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Volume 24, Issue 37, Jim Carnegie, Editor & Publisher
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Thursday Morning February 22nd, 2007
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TV News ®
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 Bring home the bacon with breakfast battle bucks
McDonald's has had a leg up in the fast-food breakfast wars for some time, but it is about to weather challenges from not one but four competitors, including one that wasn't offering much more that pastries and two that haven't even been in the game in recent memory. While consumers wake up and smell the coffee and other items, broadcasters may smell something green that doesn't come from a farm. And that is cash. USA Today laid out the strategic map that defines the breakfast battlefield. Burger King is one outfit that has offered breakfast items all along, but has not had the share it would like. It'll be offering menu items on the cheap and trying to convince consumers that it's as serious about AMs as McDonald's is. Starbucks is slowly adding hot food to its menu market by market, and is already cooking in Seattle, Washington, New York, San Francisco and Chicago (it says it hasn't decided if its going national or not as of yet). Re-entering the market after a failure two decades ago is Wendy's, and Subway is getting ready for a breakfast launch at over a third of its 20.6K restaurants.
TVBR observation: This kind of multi-player war will be great for just about any advertising medium you can think of. It would seem that the only requirement for broadcasters is to do what's necessary to make sure you scoop up your share of the windfall.
NBC O&Os playing Crosswords
NBC O&O stations in five top 10 markets - New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and Dallas - are the first to clear the new game show "Let's Play Crosswords" from Program Partners and Merv Griffin Entertainment. The show may even be produced at WMAQ-TV Chicago. "Merv Griffin is the master of the game show genre, and we're excited about the addition of 'Let's Play Crosswords' to our program schedules this fall," said Steve Schwaid, SVP, News & Programming, NBC Universal Television Stations. The agreement provides for NBC Universal Domestic Television Distribution to represent national barter advertising sales and for the parties to jointly develop a broadband offering that will launch from the NBC stations' websites. Additionally, the parties are continuing to explore an opportunity to produce the series at NBC-owned facilities at WMAQ in Chicago. The new "Let's Play Crosswords" is described as "a fast-paced, new generation Q&A game show in the great tradition of the genre from the legendary master of the game." That would be Merv Griffin, who created "Wheel of Fortune" and "Jeopardy," which continue to be extraordinarily successful after years and years in syndication. "Let's Play Crosswords" is presented by Merv Griffin Entertainment, Program Partners and the William Morris Agency. The series will be produced for syndication in high-definition (HD).
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 Digital health net launched
Ion Media Network this week launched the digital multicast network it announced last year (6/1/06 TVBR #107) to deliver health and wellness programming 24/7. To promote the new channel, called Ion Life, a one-hour weekly branded program is also airing on the flagship Ion Television network. "The launch of Ion Life marks another step in our plan to build value for our nationwide TV platform by developing a portfolio of multiple brands and digital networks across different demographics and content genres," said Brandon Burgess, President and CEO of Ion Media Networks. "Following the recent highly-rated debut of 'qubo,' our branded multi-platform network for kids, 'Ion Life' serves adult viewers with quality TV content centered around active and healthy lifestyles," he added. Ion Life has initially launched with a slate of programming featuring topics such as health, fitness, nutrition and wellness. The 24/7 digital network will expand its offering to include competitive and lifestyle sports, travel, competitive events, shopping and "best of" guides. Longer-term development goals for Ion Life will include additional content partnerships and acquisitions and plans to expand the Ion Life brand to other platforms, including online at www.ionlife.tv, on-demand and mobile.
January good for NY Times TV
The New York Times television station group is awaiting sale to Local TV LLC, but the current owner continues to include the TV group in its monthly revenue report, albeit as "discontinued operations." For January, TV revenues were up 5.9% to 11.3 million bucks. The New York Times Company did not provide any commentary on the TV results. News Media Group (newspaper/radio/Internet) ad revenues were down 2.9% to 174.6 million for January, with national up 0.3%, retail down 3.6% and classified down 7.6%. About.com, which is reported separately, saw revenues rise 22.5% to just under eight million.
