TVBR's Daily Morning Epaper

Volume 22, Issue 28, Jim Carnegie, Editor & Publisher

Wednesday Morning February 9th, 2005

TV News®

D-Day in the House
That's D as in Decency. The House of Representatives' Energy and Commerce Committee is scheduled to vote on the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act (BDEA) today - - depending on how the day goes, a vote will come just before or just after lunch. Look for the bill to move forward. The bill, which would raise maximum FCC fines for indecent broadcast content to as much as 500K per offense, passed this same hurdle last year almost without opposition. Only Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) voted against the measure in committee, where it passed by a vote of 49-1 (3/4/04 TVBR #44). However, lawmakers were unable to overcome differences in the House and Senate versions of the bill, and efforts to attach a stripped-down version of the bill to must-pass appropriations legislation late in the year also failed.

TVBR observation: This should sail through committee again. Almost nobody in either party wants to stand up for the rights of former Clear Channel Tampa jock and still unemployed Bubba the Love Sponge and his ilk, or at least, almost nobody has the kind of political capital that makes them think they can afford to stand with Bubba against the nation's children. However, last year, we thought this legislation was a mortal lock for passage. Indeed, in an election year, we thought it was one of the few items on the agenda which was generating any bipartisan cooperation at all. Yet it failed. A major reason for the failure to write the bill into law was the use of the BDEA in the Senate to continue the battle against the FCC 6/2/03 media ownership ruling. If it appears that ownership dereg measures have been successfully derailed by the Third Circuit, such hindrances to ultimate passage may be removed. Even if they are not, we still think that somehow, some way, some form of this proposal is going to make it into the law books.

Spectrum tax proposal back again
In what is becoming an annual event and traces back to the Clinton White House, the administration is attempting to slip a spectrum tax on broadcasters who are running parallel stations in the pending phase of the DTV transition. The tax would apply to unreturned analog spectrum beginning in 2006, and would shoot for a government payday of a half billion dollars. The congruent annual event is the successful effort by the National Association of Broadcasters to blow the spectrum tax out of the water. "For more than a decade, Congress has wisely rejected spectrum taxes on broadcasters because lawmakers recognized the timetable for transitioning to digital television will be determined by consumer acceptance of this new technology and not by arbitrary, budget-driven timelines. With roughly 1,400 local TV stations now transmitting digital and high-definition TV pictures, broadcasters have done our part to complete the digital transition. Applying a spectrum tax on local TV stations would slow the DTV transition and ultimately harm consumers who rely on over-the-air broadcasting for news, entertainment and public interest programming."

NCTA fires back on multicasting
Outgoing NCTA President/CEO Robert Sachs has fired off a letter to members of Congress in response to a flurry of activity on the part of supporters of broadcast multicast must-carry rules. Those siding with broadcasters in the dispute have been calling for either full cable carriage of all program streams, or at the very least, have sought a delay of FCC action in favor on single-stream carriage. Sachs first argues that there has been plenty of time and consideration spent on the matter - - four years. He says the issues on the table include the First Amendment rights of cable operators, the needs of programmers and viewers, and the extent of programming diversity. "...NAB is asking the government to require cable operators to carry as many as half a dozen digital channels for every single broadcast station in the country, regardless of whether these channels consist largely of infomercials, home shopping or other low value content. Indeed, the record before the FCC contains scant evidence of commercial broadcasters' plans for programming multiple digital channels and no evidence that 'multiple must carry' is necessary for the survival of free over the air television..." Sachs argues that numerous basic cable program services compete for limited "shelf space" - - whereas multiple must carry would allow broadcasters to add five additional channels not through competition but by government fiat.

Tribune in play?
Don't bet on it, but Crain's Chicago Business is out with an article suggesting that Tribune Company could be a takeover target, due to its depressed stock price. The scenario offered would have Time Warner buy Tribune for its TV station group - - mostly big market affiliates of the WB network - - then sell off the unwanted parts of the company. The WB is primarily owned by Time Warner, but Tribune holds a 22% stake. The local business paper figures Tribune's newspapers could be worth 11.76 billion. It values the broadcasting and entertainment division at 8.05 billion. In all, after subtracting for debt, Crain's Chicago Business figures the breakup value of Tribune is about 58.86 per share - - well above the current trading level of just over 40 bucks.

