Welcome to TVBR's Daily Epaper
Volume 22, Issue 74, Jim Carnegie, Editor & Publisher
Thursday Morning April 14th, 2005

TV News®

Telecom overhaul in the works
Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK), pictured, head of the Senate Commerce Committee, said some time back that it was time to take a fresh look at the Telecommunications Act, which bears the almost quaint suffix of 1996, a reference to the year of its enactment. His sentiments have been echoed by his counterpart in the House, Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX). Telecom 1996 covered an extremely wide range of issues - - it pretty much runs the gamut of industries under the purview of the FCC. It is thought that the most out of date elements of the Act come under the headings of Internet delivery. The biggest fight will probably be between cable and telephone interests. However, the entire package will be on the table, and that includes elements of interest to broadcasters.

TVBR observation: To say that the new rules ushered in by Telecom 1996 were dramatic would be a gross understatement. We were watching at the time, and can say that nobody - - and we mean nobody - - was predicting that local radio clusters of up to eight stations was coming, and that the national radio station ownership ceiling was going bye-bye in its entirety. Broadcast television has been waiting for its turn for deregulation ever since - - that was the major thrust of the stalled FCC ownership action of 6/2/03. Perhaps legislators will exercise an element of caution this time around - - we've heard time and time again, from people of all ideological stripes, that the dramatic and unprecedented growth of Clear Channel was an unintended consequence of the 1996 Act. Will they be more on the lookout for new unintended consequences? All we can say is that it's time to strap in, folks.

Wert v. Clear Channel settled
WMAQ-TV Chicago President and General Manager Larry Wert and Clear Channel Communications have settled the lawsuit that Wert filed last year seeking to exercise 800,000 bucks worth of Clear Channel stock options that the company had claimed were no longer valid (9/20/04 TVBR #183). A settlement conference last week with a US Magistrate brought the parties together. We'd love to tell you exactly what Wert got, but the settlement has been sealed. Wert never actually worked for Clear Channel, but had the options from working for 10 years at AMFM Inc. and predecessor Chancellor Media, which was merged into Clear Channel after he left for the NBC O&O.

TVBR observation: We'd bet that one reason Clear Channel decided to settle is that it has bigger things to deal with in the Chicago federal courts - - appealing a 90 million judgment against Clear Channel Entertainment by a jury which found that it had interfered with a competitor's agreement to promote dirt-track motorcycle racing (3/23/05 TVBR #58).

Emmis on deck this morning
A couple of TV/newspaper groups have already reported Q1 results, but with its quirky fiscal year, Emmis will be the first radio/TV group to report to Wall Street on how 2005 is going - - at least through the end of February. The consensus of analysts compiled by Thomson/First Call is that revenues should be up 1% overall to 139 million. A preview from Goldman Sachs analyst Mark Wienkes sees radio revenues up 4.7% to 61.5 million and TV up 3.1% to 58.2 million. However, expenses are also expected to be up. Thus, the analyst expects radio cash flow to be down 1.4% and TV off 4.8%. Although Wienkes says the TV unit at Emmis is outperforming the industry, he maintains an "in-line/cautious" rating on the company overall.


Making the case for a
government thumb on Nielsen
As Nielsen Media Research prepares to roll out its Local People Meters (LPM) to two more markets - - Philadelphia and Washington, DC - - the Don't Count Us Out Coalition, which claims that LPMs undercount minority viewers, is ready with another round of anti-LPM advertising. Although Nielsen has indicated that it is receptive to instituting most of the recommendations from a Task Force chaired by former Rep. Cardiss Collins (3/23/05 TVBR #59), coalition members say that not enough - - that the federal government must get into oversight of Nielsen to ensure fair and accurate audience estimates. Although the Federal Trade Commission has refused to get involved (4/7/05 TVBR #69), coalition member Gil Casellas, who headed Census 2000 for the Clinton Administration, insists that the government has a role to play. "We argue that there is a public interest with regard to content, with regard to the employment opportunities that come from that," he said. Coalition members told TVBR that they don't have a blueprint for what the FTC would do, but that it should play an oversight role. "Right now, if there's a dispute between the networks, or advertisers, or community groups like Don't Count Us Out and Nielsen, there's really no place to go," said Casellas, saying that the Media Ratings Council has been powerless to stop Nielsen from taking LPM to more markets, although MRC has only accredited one of the six now operating.