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Focus returns to Mideast
Almost a third of the media's news attention went to the Middle East in one way or another, according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism's news coverage study for the week of 2/11-16/07. Iraq policy picked up 11% of the coverage, and other Mideast topics included Iran (7%), events in Iraq (7%), stories from the homefront (2%), and Afganistan (2%), for a 30% total share. Radio was particularly consumed by the topic, giving such topics 44% of the newshole and adding in another 4% on North Korea for good measure. The saga of the troubled NASA astronaut, which ate up 6% of the hole the previous week, was the biggest story to fall off the charts completely. The previous week's other big tabloid splasher was, of course, the death of Anna Nicole Smith. It fell from 9% to only 3%, and only appeared on two of the six media charts. Network television gave it the same 3%. If you guessed that it lived on over on the cable news channels, you'd be correct. They barely pulled back, going from 21% to 20% and almost single-handedly keeping the story on the overall chart. A big gainer was Iran, which jumped from 2% to 7%.
| Top ten lists here |
 Prof urges journalists to compromise
University of Chicago law professor Geoffrey R. Stone was given a major journalistic forum to discuss a topic of particular interests to journalists: a federal shield law. The forum was the New York Times, and its interest was greater than most, since one of its reporters, the since-departed Judith Miller, was jailed for refusing to reveal a source in the Valerie Plame case. Stone notes that several attempts to pass a shield law have been attempted in Congress (and there have been bipartisan attempts in the 109th Congress), but they often fail in part, he says because journalists want to hold out for a perfect bill. Stone says it's time to realize that a good, and passable, shield law is better than no shield. If the government can prove both compelling need for the source's identity and that it has exhausted all other means of acquiring that knowledge, then, he argues, it should be revealed. That hurdle should be high enough to allow journalists to try and bring hard-to-get information to light and perform its constitutional government watchdog duty, while leaving the government room to provide for common safety.
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| Wall Street Media Business Report TM |
Getting out the vote
It is now less than a month to the vote on whether to take Clear Channel Communications private, selling the company to a pair of private equity funds for 26.7 billion. With a least one big shareholder expected to vote against the sale, the outcome is in doubt, so management is beating the bushes to reach the two-thirds approval required. According to an SEC filing yesterday, this letter has gone out to those who have not yet voted:
Dear Clear Channel Shareholder:
According to our latest records, we have not yet received your proxy for the important special meeting of shareholders of Clear Channel Communications, Inc. to be held on March 21, 2007. Your Board of Directors recommends that you vote FOR the proposed merger with Bain Capital Partners, LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. Please note that if you fail to vote, and there is a quorum present, your shares will be counted as a vote against the adoption of the merger. Please help your company avoid the expense of further solicitation by voting TODAY by signing, dating and returning the enclosed proxy card in the postage-paid envelope provided. Thank you for your cooperation.
Very truly yours,
Mark P. Mays
Chief Executive Officer
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Ad Business Report TM
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"TVB ePort" eBusiness digital platform
unveiled; buyers comment
A major announcement in the effort to achieve a paperless process: The TVB announced yesterday the broadcast television industry has made a multimillion dollar commitment to build TVB ePort, an eBusiness digital platform that aims to enable a new wave of open-standard electronic transactions between advertisers, agencies, broadcasters and reps. ePort is expected to be operational in Q4. The announcement came at a luncheon at Gannett Broadcasting in New York. The initiative was launched with initial funding from the NAB. Chris Rohrs, TVB President, said there would be zero cost to customers: "The customer is increasingly empowered with a vast menu of media choices. To grow our core business, broadcasters have to make the process as easy as possible. Looking beyond Spot TV, new digital platforms will require an evolution to electronic business practices that are faster, smarter, more accountable and more efficient - the TVB ePort will enable that evolution." He added, "As broadcasters increasingly move into video-on-demand, website advertising, wireless marketing, digital sub-channels, and the like, the TVB ePort will be vital to managing the multiplatform revolution." We asked a couple buyers who were at the unveiling yesterday what they thought.
