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Volume 22, Issue 211, Jim Carnegie, Editor & Publisher

Thursday Morning October 27th, 2005

Radio News®

RBR observation: Joel's triple-play spreads the risk
We don't know how much "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart knows about radio programming, but he gave Joel Hollander some good advice when he suggested that the Infinity CEO look for multiple ways to replace Howard Stern, not a one-size-fits-all approach. So, instead of betting that one big-name celebrity could become radio's next blockbuster talent, Infinity is going with David Lee Roth in some markets, Adam Carolla in others, Rover in still others - - and a few other choices on specific stations (10/16/05 RBR #210). Do those three guys equal one Howard Stern? Certainly not on January 3rd they won't, but give them time. It took Stern 20 years to build his audience, so these three are going to have to work hard and develop their own relationships with listeners. We'd bet that one of the three will be gone a year or so later - - but we wouldn't dare to try to guess which one. Some shows work and some don't. That's just the way it is for radio programming. By launching three new shows Hollander has hedged his bets and he seems not to be Blink(ing), which was a format but not by Hollander. The ultimate test will come when the on-air is switched to live and the listeners will either love or hate what they hear. Key begins with Pre-Marketing and which vehicles managers will use to pre-promo these moves and continue a strong forceful campaign. Infinity has seen a long gray line of wrong moves from Blink, the Opie & Anthony train wreck, blowing up WCBS-FM, to Jack to Jill to flip flopping more than John Kerry. One key is for sure if Hollander was looking for press he got it not just here but in many places including a number of business cable financial programs like Fox News Channel with Neil Cavuto. But now there are no more excuses when we listen into the financial quarterly conference calls because it is now on the table and one can only double down so many times with a bet. RBR said yesterday, listen in next Tuesday when CBS boss Les Moonves speaks about Hollander and Infinity's moves and future. Until then we wait. Best of luck to the local GM's, PD's and sales departments.

Stern replacements to see new ad contracts?
In the press conference Tuesday detailing Howard Stern's replacement strategy, Infinity CEO Joel Hollander said that while Stern generated 100 million in annual revenue, his departure means new advertisers might be interested in the morning drive replacements across the country. We asked Matthew Warnecke, VP Mgr Network & Local Radio, MediaCom, his opinion: "Well, with change, there's always the opportunity to explore the opportunity that people had been averse to previously. Stations will get meetings with advertisers that had previously said No Way to Howard, just because there is a change and people will need to be seen to analyze what's now available and to make sure that they've got a point of view. You can't just automatically say No; you've got to be able to say Yes or No and why." When they are making their pitches to you, without any real, proven numbers on most of the new talent, how would the negotiations go? I assume the rates asked will be considerably lower. "You look at whatever kinds of track records you can - - where there is local information available, historical in any context. If it's market X and here's the array of formats. And within that context, the DJ delivered this proportion, then you can say, 'Well, maybe it will be similar. Let's crunch those numbers.' It's a crap shoot, you just try and make the best guess you can based on the information that's available." Is it safe to assume the Stern replacements won't get anything close to what he was getting? "I think it's all in the negotiation. If there's an advertiser who's going to nibble, then no one is going to walk away because they're not paying enough. They want to get people on the box, so as part of a package with more proven inventory on other parts of the station or with other stations in that group, you could probably do some good deals. Because they want to make sure that their commercial time is seen to be purchased."

McManus in,
Heyward out at CBS News
Andrew Heyward dodged a bullet back in January when an independent investigation found that he was not personally responsible for last year's fiasco at "60 Minutes Wednesday," when a much-ballyhooed story about President Bush's military record relied on documents that were likely fakes (1/11/05 RBR #7). But the handwriting was on the wall. After months of speculation that Heyward was a short-timer as President of CBS News, his exit became official yesterday. Effective November 7th, CBS Sports President Sean McManus (pictured) will take over CBS News as well. Heyward will continue to draw a paycheck until the end of the year, when his contract expires. "Sean McManus is a superb executive, a great leader and a fierce competitor whose pedigree for excellence in live-event programming is well-known," said Viacom Co-President/COO (and soon to be CBS Corp. CEO) Les Moonves in announcing the change. "I believe Sean's background has prepared him well for the significant tasks that face us at CBS News, and I am very pleased that we have such a brilliant executive within our management team who can take on this crucial role." As is customary in such announcements, Moonves had only good things to say about Heyward ("I wish him only the best...") and noted how many major awards CBS News had won while he was at the helm. Now Heyward will have plenty of time to dust those awards and arrange them carefully on his mantle at home.

