TVBR's Daily Morning Epaper

A Notice of Renewal
If your TVBR is due for Renewal for 2006, you will receive an email this morning labeled TVBRepaper - 9:00 Subscription Renewal Invoice 3rd Notice - with details to save and you pick your terms. Use the link below to subscribe now.
| Online Subscription Renewal |

Volume 22, Issue 243, Jim Carnegie, Editor & Publisher

Wednesday Morning December 14th, 2005

TV News®

DirecTV fined 5.3M
for "do not call" violations
The Federal Trade Commission announced its largest fines ever for violation of the "do not call" law for telemarketing, with DirecTV paying 5.3 million in civil penalties. The settlement filed in a California federal court names DirecTV and five firms that did telemarketing on its behalf as defendants, along with six principals of those telemarketing firms. ""This multimillion dollar penalty drives home a simple point: Sellers are on the hook for calls placed on their behalf," said FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras. "The Do Not Call Rule applies to all players in the marketing chain, including retailers and their telemarketers." In addition to requiring DirecTV to pay 5.3 million and agree to abide by the do not call rule, it also requires the satellite company "to terminate any marketer of its products who DirecTV knows or should know is making cold calls to consumers without express, written authorization from DirecTV" and requires the company to monitor its telemarketers to make sure they are operating legally. In a statement, DirecTV insisted its own staff wasn't to blame: "DirecTV wholly supports the national Do-Not-Call Registry and our agreement with the FTC reflects our commitment to prevent unwanted and unlawful telemarketing calls to existing and potential DirecTV customers. The majority of the complaints the FTC received related to telemarketing calls placed by a small number of former independent retailers, who ignored DirecTV policies prohibiting unauthorized telemarketing. DirecTV has agreed to continue to closely monitor independent retailers to ensure that their telemarketing practices comply with the law and DirecTV's polices."

Local-to-local at heart of 5M DirecTV settlement
In a separate case announced before the FTC fine, DirecTV has agreed to pay five million bucks to customers in 22 states to settle allegations of deceptive marketing practices. Although DirecTV didn't admit any wrongdoing, it has agreed to change its marketing practices and inform consumers of their rights and obligations when signing up for satellite service. "One of the primary concerns consumers expressed was the initial absence of local channel access, which had been offered and paid for by the consumers. The promised availability of local channels was an important factor for many who ordered DirecTV Inc.'s services, and their failure to provide that service was a primary concern of the states," said Nevada Attorney General George Chanos, who filed the settlement in Las Vegas in coordination with 21 other state AGs. In addition to Nevada, the settlement covers current and former DirecTV subscribers in Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, Nebraska, New York, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and West Virginia.

BET founder back in the game
Bob Johnson announced a letter of intent with the Carlyle Group to develop co-investment opportunities, share private equity deal flow and execute private equity deals. In other words, after stepping down from all positions at Viacom, which bought BET from him for three billion in 2001, Johnson is teaming up with big money to go hunting. The joint announcement from Carlyle and The RLJ companies, Johnson's personal investment vehicle, said they will be looking for investments in the media, financial services and business services industries.

TVBR observation: We've heard Johnson more than once mention an interest in broadcast investments - - radio and TV - - but he never got around to doing anything in that regard while he was busy building BET. Now we figure he might have the time and inclination to take a closer look at the broadcasting business.

Copps, Tate nominations
heading for Senate floor vote
The Senate Commerce Committee was short a quorum yesterday after hearing from sitting Democratic FCC Commissioner Michael Copps and nominated Republican Debi Tate, so there was no committee vote on their nominations. But both apparently made a good impression, so Chairman Ted Stevens (R-AZ) went straight to the full Senate and got unanimous consent to discharge the nominations from committee. That means that the full Senate will now vote on the nominations and both could be taking their oath of office before Senators head home for the holidays. Both candidates drew praise from Stevens at yesterday's hearing. Copps, of course, has made numerous appearances before the committee, and was once an employee of former Chair and Ranking Member, and now retired Ernest Hollings (D-SC). Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) made a guest appearance before the committee to introduce newcomer Tate, who also hails from Tennessee. "In addition, Debi finds time to volunteer for numerous organizations with a particular emphasis on children and women's issues," he noted. Mentioning how the walls between different modes of electronic communications are becoming "blurred," he said, "Debi's breadth of experience across a wide range of issues and her insight at both the national and state and local level will make her an invaluable asset to the FCC as it navigates these increasingly complex issues."
| Copps, Tate statements here |