TVBR observation: Don't Count Us Out certainly has Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT) on its side (4/8/05 TVBR #70) and he's planning to introduce legislation to push the government into regulating broadcast ratings. And News Corporation is certainly pushing the idea, since it is known to be providing most of the funding for the coalition. But is there any groundswell of support from broadcasters to have the government regulate their ratings currency? We asked the coalition folks whether they could name a single broadcast company other than News Corp. which is backing the idea. They couldn't name one, although they noted that several other broadcasters had voiced public concerns about LPM. True, but they're working within the industry to fix problems with LPM and deal with other issues about how Nielsen measures TV viewing. We stand by our view that getting the government involved would make matters worse, not better.

Journalists killed on the job honored
78 members of the journalism community lost their lives while on assignment in 2004, making it the third bloodiest year in history, going all the way back to 1812. According to the Freedom Forum, the names of the 78 will be added to 1606 journalists already commemorated at Freedom Park and the Freedom Forum Journalists Memorial. A ceremony will be held 5/3/05, and will be hosted by CNN's Judy Woodruff. 1994 was the worst year, with 94 fatalities, followed by 1991, with 93. Freedom Forum noted that 25 of the 2004 casualties were in Iraq, bringing to total number in that country up to 45 since Operation Desert Storm began. That compares to 69 killed during WWII and 63 in a 20-year period of conflict in Vietnam and Cambodia.

Transaction outlook: 2005, Part 4
John Pierce of John Pierce & Co. is on the hot seat today. We asked: What kind of deals are going to get done in 2005 while the ownership rules are still somewhat in flux? "I believe the deals that will get done are specialized operators, first of all. That may be specialized operators in sports - - there's been a growth of some companies going to market single-handed mainly in full-time, now also some day-timers doing sports. Also ethnic and religious, as you just saw recently with Salem buying KCRO-AM in Omaha. Such companies will still look into markets for size, definitely good facilities and look at buying stand-alone AMs or another big AM in a market that they might already have a presence in. I believe you'll see some activity this year, without a doubt, in non-commercial FMs. You'll see anywhere from two to maybe 10 of those." Are we talking about religious to religious or educational to religious? "We're talking in some cases educational to religious - - probably at least two of those. We'll see two or three of religious to religious and we'll see some situations happen this year which may not be acquisitions, but rather some LMAs this year by a major public broadcaster, meaning a non-commercial. Now those aren't transactions, but you'll probably will see some of that where the entry price is prohibitive for an AM or an FM in the top 25 market. But if they have the time to operate and develop the format and raise money as they go along with an LMA, you'll see that. You'll see some LMAs that could be with an option to purchase down the road.


Adbiz©

Volvo signs for MSN Spaces blogging tool
MSN announced the first US ad partner for MSN Spaces: Volvo Cars of North America. The new campaign from Volvo taps into the storytelling power of the Internet in an entertaining manner that advertises the brand and also helps introduce consumers to new stories from the community. MSN Spaces enables consumers to easily create and maintain a personal website for posting blogs, online photo albums, personal music lists and other content they want to share with others. More than 4.5 million consumers have already started their own MSN Spaces sites since 12/04, when the beta version of this service became available, giving Volvo access to a valuable and rapidly expanding audience. Volvo sought to partner with MSN because of the unique opportunity offered by MSN Spaces to reach users who are engaged in telling the stories of their lives, mirroring the "Volvo for life" brand campaign. The campaign centers on the What's Your Story? theme, which includes a destination web page (http://whatsyourstory.msn.com ) that enables consumers to discover great stories being told by others in the MSN community. Volvo's ads on the service include a universal ad package on the MSN Spaces home page, unobtrusive text links with graphics at the top of users' personal Spaces, and sponsored MSN Spaces with editorial content initially from MSN Autos and MSN Money, with expansions planned.

