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REAL ESTATE RICHES FLOW INTO NEWSPAPERS -- AS MOGULS BUY THEM
[SOURCE: Associated Press]
Subscribers, shareholders and advertisers may be leaving newspapers in droves but real estate moguls, of all people, are sinking part of their fortunes into the business. For better or worse, that gives outside magnates a growing role in newspapers at a time of dramatic change for an industry long dominated by traditional media ownership. The new players aren't all about real estate but have it at the core of their fortunes. They include Fortress Investment Group which purchased Liberty Group Publishing/GateHouse Media; Bruce Toll who bought The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News; and Sam Zell who just announced a deal for the Tribune Company. "When you think about it, there are a lot of reasons why real estate moguls would be interested in newspapers," said Morningstar analyst Arthur Oduma. Strong and predictable cash flows from media properties are a key lure, mirroring those in real estate holdings. Another draw is the acquired real estate itself, even though Zell's stated intent isn't to break up Tribune. The Chicago-based media conglomerate owns or leases 2.7 million square feet of office and production space in 289 U.S. locations alone with more than 1,000 acres of land, according to its annual report. Finance experts also say the ability to load companies like Tribune with debt and take them private minimizes the investment risk and makes the firms easier to run once they're away from Wall Street's harsh quarterly glare. The reliable cash flows make them better able to withstand the high debt loads.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_con...
* GateHouse Completes $380 Million Purchase Of Copley Midwest Papers
GateHouse Media Inc. said Wednesday it had completed its acquisition of nine Copley Press Inc. papers for a net purchase price of approximately $380 million. With the purchase of the seven dailies, including the Peoria (Ill.) Journal Star; The State Journal-Register in Springfield, Ill.; and The Repository in Canton, Ohio, GateHouse now publishes 84 dailies in 19 states. The former Copley dailies have a combined circulation of 241,060. The deal includes two weekly newspapers with a combined circulation of 34,918.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_con...
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=…
COMMON CAUSE BLITZS FCC WITH LA TIMES/KTLA-TV CROSSOWNERSHIP PROTESTS
[SOURCE: Lasar's Letter on the FCC, AUTHOR: Matthew Lasar]
Over 2,500 supporters of Common Cause have filed comments asking the Federal Communications Commission to deny the Tribune Company the right to own both the Los Angeles Times and local TV station KTLA. "For more than 30 years, the Federal Communications Commission has had a rule in place that prevents one company from owning both the local newspaper and the local TV station in one community," the Common Cause missive reads. "The reason for the ban on newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership is clear: consolidated media fail to serve the public interest when they reduce the amount of independently produced programming available in a local community."
http://www.lasarletter.net/drupal/node/388
Common Cause blitzes FCC with cross-ownership protests
COMCAST TO BUY FANDANGO, LAUNCH FANCAST.COM
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Todd Spangler]
Comcast announced plans to acquire movie-ticketing site Fandango and said it will launch an entertainment-search portal, Fancast.com, this summer. The Fandango deal is expected to close in the second quarter. Financial terms of the acquisition weren't disclosed. Investors in privately held Fandango, founded in 2000, include seven of the 10 largest movie exhibitors in the United States, as well as Accretive Technology Partners and Technology Crossover Ventures. The site -- which attracts 4 million-5 million unique visitors per month -- sells tickets for 1,300 theaters representing 15,000 screens. Comcast said Fandango will be an “integral†component of Fancast.com, which will “enable consumers to search, discover, manage and enjoy their entertainment experience across many devices and channels, including television, computers, DVDs and wireless services.†Fancast.com will let visitors search for TV shows, movies and actors, and will provide information about where video entertainment can be viewed -- on cable, video-on-demand, online, at a movie theater or elsewhere. Both Fandango and Fancast will be managed by Comcast Interactive Media, the operator’s Internet-businesses unit. Comcast said Fandango will provide e-commerce capabilities for other CIM sites, including Comcast.net, and will be an additional source of traffic and revenue.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6433055.html?rssid=108
* Comcast to Expand Fandango Movie Site
http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=11866
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6433055.html?rssid=108
TAKE BACK THE AIRWAVES
[SOURCE: AlterNet, AUTHOR: Amy Goodman]
[Commentary] As the TV pundits on the networks gab about the tens of millions of dollars raised by the top presidential candidates, what they don't talk about is where that money is going: to their own networks. Money is now considered the single most important factor in our electoral process. Ideas and issues take a back seat to the bottom line. This prostitution of our electoral process has one key culprit: television advertising. Political advertising makes or breaks candidates, and it takes a huge amount of money to implement a national advertising strategy. Now more than 20 states are piling onto Feb. 5, 2008, as their primary day, including states like California and New York with large, expensive media markets. The early, deciding role of money and television advertising in determining who gets to run for president is secure. More than $2 billion will be poured into the broadcasters' coffers in the 2008 election cycle, almost all for use of the airwaves that the public owns. Imagine what could be done with that money--to register and educate voters, to fully equip polling stations with functioning voting machines, to produce many vigorous debates and public forums. The American public is being robbed by the National Association of Broadcasters. It's time to take back the airwaves.
