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Volume 24, Issue 58, Jim Carnegie, Editor & Publisher
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Friday Morning March 23rd, 2007
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Radio News ®
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 24 mice welcomed
into the Citadel
The deal sending 24 large market radio stations from Walt Disney Co.'s ABC Radio to Citadel Broadcasting Company received a unanimous public blessing from the FCC yesterday, in a rare Commission use of the open meeting forum for consideration for transaction approval. None of the stations are in markets where Citadel already has a presence, and since there will be structural changes in Citadel's ownership, 11 stations in its existing portfolio will lose grandfathered status. Michael Copps (D) said that the sale is narrowly in the public interest since it will create no new consolidation, and will put 11 stations on the market where they have the potential to go to small, female-owned or minority owned businesses. Deborah Taylor Tate (R) and Robert McDowell (R) concurred with Copps. Jonathan Adelstein (D) added that Citadel has reached agreement in principle for a consent decree on payola allegations based on the case brought forth by New York Governor and former AG Eliot Spitzer. While Citadel admits no wrongdoing, he said it set a positive example by coming to an amicable and applicable resolution to the dispute and further went above and beyond call of duty by agreeing to a program to provide exposure for independently produced music. He also praised Citadel for making no attempt to try to gain waivers for stations lost due to loss of grandfathering.
RBR observation: If there was a loser yesterday, it would appear to be Red Wolf Broadcasting, which has had some local collisions with Citadel in Connecticut and has been scrupulously challenging Citadel license renewals. Nobody from the Media Bureau so much as breathed a word about the issue, nor did a single commissioner, and the FCC announcement of the action taken made no mention of the objections.
What's at stake for Citadel
The 2.7B ABC Radio acquisition takes Citadel into the high-rent district, while the structural changes to its ownership lineup force the sacrifice of some properties further down the ladder. Here's what's coming from ABC: WABC-AM & WPLJ-FM New York; KABC-AM & KLOS-FM Los Angeles; WLS-AM & WZZN-FM Chicago; KGO-AM & KSFO-AM San Francisco; WMAL-AM, WRQX-FM & WJZW-FM Washington; WJR-AM, WDRQ-FM & WDVD-FM Detroit; WBAP-AM, KSCS-FM & KTYS-FM Dallas-Ft. Worth; WKHX-FM & WYAY-FM Atlanta; and KXXR-FM, KQRS-FM, WGVX-FM, WGVY-FM & WGVZ-FM Minneapolis-St. Paul. The 11 spinners are already in the hands of Media Venture Partner's Elliot Evers, banded together under a temporary license umbrella called Last Bastion Station Trust. Included are KBZU-FM Albuquerque NM; WMGL-FM Charleston SC; KNEK-FM Lafayette LA; KVLO-FM, KPZK-FM & KARN-FM Little Rock AR; WWLS-FM & KINB-FM Oklahoma City OK; WCLZ-FM, WCYI-FM Portland ME; and WYLZ-FM Saginaw-Bay City-Midland MI.
RBR observation: We have no idea what Citadel's immediate M&A plans may include, but we'd have to think that the possibility of formerly grandfathered stations making a forced exit from Clear Channel may be a windfall opportunity, if Clear Channel is able to persuade its shareholders to go ahead with its own pending restructuring. While others may have come close to maxing out their clusters in the larger markets, ABC was perhaps the single most casual participant in the post-1996 consolidation frenzy of any major group. Citadel has tons of cap room in eight of the nine markets it is getting into, excepting only Minneapolis.