Universal McCann loses top research guru
Universal McCann Director of Global Research Jim Kite has resigned to become MediaVest's new EVP/Director of Insights, Research, and Accountability. This, the latest in a string of defections that include OMD snagging UMC Chief Strategy Officer Mark Stewart last week as Managing Director/Eastern Ops. Last November, Marston Allen, Director of UMC also joined MediaVest as Director of Business Development and Marketing. Last month, Robin Kent was replaced as worldwide Universal McCann CEO by COO Murray Dudgeon, on an interim basis.

Kim Cattrall to be the face of
Bacardi's Island Breeze

Bacardi announced Sex and the City actress
Kim Cattrall, who embodied the confident woman and led a revolution in cocktails, has been chosen as the celebrity spokeswoman for its new "Island Breeze by Bacardi." Cattrall will appear in a series of print and cable ads touting Island Breeze, "The Original Lite Spirit," that has half the calories of traditional spirits and half the calories of wine. She'll voice the tag, "Now you can have it all." Island Breeze is made with Bacardi rum, infused with natural fruit flavors and sucralose, a natural-sugar substitute with no caloric content. It'll be available throughout the US in May, in Key Lime, Coconut and Wild Berry. Avrett, Free, and Ginsburg NY handled creative.


Washington Beat
Bolton gets air support
An organization called Move America Forward has come forth with advertisements backing the nomination of John Bolton as US Ambassador to the United Nations. The ads come on the heels of attempts by Citizens for Global Solutions (4/1/05 TVBR #65) to derail that nomination through the use of advertising. Some of the CGS ads were specifically targeted to Rhode Island in hopes of influencing moderate Republican Sen. Lincoln Chaffee (R-RI) to vote with Democrats and against Bolton in committee. MAF appears to be mounting a more general campaign aimed at the public, and is soliciting donations on its website so it can acquire more airtime.

Legal beagles play crazy eights in Vegas
The American Bar Forum on Communications Law and the Federal Communications Bar Association will converge on NAB2005 in Las Vegas to discuss the types of legal problems peculiar to broadcasters. A heavy-hitting lineup of panelists will include Jerald Fritz, Albritton Communications; Susan Fox, The Walt Disney Company; Charles Sennet, Tribune Company; Molly Pauker, Fox Television; Gregory Schmidt, LIN Television Corp.; Stuart Young, Cox Enterprises; Richard Wiley, former FCC Commissioner; Mary Snapp, Microsoft Corporation; Jane Mago, National Association of Broadcasters; Paul Gallant, Stanford Financial Group; and Russell Schwartz, Bahakel Communications. "Eight" is the theme of the 4/17/05 session, which runs all day, from 7:30 AM-5:30PM. Topic titles include "Eight TV Programming Secrets You'll Only Admit in a Privilege Conversation," "Eight Daily Rules that Just Make You Scream," "Eight Naive Comments from Sales Department Account Executives," "The Crazy Eight -- Problems You Don't Want to Hear About From Your News Director," and "An Eight-Legged Spider Web of Legal Problems. Also on the docket despite, during lunch, and perhaps due to the belief that either eight is enough, or there's already enough eight, is a session called "Washington Meets Wall Street."