http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/50457/
Take Back the Airwaves
MSNBC DROPS IMUS SHOW OVER RACIAL REMARK
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Bill Carter]
NBC News dropped Don Imus yesterday, canceling his talk show on its MSNBC cable news channel a week after he made a racially disparaging remark about the Rutgers University women’s basketball team. The move came after several days of widening calls for Mr. Imus to lose his show both on MSNBC, which simulcasts the “Imus in the Morning†show, and CBS Radio, which originates the show. CBS Radio, which is the main employer of Mr. Imus, said in a statement last night that it would stick by the two-week suspension of the show that it and NBC News announced earlier; the suspension begins Monday. But CBS said it would, in the interim, “continue to speak with all concerned parties and monitor the situation closely.†The demands that Mr. Imus’s show be canceled have grown in intensity every day. Numerous advertisers said yesterday that they would refuse to sponsor the show in the future. Among the advertisers were General Motors, American Express, Sprint Nextel, GlaxoSmithKline, TD Ameritrade and Ditech.com.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/business/media/12dismiss.html?hp
(requires registration)
* Facing Ad Defection, NBC Takes Don Imus Show off TV
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117631524468166584.html?mod=todays_us_ma...
* MSNBC Drops Imus's Show
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/11/AR200704...
* Pressure grows on CBS as MSNBC drops Imus
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20070412/1a_topstrip12_dom.art...
* NBC cancels its Imus simulcast as outrage builds
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-imus12apr12,1,14...
* Advertisers risk waves on radio
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Joshua Chaffin and Jonathan Birchall]
The mounting scandal over racist and sexist comments by radio personality Don Imus offers another reminder of the unpredictability that advertisers face when they support controversial programmes on radio and television.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/11227882-e893-11db-b2c3-000b5df10621.html
(requires subscription)
* Imus and mustn't
[SOURCE: The Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: Editorial Staff]
[Commentary] Talk-show host Don Imus has probably figured this out already: As he works through his apology to the Rutgers women's basketball team, he's also defining the line that separates what's acceptable from what's not in public discourse.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0412/p08s02-comv.html
FCC DOWNPLAYS REPORTS OF IMUS INVESTIGATION
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
FCC spokesman Clyde Ensslin confirms that the FCC has received complaints about Don Imus' racist and sexist comments about the Rutgers women's basketball team. The FCC has no authority to regulate such language, a point former FCC Chairman Michael Powell made to CBS News, but it looks into all its complaints as a matter of course. Ensslin discounted media reports that said it was conducting an official investigation, which suggests the commission is actively soliciting information from the parties involved rather than routinely assessing the complaints as it would with any others.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6433091.html
NCTA PANS MARTIN'S DTV-CARRIAGE PLAN
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
The National Cable & Telecommunications Association Wednesday panned a proposal by Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin on cable carriage of local digital-TV signals after the end of the DTV transition in February 2009. Martin’s proposal would allow DTV stations that elect mandatory must-carry to insist on both digital and analog carriage on cable systems that had not converted to an entirely digital platform. The proposal is designed to ensure that some local TV stations don't lose access to analog-only cable homes because of the analog-to-digital conversion mandated by federal law. “This plan appears to conclude that the digital-TV transition can be solved by disenfranchising millions of customers by forcing them to rent a set-top box they may not want, and it will in fact cost more because the [FCC] has refused to repeal its $600 million-per-year set-top-box tax that begins in July,†NCTA vice president of communications Brian Dietz said.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6433097.html?display=Breaking+News
* NCTA Fires Back At Dual Carriage Proposal
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6433089.html
* Could FCC Plan Hurt HDTV Efforts?
[Commentary] If approved, Martin's proposal could hurt cable TV's efforts to expand their high-def lineups. If they are forced to broadcast the analog signals for a longer period of time, they may have less room for more HD channels during that time. The law could also become a disincentive for cable subscribers to switch from analog to digital because they might think the analog signals will be there indefinitely. Comcast is now urging customers in some cities to switch from analog to digital, saying that new digital boxes will offer 125 high-def channels in 2008. As part of its persuasion campaign, the cable operator is alerting subscribers that the Digital TV switch is set for 2009.