TVBR observation: With Time Warner current bidding many billions in partnership with Comcast to buy Adelphia Communications, we doubt that it would be in any position to make a play for Tribune as well. But if the Adelphia bid falls short, who knows?

Disney dissidents tone down protests
There won't be a knock-down, drag-out fight at this Friday's annual shareholders meeting for Disney in Minneapolis as there was last year in Philadelphia, but it won't be a love-fest either. Dissident leaders Roy Disney and Stan Gold aren't working around the clock to line-up votes against CEO Michael Eisner, so it's unlikely he'll see a repeat of the 47% no-confidence vote of last year. Nevertheless, the two say they're still going to withhold their votes from all of the current directors, including Eisner, saying they want results, not just talk. Read their latest statement. | More... |

Adbiz©

Clear Channel's "Less is More" a success, say studies
CC Radio CEO John Hogan promised more details were coming, and here they are: CC Radio has released more on its independent studies that found listeners love the longer programming blocks, actively noticing fewer commercials, shorter commercial breaks and more music. The studies also found that listeners are retaining advertising content better in the improved listening environment. | More... |

EDS taps Bartle Bogle
Electronic Data Systems (EDS), business and technology consultant, has named Bartle Bogle Hegarty NY as AOR of its worldwide account, which had been handled since 1999 by Fallon Worldwide Minneapolis. Billings were estimated at 5-10 million. The decision came after a three month review. A TV and print campaign from Bartle Bogle is scheduled to begin in May.

Karma Media to run PSAs for UN World Food Program
Karma Media announced that it will air PSAs on behalf of the United Nations' World Food Program on the nearly 600 television stations that carry KRMA's international hit television series "Estelle's Paradise" starring Estelle Reyna. The announcements focus on disaster relief, providing an additional opportunity for the growing "Estelle's Paradise" audience to help the UN's massive relief effort for those affected by the recent tsunami and other disasters throughout the world. Karma Media controls approximately four minutes of commercial airtime per each half-hour episode of the show. Under the preferred media provider agreement, which commenced 1/6 with the World Food Program, the initial value of air-time dedicated to this crucial outreach program is equal to or greater than 50,000 per month. During the initial awareness campaign, dedicated to the Asian tsunami disaster, Karma Media shall allocate no less than 250,000 of commercial broadcast television spots across its network of broadcasters.

March Radio & Television Business Report

2005 Technology Odyssey...
The Changing Landscape
Ipods up to 4 million sold over Christmas and radio doesn't have a problem?

Nexstar's Perry Sook goes exclusive One-On-One and is very vocal on why he is standing alone and tall against the Cable MSO's.

Brace yourself as media top gun Irwin Gotlieb tells all Radio & TV what he really thinks and if you don't like it - "Then change careers."

Ad / Marketing Space is still available reaching all key media decision makers in Ad Agencies, Radio, TV, and Wall Street. See www.tvbr.tv for circulation.

Advertising/Marketing Placement - Contact
Jim Carnegie - 813 909 2916
June Barnes - 803 731 5951

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Media Markets & MoneyTM

Special dividend for Liberty Corp. shareholders
The stock price of Liberty Corporation shot up yesterday and trading volume for the normally thinly-traded issue shot through the roof as the company announced a special dividend of four bucks per share. The one-time bonus will be paid to shareholders along with the regular quarterly dividend of 25 cents. Both will be paid April 4th to shareholders of record on March 15th. At the same time, the company said its directors had extended the company's stock repurchase plan through February 2006 and authorized management to buy back up to four million shares. Liberty Corp. bought back 975,300 shares during 2004. "Our top rated televisions stations are stable and reliable cash flow generators. We have a clean balance sheet and access to capital. This special dividend in combination with our regular dividend and stock repurchase plan are ways we can take advantage of all these factors to deliver value to our shareholders," said CEO Hayne Hipp.

