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Volume 22, Issue 247, Jim Carnegie, Editor & Publisher

Tuesday Morning December 20th, 2005

TV News®

Compromise DTV bill
out of conference
The two Capitol Hill Commerce Committees decided to split the difference, more or less, on a number of incongruent issues regarding the DTV transition, resulting in the latest - - and perhaps final - - version of the "Digital Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005." The biggie: The analog turn-in date will not be the House's 12/31/08 nor the Senate's 4/7/09. Instead, it will occur just after Valentines Day, on 2/17/09, safely after legislators are back in town from the end-of-year break, but before the onset of NCAA March Madness, which was widely cited as the reasoning for the April date. Besides splitting the difference on the hard date, the two legislative branches also made a downconverter subsidy a 'tweener at 1.5B, less than the Senate's 3B proposal but more than the House's effective total of 830M. NAB was happy to see the consumer concern, and was also pleased with what wasn't in the bill, as new President/CEO David Rehr explained: "NAB is pleased that the House included many pro-consumer DTV provisions in the budget reconciliation bill. We are especially encouraged that the legislation thwarts the cable industry's desire to degrade delivery of HDTV pictures to consumers." The bill will use spectrum auctions to raise 7.363B for deficit reduction, then will apply auction funds to various DTV transition and public-safety uses (as well as one unrelated air travel measure.)
| DTV spending breakdown here |

Nexstar back on Cable One
Nearly a full year after pulling its signals in a retransmission consent fight (1/17/05 TVBR #11), Nexstar Broadcasting has come to terms with Cable One. Three Nexstar stations and one Mission Broadcasting station are now back on Cable One's systems where they had been removed, in Joplin, MO and Texarkana, TX-AR. The new retransmission agreement also covers other Cable One systems where their agreements with Nexstar and Mission had not expired in 2005. The two sides issued a joint announcement of the settlement, with Cable One VP Jerry McKenna and Nexstar CEO Perry Sook saying how happy they were to settle the disagreement, but offering no information on what Nexstar/Mission was getting from the Cable MSO, after insisting that they had to be paid for the cable company to carry their network affiliate TV stations on its systems. Nexstar had also declined to reveal any financial details of its previous settlement with Cox Communications (10/21/05 TVBR #207). But while he won't discuss the terms, Sook told TVBR to check the impact on the company's financial results, beginning in Q1 of 2006.

TVBR observation: Guess the EchoStar satellite dish installers in Joplin, the biggest city affected by this standoff, will get to spend Christmas with their families. They'd reportedly been dealing with a hefty backlog of installation orders all this year as the only one of the two satellite TV providers with local-to-local for the Joplin market.

Not everyone was down in November
Belo reports that its TV group saw revenues increase 0.4% in November to 64.1 million. Spot revenue was down 1.1% to 59.1 million, but other revenues rose 22.9% to five million. Political revenues for the month were 1.2 million, vs. 2.9 million a year ago. If you exclude the impact of political, Belo said its TV revenues would have been up 3.2% in November. Newspaper group revenues rose 7% for November to 72.6 million, with ad revenues up 6.6% to 61.1 million and other revenues up 9.1% to 11.5 million.

Cablevision cancels 3B special dividend
There's a new twist in the strange 2005 saga of Cablevision Systems Corp. In a surprise to Wall Street, the cable MSO announced yesterday that its board had cancelled the three billion bucks special dividend it had announced last month (11/4/05 TVBR #217), after discovering that it would create a technical violation of on of its lender covenants. In a hastily called conference call with Wall Street analysts, CEO James Dolan said Cablevision would be seeking covenant waivers from its bankers, but there would be no decision on what course to follow until the company has completed a review of its covenants. He did mention the possibility of eventually doing a special dividend or a stock buyback. But in the meantime the company has officially called off the special dividend and dropped plans for a one billion bucks senior note offering which would have helped fund it. As you might expect, investors didn't react well to yesterday's news. Cablevision's stock fell about 4%.

TVBR observation: Soap operas may draw audiences on TV, but they don't inspire confidence when they're taking place inside a public company's executive suite. This year began with members of the Dolan family feuding over whether or not Cablevision should shut down its Vroom high-definition satellite TV business, which it eventually did. Then the Dolans patched up their family squabble and said in June they wanted to buy out other shareholders and take the company private - - only to cancel that in October and call for a 3B special dividend instead. The board complied, but now that's been called off as well. Meanwhile, the company's stock price has been on a roller coaster ride.