RBR observation: Job one, of course, is to figure out the format and anchor(s) for the CBS Evening News. It's been seven months since Dan Rather stepped down and Bob Schieffer continues to hold down the fort as interim anchor. Can McManus figure out how to revive the #3 network TV newscast and attract viewers who'll appeal to advertisers other than pharmaceutical companies pushing their remedies for the maladies of old age? A few decades ago people would have been aghast at the idea of putting a sports guy in charge of news. But McManus was a protégé of Roone Arledge at ABC, who's already blazed that trail - - and quite successfully. Last fact still remains not just with CBS but with the evening news on NBC and ABC. The audience is very old and not attracting anyone new. So if the protégé of Arledge has any tricks up his sleeve now is the time before that stock split next year.

Pressure grows for VNU
sale or spin-off
If you're placing a bet on whether of not VNU will carry through its seven billion bucks deal to acquire IMS Health (1/4/05 RBR #194), the smart money now is on the deal being dropped (even though it cleared US antitrust review yesterday). Reports in the European financial press say institutional investors holding more than 40% of VNU's shares have made it clear to CEO Rob van den Bergh that they are dead-set against the transaction. But while the IMS deal is likely to be called off, the unpopular move by VNU management has motivated the big investors to demand change at the company, so pressure is growing for VNU management to either buy back stock, sell off assets or sell the entire company to the highest bidder. This week's news of a buyout bid being put together by KKR and Blackstone Group makes the latter a real possibility and adds to the pressure on management.

RBR observation: In either an asset sale or breakup scenario, it appears the piece of VNU most likely to be in play is its Business Information division (magazines and trade shows). It includes such well known names as Adweek, Billboard, Brandweek, Editor & Publisher, Mediaweek and The Hollywood Reporter, but also such obscure titles as EMB (Embroidery/Monogram Business Magazine), Progressive Grocer, Watercolor and Watch Aficionado. Big investors don't see the division as a major growth vehicle and would be happy to see it sold off. Likewise, KKR/Blackstone is no doubt focused on Nielsen and its related media and marketing data and research operations as the growth portion of VNU. In the event of a successful buyout, they would likely try to sell off the publications operation to reduce the eight billion or so price tag for the whole company. VNU reported in August that revenues for the Business Information division were flat for the first half of 2005, but up 3% if you disregard currency fluctuations. Revenues for the Media-Measurement & Information division were up 4%, or 11% if currency fluctuations are ignored.

Barton DTV bill heading to full House
Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee put up resistance, but the committee late yesterday passed on a 33-17 vote a DTV bill by Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX) that was kept largely intact. If it passes the full House, negotiators will then have to iron out areas where the bill is at odds with the Senate version in several key areas. First off yesterday was defeat of a replacement bill offered by John Dingell (D-MI). The biggest bone of contention has been the subsidy for set-top boxes to replace an estimated 73M analog television sets currently not hooked up to an MVPD service. Republicans are holding firm at 990M, turning back Democratic efforts to increase it to the 3.5B-4B dollar range. Gene Green (D-TX) decried the refusal to up the set-top ante, saying "I never thought this committee would pass a tax on free TV," a sentiment echoed by Ed Markey (D-MA), who said "This is a government condemnation of private property." Steve Buyer (R-IN) countered that this was fancy language and that there was no basis in law - - "None. Zero. Zippo." - - for requiring the government to make good on analog television sets rendered dark by the transition. Another big bone of contention was the use of spectrum auctions to fund the development of interoperable equipment for first responders. Democrats, led by Bart Stupak (D-MI), attempted to direct 5.8B to that end, but the Republicans indicated they would act on a Fred Upton (R-MI) amendment allocating 500M for that purpose. Another difference remaining as we write this is the hard deadline. The House sets it at 12/31/08; the Senate started there but was moved back to 4/7/09. By amendment, stations in the New York market will be assisted in propagating their signals until a new building is constructed replacing the World Trade Center, and manufacturers of set-top boxes are freed from meeting stringent state-by-state efficiency guidelines.