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 IBOC pushed ahead
At yesterday's open meeting, digital, in-channel on-band (IBOC) radio broadcasting received a technical booster shot from the FCC. Commissioner Robert McDowell said, "I offer my heartfelt thanks to the 1300 broadcasters who didn't wait for the government to act," thereby giving the private sector at least partial credit for advancing digital radio to its current position. The FCC took steps to speed it further along its developmental path. The key actions included streamlining procedures by allowing FMs to use digital multicasting and make other technical decisions/changes without getting authority; allowing AMs stations to begin using hybrid analog/digital operation at night; and allowing FM translators, boosters and LPFMs to adopt digital broadcast. Local digital must have as-good-or-better quality than analog, but if broadcasters meet that standard, they have flexibility as to bandwidth use, whether it be for HD, multicast or date delivery. Existing rules on political, sponsor ID, emergency broadcast, etc. transfer to all multicast channels. There is no deadline on going digital, and a decision on copyright protection/flags was defered pending ongoing industry negotiations. The Democrats wanted to go further. Michael Copps (D) said, "If we get our policy right," digital could be used to enhance localism, enhance diversity - "give real meaning to public interest broadcasting in the digital age." Jonathan Adelstein (D) specifically wanted to boost the use of TBAs with women and minorities to make up for the lack of traditional licenses by those groups. Deborah Taylor Tate said she was willing to support such measures, perhaps down the road, but not during the infancy of the technology. McDowell noted that existing public interest requirements apply to IBOC stations and that the Democrats concerns may take care of themselves. Chairman Kevin Martin thanked the Democrats for supporting the technical aspects of the proceeding, and the Republicans for agreeing to an NPRM to take a further look at the public interest aspects of IBOC. The NAB gave the decision its own enthusiastic endorsement. "NAB applauds Chairman Martin and his FCC colleagues for taking a significant step today in advancing the already budding HD Radio technology," said NAB President and CEO David K. Rehr. "As HD Radio expands across America, we are hopeful the Commission recognizes the unique role played by local radio and the considerable public service contributions voluntarily made by stations within their communities."
New lender for small media loans
RBR/TVBR has reported time and time again that it is extremely difficult to find radio and TV financing below the 10 million bucks level, so it is always big news when a new lender enters that end of the market. Three members of the lending team for the former small media lending operation at Wells Fargo Foothill, which shut down a few months ago, have landed at Gladstone Capital to open the media lending unit. Dave Meier and Brian Eick are in Chicago and John Weller in Spokane. Also, Deborah Peterson, who had been at WFF, is part of the new team for analysis and administrative duties. Meier and Eick tell RBR/TVBR that they will be focusing on senior debt placements from three million to the 10-12 million area. Gladstone, a publicly traded company (Nasdaq: GLAD), can also do subordinated debt and that may be incorporated into the media side as well. Founder David Gladstone is no stranger to broadcasting, since he was once CEO of Allied Capital, and his company has already done some media loans. "We bring a specialization in-house," said Meier. In addition to radio and television, the media lending unit at Gladstone will also be making loans to publishing, cable TV, outdoor advertising and tower companies.
RBR observation: This is the best news media broadcasters have heard in a long time. The Gladstone team not only becomes a leader in this area but from what RBR sees so far is willing to make a partnership with broadcasters that are the backbone of the media business today.
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 Clinton web-assailant unmasked
"Hi. I'm Phil. I did it. And I'm proud of it." So said Philip de Vellis of the recent Internet ad attacking Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) in a letter published by the Huffington Post. De Vellis said he wanted to demonstrate that a private citizen can use the inherent democracy of the Internet as a media megaphone. "I made the 'Vote Different' ad because I wanted to express my feelings about the Democratic primary, and because I wanted to show that an individual citizen can affect the process. There are thousands of other people who could have made this ad, and I guarantee that more ads like it, by people of all political persuasions, will follow." De Ville formerly worked for the successful Senate campaign of Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and most recently was at Blue State Digital, which uses digital media for various campaigns. He has already resigned from the company, but claimed he made the 1984-themed ad at home with his own resources.
