DTV transition shifts into high gear
At a major news conference, NAB's David Rehr announced the kick-off of a "clock is ticking" campaign, the thrust of which is to drive traffic to the NTIA for coupons, retail outlets for equipment, and then get consumers to hook up, plug in and test immediately. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin underscored the urgency of acting now, a message that was further underscored by almost every other speaker. Republican Martin was asked what his plans are with an incoming administration from the other party. He said he has no plans to go anywhere. Asked to elaborate, he said he had no plans to go anywhere.

TVBR observation: We guess that means Martin has no plans to go anywhere. And he seemingly hasn't heard of anybody else's plans, either. At least not yet.

Nexstar projects an up Q4
Not even Hurricane Ike could keep this company down, although Nexstar's Southeastern Texas and Louisiana stations were impacted by the storm for much of September. Q3 revenues grew 9% at Nexstar and, unlike many of its peers, the company is telling Wall Street to expect Q4 to be up as well. CEO Perry Sook says the company is focused on controlling costs and notes that he and other insiders have been buying more shares.

Rivera already at FCC
Former FCC Commissioner Henry Rivera isn't gone and is not forgotten at his former place of employment. That's because in addition to his duties at law firm Wiley Rein and Fielding, he is chair of the FCC's Advisory Committee on Diversity for Communications in the Digital Age. In that capacity late last month, he fired off a letter to Chairman Kevin Martin which gives clues as to what kind of FCC he would seek to form, if he is indeed being charged with the incoming Obama administration with that task.

TVBR observation: Many factors, including court precedent, limit what can be done regarding the matter of promoting minority media ownership. And the Class S proposal would seem to face a steep hurdle if the FCC was unable to get on board with cable carriage for Class A stations already in existence. Nevertheless, the Martin regime has been willing to push through as much of the MMTC agenda as it can. Such efforts going forward will likely be even more forceful.

Wal-Mart preparing to cash in
As consumers look to stretch their dollars, middle end commercial outlets are being squeezed as they head to discount outlets. One of these expecting to prosper during the holiday season is Wal-Mart. In fact, a reporter at the New York Times said that this is just the sort of environment that the retail giant was made for.

TVBR observation: So it's the establishments in the middle that suffer the most. From an advertising perspective, the survivors in this class will either find a way to convince high-end consumers that they provide quality at a better value; or convince low end consumers that it's not all that much more expensive to enjoy their upgraded service. Your job: Show them how to get this message across.

RCN, ION add Qubo in New York, Philly, DC
ION Media Networks and RCN Corporation, a provider of digital television, data and voice services to residential and small - medium business customers, announced an agreement to launch Qubo Channel, the TV and online entertainment service for children, in New York, Philadelphia and Washington D.C.

FOX orders full season of "The Cleveland Show"
FOX has ordered an additional nine episodes of The Cleveland Show, the highly anticipated Family Guy spin-off, bringing the series to a full season order, it was announced by Kevin Reilly, President, Entertainment for Fox Broadcasting Company. Additionally, Arianna Huffington has been tapped for a recurring role and joins previously announced series regulars Sanaa Lathan, Nia Long, Kevin Michael Richardson, Mike Henry and Seth MacFarlane.

Employers will reduce payrolls well into 2009
The Conference Board Employment Trends Index continued its steep decline in October. The index fell in October to 105.3, down 1.8% from the September revised figure of 107.2, and down almost 12% from a year ago.

Arbitron to measure ad awareness in shopping malls
EYE, a mall media specialist, has signed an agreement with Arbitron Custom Research to measure the effectiveness of mall-based ads and the psychographics of EYE mall shoppers. Arbitron will conduct on-site mall surveys in multiple markets across the US. This study will be comprised of two parts: adult and teen. The adult study will evaluate the effectiveness of EYE advertising based on demographic information as well as specific questions concerning shopping behavior, shopper segmentation and advertising appeal.

No more games for this Redstone
Shari Redstone has resigned as Chairman and a director of Midway Games Inc., the electronic games maker controlled by her father, Sumner Redstone. She cited the need to focus on refinancing the debt of National Amusements Inc., the company by which the Redstones control both CBS Corporation and Viacom.

TVBR observation: As much as the Redstones disagree, it seems that Shari has been working to support even the business decisions of her father that she didn't agree with. She never thought much of Sumner's stock acquisitions at Midway Games, yet she agreed to join its board and even served as Chairman for some time.

Circuit City goes Chapter 11
And a major retailer takes a hit from the recession/depression: Circuit City Stores has filed a voluntary petition for reorganization relief under Chapter 11 and plans to continue operating the business without interruption as management focuses on developing and executing a comprehensive corporate restructuring plan. Circuit City's Canadian operations also will be seeking protection.

Down day for broadcasting stocks
Excitement over a $586 billion stimulus program by the Chinese government faded as Wall Street traders returned to worrying about the US economy. The Dow Industrials finished the day with a decline of 73 points, or 0.8%.

Virtually all TV stocks were lower. The TVBR Television Index dropped 3.058, or 10.9%, to 24.913. Gray Television plunged 40% for the day. Nexstar was down 26.3% despite projecting that Q4 revenues would be up. Entravision was down 16.3% and Sinclair 11.2%.