 Said Janice Finkel-Greene (pictured),
EVP/Local Broadcast, Initiative Media:
"I liked it, I'm happy. It's forward-thinking, it makes leap forward as far as the exchange goes. We wouldn't be locked into a single way of doing business. There are a lot of possibilities here in the way it's going to be structured. I think this is huge and it's really encouraging."
What about the other companies out
there already offering electronic
exchange capabilities?
"Except for Google, nobody is really showing real-time accounting. Nobody is producing real-time run times except for Google right now. Yes, Google is having some trouble right now, but they do have the technology and that's because they're tied into the stations' traffic system. That gives them an advantage over the other companies."
Kathy Crawford, MindShare President/Local Broadcast, was also very supportive:
"I think it's great. It is a long time in coming and it will allow us to do a lot of things we can't do now. There are some issues to be worked out and I need to talk to The TVB on what their vision is, but I think it's terrific and I'm glad the industry has stepped up. I congratulate the NAB, TVB and everyone else who has been involved in this for getting this done. This facilitates the way we do business today and doesn't interfere with the way in which we purchase media today. This gets us out of the paper mode and is a simpler way of doing business." She adds, "I don't want anybody to think the industry is not going to change the way they're doing business-in fact, that is not the case. There is a group working on business change/business practices for the future. But the present is really what we're concerned with at the moment."
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| Media Business Report TM |
NBC goes for a ride in LA
Pretty soon, you won't have to make it home from work via public transit to start watching your favorite NBC/Universal television station in Los Angeles. NBC 4 KNBC, Telemundo KVEA 52 and Hispanic indy KWHY 22 will be shown on 4.4K LCD television screens in some 2.2K Los Angeles Metro buses. Well, not exactly the stations. Portions of the bus screens will feature "local news, weather, sports and entertainment" portions of their daily broadcasts, with periodic updates throughout the day via a wireless delivery system. An outfit called Transit TV is fitting the buses with the screens, and also much of the programming. NBC sees the deal as a way to promote its stations. Transit TV will, of course, also sell advertising on the screens, aimed at the typically young and hard-to-reach bus-riding demo. it has similar operations up and running in Chicago, Atlanta, Orlando, San Diego and Milwaukee.
TVBR observation: What public space, if any, will be left without a television screen in the next 25 years? One of these days we're going to get out of the family RV and see one network apiece being shown from projection screens, one each in each eye of each president on Mount Rushmore.
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| Media Markets & Money TM |
 Emmis says aloha to Honolulu TV
KGMB-TV is on its way to a new owner and Emmis Communications is down to one remaining television station as it works its way back to a radio-only broadcast portfolio. The buyer is HITV Operating Company, a corporation formed for the purpose acquiring the station and a subsidiary of MCG Capital Corporation. KGMB-TV is a CBS affiliate. According to the local Star-Bulletin, the sale was a relief to station staffers, who have long known that it was on the block. The transaction will weigh in with a pricetag of 40M, and leaving Emmis with only one station remaining out of the 16 it put up for sale. Total proceeds so far have reached 1.18B. The final station on the shelf is WVUE-TV, the New Orleans Fox affiliate.
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| Washington Media Business Report TM |
FCC tees up News Corp./Liberty deal
The asset exchange between News Corp. and Liberty Media is before the FCC, and its gargantuan nature has opened it to the possibility of much public comment. To recap, News Corp., headed by Rupert Murdoch, will get 11B worth of stock in his company from Liberty and John Malone, amounting to a 19% share of voting stock and 15% of non-voting. In mostly tax-free exchange for the stock, Liberty will get Murdoch's 39% chunk of satellite video provider DirecTV, as well as three regional sports networks and about 550M cash. The FCC is declaring permit but disclose procedures for ex parte commentary. If presented orally, "memoranda summarizing the presentation must contain the presentation's substance and not merely list the subjects discussed." In other words, there will be no substantial secrets between interested parties and those cashing an FCC paycheck. Petitions to deny or informal comments are due by 3/23/07.
