed a "360 Degree" approach to coverage, including not only audio, but visual, text and on-site experiences for WEEI's audience and advertisers. WEEI has also been broadcasting live from Phoenix 10 am to 6 pm daily this week, with 33 straight hours of pre-Super Bowl programming planned this weekend, followed by 26 hours of post-game programming. The New Englanders are going crazy over what they hope and expect will be a historic perfect season for the Patriots. No doubt radio and TV stations in New York are also going all out to boost the hometown Giants, but they haven't been sending us the details.
TVBR observation: So, what will everyone other than Fox be airing while most of the nation's eyeballs are glued to what could well be a Super Bowl that breaks the all-time ratings record? Not surprisingly, we found quite a bit of programming scheduled for various broadcast and cable networks in Sunday primetime that can safely be described as female-oriented. Even ESPN is carrying figure skating.
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| Engineering Business Report TM |
Windfall in the mobile/handheld TV future?
NAB is citing a study from BIA Financial Network and the Law and Economics Consulting Group which posits that rapid adoption of a mobile DTV standard could bring 2B in new annual revenue to the industry as soon as 2012. The split it expects to see is 1.1B for local stations and 900M for networks and syndicators. However, access to this kind of cash hinges on adoption of a standardized protocol. Several competing technologies are vying to be the one.
TVBR observation: Call us curmudgeons, but we tend to see TV phones as a potential 2B windfall for the automobile repair industry, and expect we will be spending much of our time on the road dodging our fellow citizens who can't drag their attention away from a "Gilligan's Island" rerun long enough to maintain their lane position on I-95. Laugh if you want, but we've already had to dodge people driving while working on their laptop. Nevertheless, if the money is out there, broadcasters should certainly go after it. NAB's FASTROAD program (Flexible Advanced Services for Television and Radio On All Devices) was the force behind the study, and we should expect the NAB to play a major role in getting its membership to the 2B promised land.
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| Ratings & Research |
Sajak stays on top
"Judge Judy" just got a contract renewal, but Pat Sajak remained on top of the syndicated ratings for the second week in a row with "Wheel of Fortune." It's still a horse race, though, with the two shows well ahead of the rest of the field. The weekly ratings report is supplied by the Syndicated Network Television Association (SNTA), based on data from Nielsen Media Research.
Source: Nielsen Galaxy Explorer. Excludes sports and children programming. Live+SD AA/GAA.
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| Stock Talk |
Stock rise on insurance reassurance
Bond insurer MBIA reported big write-downs, but assured investors that it is solvent and that its AAA credit rating is intact. Traders breathed a collective sigh of relief and sent stock prices higher. The Dow Industrials rose 208 points, or 1.7%, to 12,650. But the markets could have a rough ride today. After the closing bell yesterday, Google reported disappointing Q4 results and its stock took a tumble in after-hours trading.
TV stocks were higher on Thursday. The TVBR Television Index rose 2.361, or 2.5%, to 96.017. LIN led the way, up 6.1%. Clear Channel gained 5.3% and Young 5%.
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| Stocks |
Here's how stocks fared on Thursday
| Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
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Acme*
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ACME
|
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2.98
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+0.07
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Journal Comm.
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JRN
|
 |
8.24
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+0.04
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Belo*
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BLC
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16.59
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+0.28
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Lincoln Natl.
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LNC
|
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54.19
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+0.36
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| CBS CI. B* |
CBS |
|
25.20
|
+0.33
|
LIN TV*
|
TVL
|
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13.05
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+0.75
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| CBS CI. A |
CBSa |
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25.22
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+0.40
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McGraw-Hill
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MHP
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42.76
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+0.43
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Clear Channel
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CCU
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30.70
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+1.54
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Media General
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MEG
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19.12
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-0.45
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Disney
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DIS
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29.84
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+0.43
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Meredith
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MDP
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46.99
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+0.24
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Emmis
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EMMS
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2.79
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+0.09
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News Corp.
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NWS
|
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19.39
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+0.11
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Entravision*
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EVC
|
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7.02
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+0.23
|
Nexstar*
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NXST
|
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7.60
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+0.20
|
| Equity Media* |
EMDA |
|
3.19 |
unch |
Ion Media
|
ION
|
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1.43
|
+0.03
|
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Fisher*
|
FSCI
|
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32.85
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+0.40
|
Saga Commun.
