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Volume 22, Issue 218, Jim Carnegie, Editor & Publisher

Monday Morning November 7th, 2005

Radio News®

Entercom has his eye on ABC Radio
Entercom CEO David Field is making no bones about wanting ABC Radio and spelled out in his quarterly conference call how such a merger could be structured. "As you all know, The Walt Disney Company has recently publicly announced they are considering strategic alternatives for their ABC Radio group. As rumored, we do have interest in ABC Radio. There are several other parties that one could assume also have an active interest in the ABC Radio group. Now if Disney ultimately elects to engage in a transaction involving this operation, we believe it represents an attractive growth opportunity for Entercom, but only if the terms and conditions of the deal make sense for our shareholders. As Disney has said, any transaction would need to take account of tax considerations. One possible structure would involve a merger in which Disney shareholders would receive a majority of the outstanding shares of Entercom and a majority of the voting structure of Entercom. We would also lever the resulting balance sheet of the combined company at a higher level than Entercom's current level. At this point in time, however, it is important to note that we have no assurance that Disney will ultimately elect to engage in a transaction involving the radio group or what the ultimate structure of any transaction might be.

As with any ongoing M&A discussions, we do not intend to discuss or comment on any further details beyond what I have just provided here," Field told analysts. Why, you may ask, did he make that disclosure? Having done so, Entercom can now resume its stock buyback program, which had been suspended since April because of its discussions with Disney and Susquehanna, although Field said Entercom bowed out of the latter auction because Susquehanna Radio did not generate sufficient value for Entercom. Here is the kicker to keep an eye on as one analyst asked - And if there's no ABC deal, would he look at taking Entercom private? Field said management is looking at all options.

RBR observation: No doubt Disney CEO Bob Iger can find plenty of interested merger partners if he wants to run a 25% off sale like the Susquehanna deal. But Disney, unlike the Appell and Pfaltzgraff cousins, doesn't have a burning desire to raise cash. For the life of us, we can't see any reason for Iger to even consider selling or merging ABC Radio in such a soft market.

Take me out to the ballgame
Our guess is that if Al Liggins is heading to the ballpark, it's going to be to make business contacts rather than stare at the field with anxious anticipation. "I don't have this same motivation about baseball that Jeff [Smulyan] has," Liggins confessed in his quarterly conference call. Rather, he says the small investment that Radio One has committed to in partnering with Smulyan and Emmis to try to buy the Washington Nationals is because a relationship with the hometown team would be beneficial to Radio One's DC cluster of stations. In fact, Liggins is looking at lots of possibilities beyond radio - - but not too far removed - - to realize his vision of making Radio One the nation's top media company focusing on the African-American audience. He complained that the company's stock price reflects no credit at all for the TV One cable network. "That's worth a lot of money," he said. Liggins was upbeat on the early 2006 roll-out of a new African-American talk network, launching on 5-10 of Radio One's own stations, plus a yet unknown number of affiliates. He tried to keep the analysts in suspense about the talent line-up for the new network, so those analysts who regularly read TVBR and RBR now have a leg up on their colleagues (11/1/05 RBR #214). Another new venture that Liggins is working on would have Radio One get into the business of selling its consumer research to marketing clients. He said the company already surveys more African-American consumers than anyone else. "There must be a way to monetize that," he mused.

RBR observation: Not only does Liggins have his head on straight he has a straight vision and focus. This is a lesson to all in the broadcast medium of radio, TV, or cable. Vision with focus is a major advantage when you know where you have come from and know where you are going. Plus, adding key media warriors on your team as Reach Media, David Kantor and Tom Joyner. Liggins has earned a little more respect so this company RBR will keep eyes on.