Adbiz©

David Verklin:
Mastering a digital future - - Part III
(from our July RBR/TVBR Solutions magazine)
David Verklin, CEO of Carat Americas, runs the largest independent media services company in North America, sporting 6 billion in billings annually. David shepherds over 350 clients including Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, RadioShack, Adidas, Hyundai, New Line Cinema, Electronic Arts, Kia, Black & Decker, Marriott and Philips Electronics. Here, David talks about the biz, with a special focus on his passion, new digital technologies and the marketing that goes with it.

What are your clients' biggest concerns? Is it just ROI?
No, I think it's a concern about television. Clients love the old model, people don't want to talk about it publicly but everybody loved the old 30-second TV model - - it was great. You make three to five TV commercials a year. You shoot them in the Bahamas...
| Read More |

Online is hopping, say traditional radio buyers
Matt Feinberg, SVP/National Radio, Zenith Media Services, tells us he's amazed at how much online budgets for his clients are increasing as of late: "It is just really, really busy here. We're doing so much online stuff now. Our group has taken over all of the online extensions here. We've been doing that for a while, but it has just been coming in in droves. I've been doing online for six years and we've always just had a little budget on the side dealing with a couple cable networks and a couple radio networks with the streaming stuff. We could see years ago this was going to become big. And last year the budgets went from a couple thousand to literally a little over a million overnight. While neither of those numbers are very big, the percentage jump from last year to this year - - my boss [Peggy Green, Zenith Media's President/National Broadcast] almost fell out of her chair when I told her how much we're spending online. We're getting these proposals in left and right. Right now we're reacting to them, but we've also been in a good position in the last couple of years since we're very proactive in the space. We're very much ready to handle them from just an understanding point of view. Handling them from a pure hours point of view is kind of tough."

Matthew Warnecke, VP Mgr Network & Local Radio, MediaCom, agreed, his clients are very much interested. "You know, doubling a one share is only a two share, but it's still a huge increase on percentage basis. So yes, on a percentage basis, people are very much interested. And with the folks like Ronning Lipset and Net Radio Sales getting to critical mass and speaking the language of the radio marketplace and being able to go the route of traditional radio in terms of sales, it's increasing. It's still not anywhere near traditional network radio. I think it's part of the sort of continued excitement clients have over Internet advertising generally."

Tower Records launches new campaign
Tower Records has launched a new campaign in top markets across the nation called "Life Played Loud," building on the company's momentum as it enters the holiday-selling season.
| Read More... |

Air France launches new corporate campaign
Air France is showcasing commitment to satisfying the needs of U.S. passengers with a new corporate campaign launching this month. The effort will be featured in major papers including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and The New York Times.
| Read More... |

Klues named Chairman
of Publicis Groupe Media; McCann to Global CEO at Starcom Mediavest
Publicis Groupe announced Starcom MediaVest Group CEO Jack Klues has been named chairman of Publicis Groupe Media (PGM). Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG)/The Americas CEO Renetta McCann will take over from Klues as CEO of SMG. McCann has overseen the company's largest region (encompassing four media brands-Starcom, MediaVest, GM Planworks and StarLink-plus several markets across Canada, the United States and Latin America). "Renetta is the natural choice for the top job at SMG," said Klues. "She is a builder who has consistently grown the organization, expanded our client relationships based on service and trust, and developed some of the smartest, most dynamic people and teams in the business. She brings remarkable energy to the vast responsibilities entrusted to her - be it a major new multinational assignment, a corporate diversification effort, or the mastery of contact points to enable our clients to connect to consumers into the future." Steve King continues to lead the ZenithOptimedia network as CEO, with Tim Jones, CEO of ZenithOptimedia USA, Phil Talbot, CEO of Asia, John Taylor, worldwide director of client service, and Adrian Sayliss, COO, reporting into him. King is a member of the PGM Board, as is Sayliss.