PTC finds TW family plan
to be a tier jerker
As predicted by TVBR/RBR (12/16/05 TVBR #245), ever-alert broadcast decency watchdog Parents Television Council was not the least bit impressed by Time Warner's proposal for a family-friendly channel. And it wasn't so much about what was included - - it was about what was left out. PTC's L. Brent Bozell explained, "It is perfectly obvious Time Warner is deliberately offering a product designed to fail. Any family wanting family programming and which would subscribe to Time Warner's 'family tier' would not be allowed to watch:..." He then provided a list of popular and family-appropriate basic cable channels which failed to make the TW family tier, including Animal Planet, Biography Channel, CMT, CNBC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classics, Eternal Word Television Network, Fox News Channel, GAC, Game Show Network, Golf Network, Hallmark Channel, History Channel, Home Shopping Network, Inspiration Network, MSNBC, Outdoor Life, QVC, Speed Network, Sprout, The Learning Channel, Travel Channel, Trinity Broadcasting Network, Turner Classic Movies, TV Land and WORD Network. Bozell said, "The average family would find most programming on these networks to be appropriate for family viewing. But not Time Warner. According to Time Warner, no family should want to watch sports. According to Time Warner, no family should want to receive any news channel other than Time Warner's CNN. According to Time Warner, classic movies are not appropriate for families. And neither is religious programming...This is a very bad joke. I bet you couldn't find five employees of Time Warner who would subscribe to this foolishness for their own families."

TVBR observation: Bozell has a point. The TW family tier as described last week is a bit on the sparse side, and it is hard to imagine that a great number of people would pay extra for it given its many omissions.

Key Congressman recovering
Joe Barton (D-TX), Chairman of the all-important House Energy and Commerce Committee, is out of the hospital and reporting no lasting damage from a heart attack suffered last Thursday. "Congressman Joe Barton was released from George Washington University Hospital today by his doctor, who reported that the congressman's heart suffered no damage. The congressman will return to Capitol this evening," said his press secretary Karen Modlin on Monday. "He is in strong spirits and looks forward to completing his work here before heading home to Texas to spend the holidays with his family. She added, "He also says that he looks forward not only to getting back to work in a hurry, but to getting on next year's campaign trail, too."

Adbiz©

Cablevision, JWT Detroit pact for Ford's first VOD effort
JWT Detroit and Cablevision Systems are collaborating on Ford Motor Company's first VOD branding, entertainment and direct marketing campaign. The effort, focused in the NYC metro area, premieres later this month, and features two branded entertainment sections on the cable service's Optimum Autos interactive auto channel that highlights Ford's Fusion and Explorer models. Optimum Autos is part of Cablevision's iO: Interactive Optimum digital cable service. The campaign, which will air exclusively on VOD, will utilize a significant portion of Optimum Autos' overall inventory. In addition to a video tour, data about safety, comfort and vehicle specs, customers can view related entertainment. For example: the virtual Ford Fusion channel will also feature a mini-site devoted to the unique Norwegian band Hurra Torpedo, where 30 minutes of the group's videos is available to consumers. Meanwhile, the Ford Explorer channel has content focusing on the "Ironman" competition, including an opportunity to enter a contest to win a trip to Kona, Hawaii where the annual event is held. Said Brian Bos, convergence director, JWT Detroit, "Our goal is to offer a breadth of content that is both informative, entertaining and will help Ford reach out to a broader audience for both of these vehicles. Working with Cablevision, a leader in the VOD space, gives us direct access to the important affluent New York marketplace through its engaging and robust interactive media platform. We believe Optimum Autos will provide a unique depth to the relationship between consumers and these Ford brands." Driving consumer traffic to the virtual channels will be a co-branded Ford/Optimum Autos banner on Cablevision's News 12 and Traffic and Weather channels that allow viewers to access the Ford VOD with a click of the remote control. The Ford channels will also be promoted in other strategic locations in the Cablevision landscape.