Comments all around on the FCC's busy week
A number of watchdogs have had a thing or two to say about the FCC's activity last week on EAS, cable/telco MVPD competition and DTV tuner requirements. On the MVPD front, which is in part concerned with local franchising authorities making sure that there are no unreasonable barriers to new competitive entrants, the National League of Cities says they're all for competition and warns the FCC not to do any unauthorized tramping on its turf. Watchdog Competitive Enterprise Institute thinks LFAs will slow things down and wants their influence restricted if not eliminated. As for EAS, a group of watchdogs which had petitioned the FCC to make sure that disabled and non-English-speaking individuals were included in emergency warnings was pleased to see just that issue addresses in a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. The National Association of Broadcasters, which wants to make sure television remains available in its free, over-the-air format, was pleased to see the DTV tuner deadlines accelerated.
| Excerpted comments here |

Ensign retracts subsidy cut attempt
John Ensign (R-NV), along with four other senators, was planning a bid to bring the Senate DTV set-top digital-to-analog converter subsidy of 3B in line with the 1B approved by the House Commerce Committee. However, the amendment was withdrawn meaning the Senate Commerce Committee language on the topic was voted in as part of an omnibus budget reconciliation bill. In all, the Senate bill will try to save 35B in spending over five years, about 20B less than a similar measure in the House is targeting. The Senate defeated a proposed amendment from John McCain which would have moved the deadline for the end of analog television broadcast up a year, from 4/7/09 to 4/7/08. The House is calling for a 12/31/08 deadline. The relatively small difference in deadlines should not be all that difficult to resolve. The Senate was originally looking at a New Year's deadline, but moved it back as a practical consideration - - for one thing, Senate Commerce Committee chair Ted Stevens (R-AK) wanted to make sure Congress was in session in case it needed to do some last-minute tweaking, given the magnitude of the change being attempted. Maybe they'll be able to prevail on the House to accept that tweak.

RBR observation: The 2B difference in converter box subsidies will no doubt be a bone of contention when a conference committee sits to iron out the differences in the two bills before sending one final version on to the White House for a possible presidential signature. Strange things can happen in these committees - - like the battle to set the national TV audience reach cap. Watchdogs and both houses of Congress were saying 35%, while the FCC and certain affected companies were saying 45%. Despite the demonstrated will of Congress for the lower percentage, the conference committee came up with the oddly non-round number of 39%, not-so-coincidentally fitting to a tee the needs of the affected companies. So be ready for anything. Our own view? First of all, don't forget that the projected auction proceeds for returned spectrum that Congress is working with is set ridiculously low - - they're anticipating 10B when it will likely be closer to 30B. So approve the 3B, and provide that any portion not needed for that purpose goes to deficit reduction. Given America's love affair with TV and the prospect of steadily decreasing DTV price tags as demand increases, we may not need the whole 3B anyway - - but we'll be covered just in case.

Alito air wars predicted to heat up
The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law and the Justice at Stake Campaign (BCJ/JSC) have been keeping SCOTUS score as the third high court nominee (for only two open seats) gets ready to go through the Senate confirmation process. Senate Judiciary Committee hearings aren't expected to begin until early next year, meaning there will be plenty of time for groups on both sides to take to the airwaves (and other advertising venues) with their views either pro or con. BCJ/JSC note that both sides had a measured response to the John Roberts nomination, which generated 2.4M in advertising expenditures. The surprising reaction to the Meirs nomination seemed to leave the usual suspects in the SCOTUS wars on the sidelines. That is not expected to be the case this time as Samuel Alito goes down the gauntlet. "Positions on Judge Alito have hardened on both the left and the right very rapidly," said Deborah Goldberg, director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law. "These interest groups will be looking to exert influence over the process as it unfolds, and TV ads will be a major part of their strategy. The question is whether the American public will be exposed to a meaningful debate, or an exchange of code words and scare tactics." People for the American Way, the Alliance for Justice, and MoveOn.org are expected to oppose the nomination, while Progress for America leads the charge in support of the nomination.