S&P sees 2006 as a tough year for media
Standard & Poor's analyst Heather Goodchild is out with a 2006 outlook for the media sector - - and it's not an upbeat one. Other than the hot online advertising sector, she doesn't see much to get excited about for media companies. In fact, she's worried that a negative surprise could come along and neutralize the positive impact of the Winter Olympics and political advertising for broadcast companies. S&P is forecasting overall a 5% rise in US ad spending in 2006. Cable networks are expected to continue graining strength, with gains in the mid-teens, while broadcast networks aren't expected to do much more than keep pace with GDP growth, which is forecast at 3.3%. As far as TV station groups are concerned, S&P's forecast simply recounts the forecast from TVB of 6-8% growth next year. Goodchild says radio advertising will likely be up only in the low single digits. Meanwhile, online advertising is expected to soar more than 20%. The S&P forecast notes that Ford has allocated 15% of its marketing budget to online initiatives as just one example of ad budgets being moved online.

"Live Nation" set for debut
That's the new name for Clear Channel's spin-out of CC Entertainment, which will likely begin trading "when issued" today on the NYSE. The concert/live entertainment business will actually become independent from Clear Channel later this month. So, once we have a market price for "LYV" (the ticker symbol), do we just divide by eight (CCU shareholders will get one share of LYV for each eight of CCU) and subtract that from CCU's current price to get the effective value? No, it's not that simple. Bear Stearns analyst Victor Miller is expecting LYV to trade around 10 bucks - - he gives a range of 8-12. He says the knee-jerk reaction is likely to be to drive Clear Channel's stock price down a buck or so, but he calculates that the real impact should be much less. Miller's 11-step analysis, which he issued yesterday, then walked investors through on a conference call, takes into account all of the financial factors for CCU, including such things as the actual EBITDA impact, tax breaks from the capital loss associated with spinning out LYV at far less than the 4.4 billion acquisition cost and sheltering of future capital gains. All in all, Miller figures the actual impact on CCU's stock price should be around 20 cents per share, if even that.

TVBR observation: Miller has been critical of CCU management in the past - - in fact, he urged an outright sale of CC Entertainment as a better course - - so he's not one to look at the company through rose-colored glasses. As we indicated, his 11-step analysis is too complicated to review in-depth here, so you'll have to contact him, vmiller@bear.com, if you want to see for yourself. In any case, it will be interesting to see how the "when issued" shares price today.

Adbiz©

Julie Roehm on Jeep's MobiTV deal

RBR/TVBR asked Julie Roehm, Chrysler Group Marketing Director of Marketing Communications about the deal with MobiTV that dedicates a channel to Jeep (12/13/05 TVBR #242).

What are the top three goals this accomplishes?
"This accomplishes our goal of testing new technologies, our goal of finding ways to take video to a more personalized level, and our goal of creating more complete measurement. On the latter we are not quite where we ultimately want to be with MobiTV but as the first advertiser and partner, MobiTV is eager to work with us to make the offering even more measurable than it is today."