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| Cable Business Report TM |
 Lion gets order for
more "Cash Cab"
Lion Television USA has received an 80-episode order from Discovery Channel for the "Cash Cab" series, which has been airing on the cable channel for the past year. "The Discovery Channel has really supported the growth of 'Cash Cab' from an early cult hit to a full fledged franchise," said Executive Producer Allison Corn. Hosted by comedian Ben Bailey, each half-hour episode of "Cash Cab" is like watching "Jeopardy" and HBO's "Taxicab Confessions" all rolled into one. Unsuspecting commuters step inside a seemingly ordinary cab, and suddenly discover they are on national television with a chance to win cash on the way to their destination. As the questions get harder, the more money they are worth, but if contestants get three questions wrong, they are kicked out of the cab, before reaching their destination.
Verizon selects Viamedia to sell local ads for FiOS TV
Verizon says it has selected Viamedia as its rep for local and regional ad sales for Verizon FiOS TV. This is the first of several Verizon initiatives to generate advertising revenue from Verizon's fiber-optic television service. Viamedia, a leading independent cable rep firm, is now selling local advertising for Verizon in the metro DC market and in other markets where Verizon provides FiOS TV service. Those markets are Boston, Dallas, LA, New Jersey, New York, Philadelphia and Tampa. Verizon expects to begin local advertising on FiOS TV in metro market and most other markets by the end of the first quarter. The company has begun a phased rollout of Verizon ads on FiOS TV leading up to the local-advertising launch. Local advertising in FiOS TV's New Jersey, Philadelphia and southern Virginia markets will launch in the spring. Verizon plans to have FiOS TV customers in 3 million to 4 million homes by 2010. Viamedia and affiliate companies represent more than 2.1 million cable households. Based in Lexington, KY, Viamedia and affiliate companies have ops in 28 markets, including eight of the top 10 and 12 of the top 15 markets.
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| Entertainment Media Business Report TM |
Sir Paul's ex-to-be to dance on ABC
ABC is moving into uncharted territory for the next round of "Dancing With the Stars," debuting March 19th. One of the celebrity contestants announced yesterday on "Good Morning America" is former model Heather Mills, who is in the midst of divorcing Paul McCarthy. Mills will be the first contestant on the show to dance on an artificial leg, since she lost one of her legs in a 1993 motorcycle accident. The other "Stars" who will put on their dancing shoes are: boxer Laila Ali, daughter of Muhammad Ali; singer/actor Billy Ray Cyrus; former NBA player Clyde Drexler; former 'N Sync boy band member Joey Fatone; Miss USA 2004 Shandi Finnessey; former "Entertainment Tonight" co-host Leeza Gibbons; Olympic skating gold medalist Apolo Anton Ono; actor Vincent Pastore ("The Sopranos"); former model Paulina Porizkova; and actor Ian Ziering ("Beverly Hills 90210").
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| Ratings & Research |
And the winner is...
You knew without even looking that "American Idol" on Fox was again the #1 TV show for the week. That was the Tuesday edition. The Wednesday edition was #2. ABC claimed the #3 spot with "Grey's Anatomy." As you would expect, Fox dominated the big bucks 18-49 demo, with ABC well back in 2nd, followed by CBS, NBC, Univision, CW, Telemundo, TeleFutura, Ion and Azteca America. CBS did, however, manage a win in Households, scoring a 7.7 rating and 12 share. Fox was next at 6.9/11, ABC 5.9/10, NBC 5.5/9, CW 2.2/3, Univision 2.1/3, Telemundo 0.6/1, Ion 0.5/1, TeleFutura 0.3/1 and Azteca America 0.1/0.