Conference Calls 2005

"Perfect storm" hits Entercom
And we're not just talking about Hurricane Katrina and the devastating effect it had on the New Orleans market, which represents 6% of Entercom's normal revenues. CEO David Field listed "a perfect storm of negative events" that are impacting Q4 pacings: political comps, Hurricane Katrina, the Boston Red Sox not repeating their 2004 magic. All in all, that's a six million bucks negative comp for Entercom in Q4, or, in Field's view, a potential 5-6% distortion for same station results. "Thus, our guidance of flat to down 2% on same station revenues is a highly distorted figure and should be looked at as a more normalized low single digit positive growth rate," he told analysts Friday. For Q3 Entercom recognized 1.7 million in expenses related to the hurricane. Q3 net revenues were up 2% to 115 million, a 3% same station gain. Same station operating income was up 5%.

Double digits for Radio One
Despite underperformance by its biggest station, KKBT-FM Los Angeles, Radio One reported Q3 revenues up 20% to 101.4 million. Station operating income was flat with a year ago at 47.3 million, but that was because of a one-time accounting charge of 5.3 million related to the company's termination of its rep contracts with Interep to consolidate all of its national business at Katz. In fact, Katz wrote the check and it will be reflected in Radio One's quarterly financials as a reduction in sales costs over the four-year life of its contract with Katz. While it's tough to call Q4 at this point, Radio One did provide guidance, although Liggins said he couldn't fault companies who don't. "I thought about not giving guidance either," he said. The trouble, of course, is the unpredictability of auto advertising. "The number one sector is auto and it has really crashed and burned in the last couple of months," noted COO Mary Catherine Sneed, although she added that the auto companies will come back in January - - "They have to." In any case, Radio One is telling investors to expect Q4 revenues, including recently acquired Reach Media, to be up in the mid teens. Excluding Reach, that's a low single digit gain.

Modest revenue gain for Regent
Regent Communications reported that Q3 revenues were up 2.1% to 22.9 million, while station operating income slipped 0.8% to 8.4 million. CEO Bill Stakelin was proud, though, that same-station growth outperformed the industry, up 3.6%. Q4 is a tough quarter, owing to the political revenues that Regent's station's enjoyed last year. At this point, Q4 is pacing down in the low single digits. Excluding political, that would be up in the low single digits. In the company's quarterly conference call of Friday, analysts were told that October (the month with the biggest political comps) was down double digits, but November and December are improving.

Adbiz©

Southwest Airlines launches NBA-themed specialty plane
Southwest Airlines unveiled its first new specialty airplane in 17 years, the NBA-themed Slam Dunk One. The first and only other customized Southwest plane dedicated to a partner honors Shamu of Sea World fame, and has been in service since 1988. Southwest also has a fleet of six specialty aircrafts dedicated to various states and one dedicated to the Ronald McDonald House. Slam Dunk One is emblazoned with an NBA basketball going through a hoop on the forward portion of the fuselage. The ball is trailed by an orange wave that starts from the back of the plane making it appear as if it is being shot into the basket. Slam Dunk One is emblazoned on the nose of the plane. The plane has a customized interior with each of the 30 NBA team logos adorning the overhead compartments and a custom windscreen featuring a panel commemorating today, the date of the aircraft's maiden flight. The NBA and Southwest Airlines expanded their partnership in July, and Slam Dunk One is the first product of the broader relationship. The multi-year agreement establishes new community outreach efforts and increases Southwest advertising through NBA media to reach the league's loyal base of trendsetting fans. Slam Dunk One will go into regular rotation throughout Southwest's 61-city network. The special plane also will be used in ongoing charitable activities and special events conducted by the NBA and Southwest. Slam Dunk One, a Boeing 737, will fly a special charter flight as its maiden passenger voyage today from Dallas to Los Angeles carrying three families from the Dallas Ronald McDonald House. Once in Los Angeles, the families will receive a Shoot For Hope experience which includes receiving tickets to an NBA game (Suns @ Lakers), visiting with NBA players and legends, a chance to see warm-ups courtside, and special gifts.