ABCRN #1 and #2 in RADAR 87 ratings
Arbitron released the September '05 RADAR radio network audience reports (RADAR 87) covering 9/23/04-9/21/05 yesterday with the highest sample ever (95,042) and the most networks ever reported (52). ABC Radio Networks took first and second place for P12+ rankers with Daytime Direction and Prime Access, respectively. Jones MediaAmerica's TWC was third. For 25-54, ABC's Daytime Direction was #1, Dial-Global's Complete FM was #2 and Jones MediaAmerica's TWC was third. Dial-Global's Complete FM Network ranked #1 A18-49; ABC Daytime Direction second and Premiere Radio Networks' Emerald Plus was third in that demo. Network radio as a whole remained flat in terms of gross impressions. Only three nets had double-digit changes among Persons 12+ between RADAR 87 and RADAR 86. Plus, about half of the networks experienced audience changes less than 3%. American Urban Radio Networks added a new network - STRZ Entertainment, which debuted at rank 17. Westwood One also added a new network - FM Morning, which ranked at 48 in its first RADAR report. Premiere announced some network changes that will be reported in the next RADAR, due to be released in late March.
| Highlights & Chart |

Washington Beat

House influence hidden in downconverter language
The House Energy and Commerce Committee was not nearly as generous as the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee when it came to allocating money for citizens in danger of being left behind when they throw the analog switch to the off position on 2/17/09, (if current language prevails). The House allocated 830M, with a 170M administration budget bringing total cost of its downconverter subsidy to 1B. The Senate acted as if most of the 73M households currently estimated to fall into this category in fact stay their by DTV-Day, and allocated 3B - - that would cover 60M converters at 50 bucks a pop. The new 5B language providing for a split-the-difference 1.5B obviously favors the House position. It actually favors it even more than is at first obvious. It provides for a two-wave subsidy. The first wave calls for a 990M expenditure on downconverters. Only after the Department of Commerce certifies that there is need for more cash will the remaining 510M be released.

Sharpton has to pass the plate back to FEC
Since Al Sharpton accepted federal matching funds in his ill-fated run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004, he was capped at donating 50K of his own cash to his campaign. He has now been ordered by the FEC to return the 100K matching fund it paid to him, because he went over the personal donation limit. According to an Associated Press report, he did it in a way pretty much only a minister can - - he passed the hat at campaign appearances, receiving 'love offerings' aimed at his ministry, but which he then funneled into his campaign. According the report, Sharpton invested 110K of his own money in his campaign, more than double the limit. He is said to have already made two of four 25K payments to the FEC.

Programming

"Idol" returns to Fox on January 17th
Fox has announced the fifth season schedule of its biggest hit, "American Idol." The debut will be Tuesday, January 17th for two hours, with footage from auditions continuing the next evening for one hour. By mid February we'll know the identities of the 24 finalists, with the field being narrowed to a dozen in early March. The winner will be announced on March 15th. "American Idol" is created and executive-produced by Simon Fuller, founder of 19 Entertainment; and executive-produced by Cecile Frot-Coutaz, CEO, FremantleMedia North America, Inc.; Nigel Lythgoe, President, 19 Television; and Ken Warwick, Executive Producer, FremantleMedia North America, Inc.

Ratings & Research

Univision goes mainstream for TV ratings
With Spanish media expanding rapidly across an ever widening number of markets, Univision is moving to compete head-to-head with the major English language networks. It has become the first Spanish TV network to subscribe to Nielsen's national TV ratings, the Nielsen Television Index (NTI). Univision will continue to also subscribe to Nielsen's national Hispanic Television Index (NHTI), measuring only Hispanic viewers, which had previously been its sole source of national ratings. Numbers for Univision will be published alongside ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC & etc. beginning with the ratings week that starts December 26th. (However, there will not be any season-to-date figures.) "This is a historic step for Univision, which firmly plants us among the mainstream broadcasters. Univision will finally be measured alongside its main competitors, the major English-language broadcast networks, and for the first time, advertisers and media buyers will be able to see the audience Univision delivers in the national charts. We're confident that this move will validate Univision's ability to successfully compete against any network in the country and provide us with a powerful tool to attract marketers that had previously been reluctant to advertise in Spanish," said Ray Rodriguez, President and Chief Operating Officer, Univision Communications. As part of the agreement, Univision will maintain its subscription to NHTI until September 2007, when the National People Meter (NPM) sample, upon which NTI is based, will become the sole sample for both English-language and Spanish-language media. The NPM sample, comprised of approximately 10,000 households, is subscribed to by broadcast networks, cable networks, syndicators, advertisers and agencies nationwide, Nielsen noted.