Washington Beat

SHVERA county list now posted
The county-by-county list, which shows significantly viewed broadcast television stations on an over-the-air basis, is now posted on the FCC website (fcc.gov), along with an NPRM detailing the list's application to DBS providers. The list has long been applied to cable operators.

Senators renew battle for LPFM
Senators John McCain (R-AZ), Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) are teaming up to introduce the "Local Community Radio Act of 2005," a bill to expedite the construction of low power FM stations. The bill would not provide 3rd adjacent channel protection to existing full-power stations, and the NAB is already girding for battle.
| More... |

Programming

Oscar renews with ABC
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has renewed its contract to have ABC carry the annual Academy Awards for six more years, through 2014. "By the end of this new contract ABC will have carried 38 consecutive Oscar telecasts, and 56 of the 61 ceremonies ever televised. Oscar lives at ABC," said Academy President Frank Pierson. "The Academy Awards stand as the preeminent awards show in the world," declared Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. But while ABC is getting ready to broadcast another night of handing out statues of Oscar, there are changes in the works. At the Academy's annual pre-awards luncheon this week, telecast producer Gil Cates informed the nominees that not all of them would get to walk up on stage to receive their awards. Rather, some will be handed their Oscars standing at their seats in the hall. But for some categories, all of the nominees will bed gathered on stage. That, presumably, will create something akin to the finale of a beauty pageant, with the losers kissing the winner - - then slinking off stage. The idea is to save time (and keep the broadcast from running over interminably into local newscasts) and add some variety to the presentation. The 77th Annual Academy Awards will be broadcast Sunday, February 27th.

Buena Vista renews Danza
Buena Vista Television has renewed "The Tony Danza Show" for a second season. "'The Tony Danza Show' debuted last fall as the season's #1 new first-run hour in syndication and has proven to be a great fit for daytime television. We could not be more pleased," said Buena Vista Television President Janice Marinelli. "In the November sweep the show delivered the highest share of any new first-run strip among women 18-49 and 25-54. The show's strong performance, Tony's ability to connect with the daytime audience and the steadfast support of our station groups provide a strong foundation for a second season." The live daytime talker has station renewals in 115 markets and over 80% of the country for the 2005-2006 season. The syndicator says some stations are also improving the show's time slot with their renewals. Most notably, in Los Angeles Danza will be upgraded to a daytime clearance on one of the Viacom stations - - either KCBS-TV or KCAL-TV. Danza's show currently airs at 2:15 am on KABC-TV LA.

TVBR Ratings

Fox's week to shine
With the Super Bowl in its lineup, it would be pretty hard for Fox not to win the ratings race for the past week. Indeed, the big game, coupled with "American Idol," shot Fox up to a primetime average 14.9 ratings and 23 share. Second place went to CBS at 7.0/11, followed by NBC 6.2/10, ABC 6.0/10, WB 2.3/4, UPN 2.0/3 and Pax 0.5/1. | More... |

Transactions

WLII-TV/WSUR-TV Puerto Rico (Caguas, Ponce) from Raycom Media Inc. to Univision Communications Inc.

| More... |

Stock Talk

Stocks barely higher
There wasn't much excitement on Wall Street, but traders managed to push stocks barely higher. The Dow Industrials rose eight points to 10,725.

Most TV stocks were up, but not by much. A notable exception was Liberty Corp., which surged 8.4% after announcing a four buck special dividend. Paxson, a volatile penny stock, rose 12.1%.