Media Markets & MoneyTM

Orlando: In case you were wondering
Often in the world of broadcasting, a single owner uses more than one licensee name. When a pair of such stations are sold together, it usually means that two applications must be filed with the FCC, even though in essence there is only one deal taking place. Often in these situations, each application will have a copy of the exact same contract appended. However, in the case of the total 10M sale of WTLN-AM Orlando FL from Tom Moffit's TM2 to Salem, and WHIM-AM Apopka FL from Tom Moffit's Alton Rainbow Corp., also to Salem, two separate and distinct contracts were used. That is how we know that WTLN is the more highly valued of the two stations - - much more highly valued. WTLN's pricetag is 9.4M, compared to 600K for WHIM. They will form a senior-band superduopoly with WORL-AM, coming in a swap with James Crystal Radio.

Washington Beat

Get it in the file of file 10K
You'll be filing up to 10K dollars with the US Treasury at the behest of the FCC, if your station's public file is found to be not up to snuff. Soon-to-be-sold Liberty Corp., which recently had a few stations excused or admonished for irregularities in its children's advertising, or the records of same, will have to cough up some dough this time. NBC WALB-TV 10 in Albany GA and ABC KAIT-TV 8 in Jonesboro AR are the guilty parties. Both applied for license renewals and discovered gaps in the children's programming records. The irregularities were self-reported and self-corrected, so the FCC waved both through to their renewals, but the public file violations were warranted serious enough for fines to be levied. WALB is liable for 10K, KAIT for 4K.

RBR observation: Who is responsible for making sure the public file at your station is properly maintained? If you cannot instantly answer that question, you may want to put 10K in there right now so you'll have it when it's your turn to pay a fine. Keeping the file in order is not a core occupation at any station, and is easily forgotten. If all the possible candidates for this chore think to themselves "I thought X down in administration handled this," then it won't get done. Make sure there is one person, and a back-up, who both know what goes into the file and who make it their business to be sure it gets there.

Publisher note: RBR will be emailing a full eight page 'What you need to know in your public file' during the end of November written by FCC attorney Gregg Skall just for RBR / TVBR - Members only.

A look at the set-top debate
The House DTV bill will allocate 990M to set-top boxes, 830M of which, according to Rick Boucher (D-VA), will actually go to the purchase of the boxes. They are funded on the assumption that they will cost 60 dollars apiece. The government will pay 40 dollars, the consumer 20 dollars. Households will be eligible to receive up to two coupons redeemable toward the purchase of the box. Boucher quoted statistics - - he said there are currently 73M analog sets in use in America which are not wired to an MVPD service. Of these, 45M are in non-MVPD homes, and the other 28M are 2nd or 3rd sets in MVPD households which do not happen to be wired and rely on over-the-air television transmission. The coupons will be available on a first-come, first-served basis, and when the 830M is gone, that'll be it. Boucher was concerned that the 830M will cover only 21M sets, leaving the owners of 52M completely on their own. Boucher spoke in favor of a Ed Markey (D-MA) amendment which would have upped funding to 3.5B-4B, and would have exceeded the Senate Commerce allocation of 3B for the same purpose, a total he said was much more realistic.

RBR observation: This was a matter of hot debate in the House Commerce Committee, but was hardly debated at all in the Senate. Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) has said that the existence of a hard date after the 2008 holiday season will provide three such seasons during which he figures that American consumers will reduce the need for set-top boxes on their own. For that reason there can be hope that the 3B figure is more than may be needed. The House sub-1B figure, however, doesn't even cover 30% of existing unwired analog sets. It will be extremely interesting to see where the line is when this bill comes out of conference committee.