TVBR Stats

Online shoppers spent 18.6 billion in
first six weeks of holiday season
The Goldman, Sachs, Nielsen//NetRatings and Harris Interactive's Holiday eSpending Report reveals today that online shoppers spent 18.6 billion, excluding travel, during the first six weeks (10/29 - 12/9) of the 2005 holiday season. This year's U.S. online spending resulted in a 16% increase from the same time period in 2004, with 19% of consumers having indicated that they have yet to start their holiday shopping. The eSpending Report is based on a weekly national survey of approximately 1,000 online adult consumers, capturing consumer spending, attitudes and motivations of more than 6,500 shoppers during the first six weeks of the 2005 holiday season. According to this week's eSpending Report, online shoppers have spent the most on apparel/clothing thus far in the 2005 holiday season, totaling 3.4 billion, which was the majority, or 17%, of total online revenue. The consumer electronics and computer hardware/peripherals categories placed second and third with revenue totals of 2.8 billion and 2.7 billion, respectively. Books and toys/video games rounded out the top five product categories, accounting for a respective 2.2 billion and 1.4 billion in online revenue.

During the sixth week of the 2005 holiday retail season, the Holiday eSpending Report asked more than 1,000 consumers to break down their 2005 holiday budget amongst various sales channels. The traditional brick-and-mortar stores captured the majority, or 69% of spending, compared to the 3.5% designated to catalogs. Online, the only channel to see growth, garnered 27.5% of the holiday budget, jumping 5.9 percentage points from last year. In addition, consumers had a late start to this year's online shopping. As of the fifth week of the 2005 holiday season, 30% of consumers had not started their online shopping, which was up from 23% during the same time period last year. By the sixth week, 19% of consumers still had not started their online holiday shopping, while 37% of online shoppers indicated they had finished. 44% of consumers stated that they've begun but had not finished holiday shopping.

Traffic

VCI adds new features to STARS II software
Video Communications, Inc. (VCI) announced enhancements to its flagship product, STARS II+. The sales, traffic and accounting software now includes tools for management of non-timed avails, along with a new graphical user interface (GUI). The new non-timed avails management allows users to add multiple secondary events adjacent to segments. This creates revenue generating opportunities not included in regular program calculations that can be contracted, scheduled, and invoiced (on an individual line). Benefits include the ability to over-run breaks in special events or sports programming, add product placement contracted "spots," fully maximize billboards built into program openings and closings, and manage and sell banners and "bugs" that share the screen with program content.

Consumer Research

BIGresearch: December economic and
consumer insights executive briefing
BIGresearch's Consumer Intentions & Actions Survey monitors over 8,000 consumers each month providing unique insights & identifying opportunities in a fragmented and transitory marketplace. Continued from yesterday.
| Read More |

BIGResearch:
Consumers becoming more practical with purchases
The following charts are developed from BIGresearch's November Consumer Intentions and Actions (CIA) monthly syndicated survey of 8,900 respondents. The data demonstrates some of the issues consumers have been dealing with over the last six months. As you can see across the income spectrum, the focus on needs rather than wants is significant, even with the over $100K population with their actions reflected in being more practical and realistic in their purchases. We have been tracking trends over the last 4 years and we expect it will hold true in 2006? Today, this is reflected in the success of the value stores such as Wal-Mart and Kohl's who have focus on the less than $75K consumer. What does this mean? Consumer's spending will be on lower margin goods (needs), wants will be satisfied by substitutes - new shade of lipstick instead of the new Manolo Blahnik shoes. What does this mean for media? Consumers will focus on price and value for their spending including entertainment. They will focus on high value content which can be simply downloaded for a minimum charge and on demand. The consumer will not stop spending but will spend differently. The advertising business model will have to change and advertising itself will undergo a transformation.
| View the Charts |

Stock Talk

How low can they go?
Rather than the traditional year-end rally, Wall Street appears to be working on a year-end slump. Broadcast stocks were among the hard-hit sectors Monday as stock prices fell in the face of a big utility merger announcement and Google's 1B investment in AOL. The Dow Industrials fell 39 points, or 0.4%, to 10,837.

AOL parent Time Warner fell 0.3% despite the big deal. The day's worst performers were Entravision, down 2.9%, SBS, down 2.5%, and Sinclair, off 2.4%.

