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'AMERICAN IDOL' IS THE PRICE WE PAY FOR A MENU OF SO MANY CHANNELS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Austan Goolsbee]
How did America lose interest in scripted shows and come to embrace all manner of reality television? In his book “Switching Channels†(Harvard University Press, 2005), Richard E. Caves, the don of entertainment economics and professor emeritus at Harvard, blames (or credits, depending how old you are) cable and satellite providers and the way they have changed the broadcast networks’ incentives to invest in programming. He points out that such incentives depend on the size of the potential market. The programming is a fixed cost — networks pay for the programs even if nobody watches. If paying an extra $1 million to get a star onto a show, for example, raises every customer’s love of the show by the equivalent of $1, the investment more than pays off if there are 10 million potential viewers. But the $1 million investment would be a terrible flop if there were 10,000 potential viewers. You can see the mechanism at work in a comparison of the cable networks. The number of subscribers for a given channel (that is, the households who have that channel available on their system) gives a clear indication of a network’s maximum potential market. And the bigger the market, the more a cable network spends on programs. So the increase in reality programming is not just a matter of broadcasters wanting to save money. It’s that a shrinking potential market gives the networks less incentive to spend money. They can't recoup it with enough viewers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/26/business/26scene.html
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‘American Idol’ Is the Price We Pay for a Menu of So Many Channels
DINGELL SYMPATHIZES WITH CABLE'S CONCERNS ABOUT FCC
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
House Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-MI) stopped just short of agreeing with his predecessor that the FCC was picking on the cable industry. In a speech to approximately 300 executives in Washington for NCTA's Key Contacts Conference -- essentially a meet-and-greet opportunity with legislators -- Chairman Dingell said that while he could not say that the FCC picked on any industry, he could say that "sometimes their process is neither open, nor is it transparent, nor is it fair." "I can understand how you might feel that the FCC is picking on your industry," he said. He promised thorough oversight of the Commission, including phone calls, letters and hearings when necessary to insure that the cable industry -- and all industries -- are being treated fairly.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6436535.html
Dingell Sympathizes With Cable's Concerns About FCC
FCC PROPOSES FINING STATIONS FOR MISSING DOCUMENTS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The FCC has proposed fining five TV stations a total of more than $50,000 for failing to properly maintain their public files. Lately, the FCC has been cracking down on public filing infractions and violations of its kids TV ad limits. The biggest hit during this round would be to KRII (TV) in Chisholm, Minn. The station admitted it had not placed kids programming documents and lists of its public affairs issues/programs in its files from the time the station had launched until 2005. Others fined for omissions of public affairs program lists, kids TV programming reports or information on their kids TV ads were KBWB-TV San Francisco, $10,000; KSEE Fresno $10,000; low-power station KFXO-LP Bend, Ore. $10,000 and KUTV Salt Lake City $4,000.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6436585.html
FCC Proposes Fining Stations For Missing Documents
WAR OVER "WHITE SPACE" CONTINUES
[SOURCE: Lasar's Letter on the FCC, AUTHOR: Matthew Lasar]
Two major broadcasting associations continue to press the Federal Communications Commission not to fast track unlicensed personal, portable devices that tap into "white space" -- unused analog TV channels. They argue that: 1) The White Space Coalition has not demonstrated that their safeguards for unlicensed devices will prevent signal interference, even within a family home. Thus their safeguards may be "ineffective to prevent interference to nearby neighbors," MSTV/NAB claim. 2) The coalition has not submitted data that refutes MSTV/NAB assertions that portable devices "would pose a threat to broadcasters." MSTV/NAB says that the FCC has recently released studies that confirm their fears "that TV receivers can have worse performance when multiple interfering signals are present." 3) Reliance upon spectrum sensing technology alone will not prevent TV band devices from intruding on occupied television channels. The signal power limits that the White Space Coalition recommends for its spectrum detecting devices may not be sufficient to prevent such intrusion. 4) NAB/AMST also charges that white space device interference ranges are comparable to the signal power of cell phones that communicate with towers miles away, "not merely the same home or next door as suggested by the Coalition and others."
http://www.lasarletter.net/drupal/node/393
War over "white space" continues
CENTRAL EUROPE CLOSES IN ON DIGITAL ELITES: STUDY
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Lucas van Grinsven]
Central European nations have closed in fastest amongst emerging economies on the digital elites in North America and western Europe, a ranking of Web-savvy nations showed on Thursday. The region, which includes Hungary, Czech Republic, Estonia, and Slovenia, scored 6.1 out of a possible 10 in the 2007 rankings, up from 5.8 in the previous year, according to the annual study published by U.S. computer company IBM and the intelligence unit of British magazine The Economist. The survey produces a scorecard from a mix of factors which determine how "e-ready" countries are. These include the number of broadband Internet connections and the level of online access to public services. The gap with North America and Western Europe remains large, with these regions scoring 8.6 and 8 respectively, but it is narrowing.
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSL2572519420070426
Central Europe closes in on digital elites: study
TRIBUNE BUYING BACK UP TO 126M SHARES
[SOURCE: Associated Press]
Media conglomerate Tribune Co. said Wednesday that it has begun the repurchase of up to $4.3 billion of common shares in an initial step toward going private. The nation's second-largest newspaper publisher is being acquired in an $8.2 billion deal by real estate tycoon Sam Zell. The company will buy back up to 126 million common shares $34 each in a previously announced tender offer. The number of shares represents more than 50 percent of Tribune's shares outstanding. The repurchase is being funded through bank debt and a $250 million investment from Zell. The Chandler Trusts, which hold about 20 percent of Tribune's outstanding stock, will tender all of the company's shares that it holds at the time the offer expires on May 24.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_con...