Stocks

**Here's how stocks fared on Tuesday**
Company	Symbol	Close		Change	Company	Symbol	Close		Change
Acme	ACME		6.01	-0.23	McGraw-Hill	MHP		94.65	+0.39
Belo	BLC		23.37	+0.02	Media General	MEG		64.19	+0.78
Clear Channel	CCU		34.37	+0.40	Meredith	MDP		47.65	+0.17
Disney	DIS		29.84	-0.04	News Corp.	NWS		17.46	-0.21
Emmis	EMMS		17.82	+0.14	Nexstar	NXST		8.80	+0.10
Entravision	EVC		7.96	+0.07	NY Times	NYT		39.10	+0.30
Fisher	FSCI		50.60	+0.53	Paxson	PAX		1.48	+0.16
Fox	FOX		33.88	-0.23	Saga Commun.	SGA		17.10	+0.38
Gannett	GCI		81.26	+0.34	Scripps	SSP		46.80	-0.04
Gen. Electric	GE		36.43	+0.20	Sinclair	SBGI		8.08	-0.01
Granite	GBTVK		0.32	-0.02	Time Warner	TWX		17.99	+0.02
Gray	GTN		15.72	+0.27	Tribune	TRB		40.59	+0.18
Gray, C1. A	GTNa		13.87	+0.31	Univision	UVN		26.06	-0.04
Hearst-Argyle	HTV		25.75	+0.18	Viacom, Cl. A	VIA		37.86	-0.08
Jeff-Pilot	JP		49.85	-0.64	Viacom, Cl. B	VIAb		37.50	-0.11
Journal Comm.	JRN		16.23	+0.08	Wash. Post	WPO		939.06	+6.31
Liberty Corp	LC		43.20	+3.35	Young	YBTVA		9.80	-0.14
LIN TV	TVL		18.81	+0.22	-	-	-	-	-

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Bounceback

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Upped & Tapped

Emmis realigns
in Terre Haute
Calling it the "end of an era," Emmis announced that WTHI-FM & TV and WWVR-FM Terre Haute, IN VP/GM Dave Bailey is retiring effective March 4th. That's led to two promotions. WTHI-TV General Sales Manager Todd Weber will become VP/GM of the TV stations, while WTHI-FM & WWVR-FM Station Manager James Conner will become VP/GM of the radio stations.

Brenda Freeman joins VH1 as VP/Consumer Marketing
She'll oversee all off-channel marketing for the company. Prior to coming to VH1, Freeman was VP/Affiliate Marketing, Entertainment Group for MTV Networks, responsible for implementing marketing strategy around affiliate efforts in brand promotion, distribution support, and local ad sales promotional support for Spike TV, Nickelodeon, Noggin, Nick GAS, NickToonsTV, Nick at Nite, and TVLand.

Competing Media

Two Minute Television introduces first series
More content for video webcasting over cellphones: Two Minute Television Network (2MTN), an original content producer, has introduced its first two minute series "Genius On A Shoestring", the first two minute reality series, to the broadcast and cable industry, websites that video-stream content, web enabled television, and cellphones. | More... |

RBR - Radio News

Radio One honchos
pay down loans
Back in the summer of 2002, Radio One's stock took a surprise hit when company loans to key officers suddenly became a hot topic and Congress banned such loans going forward as part of the Sarbanes-Oxley law to clean up Wall Street. Never mind that Radio One made its loans when the practice was ok and that the loans were used to buy company stock - - presumably giving the executives a financial incentive to do well for their shareholders. They were suddenly a bad mark on the company. In one of the earliest issues of the RBR Daily Epaper (7/15/02 RBR #6) we detailed the suddenly-suspicious "related-party transactions" which had brought investor scrutiny to Radio One and also looked for similar transactions at other broadcast companies. Now, nearly three years later, the issue has died down, but Radio One announced yesterday that two of its officers had paid down what they owe the company. Under the terms of the loans, CEO Alfred Liggins has made repayments in cash and stock to the point that his original loan balance of 21.1 million is now 5.9 million - - and that is due in full in April. CFO Scott Royster repaid a 750,000 loan in full last month, but another loan in the original amount of seven million isn't due for several more years. Also outstanding is a two million loan to General Counsel Linda Vilardo. As a result of the stock which was used in part for the repayments, Radio One has retired those shares and the number of outstanding shares of its Class D stock has been reduced by 1,145,000.

January Digital
Solutions Magazine

No more political money or more Olympics advertising. In '05 you're going to have to make money the old fashioned way - earn it. Keep up on trends and figuring new ways to earn ad dollars. The need is serious for a business-oriented publication. In radio or television, many of the challenges are the same -each industry can learn from the other.
No fluff. No hype. Just business.