RBR observation: We leave it to you to decide if this is a problem or not. We will point out that, despite the fact that we now know who produced the anti-Clinton ad, it still is not a requirement to source such material. The campaign of Barack Obama (D-IL), which de Vellis supports, had nothing whatsoever to do with this and had to fend off questions about any involvement. We admit that there is something attractive about a single citizen being able to use ingenuity to put their thoughts before a mass audience. But when well-heeled interest groups, including astroturf groups, and the campaigns themselves start taking advantage of the same technology and are able to hide behind the cloak of anonymity, it may not be such a good thing after all. Welcome to yet another quandry brought to you by rapidly-advancing technology which leaves the wreckage of old analog rules rusting in its wake.
Music publishers sue XM
XM Satellite Radio now faces a second copyright lawsuit over its receiver that allows songs from its music channels to be stored on an MP3 player. RIAA sued last year and now the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) has filed its own lawsuit, saying it had done so only after months of negotiations over royalty payments. "Filing a lawsuit was our last resort, but we felt that we had no choice. We want new technologies to succeed, but it can't be at the expense of the creators of music. All that we ask is that music publishers and songwriters be fairly compensated for their efforts," said David Israelite, NMPA President and CEO. For its part, XM said the lawsuit was just a negotiating tactic by NMPA. The plaintiffs in the suit are Famous Music, Warner/Chappell, Sony/ATV and EMI music publishing entities. The complaint seeks a maximum of 150,000 bucks in statutory damages for each work infringed by XM, and lists over 175 songs as a "small fraction" of those being illegally distributed through the XM + MP3 service.
RBR observation: Broadcasters should not gloat over XM's troubles in this arena. The same fight is lurking around the bend for HD Radio. The music industry is trying to reverse decades of precedent by claiming that digital changes the whole relationship between broadcasters and the record companies, music publishers and recording artists.
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Ad Business Report TM
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 FEG launches Fox One sales unit
Fox Entertainment Group announced today the formation of FOX ONE, a new strategic integrated marketing sales unit crossing the full range of News Corp.'s media platforms. The team will work with individual Sales units at News Corp. divisions to deliver company-wide marketing solutions. The creation of FOX ONE formalizes the efforts already spearheaded by Jean Rossi, President of FOX ONE. Joining the new unit are Claudine Lilien as SVP and FOX Sales veterans Annie Hekker and Jessica Siff as VPs. In addition to heading up FOX ONE, Rossi serves as EVP/Sales for Fox Broadcasting Company. Lilien joins FOX ONE as Senior Vice President after a stint at The CW as Vice President of Sales. She was brought over to The CW from The WB, where she served most recently as Vice President, Eastern & Western Sales since September 2003. Assets repped by FOX ONE include Fox Broadcasting; Fox Television Stations, FOX Sports; MyNetworkTV; FX; Fox News Channel; National Geographic Channel; Fox Sports Network, TV Guide Channel; Fox Reality; Fox Movie Channel; SPEED; FUEL TV; Fox College Sports; Fox Sports en Espanol; Fox Soccer Channel; Big Ten Network; MySpace; IGN.com; Fox.com; AmericanIdol.com; FoxSports.com; FXnetwork.com; SPEEDtv.com; Fuel.tv; FoxReality.com; AskMen.com; Rotten Tomatoes; Scout; Grab.com; Game Spy; FOX Mobile Entertainment; FOX On Demand; 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight, Fox 2000, Fox Atomic and Blue Sky Studios; 20th Century Fox Television; Fox Television Studios; 20th Television; FOX Home Entertainment; FOX Music; 20th Century Fox Licensing & Merchandising; New York Post; TV Guide; Harper Collins Publishers; News America Marketing; Sky (Europe); Star (Asia); Canal Fox, Sky Latin America, Fox Sports Latin America (Latin America); FOXTEL (Australia); Fox International Channels (FX, National Geographic Channel); Fox Life; UK Newspapers: News of the World, The Sun, The Times; and Australia Newspapers: News Limited (over 110 newspapers).