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SGA
|
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5.83
|
+0.02
|
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Gannett
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GCI
|
|
36.93
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-0.58
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SBS
|
SBSA
|
|
1.81
|
-0.02
|
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Gen. Electric
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GE
|
|
35.36
|
+0.42
|
Scripps
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SSP
|
|
40.72
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-0.28
|
| Google |
GOOG |
|
564.30
|
+16.03
|
Sinclair*
|
SBGI
|
|
9.00
|
+0.16
|
|
Gray*
|
GTN
|
|
7.55
|
+0.28
|
Time Warner
|
TWX
|
|
15.69
|
+0.30
|
|
Gray, C1. A
|
GTNa
|
|
8.60
|
+0.21
|
Wash. Post
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WPO
|
|
743.71
|
+9.96
|
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Hearst-Argyle*
|
HTV
|
|
21.44
|
+0.14
|
Young*
|
YBTVA
|
|
0.84
|
+0.04
|
*Component of the TVBR Television Index
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Bounceback
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 We want to
hear from you.
This is your column, so send your comments and
a photo to tvnews@rbr.com
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Below the Fold
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Ad Business Report
What GroupM reorg
Means to local buying, going to create a sense of anxiety on the sales staff...
Media Business Report
Amazon.com
To acquire Audible.com...
Cable Business Report
MTV spearheads
Mass-media event Saturday using assets of cable, broadcast , satellite the Internet will be harnessed 2/2/08...
Entertainment Business Report
Boston is Super Bowl crazy
We found quite a bit of programming scheduled for various broadcast...
New York Times back into TV
Not as a station owner, of course...
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Stations for Sale
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 Market your Stations For Sale
in our daily epapers.
Contact
Jim Carnegie
jcarnegie@rbr.com
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More News Headlines
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Google will make a splash at TVB'08
The much-discussed Google foray into the television business will be the subject of a special general session at TVB's 2008 Annual Marketing Conference, scheduled for 3/27 in NYC. "When Google speaks, everybody listens," said TVB President Chris Rohrs. "We decided to invite the Google TV Ads team to our conference and allow broadcasters to get a close-up look at what they're doing." The TVB session will be led by Michael Steib, director of Google TV Ads. The session will include question-and-answer. Google TV Ads' stated mission is "providing the right ad to the right user, offering audience assurance to the advertiser and executing across platforms."
Colonial Life Goes 'One On One' With ESPN
Colonial Life announced a new partnership with ESPN that involves the sole sponsorship for the "One-on-One" match-up analysis to run during ABC's college basketball game of the week each Saturday for the remainder of the regular NCAA season. From January 26 through mid-March, Colonial Life will sponsor the in-game "One-on-One" feature, a match-up analysis of player and team statistics that gives viewers insight into which opponent has the edge. The campaign uses the in-game "one-on-one" feature along with advertising on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC network television to reinforce the company's recent rebranding efforts. To complement the "one-on-one" vignette, the 30-second creative focuses on the role of the Colonial Life benefits representative and showcases how important he or she is in the benefits counseling process.
TiVo wins again
A federal appeals court has upheld a patent infringement ruling against EchoStar, meaning that the satellite TV company is still on the hook to TiVo for 74 million, which could be around 94 million currently with interest. EchoStar says it will now appeal the amount of damages and says it has reworked its software so there is no longer any question of infringing the TiVo patent.
Rereg threat debated
Potential FCC re-regulation under the guise of encouraging "localism" was a hot topic for discussion as the NAB Board of Directors met this week in DC. The NAB currently has a lot on its plate, fighting against re-reg, opposing a performance tax for broadcasters and trying to keep the XM-Sirius merger from being approved. But the trade group is also fighting for some things as well. The TV board was updated on efforts to win duopoly relief in medium and smaller markets. The Radio Board heard of progress on an important front - getting the FCC to approve FM translators for signal-handicapped AM stations. The Radio Board also approved a resolution from the NAB Digital Radio committee seeking FCC authorization for higher-power operation of IBOC FM stations. The proposal would increase current HD Radio signals up to an additional 10 db.