| Here are the top 20 shows |
Hispanic radio & TV ad revenues
 to hit 5.5 billion by 2010
A new study from Kagan Research, Economics of Hispanic TV and Radio in the U.S., reports that the largest and fastest-growing minority market in the U.S. will continue to provide robust revenue and cash flow growth for cable and broadcast networks and TV and radio station operators. Hispanic ad growth is expected to outpace that of the general market, reaching 5.5 billion in gross advertising revenue by 2010. Kagan forecasts bigger revenue growth curves for cable nets in the next several years, with projected growth of 32% from 2002 to 2010, versus 12.5% for broadcast networks. Although the Hispanic demo has lower multichannel penetration than the general population, the services are expected to gain ground in the coming decade. Multichannel penetration of Hispanic TVHH is projected to grow to 71.7% in 2010. TV station players can expect solid revenue growth rates, while radio stations are projected to outpace their English Language peers between 2006 and 2010, the report said. Programming is a potential growth area for all distribution outlets. Cable networks will increase program expenses most quickly, while broadcast networks are likely to have slower growth.
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| Stock Talk |
Stocks close mixed
A higher than expected rise in core consumer inflation in January upset Wall Street traders. Even so, stock prices closed mixed. The Dow Industrials fell 48 points, or 0.4%, to 12,738. The S&P 500 also dropped, but the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose for the day.
TV stocks were mostly lower. Emmis, however, jumped 2.1% after announcing a deal to sell its Honolulu TV station. ACME did even better, up 2.9%. Media General was the day's worst performer, down 2.1%.
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| Stocks |
Here's how stocks fared on Wednesday
| Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
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Acme
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ACME
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5.73
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+0.16
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McGraw-Hill
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MHP
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68.65
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+0.04
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Belo
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BLC
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18.72
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-0.07
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Media General
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MEG
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43.03
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-0.90
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| CBS CI. B |
CBS |
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31.70
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-0.25
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Meredith
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MDP
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59.84
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-0.15
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| CBS CI. A |
CBSa |
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31.71
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-0.21
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News Corp.
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NWS
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24.95
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-0.15
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Clear Channel
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CCU
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36.38
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-0.05
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Nexstar
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NXST
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7.75
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+0.02
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Disney
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DIS
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35.14
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+0.09
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NY Times
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NYT
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26.12
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-0.07
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Emmis
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EMMS
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8.71
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+0.18
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Ion Media
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ION
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1.30
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+0.03
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Entravision
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EVC
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8.79
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+0.03
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Saga Commun.
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SGA
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9.42
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-0.05
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Fisher
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FSCI
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45.28
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+0.19
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SBS
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SBSA
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4.41
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-0.04
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Gannett
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GCI
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62.95
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+0.08
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Scripps
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SSP
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48.96
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-0.25
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Gen. Electric
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GE
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35.91
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-0.20
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Sinclair
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SBGI
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15.04
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+0.34
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Granite
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GBTVK
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0.08
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-0.01
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SWMX
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SWMX
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1.05
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+0.05
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Gray
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GTN
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9.09
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+0.02
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Time Warner
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TWX
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21.65
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-0.02
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Gray, C1. A
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GTNa
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9.18
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-0.06
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Tribune
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TRB
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30.63
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-0.14
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Hearst-Argyle
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HTV
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26.30
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+0.06
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Univision
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UVN
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36.01
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+0.07
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Journal Comm.
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JRN
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13.44
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+0.12
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Wash. Post
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WPO
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791.00
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-2.86
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Lincoln Natl.
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LNC
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70.30
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-0.42
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Young
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YBTVA
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3.84
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+0.04
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LIN TV
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TVL
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14.39
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-0.01
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Bounceback
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 We want to
hear from you.
This is your column, so send your comments and
a photo to tvnews@rbr.com
We asked for your comments on the XM-Sirius merger proposal - and here are some of the first responses.
Perhaps Sirius & XM should be appealing to FEMA instead of the FCC to help get their merger approved? One or both companies seem headed for financial disaster if the merger is not approved. At this point, Satellite is proving, no matter who owns it, not to be a major threat to Local Broadcasting and this is an opportunity to keep it that way. We in the Industry seem to be constantly fighting someone. Perhaps instead the NAB & RAB should be negotiating behind the scenes to get what they want out of this deal and find a way to quietly support it with terms favorable to them. If Satellite Radio fails, would it not be a black eye to an industry in need of technological cache? Perhaps there is a way to further the advances of HD, Local Broadcasting, and Satellite in this age of technology if we work together?
