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FOX INTERACTIVE NEARS DEAL TO BUY PHOTOBUCKET
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brad Stone]
Photobucket, a four-year-old, rapidly growing Web company, is in advanced talks to be acquired by Fox Interactive Media, a division of the News Corporation. Photobucket allows its users to store photos and videos and then easily drop them into their pages on prominent sites like Facebook, eBay and particularly MySpace, which is also owned by the News Corporation. The deal is not yet complete, but the parties have ironed out major issues and are focusing on finer points. The price could be as high as $300 million. Last month, MySpace blocked slide shows and videos stored on Photobucket, saying the company was violating its terms of service by embedding its own advertisements in the media files. After a week of discussions, the two companies resolved their differences and MySpace removed the block.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/08/technology/08photo.html
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Fox Interactive Nears Deal to Buy Photobucket
NEWS CORP SELLS STAKE IN RIVAL FAIRFAX
[SOURCE: Associated Press]
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. has sold its entire 7.5 percent stake in rival Australian company Fairfax Media for about 380 million Australian dollars ($312 million), both companies said Monday. News Corp. purchased the stake in Fairfax -- which publishes The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Australian Financial Review -- in October last year, describing it as a strategic and friendly investment. Analysts speculated Australian-born Murdoch wanted a seat at the table in any split-up of Fairfax following changes to Australia's media ownership laws last month. Analysts said he may have had his eye on the Australian Financial Review to add to his existing newspaper titles in Australia, which include Melbourne's Herald Sun and the national Australian newspaper.
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.aspx?Feed=AP&D...
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.aspx?Feed=AP&Date=2007…
CLEAR CHANNEL POSTPONES VOTE, GIVING SUITORS' BID MORE TIME
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Michael de la Merced]
Clear Channel, owner of the largest network of radio stations in the nation, yesterday postponed a shareholder vote on a revised buyout offer by two private equity firms. The delay gives the offer, which was rejected by Clear Channel’s board last Thursday, a new lease on life. Several major shareholders, led by Highfields Capital Management, had pushed for more time to consider the new offer, which was to have been voted on today. The shareholder vote, which has now been postponed three times, was rescheduled for May 22.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/08/business/media/08clear.html
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Clear Channel Postpones Vote, Giving Suitors’ Bid More Time
THOMPSON OUTLINES £8.8 BILLION FOR REUTERS
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Maggie Urry]
Outline details of a merger between the Thomson Corporation and Reuters Group were disclosed on Tuesday. Under the plans Tom Glocer, Reuters’ chief executive, would become chief executive of the combined company, which would be called Thomson-Reuters. Richard Harrington, Thomson president and chief executive, would retire. The two companies said they expected annual savings from the merger of $500m within three years. The Thomson Financial unit would be combined with Reuters financial and media businesses and would be called Reuters.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2d832d64-fd2e-11db-8d62-000b5df10621.html
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Thomson outlines £8.8bn offer for Reuters
WE'RE STUCK IN THE SLOW LANE OF THE INFORMATION HIGHWAY
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Editorial Staff]
[Commentary] When it comes to reasonably priced, high-speed Internet service, the United States is an embarrassment. Despite years of promises from politicians and technology titans, the U.S. continues to lag far behind our global competitors. Worse, much of U.S. "broadband" service is only a smidgen faster than a dial-up modem. Both government and the telecommunications industry are to blame. The technology to deliver truly high-speed Internet access is there, especially for cable subscribers. Customers need to demand better service from providers. The government needs to step in, too. The U.S. needs a national strategy to get affordable broadband to every man, woman and child by the end of the decade. The federal government's lack of leadership in this area is a disgrace. Despite a 2004 promise by President Bush to deliver "universal, affordable access to broadband technology by the year 2007," his administration has done nothing to advance that goal.
http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_5836382?nclick_check=1
* A world laggard, the U.S. needs a real policy to bring affordable, high-speed Internet service to everyone
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Vindu Goel]
http://www.mercextra.com/blogs/vindu/2007/05/06/a-world-laggard-the-us-n...