Stocks

**Here's how stocks fared on Monday**
Company	Symbol	Close		Change	Company	Symbol	Close		Change
Acme	ACME		3.68	-0.06	Media General	MEG		51.21	+0.17
Belo	BLC		21.56	+0.39	Meredith	MDP		51.83	+0.26
Clear Channel	CCU		32.68	-0.20	News Corp.	NWS		16.83	unch
Disney	DIS		24.54	-0.16	Nexstar	NXST		4.42	-0.06
Emmis	EMMS		19.62	-0.26	NY Times	NYT		27.54	+0.29
Entravision	EVC		7.09	-0.21	Paxson	PAX		0.96	+0.02
Fisher	FSCI		44.41	-0.71	Saga Commun.	SGA		11.06	-0.12
Gannett	GCI		61.68	-0.14	SBS	SBSA		5.09	-0.13
Gen. Electric	GE		35.82	-0.24	Scripps	SSP		47.45	+0.68
Granite	GBTVK		0.23	+0.01	Sinclair	SBGI		9.64	-0.24
Gray	GTN		9.99	-0.09	Time Warner	TWX		17.95	-0.05
Gray, C1. A	GTNa		9.47	-0.17	Tribune	TRB		31.03	+0.23
Hearst-Argyle	HTV		23.80	+0.06	Univision	UVN		30.00	-0.25
Jeff-Pilot	JP		55.70	-0.12	Viacom, Cl. A	VIA		33.77	-0.34
Journal Comm.	JRN		13.85	-0.25	Viacom, Cl. B	VIAb		33.76	-0.27
Liberty Corp	LC		47.04	+0.04	Wash. Post	WPO		765.00	-0.25
LIN TV	TVL		11.75	-0.20	Young	YBTVA		2.53	-0.15
McGraw-Hill	MHP		52.18	-0.19	-	-	-	-	-

Bounceback

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TV Media Moves

Rehr's coattails
impact NAB
Laurie Knight is the new SVP of Government Relations for the NAB, following her old boss David Rehr over from the National Beer Wholesalers Association. She's also no stranger to the Hill, with a stint as Legislative Director for Rep. Jim Turner (D-TX) on her resume. She'll report to John Orlando, NAB EVP, Government Relations.

Below the Fold

Ad Biz
Cablevision, JWT Detroit
Collaborating on Ford first VOD branding...

TVBR Stats
Online shoppers spending
18.6 billion in first six weeks of holiday season...

Washington Beat
House influence hidden
In downconverter language Commerce Committee not generous...

Ratings & Research
Univision goes mainstream
Moving to compete head-to-head with the major English language nets...

RBR - Radio News

Two fined for Sirius/Stern deal
insider trading
Remember the SEC probe into possible insider stock trading associated with Howard Stern's deal with Sirius Satellite Radio (2/21/05 RBR #36)? It has finally resulted in action against two people - - the former president of Stern's accounting firm, Gary Herwitz, and a former Sirius Executive VP, Tracey Stanyer. Under the SEC settlements, neither admitted or denied the allegations of insider trading, but as the "former" notations indicate, both have already lost their jobs. Herwitz agreed to pay a 52K fine and Stanyer 35K. According to the SEC, Herwitz learned on or about September 21, 2004 from the accounting firm's CEO that Stern was in contract talks with Sirius and that the two discussed the negotiations a couple of days later. On September 30, 2004, Herwitz bought 25K Sirius shares, which he sold at a profit a few months later. The SEC said Stanyer learned of the negotiations with Stern from a senior Sirius executive in early September and then in early October that a contract had been signed. Stanyer bought 29,120 shares of Sirius stock on October 5th, a day before the deal was publicly announced, and sold them just a few days later.

December RBR/TVBR Digital Magazine

In this issue, we ask for 2006 Wish Lists--everyone from programmers to researchers to radio and media agency CEOs give their take. In AdBiz, we spoke to Sarah Fay, ISOBAR US President about the future of digital marketing. In Streaming, we compared and contrasted two differing measurement methodologies with two of the top rep firms in the space. We also look at the latest in Traffic systems; interviewed Fox News's John Gibson; and learned about WOR-AM NYC's revitalization project. Last but not least, RBR/TVBR looked at the Susquehanna sale to Cumulus and heard from ABC Radio Networks' Dr. Tom Evans about 2006 predictions for radio research.