Pete Forester
Director of National Sales
Greater Media NJ Radio Group
The merger will probably pass because it will be better for the consumer and hold down costs. I'm sure that regular, old fashion radio will be whining for the rest of the year about this when you should be trying to fix your own business, which is virtually impossible at this point, especially if you think HD is the answer. If you go into any retail store and ask about HD, they either don't know what it is, or they think it's satellite radio. Satellite radio is truly the best radio around and regardless of the stock prices, will continue to grow.
Lenny Freed, Radio Guru
Any TV views on whether the proposed radio satellite merger is different than the rejected TV satellite merger? Send your comments to tvnews@rbr.com.
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Below the Fold
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Ad Business Report
"TVB ePort"
eBusiness digital platform unveiled; Buyers comment...
Cable Business Report
Lion gets order for more
Gets green light for 80-episodes from Discovery Channel for the "Cash Cab"...
Media Markets & Money
Aloha to Honolulu TV
KGMB-TV on its way to a new owner Emmis is down to 1 left to sell...
Ratings & Research
And the winner is...
You knew without even looking but that is about all it has...
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Stations for Sale
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 Market your Stations For Sale
in our daily epapers.
Contact
June Barnes
jbarnes@rbr.com
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More News Headlines
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The CW reups with MediaVest for Content Wrap
The CW and MediaVest have once again partnered for a brand new content wrap, which will air during the eighth cycle premiere of "America's Next Top Model," on 2/28 (8:00-10:00 p.m. ET). This new content wrap features the latest installment of the branded entertainment and pop culture mini-magazine, CWH, entitled "C What's Hot," "C What's Happening," and "C What's Hip." The latest CWH spotlight, sponsored by Procter & Gamble's Herbal Essences, provides fashion advice and hair styling tips to preparefor the coming beach season. This marks the fifth content wrap to be aired by The CW, and the fourth to be produced through the network's partnership with MediaVest. The CW's first content wrap, which aired on the night of The CW's launch (Sept. 20, 2006) during the seventh cycle premiere of "America's Next Top Model" and also sponsored by P&G's Herbal Essences, delivered 100% retention of "Top Model's" women 18-34 audience throughout the night. Of the four content wraps that The CW has aired, each was done in conjunction with four different brands to target four different demos on four different nights of the net's schedule. Each wrap produced the same desired result, 100% audience retention or better out of the program they were scheduled around. In addition to the on-air component, the CWH franchise, a MediaVest exclusive franchise, maintains a comprehensive online presence on The CW website (www.cwtv.com), including a CWH blog and newsletter, which is regularly updated with news and features about fashion trends, beauty tips and entertainment news.
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RBR - Radio News
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PPM holdout no more
Cox Radio has ended its long refusal to participate in PPM testing and will now encode in Houston. CEO Bob Neil says Media Rating Council (MRC) accreditation was the clincher, although he is still weighing whether to actually subscribe to PPM data from Arbitron. RBR asked Neil, are you persuaded that PPM is going to be the new industry standard for radio audience measurement? "No, we're still not convinced it's the best electronic measurement system. But MRC accreditation was very important to us and we communicated that time and time again. So, after they got it, we felt that we could go ahead and participate in the test to evaluate PPM. We'll make a further call on subscribing if and when it becomes currency in Houston," Neil replied. Adding the four Cox stations will make PPM encoding pretty much universal in Houston, where Cox had been the only major station owner refusing to participate in the PPM test. (Clear Channel does encode in Houston, but not in Philadelphia.) Arbitron had agreed that it would not commercialize PPM in Houston until it received MRC accreditation. Having obtained that, it is talks with station owners on when to end diary service and make PPM data the radio ratings currency in Houston, making it the second market to commercialize PPM after Philadelphia.