Demonware announces
in-game advertising platform
GamesIndustry reports Demonware has announced its new in-game advertising solution, DNA, which will enable developers and publishers to implement context-specific in-game advertising and target specific audiences through player profile data. The Dynamic Network Advertising (DNA) platform has been created to satisfy growing industry demands for precise, individually tailored advertising solutions, targeting a specific audience through the analysis of multiplayer gaming habits, player profiles and associated data. Demonware has access to a vast library of data, from player profiles to gaming session durations, clan and team memberships, stats and achievements and general gaming habits. The DNA platform feeds that info back to the publishers and developers to create opportunities for more precise, targeted in-game advertising.

Media Markets & MoneyTM

CC Outdoor IPO on launching pad
Look for Clear Channel Outdoor to price its IPO someday this week as Clear Channel Communications sells 10% of its billboard company to the public in an attempt to tap Wall Street's affection for the hot sector (unlike radio). As reported (10/31/05 RBR #213), the IPO of 35 million shares is expected to price at 20-22 bucks a share for a total of up to 885 million bucks.

Simmons bags a pair of No. 37 sticks
Bruce Buzil's College Creek Broadcasting is spinning a pair of CPs, earned in FM Auction No. 37, sending them to Simmons Media Group subsidiary Western Broadcasting LS for a total of 11.5M. One station is in the southeast corner of Nevada, and the other is just across the line from there in Utah. The area in question is roughly 30 miles southwest of the Eastlan-measured St. George-Cedar City UT market, and about 70 miles northeast of Las Vegas NV. The CPs are both for Class Cs: a 96.7 mHz facilty with 57.6 kw @ 2,383' licensed to Mesquite NV valued at 9M, and a 102.9 mHz facility with 91.9 kw @ 2,034' licensed to Hurricane UT valued at 2.5M. A Buzil company is also seling KADD-FM Logandale NV to the same buyer for 8M, and Simmons already owns KZHK-FM St. George, which is on its way to Bunkerville NV.

Saga buys Charlottesville CP
Saga Communications/Charlottesville, VA has agreed to purchase a CP for a Class C AM at 1450 kHz in Charlottesville from Anderson Communications LLC, for $150,000, pending FCC approval. Eddie Esserman of Media Services Group's St. Simon's Island office represented the seller.

Washington Beat

Kaiser takes another look at TV sex
The Kaiser Family Foundation is offering its fourth installment of its study of the effect of racy television on teenagers this week. The session will be held Wednesday, 1/9/05 in Washington, with keynoter Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) kicking off. Issues covered will include * What percentage of shows include sexual content? * What proportion of shows include a reference to safer sex or the risks and responsibilities of sexual activity? * How do shows popular with teens compare to other shows? * How has TV's depiction of sex changed over the past seven years? Kaiser's Drew Altman and Vicki Rideout will be on hand, and will be joined by panelists on all sides of the issue, including Kathleen Abernathy, Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission; Sarah Brown, Executive Director, National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy; Rebecca Collins, Behavioral Scientists, RAND Corporation; Al Gough, Writer, Creator, and Producer, Smallville; Dale Kunkel, researcher on the study and a Professor at the University of Arizona; and Tony Vinciquerra, President and CEO, Fox Television Networks.

Programming

Reach Media gets Russ Parr's weekend show
Reach Media has acquired syndication rights to the weekend "On the Air with Russ Parr" in a deal with Radio One (a majority owner of Reach), from Superadio, which currently distributes. Reach and Radio One will begin syndication beginning 1/1. Ad sales will be handled by Premiere Radio Networks. Parr also hosts the daily morning show, "Russ Parr Morning Show, syndicated via Radio One.

Talk About Service begins syndication
Talk About Service, a weekend program heard on KWAM/Memphis has begun a national syndication effort. Hosted by columnist, speaker and customer service advocate Ed Horrell, Talk About Service discusses the customer service perils we all face, highlights companies that provide good customer service and advises listeners on customer service issues. Talk About Service indeed...the program doesn't even require stations to carry national inventory. Talk About Service (www.talkaboutservice.net) is syndicated by CRG Radio Networks.