Gay and lesbian groups meet with Ford over ad pullout
Gay and lesbian organizations asked Ford to reinstate advertising for its Jaguar and Land Rover brands in gay publications and to distance itself from an anti-gay group which had boycotted the automaker's vehicles (12/7/05 RBR #238). Ford officials met with leaders of the Human Rights Campaign, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and other organizations in Washington, D.C. on Monday, after the automaker said last week its luxury brands would no longer advertise in gay publications, reported The AP. The move came nearly a week after the Tupelo, MS-based American Family Association canceled its boycott of Ford vehicles, which started in May amid criticism that the automaker was too gay-friendly. Ford told gay rights leaders that it had not made any deal with the AFA to end advertising of Jaguar and Land Rover in gay media, the groups said. Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, told The AP Ford was asked to "make a very strong statement" disassociating itself from the AFA while reinstating the Jaguar and Land Rover advertising in the gay press. Ford has said it did not make the decision because of the boycott or pressure from conservative Christian groups. It said Jaguar and Land Rover, part of Ford's Premier Automotive Group, cut back on its marketing across-the-board because of difficult market conditions. Ford said in a statement it was "always willing to engage in constructive conversation with those interested in our policies, even with those who don't always agree with them. But only Ford Motor Company speaks for Ford Motor Company. Any suggestion to the contrary is incorrect." Said Ford CEO Bill Ford said in a statement: "We value all people - - regardless of their race, religion, gender, sexual orientation and cultural or physical differences."

Media Markets & MoneyTM

Tribune buying back more stock
Tribune Company announced late yesterday that its board of directors has approved a new one billion bucks stock buyback program. That replaces the former 2.5 billion buyback authorization, which had been nearly depleted (160M remaining).

Washington Beat

PTC slams tier proposal
"The cable industry is throwing up family tiers as a 'red herring' rather than having to face the real marketplace of fed-up consumers," says Parents Television Council President Brent Bozell. "We've been down this road with the fox guarding the henhouse before. The ratings system is a failure due to the industry's self-applied ratings. There is no inter-network consistency in the ratings, nor is there even intra-network consistency. The ratings system is a failure and consequently the V-chip, which depends upon reliable ratings to work, also is a failure." PTC holds that an a la carte menu giving parents total control of which cable networks come into their homes is the only acceptable option. "With the family tier model, the industry again forces consumers to buy programming they may or may not want, and the cable operators would remain in control of the networks offered in any such tier."

Stevens clueless about fate of fifth Commissioner
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-AK) has voiced his frustration with the White House for its failure to timely fill the offices on the FCC's 8th Floor, and it seems to go beyond the obvious desire to restore Republican majority rule to a Commission facing numerous critical issues going into 2006. He has sent two candidates for the spot vacated just last week by Kathleen Abernathy, and has yet heard only silence in return. "I think I'll be the first Chairman of Commerce that was denied the opportunity to recommend someone for appointment," he said. He declined to identify his picks, in order to save them personal embarrassment if they do not go forward to nominee status. While he hasn't received a White House nod on either candidate, neither has he been turned down. "I said I haven't gotten any notice at all."

Programming

TV poker jackpots
just get bigger and bigger
Fox Sports Network and Mansionpoker.net have announced a new TV poker series with the biggest jackpots yet - - 60 million bucks for the 2006 tournament, followed by 75 million in '07 and 100 million in '08. First though, FSN will feature a 43-week PokerDome series to be played on the Las Vegas strip, with a one million bucks winner-take-all finale. And if you think televised poker is slow moving, not this series. It will feature "Speed Poker," with a "shot clock" which could yield 80-100 hands per hour, rather than the usual 12-15. What about the 60 million bucks prize? That "Mega Event" will be in July in Melbourne, Australia. If you want to be one of the six players, you'll have to ante up 10 million bucks.

NBC Mobile and Verizon Wireless add Jay Leno
Verizon Wireless is teaming up with NBC Mobile to bring video segments of "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" to customers' V CAST-enabled phones. V CAST customers now can access the best of "Tonight" in the palm of their hands and get all the laughs from Jay's weeknight monologues and comedy sketch favorites. From the streets of L.A. in "Jaywalking," weekly "Headlines," and street correspondent pieces, fans won't miss a beat from the #1 show in late night television. With a few clicks on their phone's keypad, V CAST customers can access a total of four features at any given time, two of which will be refreshed daily. "NBC Universal has built a great relationship with Verizon Wireless with mobile original news programming on V CAST," said Salil Dalvi, vice president, NBC Mobile. "We are happy that their customers will now have access to the number one show in late night."