http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_5836382?nclick_check=1
CONVENTION SPEAKERS CALL FOR BROADBAND PARTNERSHIPS
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Linda Haugsted]
At the National Cable & Telecommunications Association convention, local government officials argued that their proximity to end users, and knowledge of specific local issues, are the key to strategies to drive broadband to the most rural of users. At a panel of state and local regulators, speakers stated that public/private partnerships are the key to eliminating the digital divide, even to the most rural homes. They decried bills, which several speakers said fail to mandate that new carriers extend new technology to unserved areas, let alone duplicate the service areas of incumbent video providers.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6439929.html
Local Officials Call for Broadband Partnerships
FCC'S MARTIN PLEDGES TO KEEP VOICE/VIDEO FIELD EVEN
[SOURCE: MediaWeek, AUTHOR: Anthony Crupi]
Monday afternoon's opening session of the 2007 National Cable & Telecommunications Association's annual Cable Show confab in Las Vegas kicked off with a brief address from Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin, who is less than revered in cable circles, given his perceived hostility toward the industry. And while he wasn't greeted with an overwhelming applause, Martin didn't draw any caws from the boo birds, either. Chairman Martin, who has been aggressive in his regulation of digital cable services, is widely seen as a powerful antagonist to cable's ambitions to maintain its relative stranglehold over the broadband space. He’s also a supporter of the wildly unpopular a la carte pricing plan  all of which makes him something of a pariah in the estimation of the cable crowd. Starting his address with a quick read of some of the trade press’ more strident coverage from the past few weeks, Chairman Martin said that he wanted “to set the record straight,†counting off a litany of instances in which he as FCC chairman had actually supported cable.
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=10035...
* Text of Chairman Martin's remarks:
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-272897A1.doc
* FCC's Martin Supports a la Carte
http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=12012
(requires free registration)
* Martin Defends Record at Vegas Cable Confab
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6439937.html
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003581821
MCSLARROW OPEN TO MARKET-DRIVEN A LA CARTE
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
National Cable & Telecommunications President Kyle McSlarrow says he is not opposed to a la carte if the marketplace drives that model, as he says it might, but that it is not the government's place to impose it on the industry. Pointing out that FCC Chairman Martin has pushed for both voluntary and mandatory a la carte at different times, McSlarrow said that it is virtually impossible to anticipate what the TV marketplace will look like in five or 10 years, but said that "there does seem to be a greater drive in the marketplace to on-demand viewing, whatever the platform." McSlarrow said that, as a result, "in this age of on-demand and DVRs and day-and-date windows, a different marketplace model emerges. And if so, then that is the right answer."
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6439778.html
See interview at http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6439377.html
McSlarrow Open To Market-Driven A La Carte
TIME WARNER SEES MORE CABLE TV CONSOLIDATION
[SOURCE: Reuters]
Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons said on Monday he expects two to three big cable system operators to remain over the next five years as the industry girds against competition from phone companies. Higher spending to upgrade older cable television systems to offer high-speed Internet and digital phone services could crimp smaller operators. This article does NOT mention a possible rule change at the FCC limiting one provider's reach to 30% of U.S. pay-TV subscribers.
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=industryNews&storyID...
* More on FCC cable caps
http://www.benton.org/index.php?q=node/5388
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=industryNews&storyID=2007-05…
ABC, COX BAR AD SKIPPING IN VIDEO ON DEMAND
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Brooks Barnes brooks.barnes@wsj.com]
Walt Disney's two big TV networks, ABC and ESPN, have struck a deal with cable operator Cox Communications to offer hit shows and football games on demand -- but with the unusual condition that Cox disables the fast-forward feature that allows viewers to skip ads. The agreement only applies to programs available on Cox's video-on-demand menu, so it doesn't affect viewers using digital video recorders to fast forward through ads. Nevertheless, it sets a valuable precedent for broadcasters. TV networks have been struggling as audiences erode and ad sales drop because new technology -- including rapidly growing video-on-demand services -- allows viewers to avoid commercials altogether. The deal, expected to be announced today at the National Cable Television Association's annual convention in Las Vegas, could make it easier for the major networks to make their most popular shows available on demand free. Because networks have found it difficult to sell advertising for on-demand broadcasts, most offered only a few shows -- and viewers usually have had to pay a fee of 99 cents per episode to watch those. Broadcasters have been eager to include advertising, however, because they see it as more lucrative than charging for each episode. ABC and other networks are also loath to allow viewers access to shows without any advertising component because they worry it will train them to expect that type of viewing experience all the time. ("Bad. Bad viewer. Watch your commercials.")
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117859428581995482.html?mod=todays_us_ma...
(requires subscription)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117859428581995482.html?mod=todays_us_marketplac…