KSTJ Las Vegas adds HD2 format
Beasley's Star 102.7, KSTJ-FM Las Vegas launched Star Party 102.7, its HD2 multicast channel. The commercial-free, all music channel broadcasting 24 hours a day features an upbeat club mix of dance and urban 80's music. Listeners who haven't purchased a receiver yet will soon be able to sample the new sound from the Star 102.7 web site at www.star1027fm.com.

Monday Morning Makers & Shakers

Transactions: 9/26/05-9/30/05
Radio trading came back in the last week of September, at least as filed at the FCC. In fact, the value of the 14 deals which hit the database was almost equal to that posted during the 25 days prior. TV action was as negligible as it could possibly be and still allow the word action to be used - - a nomcom station moved for a buck.

9/26/05-9/30/05	Total
Total Deals	15
AMs	11
FMs	6
TVs	1
Value	87.658M

| Complete Charts |

Radio Transactions of the Week
Salem, Spanish specialist set Sacto swap
| More... |

TV Transactions of the Week
One dollar deal takes top honors
| More... |

Transactions

14.5M KWBT-TV Tulsa OK (Muskogee OK) from Tulsa Communications LLC, a subsidiary of Cascade Broadcasting Group LLC (Carol Lafever) to Griffin Licensing LLC, a subsidiary of Griffin Communications LLC (David F. Griffin, John W. Griffin). 1M escrow, balance in cash at closing. Duopoly with KOTV-TV. LMA until closing. KWBT is WB affiliate on Channel 19; KOTV is CBS affiliate on Channel 6. [File date 10/11/05.]

370K WNDA-AM Deland FL from Black Crow Radio LLC (James L. Devis) to J&V Communications Inc. (Jesus M. Torrado, Virgen Torrado). 25K escrow, balance in cash at closing. [File date 10/11/05.]

334,932 KLKC AM & FM Parsons KS from Acme Broadcasting LLC (Lee Salyers) to Southeast Kansas Independence Living Resource Center Inc. (Jeanette Pruitt, Carolyn Freeman, Shari Coatney, Ron Garnett, Faron Morales, John Spillman, Marty Wooten, Darlene Lomax, Edward Reynolds). 20K escrow, balance in cash at closing. [File date 10/11/05.]

Stock Talk

Not much to get excited about
Wall Street was cool to the latest jobs report from the government, but a modest late rally in the blue chips gave the Dow Industrials a tiny eight-point gain on Friday to 10,531.

Radio stocks were more subdued. The Radio Index declined 2.266, or 1.2%, to 193.621. Radio One plunged 8.4% for its Class A stock and 7.8% for its Class D after reporting Q3 results. Salem was down 6.9% and Entravision dropped 5.5%. The day's best performer was Saga, up 4.3%.

Radio Stocks

**Here's how stocks fared on Friday**
Company	Symbol	Close		Change	Company	Symbol	Close		Change
Arbitron	ARB		37.59	+0.24	Jeff-Pilot	JP		54.34	-0.06
Beasley	BBGI		14.05	-0.63	Journal Comm.	JRN		14.10	+0.07
Citadel	CDL		13.81	-0.19	Radio One, Cl. A	ROIA		11.16	-1.02
Clear Channel	CCU		30.65	+0.47	Radio One, Cl. D	ROIAK		11.25	-0.95
Cox Radio	CXR		15.00	+0.07	Regent	RGCI		5.00	-0.06
Cumulus	CMLS		12.72	+0.32	Saga Commun.	SGA		13.32	+0.55
Disney	DIS		24.81	-0.09	Salem Comm.	SALM		18.95	-1.41
Emmis	EMMS		19.85	-0.24	Sirius Sat. Radio	SIRI		6.95	+0.01
Entercom	ETM		30.70	+0.53	Spanish Bcg.	SBSA		6.54	+0.08
Entravision	EVC		7.94	-0.46	Univision	UVN		28.42	-0.66
Fisher	FSCI		49.23	+0.32	Viacom, Cl. A	VIA		31.78	+0.27
Gaylord	GET		40.15	+0.70	Viacom, Cl. B	VIAb		31.64	+0.20
Hearst-Argyle	HTV		24.16	-0.06	Westwood One	WON		18.04	-0.20
Interep	IREP		0.43	unch	XM Sat. Radio	XMSR		29.90	+0.17
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 and
photo to [email protected]