November Zinio Solutions Magazine
Read RBR in 2 simple steps:
1.Create a simple account with Zinio and download the Zinio Reader.
2. You can then download the January Issue of RBR

TVBR Radar 2005

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

FCC seeking over 300M for FY 2006
Telling President Bush that it will require 304.057M dollars to get its job done during fiscal year 2006. The figure represents an increase of over 11M from the 292.958M it wanted for FY 2005. The FCC says it needs the extra money for mandated salary and benefits increases and for inflationary trends in rent, supplies, printing and contractual services. It also wants to upgrade its Columbia MD facility and upgrade it electronic filing system, among other things.
TVBR observation: Wonder where all that money goes? Ah, website photo gallery. Here is a real case where a federal agency needs real down sizing or a better business plan and a level of management operations which is held accountable to someone besides to - themselves. C'mon! Are you kidding me? Tell us something we don't know. Don't forget Ipods that were sold last quarter to the tune of 4 million and growing. 02/08/05 TVBR #27

TiVo report details Super Bowl ads
Super Bowl and the commercials within it got the typical huge global audience. But despite efforts to scale back tastelessness and sex in the game and advertising, the commercials that pushed the envelope the furthest still drew the most enthusiastic viewership, according to TiVo's annual audience measurement of the big game.
TVBR observation: See the chart of what was replayed and you will see GoDaddy.com at number three. The ad that got their 2.5 million was GoDaddy - Censorship Hearing. That spot ran a number of times on news channels, morning shows, you name it before it aired on the Super Bowl. Now that my Friends is called ROI - Return on Investment. Period. 02/08/05 TVBR #27

Survey says: "No commercials" is big draw for satellite radio
Satellite radio companies may be shelling out big bucks for sports rights and big name talent like Howard Stern and Opie & Anthony, but a survey for Wall Street's JP Morgan finds that content is not what's selling XM and Sirius. Rather, the top draw is "no commercials." The survey of 1,600 consumers.
RBR observation: C'mon! Are you kidding me? Tell us something we don't know. Don't forget Ipods that were sold last quarter to the tune of 4 million and growing.
02/08/05 RBR #27

No progress in retransmission fight
Nexstar met with Cox Communications but there was no progress toward resolving their battle over retransmission consent. Nexstar pulled an NBC affiliate off another Cox cable system in Arkansas, but Cox pulled a rabbit out of its hat and kept Nexstar's stations on a system in Missouri. But Nexstar is digging in for the long haul, and says the MSOs will have a war if that's what they want. TVBR observation: This may not be getting much national media attention yet, but just wait until next year. If lots of other group owners also insist on retransmission consent payments - - and the buzz we're hearing is that many will - - hundreds (if not thousands) of cable systems from coast-to-coast will be trying to hold onto customers without offering them local news, "CSI," "The Apprentice," "Desperate Housewives," "American Idol," the Super Bowl...and the list goes on. Editor's note: Coming up in March magazine of Radio & Television Business Report - Nexstar's CEO Perry Sook speaks out in an exclusive One-On-One interview. Sook spoke openly with TVBR editors during the recent NATPE conference in Las Vegas. Reserve your issue here 02/07/05 TVBR #26

Hello wake up Local TV,
Basic cable rates up 5.4%
The FCC says that the combined rate of increase for getting cable TV has gone up 5.4% for the year ending 1/1/04. The average monthly charge for basic and expanded basic service went up that same 5.4%, from 38.95 to 41.04, while equipment fees jumped 5.9%, from 4.04 to 4.28.
02/07/05 TVBR #26

Reach Media, Inc.
A Dallas-based media, broadcasting, internet and entertainment company targeting the African-American community. The hub of 'The Tom Joyner Show' - Needs to fill key positions: Director Affiliate Sales, Director TV Affiliate Relations, Ad Sales Account Executives and Sponsorship Sales. Be on the ground floor of the next exciting TV syndication program plus work with really great honest people. For more information, contact Amy Bert.

See TV Careers for more info.

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