Programming
UPN premiering Britney Spears,
"The Bad Girl's Guide" in May
The dates have been set: Britney Spears and husband Kevin Federline's new UPN series will premiere with a special one-hour episode, on Tuesday, May 17 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT). The following week, UPN's new comedy The Bad Girl's Guide, starring Jenny McCarthy, will premiere on Tuesday, May 24 (9:30-10:00 PM, ET/PT), after Britney and Kevin's series at 9:00-9:30 PM, ET/PT. Britney and Kevin's new series shares their courtship, engagement and wedding through exclusive, never-before-seen private home videos, shot mostly by the couple with their own camera. The show will have an exclusive second window on MTV Music Group channels. Britney Spears and Kevin Federline are executive producers. In the new comedy The Bad Girl's Guide, inspired by the national best-selling book series The Bad Girl's Guide by Cameron Tuttle, a "bad girl" is defined as a woman who is sassy, provocative, questions authority and knows what she wants from life and how to get it with style, confidence and humor. These are the exact words and attitude that JJ, Holly and Sarah, three sexy, self-assured, singles living in Chicago, embody as modern bad girls. The series stars Jenny McCarthy ("Scary Movie 3") as JJ, Marcelle Larice as Holly, Christina Moore ("Hyperion Bay") as Sarah, Stephanie Childers as Irene and Johnathan McClain as Patric. It's produced by Palm Tree Productions and Flame Television in association with Paramount Network Television. Robin Schiff ("Romy and Michele's High School Reunion") is executive producer and showrunner. Tony Krantz is executive producer. Cameron Tuttle is co-executive producer and author of the best-selling series The Bad Girl's Guide (Chronicle Books).

BET cancels Nightly News
BET has canceled its "Nightly News," to be replaced with news briefs throughout the day, specials about newsworthy events and an urban affairs show, "The Cousin Jeff Chronicles," that will run four times a year. "With 24-hour news networks and everyone getting news off the Internet, our audience doesn't want to wait until 11 p.m. to find out what the news is," the AP quoted Debra Lee, BET President, as saying. As its execs explained in a sales presentation to buyers in New York on Tuesday, BET's focus is reaching 18-34 black viewers with music programming as its primary focus. The decision comes after BET canceled other public affairs programming such as "Lead Story" and "Teen Summit," and also fired "BET Tonight" host Tavis Smiley.


TVBR Ratings
"Housewives" more TiVoed than "Idol"
Those "Desperate Housewives" are red-hot. The ABC series was more popular with TiVo users in the past week than even Fox's "American Idol." And there's more good news for ABC. Its other big hit, "Lost," took the #3 slot, beating the Wednesday edition of "Idol," while trailing the Tuesday show. | More... |


GM Talkback
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act
Recently, RBR/TVBR talked with the industry about how has the Sarbanes-Oxley Act affected their accounting routine. By the end of last year, publicly held companies had to be in compliance (billing systems). Tomorrow, we get opinion from Leslie Hartmann, VP/Finance, Controller, Radio One.

Bill Moll, President/CEO, CC Television
It's not just about the television business - - it has obviously impacted the entire business world. And it's costing every industry - - not just broadcasting - - tens of millions of dollars a year, every year, to implement. We've been living with it for the last year, and Sarbanes-Oxley has been around for a long time - - long enough now that we've been able to respond. But we haven't responded to it simply as a broadcast or television company. The whole corporation has had to respond to it, and as a huge public company like ours, there is simply no question that you will comply and that you will comply with infinite precision and detail. There is simply no room for error. And everybody in the company understands that. I think we understood it before, but now that it's mandated by law and there are penalties, it certainly gets your attention. Clear Channel has undertaken an enormous burden, both in internal software and external support systems to comply. How does it change our behavior? It means that if I sign off on a set of financials, I'd better know exactly what's behind it, and I do.


Stock Talk
Stocks fall because...well, because
Its days like yesterday that disprove the theory of Wall Street being an efficient market, at least in the short-run. A day after traders bid up stocks on what the Fed had to say about inflation, they apparently changed their minds after sleeping on it. Thus, the Dow Industrials dropped 104 points, or 1%, to 10,404.

TV stocks rode the same roller coaster. Nexstar led the retreat, falling 4.5%. Paxson fell 4.3%. One of the few gainers was Media General, up 5.1% on an upgrade from "sell" to "hold" by Deutsche Bank Securities.


Stocks

Here's how stocks fared on Wednesday

Company Symbol Close Change Company Symbol Close Change

Acme

ACME

4.50

-0.01

McGraw-Hill

MHP

83.96

-0.88

Belo

BLC

24.03

-0.08

Media General

MEG

64.52

+3.10

Clear Channel

CCU

34.15

-0.39

Meredith

MDP

46.04

-0.44

Disney

DIS

27.70

-0.44

News Corp.