Boucher tries to stipulate high-def carriage
As currently worded, cable and satellite MVPDs will not be forced to transfer high-definition broadcast programming on to its subscribers until 2014 - - until then, they can downconvert such programming to standard digital. A Rick Boucher (D-VA) amendment would require that broadcasters use such programming when it is receiving it that way from a network source. MVPDs electing to downconvert such programming would be forced to disclose that fact on screen to its subscribers, or get an FCC waiver in the case it lacks capacity to pass along the high-definition signal. The amendment was shot down.

RBR observation: We were stunned that this bland nothing of an amendment was even up for discussion. High definition TV has been the big selling point for this expensive, lengthy DTV conversion all along. We're all going to have to go out and buy new electronics, even if it's only a set-top box - - most of us will invest in much more sophisticated and expensive equipment. And the result? We'll get high definition broadcast programming if, and only if, our cable operator feels like passing it along. Speaking on the amendment, Dingell got it right. If the mere admission of downgrading is an embarrassment to the cable company, then it should be banned completely. The 31 members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee ought to be embarrassed as well.

Special Report from Telecom '05

Prepare for change
Attorney Gregg Skall of Womble Carlyle and Don Hicks of the Missouri Broadcasters Association have been reporting this week from Las Vegas, where they are attending Telecom 05 in Las Vegas, a major trade show for the telecommunications industry.

"We will change the way people watch TV," is the way Edward E. Whitacre, Jr., Chairman & CEO, SBC Corp. (soon to be AT&T again after it closes on that acquisition) keynoted TELECOM 05 on its third day. Soon after, Hearst-Argyle honcho David J. Barrett added his voice on behalf of television, with a "let us help you do that," as reported in TVBR yesterday (10/26/05 TVBR #210). He also noted that Hearst has been experimenting with new forms of delivery, such as weather-plus internet programming and delivery through consumer cell phones and wireless networks.

RBR (Skall/Hicks) Observation: As we have been observing, the world of IPTV presents some very interesting and very important opportunity challenges for local broadcasters:
| Read More... |

Transactions

2M KKHI-FM CP Honolulu (Wahiawa HI) from Kona Coast Radio LLC (Victor A. Michael Jr.) to Educational Media Foundation (Richard Jenkins). 200K cash at closing, 1.8M note. CP is for Class C2 on 103.5 mHz with 1.85 kw @ 2,103'. [File date 9/30/05.]

275K WLVA-AM Roanoke-Lynchburg VA (Lynchburg VA) from Kovas Communications of Indiana Inc. (Joseph Walburn) to Truth Broadcasting Corporation (Stuart W. Epperson). 13,750 escrow, balance in cash at closing. [File date 9/29/05.]

Stock Talk

Corporate earnings worries on Wall Street
Disappointing earnings from Boeing and a soft holiday sales forecast from Amazon.com hurt stock prices on Wednesday. The Dow Industrials fell 33 points, or 0.3%, to 10,345.

Radio stocks were mostly lower. The Radio Index fell 1.041, or 0.6%, to 187.414. Often volatile Regent dropped 4.1% as the day's poorest performer. The best was Entravision, up 1.1%.

Radio Stocks

**Here's how stocks fared on Wednesday**
Company	Symbol	Close		Change	Company	Symbol	Close		Change
Arbitron	ARB		37.82	-0.37	Jeff-Pilot	JP		53.78	+0.39
Beasley	BBGI		14.12	-0.13	Journal Comm.	JRN		13.98	-0.08
Citadel	CDL		13.52	-0.02	Radio One, Cl. A	ROIA		11.67	+0.02
Clear Channel	CCU		30.62	-0.21	Radio One, Cl. D	ROIAK		11.67	-0.01
Cox Radio	CXR		14.37	+0.05	Regent	RGCI		4.89	-0.21
Cumulus	CMLS		11.12	-0.05	Saga Commun.	SGA		12.47	-0.16
Disney	DIS		23.58	+0.06	Salem Comm.	SALM		17.49	-0.21
Emmis	EMMS		19.50	+0.05	Sirius Sat. Radio	SIRI		6.30	+0.12
Entercom	ETM		28.36	+0.09	Spanish Bcg.	SBSA		6.26	-0.01
Entravision	EVC		7.70	+0.08	Univision	UVN		25.50	-0.04
Fisher	FSCI		47.69	-0.31	Viacom, Cl. A	VIA		31.24	+0.15
Gaylord	GET		43.45	-0.20	Viacom, Cl. B	VIAb		31.09	+0.05
Hearst-Argyle	HTV		23.81	-0.29	Westwood One	WON		18.42	-0.10
Interep	IREP		0.44	-0.01	XM Sat. Radio	XMSR		31.21	+0.36
International Bcg.	IBCS		0.01	unch	-	-	-	-	-