Highfields boosts
CCU stake
Wall Street traders may be betting against Clear Channel completing its 26.7 billion buyout by Thomas H. Lee Partners, Bain Capital and the Mays Family, but Highfields Capital is showing confidence. The investment fund led the shareholder movement that got the price boosted to 39.20 per share and has indicated that it wants to convert as much of its stake as possible to shares of the new private company, while taking cash for the rest. In its latest SEC filing, Highfields says it has boosted its stake in Clear Channel to 38,133,415 shares, or 7.7%, with recent purchases at prices ranging from 29.11 to 31.04.
WFRV-TV Green Bay off air...but why?
WFRV-TV, Channel 5/CBS, experienced a serious equipment failure at its analog television transmitter on Wednesday night. Technicians are trying to determine where the failure occurred, but it is believed the problem is with the transmission line going up the tower. Crews were expected to remove several yesterday to inspect for damage. WFRV is feeding Time Warner Cable directly, so there should be little to no interruption for most Time Warner customers.
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TVBR Radar 2008
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Television News you won't read any where else. TVBR--First, Accurate, and Independently Owned.
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WGA Strike Central, Day 88
NBC's programming
slate for February
As the WGA strike continues, NBC has put together its original programming slate for February, with a sweep-month lineup that includes the series premieres, see TVBR.
01/31/08 TVBR #21
Legal eagle eye view
of NYPD Blue case
The topic is broadcast indecency. Attorney Peter Gutmann of Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC has taken a look at the FCC's 1.43M fine aimed at 52 ABC affiliates and O&Os. The stations can take heart that the FCC's ruling was exceptionally slow: the episode in question aired in 2003 when the top drawer indecency fine was at the now bargain basement price of 27.5K a pop. Gutmann points out, however, that in order to levy the fine, the FCC had to expand the definition of indecency to include views of the human buttocks. The justification for this was cited as "common sense." ABC plans to appeal, and in the meantime, the Supreme Court is considering whether or not to insert itself into the fleeting indecency case which the FCC lost at the appellate level.
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Clear Channel stock still bouncing
The price moved back above 30 bucks in Wednesday's, 1/30/08, trading, but then fell again. Wall Street is clearly nervous about whether or not the buyout. Traders went into panic mode after Clear Channel Radio CEO John Hogan ordered sharp cutbacks in spending by stations because Q1 revenues were pacing down, while budgeted expenses were up 4% (1/28/08 RBR #18). again when Bain Capital managing director Steve Pagliuca refused to discuss the Clear Channel buyout at another financial conference. The Wall Street Journal reported that the two private equity firms were now involved in day-to-day operations and helped draft the Hogan email, which is posted on RBR.com. That WSJ report reassured some traders, who took it as evidence that T.H. Lee and Bain are committed to getting the deal to closing. Even so, there is such nervousness on Wall Street that Clear Channel's stock still closed yesterday more than 10 bucks below the buyout price of 39.20.
RBR observation: The question RBR has been asked in telephone calls from major financial institutions like JP Morgan - did Bain play a part in the Hogan cost cutting email. Well you decide read the Hogan email at RBR.com - see the Hot List.
01/31/08 RBR #21
WGA Strike Central, Day 87
CBS finds scripted series in Canada
CBS has ordered 13 episodes of "Flashpoint," the working title for a new police drama about an elite big city Strategic Response Unit (SRU). The WGA strike is not an obstacle because CBS is buying into a series already created for CTV, Canada's largest privately owned English network.
01/30/08 TVBR #20
Analyst ranks thinned again
No, we're not recycling a story it's Credit Suisse that has dropped coverage of broadcasting stocks, bidding farewell to John Klim. That's five broadcast analysts pink-slipped in recent months, with a sixth gone because his coverage list was reworked. RBR observation: Will anyone else get the boot? We can identify about 13 Wall Street analysts left who have some pure-play broadcasting stocks on their coverage list. Of those, only about three or four can be said to focus almost exclusively on radio, TV and outdoor. Are they confident that their employers are in for the long-haul in providing research on broadcasting stocks, including the particularly unpopular radio segment? Or should they be watching for an opportunity to shift to another sector if a position opens up? We certainly couldn't blame them for making such a move.