RBR observation: We're waiting on an answer, but for some reason of all the News Corp. properties mentioned here, the only one seemingly left out was Fox News Radio.
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| Media Markets & Money TM |
Armada sails again
Rapidly growing small market radio group Armada Media Corporation has ventured east from its outpost in Aberdeen SD, grabbing a quartet of stations from Robert Ingstad straddling the South Dakota/Minnesota state line. The market is Watertown SD, and the stations include KMSD-AM Milbank SD, KBWS-FM Sisseton SD, and KDIO-AM/KPHR-FM Ortonville MN. According to Media Services Group brokers Jody McCoy and Tom McKinley, the pricetag was 2.9M. Armada President Jim Coursolle stressed once again the need to focus on a strong local presence, telling RBR that "community service equals revenue." Armada will avoid what he called the mistake of buying into a community, plugging in homogenized on-air product and trying to run a cluster from afar. Armada is also active along the Wisconsin/Michigan Upper Peninsula border and is about to close on a seven-station daisy chain cluster centered in McCook NE.
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| Washington Media Business Report TM |
NC looking to make judge races impartial
The state of North Carolina has gotten presidential candidate and campaign finance reformer John McCain (R-AZ) to help with a bipartisan effort to finance the state's judicial races. Tom Cruise is also aboard for the effort, as well as former governors Jim Hunt (D) and Jim Holshouser (R). At issue is a three dollar check-off box on the state tax form. The state has found that getting campaign money to qualified candidates for the bench has helped to limit the amount of special interest money flowing into the campaigns. It also allows the state to publish a voter's guide providing information on each candidate. Chris Heagarty, who heads up the effort as Executive Director of the NC Center for Voter Education, says the program is a model for other states, but that "it's up to the people of North Carolina to ensure that the program's success continues for elections to come."
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| Internet Media Business Report TM |
 Broadcasters to
challenge YouTube
News Corp. and NBC Universal will launch a major Internet video distribution network using content from television and film. The site will debut this summer with thousands of hours of full-length programming, movies and clips, representing premium content from at least a dozen networks and two major film studios. The site to challenge YouTube will also have AOL, MSN, MySpace and Yahoo! as initial distribution partners. Their users, who represent 96% of the monthly U.S. unique users on the net, will have unlimited access to the site's vast library of content. The alliance will offer free long- and short-form video and create a platform for advertisers, targeting the rapidly growing audience of online video consumers. Charter advertisers include Cadbury Schweppes, Cisco, Esurance, Intel and General Motors. At launch, full episodes and clips from current hit shows, including Heroes, 24, House, My Name Is Earl, Saturday Night Live, Friday Night Lights, The Riches, 30 Rock, The Simpsons, The Tonight Show, Prison Break, Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader and Top Chef, plus hits from the studios' vast television libraries, will be available free, on an ad-supported basis, within a rich consumer experience featuring personalized video playlists, mashups, online communities and video search. Plus, the extensive programming lineup will include fan favorite films like Borat, Little Miss Sunshine, Devil Wears Prada, The Bourne Identity and Bourne Supremacy with bonus materials and movie trailers. Post-launch, plans will be considered for acquiring additional content as well as producing and licensing original programming for the new site's audience.
Each distribution partner will feature the site's content in an embedded player customized with a look and feel consistent with each site, making the offering organic to each destination. The new company will offer innovative advertising sales propositions by being able to sell cross-platform -- on-air and on-line. Post-launch, sites affiliated with founding companies, including iVillage and IGN, will also have the opportunity to become distribution partners. The new company will be located in New York and Los Angeles. A transitional management team led by NBC Universal's Chief Digital Officer George Kliavkoff, along with an experienced group of executives from NBCU and News Corp., will work together to launch the site. The company's permanent management will be announced shortly, along with branding details and additional ad partners. Each company will devote a significant marketing and promotional budget to the new site's launch.