http://www.tvpredictions.com/martin041107.htm
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6433097.html?display=Breaking%20News
FEDERAL COURT TO HEAR VIDEO FRANCHISE CHALLENGE
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
As promised, local governments took the FCC to court last week over its revision of video franchising rules, and now the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has reportedly been assigned to hear the case. The challenge was filed in six federal courts saying the changes would "severely restrict the ability of local governments to protect their citizens, rights-of-way, community channels and public safety networks" and slash revenues and cut off cable service to governmental buildings and schools. The challenge was filed by groups including the Alliance for Communications Democracy, the National Association of Counties, National League of Cities, National Association of Telecommunications Officials and Advisors (NATOA), and The United States Conference of Mayors. The six identical petitions were consolidated into one case and assigned to the Sixth Circuit.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6433036.html
* Court Set for Appeals vs. FCC Order
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6432813.html?rssid=108
Federal Court To Hear Video Franchise Challenge
WIRELESS ASSOCIATION HIRES FORMER BOSS OF FCC CHIEF TO INFLUENCE AGENCY ON PUBLIC SAFETY SPECTRUM
[SOURCE: DrewClark.com]
The wireless industry association CTIA has retained an economic consulting firm run by the former boss of FCC Chairman Kevin Martin to poke holes in proposals modifying a forthcoming auction of radio frequencies. Furchtgott-Roth Economic Enterprises is run by Harold Furchtgott-Roth, a Republican FCC Commissioner from 1997-2001. Martin worked as a telecommunications attorney for Furchtgott-Roth from 1997 to 1999. Some technology companies and non-profit advocacy groups have been coalescing around a proposal released in February by a new venture called Frontline Wireless. It would create a new wireless zone for public safety communications. But CTIA and its major members  particularly Verizon and AT&T  have come out strongly against the Frontline proposal. On April 5, CTIA CEO Steve Largent, a former Republican congressman from Oklahoma, said in a letter to Martin that there were "issues involving the legality of the proposal."
http://www.drewclark.com/2007/04/wireless-association-hires-former-boss....
* Furchtgott-Roth returned our call. He said, “I submitted the paper on my own behalf, and not on behalf of CTIA. They have not formally embraced or endorsed it.†Acknowledging sponsored by the wireless association CTIA, he added that the paper was not submitted to the FCC by CTIA, but by himself. “I don’t know whether it is just a question of timing [but] they are not submitting it; they are not advocating it in any way,†Furchtgott-Roth said.
http://www.drewclark.com/2007/04/furchtgott-roth-replies-to-post-on-ctia...
-- In a related story...
* Will Reed Hundt 2.0 have better luck?
Former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt co-founded Frontline Wireless, a company that plans to bid on the 700 MHz spectrum that is going to be freed up when analog television meets its maker.
http://gigaom.com/2007/04/11/will-reed-hundt-20-have-better-luck/
CTIA Hires Furchtgott-Roth to Influence FCC on Public Safety Spectrum
HOUSTON SIGNS FOR $2.5M SERVICES PACKAGE WITH EARTHLINK
[SOURCE: dailywireless.org]
The Houston City Council approved a plan with Earthlink on Wednesday to build a public wireless network that will provide discounted Internet access citywide. The Council approved two separate contracts with Earthlink. The first is a citywide broadband license agreement for the 640-square-mile project. The second is a wireless service agreement for the city of Houston. The city, as its anchor tenant, would pay at least $500,000 annually for five years to use the service. When it becomes operational, Houston is expected to have the largest Wi-Fi network in the country, covering nearly all of the city’s 600 square miles by spring of 2009.
http://www.dailywireless.org/2007/04/11/houston-signs-for-25m-services-p...
Houston Signs for $2.5M Services Package with Earthlink
TAKING WIRELESS TO THE WIMAX
[SOURCE: Chicago Tribune, AUTHOR: Jon Van jvan@tribune.com]
With the digital age increasingly going wireless, Chicago soon will become one of the first cities in the country to have access to the next generation of computer communication, in which people will keep connected to the Internet wherever they go. The new network, constructed by Motorola, will be operated by Sprint Nextel Corp. and will envelop the region in a digital signal as powerful as the broadband service used by many homes and businesses. Customers will be able to log onto the Internet on a laptop computer at home and then stay online as they travel around the city and suburbs. It is a $3 billion national bet by Sprint that just as voice communication has migrated from traditional wired phone networks to mobile phones, customers will prefer to go to MySpace, eBay and other Web destinations without being tied by a cable to a home or office computer. Sprint says it should start operating by the end of the year and will provide competition to Internet connections offered by Comcast and AT&T. Municipal governments in Chicago and several suburbs have sought to establish citywide Wi-Fi wireless Internet service. Sprint's network will be entirely separate from those networks and probably will be operating long before anything launched by Chicago, which is considering various proposals from vendors.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-070411wimax,0,4141230.story?c...
Sprint Taking Chicago to the WiMax