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MARTIN FLOATS DTV CARRIAGE PLAN
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
In advance of next week’s broadcaster convention in Las Vegas, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin is circulating a plan that would allow TV stations to demand both digital and analog carriage from cable operators starting in early 2009. In the same proposal, Martin would allow cable operators to drop the analog format if all subscribers had the necessary reception equipment to view local DTV signals. Few cable operators, however, are expected to be all-digital in time to take advantage of the dual carriage exemption. Without Martin’s proposal, a DTV station that elected must carry after Feb. 17, 2009 would be seen in cable homes with digital set-top boxes and cable-ready DTV sets, but not in cable homes that continued to rely on analog equipment. If the analog cutoff came today, DTV stations without analog carriage rights would lose access to 45% of cable homes.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6432632.html?rssid=108
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6432632.html?rssid=108
LAGGING ONLINE, TV STATIONS GET MOVING
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Brooks Barnes brooks.barnes@wsj.com and Emily Steel]
Local TV stations are launching a blitz of Internet initiatives as they race to catch up online. Once considered a license to print money, TV stations have suffered body blows from the Web. Lucrative 11 p.m. newscasts are sinking in the ratings as more viewers go to the Internet for cable channels to get weather and sports information. Viewers no longer have to tune in to catch shows such as ABC's "Lost" because networks are making programming available all over the Web. And key TV advertisers such as auto manufacturers are moving cash toward online campaigns. While newspapers have had success building heavily trafficked Web sites, "people still don't automatically think to visit a TV-station Web site," says Brent Magid, chief executive officer of media consultancy Frank Magid Associates Inc. "Stations need to do something online to get noticed." Complacency and greed are two reasons station operators have fallen so far behind, say media analysts and consultants. The majority of local stations enjoyed 40% profit margins as recently as the mid 1990s (compared with 25% to 30% today) because they had little competition. Many didn't see a need to invest in their Web operations as a result, says Magid. Some were leery of moving too quickly online after getting burned when the dot-com bubble burst. Others resisted building up their Web sites for fear of giving viewers a reason to switch off the TV set.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117625938629265960.html?mod=todays_us_ma...
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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117625938629265960.html?mod=todays_us_marketplac…
OPINIONS RISE ON XM-SIRIUS PLAN
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Sam Diaz]
Industry experts and consumers are starting to chime in on the proposed merger of the nation's two satellite radio companies, using research studies to try to sway opinion in Washington, where Congress will hold another hearing on the matter next week. One of the studies -- by research firm Carmel Group hired by the National Association of Broadcasters and released last week -- said a merger would harm consumers, citing the potential for higher prices and less content. But late Monday, an independent report by TMF Associates, another research firm, blasted that study, referring to some of its arguments as "ludicrous." As the Senate Committee on Commerce gears up for the fourth Capitol Hill hearing on the merger since it was proposed in February, the companies and their opponents are pressing arguments in support of their positions on the state of audio competition. Both sides are pointing to blogger debate on the issue, as well as expert opinions that take their sides. Such regulators as the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission must decide whether Internet radio, MP3 players and traditional AM and FM radio compete with satellite radio, and whether a single satellite radio provider would harm consumers.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/10/AR200704...
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Opinions Rise on XM-Sirius Plan
IMUS STRUGGLING TO RETAIN SWAY AS A FRANCHISE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Jacques Steinberg]
That Don Imus can be abrasive and offensive is undeniable, but he is also one of the most successful and influential pitchmen in the history of radio, if not broadcasting. His program generates in excess of $20 million in annual revenue for CBS Radio, his primary employer, and his flagship New York station, WFAN. When advertising revenue for affiliates and MSNBC, which simulcasts the program, is included, the figure exceeds $50 million. But yesterday, the third day Mr. Imus spent asking for forgiveness for a racially disparaging remark about the Rutgers women’s basketball team, he demonstrated that the brand he was having the hardest time selling was his own. As CNN broadcast pictures of the players arrayed on a stage behind their coach, their faces long and at times streaked with tears, several prominent advertisers announced plans to distance themselves from the talk show host. In the wake of the firestorm over his remark, Mr. Imus has pledged to purge the most offensive humor from his program.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/11/business/media/11imus.html?ref=todaysp...