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| Music Media Business Report |
 Reba booked for
Country awards show
She's done it eight times before, so it is not exactly a surprise that Reba McEntire has been tapped to host this year's "42nd Annual Academy of Country Music Awards." The awards show will air live from Las Vegas Tuesday, May 15th on CBS Television. McEntire has won 11 Academy of Country Music Awards and has received a total of 41 nominations. In 2001, she was awarded the first annual Academy of Country Music / The Home Depot Humanitarian Award for her outstanding philanthropic work. In 2003, the Academy of Country Music awarded her the title of "Leading Lady" in recognition of her status as the all-time leading winner in the Top Female Vocalist category with seven wins. And now she will host the awards for an unprecedented 9th time. "The 42nd Annual Academy of Country Music Awards" is produced for television by dick clark productions. The show is executive produced by Allen Shapiro and R.A. Clark, and produced by Barry Adelman. The executive in charge of production is Bob Bardo, and the executive in charge is Fran LaMaina.
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| Engineering Business Report TM |
DOEs comment on nighttime AM HD Radio
With the FCC's approval of HD Rules, including nighttime AM HD Radio broadcasts (see related story), we asked a few Directors of Engineering for their thoughts. Tom Ray, Corporate Director of Engineering Buckley Broadcasting/WOR-710HD Radio, Chairman, Society of Broadcast Engineers, Chapter 15: "I'm extremely pleased that the FCC has authorized nighttime HD operation, as we have listeners who get upset when we shut the HD off at night. AM is no longer considered a second class citizen, and we can offer our listeners the same compliment of services at night as we have been during the day since October of 2002. In general, you need to wait 30 days (or unless otherwise specified in the Report and Order) after the R&O is published in the Federal Register. The date nighttime HD becomes official, WOR will be on. If it were official today, it would be on tonight." Gary Smith, Bonneville Director of Engineering: "Provided that the antenna bandwidth is such that the HD will perform properly there is no reason to hold back. We will begin 24 hr. HD ASAP." Milford Smith: Greater Media DOE: "I was very happy to see this - AM was destined to be a digital step child without the 24 hour authorization. Any GMI AM's currently doing HD will "go 24" just as soon as it's allowed. I am anxious to see the FCC's methodology for resolving any possible interference issues although I believe there will be substantially fewer of these than some have predicted."
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| Transactions |
76K KASL-AM Newcastle WY from KASL LLC (Nancy Lee Moore) to Val Rasumson Cook. 10,028.03 denbt assumptiopn, 1,574.36 cash at closing, 64,397.61 note. [File date 3/2/07.]
100 KAWV-FM Lihue HI from Ohana Radio Partners (James L. Primm) to James L. Primm. Cash plus unspecified debt assumption. [File date 3/1/07.]
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| Stock Talk |
Mixed end for the market
Wall Street trading lacked direction Thursday and the markets ended the day mixed. The Dow Industrials rose 14 points to 12,461, but both the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 were down slightly.
Radio stocks were mostly lower. The Radio Index declined 0.392, or 0.3%, to 156.161. Disney rose 0.5% and Citadel was down 1.3% as the FCC approved the transfer of ABC Radio from Disney to Citadel. Cumulus moved the most, down 1.8%.
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| Radio Stocks |
Here's how stocks fared on Thursday
| Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
Company |
Symbol |
Close |
Change |
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Arbitron
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ARB
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47.95
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+0.26
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Journal Comm.
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JRN
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13.07
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-0.05
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Beasley
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BBGI
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9.00
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unch
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Lincoln Natl.
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LNC
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68.23
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-0.21
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| CBS CI. B |
CBS |
 |
30.75
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+0.08
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Radio One, Cl. A
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ROIA
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6.74
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-0.06
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| CBS CI. A |
CBSa |
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30.71
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+0.01
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Radio One, Cl. D
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ROIAK
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6.75
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-0.05
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| Citadel |
CDL |
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9.75 |
-0.13 |
Regent
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RGCI
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2.95
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-0.02
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Clear Channel
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CCU
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35.64
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+0.01
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Saga Commun.