* Tribune raises curtain on events leading to Zell deal
Tribune Co. on Wednesday raised the curtain on the events leading up to its planned buyout and indicated the debate around a radical corporate restructuring began long before it broke into public view.
http://chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=24737
* Tribune Starts $4.28 Billion Tender as Part of Buyout
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601204&sid=aJfqqGI7rJmc
* Tribune launches $4.3-billion tender offer
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-tribune26apr26,1,4510...
* Chandlers Finally Get to Cash Out Tribune Stake
The tempestuous, sometimes bitter seven-year relationship between the Chandlers of Los Angeles and the Tribune Co. of Chicago is coming to an end.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/25/AR200704...
http://chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=24737
HEARST PAID FOR RIGHT TO BUY RIVAL PAPER
[SOURCE: Associated Press, AUTHOR: Gene Johnson]
Hearst Corp. has been paying The Seattle Times $1 million a year since 1999 for the right to buy the newspaper first should it be put up for sale. Hearst owns The Times' smaller rival, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and has been feuding with The Times since 2003, when The Times tried to dissolve a joint operating agreement between the papers. Last week, the sides announced that they had settled their legal fight, with The Times paying $24 million to continue the JOA until 2016 at least. While the 1999 agreement called for Hearst to make $1 million payments over nine years, the company agreed to make two more payments -- next year and in 2009 -- as part of this month's settlement. For that $11 million, Hearst retains the right of first refusal until the JOA expires in 2083, Times spokeswoman Corey Digiacinto said. Under the JOA, The Times has handled business functions such as advertising, circulation and printing for both papers since 1983. In exchange, The Times keeps 60 percent of their joint profits. Times Publisher Frank Blethen has said, however, that the arrangement is no longer financially viable in a declining newspaper market. The Times gave notice in 2003 that it had lost money for three consecutive years, triggering a JOA provision that required Hearst to close the P-I or print it on its own. Hearst sued to challenge The Times' right to end the JOA. Under the agreement announced last week, The Times is paying a net $24 million: $49 million to settle Hearst's legal claims and buy Hearst's right to collect 32 percent of The Times' profits through 2083 should the P-I close, offset by the $25 million Hearst is paying for The Times not to try to end the JOA before 2016.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070424/seattle_newspapers.html
Hearst Paid for Right to Buy Rival Paper
ASIAN AMERICAN GROUPS CALL FOR CBS TO FIRE NEW YORK SHOCK-JOCKS
[SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle, AUTHOR: Vanessa Hua]
Prominent Asian American civil rights groups in the Bay Area are demanding that CBS Radio fire New York shock-jocks Jeff Vandergrift and Dan Lay, who were suspended earlier this week for making a prank phone call to a Chinese restaurant seen as racist and sexist. The coalition of groups submitted a letter to CBS Radio, calling for the network to improve its guidelines on offensive terms, to communicate periodically with civil rights and community groups and to fire the duo -- who had broadcast on Bay Area airwaves for more than a decade before they went to New York in 2005 -- and their producer at WFNY-FM. The coalition includes the Asian Law Caucus, Chinese for Affirmative Action of San Francisco and Equal Rights Advocates -- all in San Francisco -- along with Oakland's Organization for Justice & Equality and, in New York, the 80-20 Initiative, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the Organization of Chinese Americans. The station's general manager, Tom Chiusano, has agreed to meet with the coalition, but no date has been set.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/04/25/BAGG7PFKAJ3.DTL
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/04/25/BAGG7PFKAJ3.DTL
ACTIVISTS SEEK ACCESS TO ALL DEBATE FOOTAGE
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Media activists want to loosen the TV industry's hold on presidential debate footage. An eclectic group has sent letters to the heads of the Republican and Democratic National Committees asking for assurances that video from the presidential debates they are sponsoring can be shared on social networking sites like YouTube, blogged about and re-used "without fear of legal repercussion." The signatories to the letters -- which include MoveOn, Craigslist founder Craig Newmark, the heads of the National Organization for Women, and dozens of bloggers, journalists and academics -- argue that rather than allowing TV stations or networks to retain the rights to footage of debates they broadcast, the footage should be made part of the public domain or shared under a "creative commons" license , which allows content generators to modify their rights.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6436307.html
* A call for broad distribution of presidential debate video
http://news.com.com/A+call+for+broad+distribution+of+presidential+debate...
* A call on the RNC & DNC to eliminate unnecessary regulation of political speech
http://www.lessig.org/blog/archives/003755.shtml
Activists Seek Access To All Debate Footage
STUDY: STUDENTS DON'T UNDERSTAND COPYRIGHT RULES
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The majority of students (87%) who upload copyrighted material to user-generated video sites like YouTube, Facebook or MySpace don't get permission from copyright owners, even though most (74%) believe it is fair to pay people for their use. That's according to a new, albeit limited, study of college students who upload video to Web sites conducted by a pair of professors at American University and the Washington College of Law.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6432259.html
Study: Students Don't Understand Copyright Rules