On reducing radio to margins...

Jim Carnegie's editorial comment on the "position" Les Moonves is taking about radio being reduced to margins (11/2/05 RBR #215) is unfair and sounds like over blowing a pragmatic fact of the business side of radio... or any medium. At the end of the day, it IS about profits and how you get there. After hearing the audio clip, it appeared to me that Moonves is saying, that from HIS perspective, (which we should remember is the overall stability of a large company) the loss of Stern will have less of an impact than those in the reporting of news believe. From that point, Moonves is right. It is not fair to characterize the comments as cold and unfeeling to the program directors or the listening public. I'm sure that Moonves in highly vested in all aspects of the product. Profits however, present another picture which Moonves must be pragmatic about and he spoke his mind. That he may have spun it a bit should also come as no surprise either.

Stan Elgart
Felsgart Communications

Radio Media Moves

XM taps three
for programming
XM has named Kyle Cantrell as PD for Bluegrass Junction, XM's all-bluegrass channel. Cantrell, a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, spent 22 years at WSM Nashville. Marty Fitzpatrick has been named MD for X Country, XM's progressive country channel. Fitzpatrick spent 17 years at Nashville's top Country station, WSIX as an on-air personality. XM has hired Jason Kidd to be the evening on-air personality for The 80s. Kidd comes to XM from Hot AC WWMX Baltimore.

New anchor
at WCBS-AM
Effective today, Michael Wallace joins the PM Drive news team of WCBS-AM New York, co-anchoring with veteran WCBS Newsman Wayne Cabot weekdays 3-7 pm. Wallace joins WCBS from The Wall Street Journal Radio Network, where he most recently hosted an early-morning business program.

Stations for Sale

NYC Prime Radio
Time for Lease
7 days a week available p/t-f/t Business, Foreign language, religious, Health, Infomercials accepted. 212-769-1925 [email protected]
TV & Satellite time also available. Station Inquiries welcome

Prime Stations
TX, NM, CA, MI, IN, NC, VT, ME, TN, FL
For a description of all of our properties for sale go to
www.mediamergers.com
W.B. Grimes & Company,
(301) 253-5016,
Est. 1959- Thousands Sold

Nevada 100kw
Upgrade Is Done!
New local market coverage and now fills between 3 major markets.
Only $1M. Residential property available too.
Brett Miller MCH Enterprises, Inc.
(805) 237-7329

Below the Fold

Media, Markets & Money
CC Outdoor IPO on launching pad
Look for Clear Channel Outdoor to price its IPO someday this week..

Washington Beat
Kaiser takes another look at TV sex
The Kaiser Family Foundation is offering its fourth installment of its study..

Programming
Reach Media gets Russ Parr's weekend show
Acquired syndication rights to the weekend "On the Air with Russ Parr"..

Makers & Shakers
Salem, Spanish specialist set Sacto swap...

More News Headlines

Election results from Arbitron Advisory Council meeting
The Council reorganization took place and the five largest companies now get an automatic seat. The appointments are: Lee Larsen, Clear Channel; Lisa Decker, Infinity; Mitch Dolan, ABC Radio; Marc Larken of Cox Radio; and Steve Godofsky of Entercom. There is a new research position for Group Research. That went to Jess Hansen of Clear Channel. Radio Group Programmer went to Greg Strassell of Infinity. Bill Kelly, Clear Channel/Youngstown Market Manager, was named Chairman of the Advisory Council. Steve Sinicropi of Cox was named Vice Chairman. Elected from the radio stations: Bruce Wheeler from Dick Broadcasting and Doug Abernathy of Radio One. There was a third seat that was contested and ended in a tie. There is now a runoff, no names were given.