01/30/08 TVBR #20
Clear Channel reiterates Q1 closing
The statement that the going private buyout is "expected to occur in the first quarter 2008" was repeated by Clear Channel yesterday as it announced plans to release its Q4 and full year 2007 results on Valentine's Day. But Wall Street is extremely nervous. Deep Q1 expense cutting by Clear Channel (1/28/08 RBR #18) had traders again worried that Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital would be unable to find financing for the 26.7 billion bucks buyout, despite assurances from a top Lee official that the deal was still on track to close in Q1. But Wall Street was spooked again.
RBR observation: Is this a sure thing or a craps shoot in Las Vegas? Clear Channel and its would-be buyers have done or said nothing to indicate that there is any problem with getting this deal closed. Rather, they have moved ahead methodically to get the ducks in a row for a closing by the end of March. But the market has priced the stock like this is a roll of the dice. You can now buy Clear Channel's stock at a price which will give you a return of over 33% in about two months with a buyout at 39.20 by the end of March. That's an annualized return of well over 100%. That's an incredible deal if you believe the deal will close as promised. Obviously, there are plenty of traders who think otherwise.
RBR note: If you missed that now infamous memo you can read it at the Hot List on RBR.com. FYI, the cuts are not just at the station level it seems they are company wide at almost every sector. Ouch! This posting has also been quoted in WSJ online.
01/30/08 RBR #20
WGA Strike Central, Day 86
Carat on strike: "Are TV fans tuning in or dropping out?"
To gain a better understanding of consumers' media habits and attitudes as a result of the strike, Carat fielded an online survey of 1,000 primetime TV viewers. The findings shed light on the fact that fans are not deserting TV, but people are shifting their viewing patterns.
TVBR note: Carat's analysis for TVBR in this report.
01/29/08 TVBR #19
WGA to write for Grammys
The WGA announced an interim agreement with the producers of the 50th Grammy Awards-adding to what it guaranteed last week during the new AMPTP negotiations--it will not picket the ceremony.
TVBR observation: This is very promising news. It shows both sides are changing their tone during these critical negotiations. The good will is flowing, and a new contract is likely to be had soon, at least under these friendly conditions. Fingers crossed!
01/29/08 TVBR #19
One less broadcast analyst
Yet another radio and TV stock analyst has gotten his pink slip. Bank of America is the latest Wall Street firm to decide it can do without anyone covering broadcasting stocks and has bid adieu to Jonathan Jacoby, as well as folks covering a couple of other media sectors. Jacoby had been with BofA since May 2003.
RBR observation: RBR readers know that we had quoted Jacoby's research pieces frequently, so we will miss sharing his views with you. His email notifying us of his departure from BofA expressed the hope that this will be a short "respite" before he resumes his dialogue with us about stocks. We hope that's the case, but it certainly looks like a tough time to be finding anyone hiring media analysts on Wall Street. Last word, analysts have been forecasting negative growth in radio and TV for a number of years and in many ways their research did them in. RBR will not be surprised to see more pink at this level of Wall Street once Clear Channel and Cumulus close their deals.
01/29/08 RBR #19
WGA Strike Central, Day 85
Daytime ratings down this season
Even before effects of WGA strike are felt, Live program ratings for network daytime are down this season at a critical juncture as drama programming transitions to scripts written mostly by non-members of the Writers Guild. On average, the three networks are down double digits this season versus year ago, and this is before we see any possible effects on dramatic storylines due to non-union scripts
01/28/08 TVBR #18
ABC stations fined
1.4M for bare buns
It took the FCC five years to decide that a February 25, 2003 episode of "NYPD Blue" broadcast on ABC Television was indecent, but late Friday the Commission announced plans to fine two ABC O&Os and 50 affiliates a total of 1,430,000 bucks because the program showed the bare buttocks of a woman as a young boy was depicted as entering a bathroom and discovering the woman nude as she was about to enter the shower.
01/28/08 TVBR #18
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Sales & Special Events Coordinator
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