CBS, UPN and Amp'd Mobile
to bring content to mobile phones
Another in the daily roundup of convergence of broadcast television and wireless communications: CBS and UPN have reached an agreement with Amp'd Mobile to program multimedia entertainment content to Amp'd members' broadband wireless phones. Under the agreement, Amp'd Mobile will carry behind the scenes footage, unique previews, interviews and show clips from hit CBS prime time series such as "CSI: NY," "NUMB3RS" and "The King of Queens," as well as clips and highlights from "Late Show with David Letterman" (also see related story - - Verizon and NBC are doing the same for Leno). Amp'd Mobile will also exclusively program mobile video content from UPN's "America's next Top Model," in addition to content from comedies "Everybody Hates Chris" and "Girlfriends." CBS and UPN content on Amp'd Mobile will be available later this month when the LA-based company officially launches its service.

Twentieth clearing English language telenovela "Desire"
Twentieth Television has unveiled "Desire," a new franchise of multiple English-language telenovelas formatted from Latin America set to launch in the U.S. in 2006. The announcement, marking the first time ever for telenovelas to be formatted in English specifically for the U.S. market, was made by Bob Cook, president and COO of Twentieth Television; and Paul Buccieri, Twentieth Television's president of programming. A minimum of three telenovelas per year (65 episodes each) will be formatted for U.S. distribution by Twentieth Television under the "Desire" banner, including the popular series "Table for Three" from Colombia's Carolco and the hit Cuban program "Fashion House" from Miami's XYSTUS. Based on the worldwide success of the telenovela format, "Desire" will feature the drama and romance for which the genre is celebrated worldwide. Structured in a story arc embracing 65 one-hour episodes, each "Desire" miniseries will be stripped Monday through Friday over the span of 13 weeks, after which a new drama will launch. "Desire" has been cleared on the Fox O&O station group, representing nearly 45% of the country for a 2006 launch. Twentieth Television will be offering "Desire" at NATPE 2006.

Ratings & Research

Post-sweeps, CBS sweeps up
As networks kicked into post-sweeps reruns, CBS handily won the 12th week of the TV season across the board. Its latest win in the 18-49 demo has also put the Eye net back ahead of ABC for the key demo season-to-date (though not by much). For Household viewership, CBS won the week with an 8.8 rating and 14 share, followed by NBC at 6.2/10, ABC 6.0/10, Fox 3.5/6, UPN 2.4/4, WB 2.1/3 and i 0.4.1. CBS also claimed the top five spots in the weekly ratings by program.
| View the Chart |

Stock Talk

Stock up as Fed finally signals a halt
Wall Street celebrated, though not too much, as the Federal Reserve indicated that it was abut to end its string of rate hikes - - even as it announced another one. The Dow Industrials rose 56 points, or 0.5%, to 10,824.

TV stocks were slightly higher as well. Spanish Broadcasting System again led the way, rising 3.2%. There's been no news about the company, but it's been strong the last two days, rising out of penny stock territory on Monday and gaining further on Tuesday. SBS, the nation's second-largest Spanish radio group, has yet to close a pending acquisition of its first TV station.

Stocks

**Here's how stocks fared on Tuesday**
Company	Symbol	Close		Change	Company	Symbol	Close		Change
Acme	ACME		3.78	-0.04	Media General	MEG		50.65	+0.06
Belo	BLC		21.88	+0.10	Meredith	MDP		51.60	-0.35
Clear Channel	CCU		32.75	+0.25	News Corp.	NWS		16.92	+0.25
Disney	DIS		25.13	-0.02	Nexstar	NXST		4.66	+0.41
Emmis	EMMS		20.01	+0.12	NY Times	NYT		27.64	+0.19
Entravision	EVC		7.15	-0.10	Paxson	PAX		0.93	-0.04
Fisher	FSCI		45.13	-0.13	Saga Commun.	SGA		11.47	+0.17
Gannett	GCI		61.54	+1.04	SBS	SBSA		5.21	+0.16
Gen. Electric	GE		35.47	-0.08	Scripps	SSP		47.23	-0.07
Granite	GBTVK		0.25	+0.01	Sinclair	SBGI		9.64	-0.34
Gray	GTN		9.98	+0.15	Time Warner	TWX		17.79	+0.10
Gray, C1. A	GTNa		9.60	+0.25	Tribune	TRB		31.20	+0.13
Hearst-Argyle	HTV		24.26	+0.04	Univision	UVN		30.50	+0.21
Jeff-Pilot	JP		55.58	+0.03	Viacom, Cl. A	VIA		34.78	+0.07
Journal Comm.	JRN		16.61	-0.39	Viacom, Cl. B	VIAb		34.80	+0.15
Liberty Corp	LC		39.20	-0.60	Wash. Post	WPO		758.03	-11.36
LIN TV	TVL		12.98	-0.24	Young	YBTVA		2.51	unch
McGraw-Hill	MHP		53.16	+0.50	-	-	-	-	-