Bounceback

Send Us Your Opinions We want to
hear from you.
This is your column, so send your comments to [email protected]

On RBR/TVBR's coverage of Howard Stern's replacements
(10/26/05 RBR #210)

Your observations today have been amazing. Like anyone who dares to speculate, you are right some of the time. But it is interesting when you read the very thoughts and views you hold yourself in print. Specifically, the RBR observations on Mancow (being 2nd in after the failure may be a much more desirable outcome), and Publisher's observations about branding (it better be fast - - or else). Ultimately, this conversation will end on another observation made today - - regarding accountability. Accountability will be the operational word-of-choice when Wall Street does what baseball teams do when the team loses - - fire the manager.

(anonymous please)

Radio Media Moves

Blalock gets Sirius
Former Nextel VP of Investor Relations Paul Blalock has joined Sirius Satellite Radio as Sr. VP of Investor Relations.

Stations for Sale

NEast Facilities
Small City 25kw FM, Profitable, Canadian border area, nice facility, good upside @$595K. Top 100 mkt AM daytimer, Low dial position,
low expenses, good pop coverage, stick @$495K
[email protected]
or 781-848-4201

Below the Fold

RBR Special Report:
Prepare for change in Telco
RBR observation: New programming model that appeals to the "what I want, when I want it" generation.

Washington Beat
Get it in the file or file 10K
You'll be filing up to 10K dollars with the US Treasury RBR observation: Who is responsible for the public file at your station?

Ad Close-up with David Verklin, CEO of Carat Americas Part 3 - Mastering a digital future

More News Headlines

NRB goes digital
National Religious Broadcasters has announced "Reach 2006" as the New Digital Media conference in conjunction with the NRB 2006 convention in February at the Gaylord Texas Resort and Convention Center in Grapevine, TX (Dallas-Ft. Worth). Reach 2006 will actually begin February 16th, a day before the regular convention, and also run through the 22nd. With its focus on using new media technologies to target today's media-savvy younger people, NRB President & CEO Frank Wright says Reach 2006 will be "focusing on using innovative media to reach a new generation."

New Northwest standardizes on
Scott SS32
dMarc announced that New Northwest Broadcasters has elected to purchase new Scott SS32 Digital Automation Systems for deployment across their entire group of 37 stations, with the first installations already well underway. "This is a sign of things to come," said dMarc President, Ryan Steelberg. "Small and middle market stations and groups are learning that with the right financing and revenue generation packages they can afford the same high-end Digital Automation technology leveraged by the biggest groups in the industry. New Northwest saw early on the advantages of our RevenueSuite and SmartBarter programs, and found that they could afford a solution that otherwise would have been the largest capital expenditure in their annual budget."

RAB Radio Training Academy hits record attendance
The Radio Advertising Bureau announced record attendance in 2005 for its Radio Training Academy. YTD for 2005, RAB has trained 1,385 radio pros through the Training Academy, with two more months still to go before year's end. The top radio group participant in RAB's sales training is Infinity Broadcasting, which committed to sending its entire sale force through the program. So far, over 500 Infinity sellers have completed either the advanced or foundations curriculum.