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SGA
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9.80
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unch
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Cox Radio
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CXR
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13.72
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-0.19
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Salem Comm.
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SALM
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13.55
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+0.53
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Cumulus
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CMLS
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9.30
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-0.17
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Sirius Sat. Radio
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SIRI
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3.34
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-0.03
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Disney
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DIS
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35.33
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+0.16
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Spanish Bcg.
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SBSA
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4.14
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-0.04
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Emmis
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EMMS
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8.06
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-0.10
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SWMX
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SMWX
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0.85
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-0.04
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| Entercom |
ETM
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28.34
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-0.11
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Univision
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UVN
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36.14
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unch
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Entravision
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EVC
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9.17
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-0.03
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Westwood One
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WON
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6.60
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-0.04
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Fisher
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FSCI
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47.97
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+0.13
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XM Sat. Radio
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XMSR
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13.49
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-0.01
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Hearst-Argyle
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HTV
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26.50
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unch
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-
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-
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-
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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 [email protected]
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Below the Fold
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Ad Business Report
Fox One sales unit
FEG launches new strategic integrated marketing sales unit...
Media Markets & Money
Armada sails again
Rapidly growing small market radio group has ventured east from its outpost...
Music Media Business Report
Reba booked
For Country awards show she's done it eight times before...
Engineering Business Report
DOEs comment
On nighttime AM HD Radio...
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Stations for Sale
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Mississippi AM-FM
Recently Merged, Profitable Now
Significant Upside Remains
Gordon Rice Associates
(843) 884-3590
[email protected]
NorthEast FM's For Sale
Clusters, standalones, sticks
8x - 12x BCF, 950K - 7.2M
[email protected] or
781-848-4201
10 TX, AZ, NC, and GA
FM radio stations at an exceptional value offered for sale. Broker cooperation encouraged. Please visit www.toweritrust.com for complete information including pricing.
 Market your Stations For Sale
in our daily epapers.
Contact
June Barnes
[email protected]
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Radio Media Moves
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Doyle Named CEO;
Scanzoni Named Chairman
Mediaedge:cia named Lee Doyle as CEO North America and Rino Scanzoni as chairman North America. The announcement was made by Charles Courtier, Global CEO of Mediaedge:cia. Mediaedge:cia manages an estimated $8 billion in annual billings, according to RECMA. Both began their careers at Benton & Bowles. Scanzoni will continue in his role as Chief Investment Officer for parent company GroupM. Lee joined MEC in 2000 as Account Director working for clients AT&T and AT&T Wireless. Scanzoni joined MEC in 2002 as head of national broadcast buying and was named Chief Investment Officer in 2004.
Jo Ann Goldberg
will leave SBS's
WSKQ-FM NY
Jo Ann Goldberg, WSKQ-FM NY Sales Manager, announced yesterday in a sales meeting she will be leaving in a month or two for retirement. She had actually come out of retirement to take the job, but it going to wind it down again after two years there. The parting will be on the best of terms. Goldberg tells RBR: "I'm going back into retirement - I'm going to be a grandma again, that will make number three and I want to spend time with my children. Just to be sure, though, this has nothing to do with SBS - These are the best bunch of people to work for and I have total support on this from upper management. It's my call - I just want to tone things down a little in my life."
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More News Headlines
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Stakelin booked
by BCFM
Bill Stakelin, a Co-Founder and President & CEO for Regent Communications, will join a CEO super session at the Annual Conference for the Broadcast Cable Financial Management Association (BCFM) and its Broadcast Cable Credit Association (BCCA) subsidiary. Scheduled for Thursday afternoon, May 24th, the super session's participants also include Glenn A. Britt, President and CEO of Time Warner Cable; Don Perry, President & CEO of Clear Channel Television; and Henry Schleiff, President & CEO of Crown Media Holdings. David Rehr, President and CEO for the NAB, and Gregory Miller, Chief Economist for SunTrust Banks, are slated to appear earlier in the day. Themed "Learn More...Win Big," the 2007 Annual BCFM/BCCA Conference will be held May 22-24 at The Rio All Suites Hotel in Las Vegas.