Bounceback

Send Us Your Opinions We want to
hear from you.
This is your column, so send your comments and
a photo to tvnews@rbr.com

TV Media Moves

Promotion at ABC
After 10 years at ABC News following his days as an advisor to President Bill Clinton, George Stephanopoulos has been named Chief Washington Correspondent for the network. He'll also continue as anchor of "This Week."

Pinkney to TV One
Rose Catherine Pinkney has joined TV One as Executive Vice President of Programming, Production and Development. She was previously Sr. VP of comedy development for Paramount Network Television.

Bye CBS, hello NCTA
Before even taking her new post as Sr. VP of post-split CBS Corp. (9/14/05 TVBR #180), Gail MacKinnon has exited Viacom to become Sr. VP of Government Relations for the National Cable & Telecommunications Association. She succeeds Steve Berry, who had announced his intention to leave NCTA at the end of this month.

Morrison and Abraham adds brand strategist
Interep's Morrison and Abraham division announced that Pam Malone will join the company as a field consultant for its radio, television and newspaper clients. Prior to joining Morrison and Abraham, Malone was a Senior Director of Communications and Development for the Baltimore Ravens.

Below the Fold

Ad Biz
Chrysler's Julie Roehm
On Jeep's MobiTV deal...

Washington Beat
PTC slams tier proposal
cable industry is throwing up family tiers as a 'red herring'...

Programming
TV poker jackpots get bigger
As Fox Sports Network and Mansionpoker.net make deal...

Ratings & Resea rch
Post-sweeps, CBS sweeps up
As networks kicked into post-sweeps reruns...

Membership Renewal

Subscription Notice:
Your membership will expire soon. Don't miss an issue of RBR, TVBR and Media Mix. Use the On-Line Payment system and pick your affordable subscription membership terms. You are in charge.
Don't wait for your Cut Off Notice - Go shopping today.

The RBR/TVBR staff thank you
for your continued support.

TVBR Radar 2005

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

MSOs set to unveil family tiers
Reacting to pressure from Capitol Hill, National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA) CEO Kyle McSlarrow told a Senate hearing Monday that several cable MSOs are about to announce family-friendly channel tiers - - but he insisted no new law, such as a la carte, is needed. Likewise, Jack Valenti warned against government intrusion. TVBR observation: Monday's hearing was overwhelmingly focused on cable TV, but Chairman Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) did bring up one subject near and dear to the hearts of terrestrial radio and TV broadcasters when he asked about pending bills to dramatically increase indecency fines.
12/13/05 TVBR #242

Bidding battle for Nielsen parent
A second private equity group, including Bain Capital, Texas Pacific Group and Warburg Pincus, is working on a buyout bid for VNU, according to The Wall Street Journal. The new bid would challenge one which was being put together by another group including KKR, Blackstone, Carlyle and others, even before the resignation of VNU CEO Rob van den Bergh as the company abandoned a seven billion bucks acquisition of IMS Health. Although VNU has insisted that none of its assets are for sale and it intends to remain independent and seek a listing on the New York Stock Exchange (it currently trades only on the Amsterdam Exchange), the same big shareholders who derailed the IMS deal could force VNU to accept a buyout. The price tag is expected to be over eight billion and the winner, if there is a sale, is expected to divest VNU's publishing businesses (Billboard, Hollywood Reporter, etc.) to focus on ratings and research. TVBR observation: There may be more than just two bidders for VNU. We continue to hear rumors that IMS CEO Dave Carlucci is still gung-ho on the scrapped merger deal and is working to revive it - - this time with IMS as the acquirer, rather than VNU.
12/12/05 TVBR #241