RBR Radar 2005

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

Stern leaves financial
challenge for Infinity
With an unprecedented task of re-launching 27 radio stations all at once (it wasn't so long ago that a single company couldn't even own that many), Infinity is in line for a financial hit. The question, though, is how much of a hit? RBR observation: The 100 million in annual advertising that Infinity's stations book for Stern's show may not even tell the whole story. Some of those stations are so dependent on Stern that a considerable amount of their ad sales for other dayparts come from package deals that advertisers have to take to get their spots on the sold-out morning show. At least now sales staffs at those 27 stations know what it is they're supposed to be selling for January (and some even sooner). And then there are the syndication revenues. Some of that will be replaced by syndication of the new shows to non-Infinity stations by Westwood One (Hollander says to expect announcements soon). But all of that will take time and, for now, no one can predict what audience numbers Roth, Carolla and Rover will generate for Infinity's stations or anyone else's. What is certain is that the biggest revenue hit will ! come in Q1 of 2006, coincidentally the first quarter for CBS Corp. to fly solo from Viacom. CEO Les Moonves and CFO Fred Reynolds are soon going to have to have some real numbers from Hollander in order to give guidance to Wall Street on Q1 for their new company. So if you are really interested in one conference call to start your 2006 New Year off with a bang this one will be it but in the mean time watch out as next Tuesday, 11/1/05 8:30am Viacom will get a taste from Wall Street on what is to come as Sumner Redstone and Moonves will report Viacom's Q3 earnings. Today's conference call was just for reporters not the money people that report to shareholders cause someone is going to want to know about the 100 million up for grabs and how Infinity is going to protect that revenue especially with such a long notice that Stern was leaving. RBR sees 2006 the year of what we entitled - A religious experience. Ps: Hey Infinity is not alone in this boat as many CEO's will be held accountable, a word we have not heard much of this year - accountability.
10/26/05 RBR #210

Report:
Nielsen parent a takeover target
Has the shareholder revolt over VNU's seven billion bucks deal to acquire IMS Health made VNU itself vulnerable to a takeover? The Wall Street Journal reports that a consortium of private equity firms, led by KKR and Blackstone Group, are weighing a buyout bid for VNU. That news sent VNU shares up 2.4% yesterday on the Amsterdam exchange. (VNU's shares do not trade in the US.) In addition to Nielsen Media Research and associated research operations, VNU also has a publication division in the US that includes Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter.
RBR observation: Can't say we didn't tell ya so of a heavy price tag of 7 billion to get a seat on the exchange. Now the hunter becomes the hunted. Maybe someone should call a time out and bring in a new play. KKR doesn't waste time as they are known as 'Barbarians knocking at your Gate.' 10/26/05 RBR #210

Special Report
Cable is yesterday's technology
Cable is past its prime as a dominant video delivery system. Telcos are on the horizon and with unlimited broadband capacity in an IP delivered world and this could provide a critical opportunity for broadcasters by combining their unique ability to create high interest, local content. RBR observation: There is a robust business already in progress supplying mature technology for IPTV and VOD.
10/26/05 RBR #210

Bounce Back, Ouch
Disagree with Mr. Price. It's not radio sales people or managers that don't get it, it's the owners or corporate big wigs. It's also not the RAB's fault, they are just catering to what's going on in Radio today. Actually, years ago, radio got out of the radio business and got into the print and event marketing business. Pressure to hit the bottom line has caused this rush to do NTR. The conglomerates like Clear Channel lead the charge, while they are low balling spots and devaluing radio's worth. Scott Harris VP/GM, KLLL/KMMX/KONE/KBTE, Lubbock, TX
10/25/05 RBR #209

What broadcasters
can learn from Telcos
A telephone industry convention, because so much of this convention is devoted to IPVideo delivery and the entry of telephone voice providers into the broadband "Triple Play" or "Quadruple Play" of Voice, Data, Video and Wireless delivery. From a cursory look at the schedule for this conference it becomes clear that telephone sees video delivery, and most likely Video on Demand (VOD) as their next big market.
RBR observation: Are TV broadcasters asleep at the switch? Cable and now, telephone are moving far out in front, are lining up the program creators like television networks and Hollywood studios, and now the newer creative content providers.
10/25/05 RBR #209

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