Here's how stocks fared on Monday

Company	Symbol	Close		Chng	Company	Symbol	Close		Chng
Acme*	ACME		0.35	-0.01	Journal Comm.	JRN		1.96	-0.11
Belo*	BLC		1.88	-0.15	Lincoln Natl.	LNC		19.25	-0.52
CBS CI. B*	CBS		8.00	-0.16	LIN TV*	TVL		1.98	-0.01
CBS CI. A	CBSa		8.08	-0.14	McGraw-Hill	MHP		24.18	-0.82
Disney	DIS		22.08	-1.28	Media General	MEG		5.98	-0.55
Emmis	EMMS		0.43	-0.02	Meredith	MDP		17.84	-0.59
Entravision*	EVC		1.13	-0.22	News Corp.	NWS		8.25	-0.23
Equity Media	EMDA		0.20	0.00	Nexstar*	NXST		1.18	-0.42
Fisher*	FSCI		32.91	-1.10	Saga Commun.	SGA		3.63	-0.14
Gannett	GCI		10.03	-0.50	SBS	SBSA		0.19	-0.05
Gen. Electric	GE		18.45	-0.41	Scripps	SSP		3.60	-0.21
Google	GOOG		318.78	-12.36	Sinclair*	SBGI		3.62	-0.33
Gray*	GTN		0.39	-0.26	Time Warner	TWX		9.89	-0.21
Gray, C1. A	GTNa		1.16	-0.06	Wash. Post	WPO		428.60	-10.40
Hearst-Argyle*	HTV		13.14	-0.22	Young	YBTVA		0.05	0.00

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The unfairness of a doctrine
A reader points out why nobody should want the Fairness Doctrine to come back to life.

If we really need a Fairness Doctrine, shouldn't we have one that's really fair? Was ABC-TV's Boston Legal essentially an hour-long commercial for Barack Obama on the night before Election Day? Did the crew of The View really swoon over Barack Obama, then roll their eyes and make fun of John McCain?

| View the full comment here |

Joseph J Knapp
President,
A-Ware Software, Inc.

Media, Markets & Money
Journal Boise
Duop dropped as FCC has
nixed a failing station waiver

Washington
Business Report
Commerce Committee
There is shakeup in progress
biggest issue on the plate
right now is the DTV

Wall Street Business Report
Revenues and earnings
Drop for Tribune, How will
Zell and Michaels fix
the newspaper biz

Nielsen HQ promotion
Nielsen Media Research Chairman Susan Whiting has been promoted to Vice Chairperson of The Nielsen Company and will join Chairman and CEO David Calhoun in the newly created Office of the CEO. She had previously been Executive Vice President of the parent company. "Susan will focus on our most critical relationships with clients at a time when they are looking for the unique insight into consumer behavior that only Nielsen can provide. She will also manage a broad array of issues that affect all our stakeholders," said Calhoun.

MLB Network
signs FiOS
Major League Baseball announced a deal with Verizon to make the MLB Extra Innings Package, including HD and out-of-market baseball games, available on FiOS TV. The MLB Network, which is set to debut on New Year's Day, will be available to all FiOS subscribers.

ION Media Networks delivers full-motion mobile DTV
ION Media Networks announced two successful mobile DTV field trial demonstrations using WCPX, its station serving the Chicago market and KPXC, its station serving the Denver market. The Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC) applauded the technical mobile DTV field trials conducted simultaneously by ION and Fox Television Stations' WPWR Chicago.

FremantleMedia signs YouTube deal
More competition for NBCU/News Corp.'s Hulu: FremantleMedia, producer of "American Idol," Brit soap opera "Neighbours" and other reality shows, has signed with YouTube to produce programs to be shown exclusively on the video-sharing site. Ad revenues will be split.

Redstone lawsuit revived
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has overruled a lower state court and revived a lawsuit by Michael Redstone, who claims that his father, Edward, and uncle, Sumner, cheated him out of his shares of National Amusements back in 1972. The lower court had ruled that the statute of limitations had expired, but the state's high court agreed with Michael Redstone that the clock didn't begin ticking until 2004 when he learned that he had been shortchanged. His lawsuit was filed in 2006. National Amusements is the company through which Sumner Redstone controls both CBS Corporation and Viacom.

What will radio look like...
AFTER THE CUTS?
Never before has there been so much opportunity for radio than there is today. we are not telling the great story we already have! I don't believe radio has a perception problem......I believe radio has a reality problem. Google does not have the incredible local distribution and reach that we have. There are still a few amazing facts that would be the envy of every internet start up or large on line portal.
11/10/08 RBR #220

Political junkies:
A look at 2010
Age and health issues may open some of these seats up and other retirements may be announced. But Republicans may benefit from the traditional midterm rebound. For broadcasters, the list provides an early peek at the robustness of the political category for your 2010 budgeting purposes.
11/10/08 RBR #220

So, what are these radio stocks worth, anyway?
17 are penny stocks, with per share prices below $5 - and 11 of those are trading below $1. Once the economy turns around, what should those stocks recover to?
11/10/08 RBR #220