Pot sweetened by Zell?
The Chicago Tribune reports that local billionaire Sam Zell has, indeed, revised his bid to take Tribune Company private (3/22/07 RBR #57). The Trib says its sources believe Zell has changed the mix of debt and equity, but the newspaper was not able to say whether or not Zell had offered to put more of his own cash into the deal. Tribune's special board committee met by telephone conference call Wednesday night to review the new proposal, the newspaper said. The company has set the end of this month as its target for deciding on its future financial course.
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RBR Radar 2007
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Radio News you won't read any where else. RBR--First, Accurate, and Independently Owned.
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XM/Sirius fire back
The NAB has been pushing its opinion on the proposed XM/Sirius merger with a series of ads in the Capitol Hill dailies. Of course, two can play at that game, and XM/Sirius have fired back, making the point that the combined entity would be just one player in a big audio marketplace. In an ad headed "Listen to the Numbers,"
RBR observation: The merger looks like it will have a very tough time getting support in the Senate Judiciary Committee's Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights Subcommittee. At a grilling session on the topic of the merger, Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin was without doubt treated more as the main course than a star witness. The Subcommittee heard these arguments and also heard them countered, and in the case of Herb Kohl (D-WI) and Sam Brownback (R-KS), were clearly unsupportive of the propsed merger (although for very different reasons - concerns about monopolization for the former and about airing pornographic material for the latter). It will be interesting to see what happens when the relevant federal agencies get into the act. At the FCC, Chairman Kevin Martin has already expressed doubts. Stay tuned. To view the XM/Sirius ad see RBR
03/22/07 RBR #57
LA is still problem child
for Radio One
Continuing soft performance by its Los Angeles station, now re-branded "V100" KRBV-FM from "The Beat" KKBT-FM, was blamed for all of the revenue shortfall for Radio One in Q4. Meanwhile, the company reported that Nasdaq has sent it a delisting notice because of its delayed filing of its annual report. Liggins insisted. In his conference call with analysts, Liggins blamed shorter spots for putting downward pressure on pricing. Although originally a fan of Clear Channel's Less is More initiative, Liggins declared that it has failed and is not putting upward pressure on pricing as had been envisioned.
03/22/07 RBR #57
Hot seat on Capitol Hill
for Mel Karmazin
Attorney David Balto said "A monopoly is forever." There may be temporary safeguards put in place on the proposed merger of XM and Sirius, but he said your grandchildren will be paying monopoly subscription fees. And if you live in a small town right now, with a limited number of terrestrial radio stations, XM and Sirius are the options, and they should remain competitive. The Chairman of the Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights Subcommittee Herb Kohl (D-WI) said that merging XM and Sirius into one company would be a great business opportunity, over time, but he wasn't sure the government should be condoning it. To read all Statement summaries here.
03/21/07 RBR #56
Karmazin v. Karmazin?
Speaking of the DARS business, somebody once said, "You are dealing with two companies - it would be great if there was a monopoly, but the second best thing to a monopoly is a duopoly." Somebody recently took a somewhat different view of the situation at a recent Congressional hearing on the proposed XM/Sirius nuptials. "There is no monopoly or duopoly. That's the most bizarre thing I have ever heard." The National Association of Broadcasters unearthed these two quotes, and has taken out a fourth ad in the Capitol Hill dailies to share them with legislators. What makes the statements remarkable is that they were both said by Sirius honcho Mel Karmazin.
03/21/07 RBR #56
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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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contact Cathy Carnegie
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