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TVBR Radar 2006
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Television News you won't read any where else. TVBR--First, Accurate, and Independently Owned.
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eBay Media Marketplace
set to launch
TVBR has confirmed the much-anticipated eBay Media Marketplace for automated TV buys is set to launch 3/15 in beta. While no networks are officially on board as of yet, agencies and advertisers are. The Q2 scatter market will be the first marketplace the system will tackle, assuming networks decide to put some inventory in the fray. We asked, why are there no networks officially on board yet?
TVBR observation: If this gets off the ground as our source predicted, it should be interesting to see what effect, if any, it has on the upfront buying season. Seems this may be more suitable for scatter, however, if a network is willing to put up big chunks of primetime inventory to see where it will go, this may give some of the more struggling networks a leg up on others going into the upfront. It only takes one or two networks to get the ball rolling on big inventory swaths. Bottom line, this could make things easier on buyers and sellers. Whether it could drive rates up or down remains to be seen.
02/21/07 TVBR #36
ErinMedia loses funding; cuts staff
Looks like ErinMedia's 25 million dollar funding from Spark Capital didn't come through (2/25/07 TVBR #32). ErinMedia announced it has laid off a majority of its employees, in an effort to reduce costs while continuing its antitrust suit against Nielsen Media Research.
02/21/07 TVBR #36
What are the XM-Sirius odds?
Sirius Satellite Radio CEO Mel Karmazin insisted in a joint Wall Street conference call with XM Chairman Gary Parsons that there is a "better than 50/50 chance" that regulators will allow the two companies to merge. Plus look for the XM-Sirius team to make their case for a merger as RBR has details with charted details (see RBR) that will likely play a key role. Karmazin states, "In today's expanding audio entertainment market, consumers have a huge array of choice - and sometimes they don't want to settle for one." And it even gets better with the Consumer Coalition for Competition in Satellite Radio (C3SR) was formed (1/13/07 RBR #9) by satellite radio subscribers who don't want to see the two satellite radio companies become one, eliminating any competition and consumer choice. Now they have an actual fight on their hands. And it is only going to get better and hotter.
RBR observation: One analyst offered a simple solution during yesterday's conference call, but it nearly sent Karmazin and Parsons into cardiac arrest. Why not avoid the whole FCC issue by combining the businesses and their subscriber bases, and turn in one of the satellite spectrum licenses? Oh, no! The satellite radio bosses said they couldn't do that. They need all of the spectrum from both companies so they can continue to serve the non-compatible receivers that each has in the marketplace (somehow they never mention that they have been ignoring the FCC requirement that their receivers be compatible) and to add video, data and other new services to make them more competitive with other media.
02/21/07 RBR #36
Daylight Savings switchover
may cause glitches
TDGA (Traffic Directors Guild of America) advises to take special care twice this spring. This is the first year that the Congressionally mandated change from Standard to Daylight Time in the vast majority of states occurs in March, rather than "The first Sunday in April."
TVBR note: All should have a discussion with your traffic department executives as not to get caught sleeping at the clock. Be prepared.
02/20/07 TVBR #35
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Director of Sales
Three-station LIN Television group needs a Leader Visionary, Strategist, Creative Thinker Motivator, Clear Communicator, Problem solver. WOOD/WOTV/WXSP, 3-station LIN TV group in Grand Rapids is seeking a Director of Sales. Must have previous sales management experience and know how to deliver the revenue. Our multi-platform, multiple-team selling includes three affiliations and three websites. New Business Development and Internet revenue are priorities. Inventory Management is crucial. If you are a great listener and can achieve extraordinary business results through people then
see TV Careers
Hard finding that key person
to fill the important position at your organization? Media HeadHunters is the place that key media firms use to get results. See Media HeadHunters and get results with service--Period.
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©2007 Radio Business Report, Inc. All rights reserved.
Television Business Report -- 2050 Old Bridge Road, Suite B-01, Lake Ridge, VA 22192 -- Phone: 703-492-8191
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