Paul Harvey gets Presidential Medal
of Freedom
The White House announced today that ABC Radio Networks' Paul Harvey is among the recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Nation's highest civil award. In an exclusive interview with ABC News Radio earlier this evening Mr. Harvey said "The industry has been very generous over the years...but this...I'm sure you know...is set apart in a category all by itself" President Bush will honor Mr. Harvey and his fellow recipients at a White House ceremony next Wednesday, November 9.

Rusty Humphries
airs from Israel
Talk Radio Network's Rusty Humphries will air his show live from Israel this week. "This is not going to be your average Israeli-Palestinian conflict coverage," said Humphries, who is destined for Gaza, the West Bank and Ramallah. He will broadcast from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and Yassar Arafat's grave from November 7, through November 11. The Rusty Humphries Show airs weekdays, 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Pacific, and 9:00 p.m. to 12:00 p.m. Eastern.

TVBR - TV News

Nexstar settles with another MSO
Just a few weeks after settling its 10-month stand-off with Cox Communications (10/21/05 TVBR #207), Nexstar has announced the signing of another multi-year retransmission consent agreement with another MSO - - Insight Communications. The deal, which covers both analog and digital carriage rights, applies to nine Nexstar stations in Champaign; Springfield; Decatur; Peoria; Bloomington; Macomb and Rockford, Ill. and Terre Haute; Fort Wayne and Evansville, Ind. The respective DMAs are Champaign, Springfield-Decatur, Peoria-Bloomington, Quincy, Rockford, Terre Haute, Fort Wayne and Evansville. "This innovative agreement includes carriage rights for both our analog and digital signals and will establish a Video-on-Demand service for our local news broadcasts in several of these markets. As has been previously reported, Nexstar has refused to grant retransmission consent without receiving adequate compensation, and we are pleased to have reached an economic agreement that is acceptable to both parties," said Nexstar CEO Perry Sook, as with the Cox agreement refusing to disclose any of the financial details.

TVBR observation: Clearly Nexstar is finding new ways to come to terms with the cable MSOs, but hasn't succeeded in its original objective of being paid a fee of a penny a day per subscriber by the cable companies. We wonder now whether CBS Corp. CEO-to-be Les Moonves is really going to lead the charge to make cable companies pay straight up for broadcast TV retransmission consent. The dynamics changed last week when CBS announced a deal to buy College Sports Television Networks (11/04/05 TVBR #217)
. Now CBS will be looking to increase carriage of its new cable net and would be able to use the traditional approach of the big O&O groups in tying local retransmission consent for its major market stations to agreements to carry their sister cable network(s).

RBR Radar 2005

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

UMC's Jean Pool
discusses clutter, PI problem
EVP/Director of North American Operations, Universal McCann and Chairman of Media Policy at the AAAAs. Most everyone realizes clutter is a big problem. While broadcasters have said they would take steps to reduce it, some have and some have not. What some may not realize, however, in the days of iPods, video iPods, satellite radio and Internet streaming and downloads, clutter reduction is more important than ever.
11/04/05 RBR #217

Biggest indie bowing out
Jeff McClusky & Associates, long the biggest of the indies, has decided to drop its remaining deals with radio stations once they expire. "We're out of the budget business," The company will now work for labels on a flat fee basis to promote records in its five format specialties: Top 40, Rhythmic, Hot AC, Rock and Alternative. RBR observation: No tears here. Good riddance, we say. The indies were structured to be the "don't ask, don't tell" shield for record companies to try to manipulate airplay without having their own employees risk violating the federal payola statute.
11/04/05 RBR #217

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