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December Issue of RBR/TVBR

TVBR Radar 2005

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

TV, you need to know this;
7 finalists for radio ratings competition
With only four passive monitoring devices in testing or beyond, the surprise is that Clear Channel got 34 submissions in response to its RFP for a new radio ratings system. Now seven finalists will be put through their paces by a panel.
TVBR observation: Clear Channel and its evaluation team have an aggressive timetable. The winner is supposed to be ready to begin deployment for real world radio ratings before the end of 2006. Arbitron has been happily pointing out, repeatedly to anyone who will listen, that PPM is ready to go now - - in fact, it's already being used outside the US - - while everyone else is playing catch-up. But that doesn't make it a slam-dunk for PPM. Advertisers and agencies have been telling radio for some time now that they want electronic audience measurement - - and they want it yesterday. So people in TV think you have a problem with 'LPM' - someone has got to wake up.
12/19/05 TVBR #246

Publisher Perspective on
Clear Channel's magnificent 7
For as long as I can remember yesterday has been the middle name of many ad agency executives wanting everything yesterday and not just ratings research. Going back to the mid-'70's when I worked in research at MediaTrend through today and nothing has changed, yet. Here is a question for our ad agency colleagues, 'Are your agency research departments willing to pay to play at the same rates as broadcasters?' Or do you want the radio broadcaster to pick up the total bill? Folks, get real here - good to explore new research but only big money will make this work. The radio business has just about run out of time on this subject as well as HD as the status of radio is fading into 3rd class status position. Last, there is no doubt that Clear Channel has its own agenda as what is good for Clear Channel is good for Clear Channel. 12/19/05 TVBR #246

A la carte pricing makes great theory, but bundling tough to beat
With sudden pressure from Washington D.C. to offer consumers basic cable TV channels individually, few realize the price per network is actually going down. The monthly subscription price is up because channel packages have gotten much bigger. Don't thins so - well read 12/19/05 TVBR #246

Time Warner first out of the gate
With family tier proposal which is most assured to PO a number of people. To get the 15-channel offering, subscribers will likely have to get a system's digital service and - - get ready for howls from the watchdog community - - they'll likely have to come up with 12.99 over and above the regular basic cable fee. TVBR observation: We can almost hear the keyboards grinding - - probably everywhere from PTC to the Consumers Union. What??!! We are forced to subsidize the filth on the basic basic tier, and then pay even more than the filth costs to get our family package??!! The outrage!! Just watch.
12/16/05 TVBR #245

The Media Audit/Ipsos
challenge PPM
Media Audit has teamed with the UK's Ipsos to propose their own passive measurement challenger to the Portable People Meter. Ipsos is one of four companies which has a passive meter system in operation, although still in the testing phase at this point. Rather than having a proprietary hardware device for panelists to carry, Ipsos loads its software onto Smart Cell Phones to monitor exposure to audio media. And there is more - RBR observation: How many times at how many PPM presentations by Arbitron have we heard someone ask, "Why don't you just put PPM in a cell phone?" It seems like a good idea, but Arbitron officials have always expressed concerns that there are many places where cell phones are not allowed, but they hope PPMs will be. As for Smart Cell Phones, there aren't very many out in use yet by US consumers, so The Media Audit would have to pass out the expensive devices to make its system work. In time it may happen as it will take lots of time and lots of money to get an entire cell industry to get on board. Now it will be interesting to see what the honchos at Clear Channel say on their entries and where they will put their money. But one thing is for sure and you can bet money on this statement - 'Time waits for no one.' Hey maybe Nielsen should look into this deal.
12/16/05 RBR #245

Bidding begins for VNU
Nielsen parent VNU confirms that it's gotten multiple buyout inquiries, which its board is considering. It's not saying anything about the bidders, or whether they're being allowed to look at the company's non-public financial details. Indeed, analysts failed to get any hint of any more detail out of VNU CEO Rob van den Bergh. A report in the Financial Times said the VNU board was seeking at least 32 euros per share for the company. TVBR observation: Despite the collapse of the IMS merger, which was vehemently opposed by VNU's largest shareholders, we were surprised to hear van den Bergh mention that VNU is still going ahead to develop "strategic opportunities" with IMS. Does that add fuel to our previous report that IMS may be a bidder for VNU?
12/14/05 TVBR #244

Local Sales Manager
WB58-KQCA-TV seeks dynamic LSM to train and motivate talented group of AE's. Must have passion for helping people solve problems and pass on the knowledge and experience. California's most livable markets is Sacramento.

Send cover letter and resume to:
KQCA-TV, attention HR
58 Television Circle
Sacramento CA 95814

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