NWS

17.24

-0.27

Emmis

EMMS

18.40

-0.12

Nexstar

NXST

6.52

-0.31

Entravision

EVC

8.80

-0.17

NY Times

NYT

35.55

-0.12

Fisher

FSCI

51.57

+0.25

Paxson

PAX

1.11

-0.05

Gannett

GCI

79.42

-0.58

Saga Commun.

SGA

15.45

-0.08

Gen. Electric

GE

35.64

-0.45

Scripps

SSP

48.32

-0.25

Granite

GBTVK

0.31

unch

Sinclair

SBGI

8.00

-0.01

Gray

GTN

13.97

-0.21

Time Warner

TWX

17.78

-0.18

Gray, C1. A

GTNa

12.96

unch

Tribune

TRB

39.25

-0.10

Hearst-Argyle

HTV

25.51

-0.03

Univision

UVN

27.68

-0.22

Jeff-Pilot

JP

49.03

-0.52

Viacom, Cl. A

VIA

34.73

-0.32

Journal Comm.

JRN

17.10

-0.03

Viacom, Cl. B

VIAb

34.49

-0.31

Liberty Corp

LC

39.72

-0.87

Wash. Post

WPO

885.49

-8.51

LIN TV

TVL

16.90

+0.05

Young

YBTVA

8.65

-0.12


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This is your column, so send your comments to tvnews@rbr.com

This reader comments on broadcasters pulling satellite-friendly syndication...

Dear Jim,
Just wanted you to know that I applaud RBR's coverage of the ongoing discussion regarding the decision of several terrestrial radio station owners to cancel syndicated programs that are also heard on satellite radio. Undoubtedly, the issue of market exclusivity is critical to all terrestrial stations. Needless to say, this story will continue to develop and I look forward to reading about it in your daily e-paper. Your April 4th Epaper (4//4/05 RBR #66) mentioned several key players in our industry who have decided to voice their opinions at this time;

Ed Christian, Gabe Hobbs, and Ken Beck to name a few. As you continue to cover this story be advised that we, at the WOR Radio Network, are not offering our programming to satellite companies. Our syndicated programs include Dr. Joy Browne, Jim Cramer's Real Money, Lionel, and Joey Reynolds; as well as a variety of weekend program offerings. Though highly coveted by both satellite providers for its unique and valuable program content, the WOR Radio Network deals exclusively with terrestrial radio stations. This has been the position of the WOR Radio Network and its parent company, Buckley Radio for many years. Once again, thanks for taking the lead on this very important issue. As always, please feel free to contact me for future comments.

Sincerely,
Chris Thompson
Executive Director
WOR Radio Network


More News Headlines

International

18 in bidding for "Beeb" spin-off
The BBC announced yesterday that 18 companies have submitted preliminary bids for BBC Broadcast - - the commercial branch of the venerable British TV giant that handles such things as promotion and distribution. At least two bidders have US ties - - Ascent Media, a division of John Malone's Liberty Media, and Kleinwort Capital Ltd. According to the guardian newspaper, BBC Broadcast could fetch up to 150 million pounds (284 million US greenbacks). After that auction is completed, the public broadcaster is expected to sell BBC Resources, its studios to post-production arm, which was also found to be a non-core holding following an internal review last year.


May - Radio & Television Business Report
The First Real Monthly
Business Media Magazine

Upfront looms on
the horizon


May Radio & Television Business Report focuses on One-On-One interviews with the money Ad Players:
David Verklin, Steve Grubbs, Harry Keeshan, Jon Mandel, Ray Warren, Ira Berger, Jean Pool, Julie Roehm and others that read TVBR religiously. They're participating because they want you to know what they need to help make informed decisions. They comment on programming that they view promising for this upfront; they examine thoroughly the real issues that affect the marketplace as all are getting busy. This is a large story already and getting bigger.