Publisher observation
On VNU and the attention
Reality time, what is facing the Nielsen side of VNU is going to be difficult with forward motion of 'LPM' and making a decision during the first quarter next year on the Arbitron 'PPM' front as it takes commitment from the top of the company at VNU with technology and money. Not to say the toll it takes on the people inside of Nielsen. Remember this is research not a durable good like a TV station. Research is a fickle business especially when you are the leader as the business executives (the customer) loves you then hates you at any given time. Publishing side - To some extent the same can be said here but to a lesser degree as the money or the prize is Nielsen. Plus, whoever wins the potential battle better know something about the businesses of the titles that are being tossed around for headline attention like Billboard, Hollywood Reporter, Media Week. They look pretty on paper but you better know what the hell you are doing because this is not the old days with those brands. There is tremendous competition on the computer screen(s) today and to print those trade publications mentioned are not getting any healthier as trade publishing print consistently faces difficult time as I personally know from experience as the inevitable decision was faced and made in 2002 by us at RBR & TVBR. Remember expenses will go up for print trade publications just as US Postage prices are rising next year. Under any circumstances VNU bosses have to confront the inevitable and get on the record of attack now on this press coming from the WSJ instead of 'No comment.' TVBR was the first to forecast this show down now the problem is here as the other shoe has hit the floor.
12/12/05 TVBR #241

Four caught in public file dragnet
The FCC will be defraying the national debt to the tune of 40K if the latest quartet of notices of apparent liability on the public file rap stick. All four 10K fine proposals had a children's programming element. TVBR observation: Anyone else notice that if you have one file omission - - worth 10K - - you can have two or even three more at no extra charge. Publisher note: Look for TVBR's Special Report on what you need to know about your Public File and not cost your station a 10K fine. Written for TVBR by FCC leading lawyer Gregg Skall, it will be emailed in a PDF printable format as our Christmas present to you. Only daily members of TVBR will receive this special report. Have it or it could cost you 10K in a fine. To say the least, this report alone is worth the price of a 1 year gold subscription.
| Renew at TVBR subscriptions |

TV getting the snot kicked out of it
At Gannett November TV station revenues were down 3.4% local revenues were up 4.3%, while national fell 14.5% for the month. Then - NY Times declines to give 2006 guidance as the advertising outlook is so uncertain that it can't provide Wall Street with earnings guidance on 2006.
TVBR observation: All in TV get prepared because your day to day life as you once knew it is gone. This year we have heard the Ditto excuses as these mirrored radio of '04 and 05. Look in the mirror and point the finger of blame at yourselves. Now how are you going to improve a new year? First key is Content and less clutter. Just look at radio as this side of the business cluttered themselves to obesity now they are trying every diet possible to lose this clutter weight and it has cost them business - Learn from their mistakes.
12/09/05 TVBR #240

Sales and Marketing
Executive sought by rapidly growing participatory Television Company. Experience selling innovative programming to cable operators and programming executives across the United States with all aspects of the launch and rollout of a new program offering. Building a sales team and managing with their peers in the company. Prior relevant experience is a requirement. Competitive salary, benefits and stock options.
See TV Careers

TVBR Searching for 2
Top pros to join the best TV publication in the media business today. Searching for one (1) Top flight Editor that does not need direction and one (1) Top Experienced Sales person that knows how to Sell/Market quality and wants to make money. Team work expected. Only the pros need apply as TVBR's expansion is now. Confidentiality honored by TVBR publisher - Email qualifications to publisher@rbr.com

Other Links

State Associations

Contact Us

Publisher question:
Reading TVBR from a friend?
Receive your own morning copy at www.tvbr.com

Help Desk

Having problems with our epapers?
Please send Questions/Concerns to:
Memberships@rbr.com

If you wish to remove your name completely from our database use this link __UNSUB__

TVBR Epaper -- 108 annual
or just 9 a month