Watch for the May Issue of
Radio & Television Business Report. The 2005-2006 Upfront Examined.
If you have not revalidated, do so at www.tvbr.tv to ensure the delivery of your May issue.


TVBR Radar 2005
Television News you won't read any where else. TVBR--First, Accurate, and Independently Owned.

Q2 still soft for Gannett TV
After reporting that Q1 broadcast TV revenues were down 5.1%, Gannett CEO Doug McCorkindale told analysts to expect more of the same in Q2. The automotive sector continues to be a concern - - and not just for broadcast. auto was soft across Gannett's platform - - newspapers and TV in the US and for its newspapers in the UK as well. Of course, TV is being impacted in the US by the lack of political advertising, so he's expecting Q2 TV revenues to be down in the mid to high single digits.
TVBR observation: Suggest you listen to the audio of McCorkindale when he speaks of forward pacing. The same on what they don't have today compared to last year as Local up and National down. The buzz word and which we anticipate to hear more of during this TV year from operators will be - Volatile.
04/13/05 TVBR #73

DirecTV and Chrysler Group join forces in interactive TV ads
A long-term deal allows DirecTV to provide clients with a robust interactive advertising and research vehicle that spans across multiple DirecTV product platforms, such as interactive basic set-top receivers, digital video recorders and the DirecTV Media Center. The program will launch in September. Twentieth Television oversees all ad sales on behalf of DirecTV. As part of the service, DirecTV will perform focus group studies on selected Chrysler Group campaigns, which will help gauge the likelihood of the tactics being successful prior to deployment. In addition, DirecTV will also receive feedback through this analysis, which will aid in its continued ad strategy. The interactive advertising campaigns will be deployed on interactive basic set-top boxes, the new DirecTV DVR, and additional platforms as they become available. 04/13/05 TVBR #73

Media General sees
small gain for TV in Q2
After pushing hard to eek out a 1% revenue gain for TV in Q1, Media General is preparing repeat that magic in Q2. The company is telling Wall Street to expect a small increase in broadcast ad sales over last year. 04/13/05 TVBR #73

"Less is More" holding;
pricing improving
Harris Nesbitt analyst Lee Westerfield says a shortage of 60-second spot inventory is developing because of Clear Channel Radio's "Less is More" initiative, which has more use of 30-second spots as one of its goals. Even so, Westerfield says that upward pressure on unit pricing doesn't mean that ad demand is really improving.
04/13/05 RBR #73

Watchdogs unhappy
with CPB shuffle
In a joint statement, CPB President/CEO Kathleen Cox and Chairman Kenneth Y. Tomlinson announced that Cox was adding an ex- to her title, effective immediately. New hire Ken Ferree on board as EVP/COO for only a few weeks COO following his recent exit from a controversial tour of duty as the FCC's first Media Bureau Chief, will fill in for Cox while the search for a new President is conducted. Jeff Chester of the Center for Digital Democracy is not so sure argues that Ferree supported the deregulatory regime of Michael Powell at the FCC. TVBR observation: Yes, Ferree was working for an FCC chairman who espoused deregulatory, open market ideas. It was Powell's job to make those types of determinations, and it was Ferree's job to create regulation within Powell's framework and the law. It was not Ferree's job to barnstorm the countryside getting input from concerned Americans. That said, we found Ferree to be extremely open and communicative - - he was anything but evasive, and he was willing to state his own opinions when asked. 04/12/05 TVBR #72

Neil takes WSJ to task
You've got to hand it to the PR firms working for XM and Sirus - - they've done a heck of a job getting newspapers to run stories that make it look like satellite radio, which still has relatively little penetration of the US media market, is already a major player and has terrestrial radio on the run. Cox Radio CEO Bob Neil got fed up with all of the hype and fired off a letter to set the record straight at the Wall Street Journal.
RBR observation: Go Big Bob - this speaks better than some sticken PR agency when top level broadcasters take control and fight back and go on the attack. Good programming.
04/12/05 TVBR #72


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