* Imus flap a matter of black, white and green
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20070411/1a_cover11_dom.art.htm
* Don Imus, Suspended, Still Talking
Don Imus was suspended. But it looked as though NBC had suspended the suspension. This scandal-harried radio host and MSNBC star was free to appear on “Today†yesterday and explain himself again and again: His interview with Matt Lauer and his debate with the Rev. Al Sharpton, their second, were shown simultaneously on the MSNBC show “Imus in the Morning.â€
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/11/arts/television/11watc.html
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* Advertisers Pull Out of Imus Show
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/10/AR200704...
* Imus's Enablers
Why do all those prominent journalists and politicians go on his show knowing that they will be featured along with degrading and allegedly humorous one-liners about blacks, gays, Jews and women?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117625954738765969.html?mod=todays_us_op...
* No One to Talk To?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/10/AR200704...
* Don Imus: the good-natured racist
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-oe-rice11apr11,1,317...
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/11/business/media/11imus.html?ref=todayspaper
MARKETERS CREATE THEIR OWN SHOWS
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Laura Petrecca]
Problem: TV watchers don't want their shows interrupted by ads. Solution: Make the show the ad. That's one approach being used by marketers as they try to keep consumers' attention. Gillette is producing an ABC prime-time reality series starring the group of NASCAR drivers -- dubbed the "Young Guns" -- who are featured in its TV ads and online. Gillette is a NASCAR sponsor for each driver and his race team. Gillette's ad agency, BBDO New York, came up with the idea for a reality show in which the pro drivers would teach celebrities how to race cars. The result: Fast Cars and Superstars: Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race, in which stars such as William Shatner and Jewel will compete in time-trial driving tests. The program -- akin to Dancing with the Stars but with race cars -- will begin June 7. Gillette paid ABC for the air time and pulled in TV production experts and a talent agency to create the show. The unit of Procter & Gamble won't say what the time cost or what it's paying the drivers or celebrities.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/2007-04-10-gillette-usat_N.htm
Marketers create their own shows
FTC WANTS MORE AUTHORITY OVER COMMUNICATIONS COMPANIES
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Federal Trade Commission Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras and the other commissioners unanimously endorse giving the FTC authority over common carriers. That came in response to a question from Sen Byron Dorgan (D-ND) at an FTC oversight hearing in the Senate Commerce Committee Tuesday, a hearing at which Sen Dorgan urged the FTC to better enforce its regulations. Chairman Majoras said that with communications companies increasingly bundling broadband and traditional phone service, the exemption of FTC oversight from the latter is problematic. With the converging of media, the commissioners agreed the exemption was an anachronism and an artifact of a 70-year-old regulatory regime. Majoras raised the hypothetical of the commission wanting to look at a potentially deceptive broadband-delivered ad but being stymied by the bundling of that service with phone.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6432324.html
* For more on the hearing see http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Hearings.Hearing&...
FTC Wants More Authority Over Communications Companies
SENATORS MULL NEW TAXES TO FUND 911 NET UPGRADE
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Anne Broache]
Americans may face new taxes on their phone bills to help finance a potentially expensive overhaul of the 911 emergency system to an Internet-based network. During a hearing on Tuesday, U.S. senators said it's still unclear how this transition will work in practice. But they indicated it may be necessary to levy new charges on all telephone bills--including landlines, mobile and Internet phones--to help public safety officials cover the costs. "I don't think we can go into a markup to pass a bill that has no future unless you have money," Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) said at a Senate Commerce hearing here about the future of 911 systems. Inouye was referring to a bill that would encourage the switchover but allocates no tax dollars to pay for it. Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) called for suggestions on how to ensure the cost of the upgrades is spread out as broadly as possible, which could sweep in categories of phones such as voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP. (Vonage, for instance collects 911 fees in 23 states and says it does so voluntarily because no law requires it.)
http://news.com.com/Senators+mull+new+taxes+to+fund+911+Net+upgrade/2100...
VONAGE, EMERGENCY RESPONDERS SUPPORT 911 BILL
[SOURCE: InfoWorld, AUTHOR: Grant Gross, IDG News Service]
Emergency dispatchers and VoIP provider Vonage on Tuesday urged U.S. senators to pass a bill intended to ensure that all VoIP customers can dial the emergency 911 service. About 5 percent of Vonage's customers do not have access to 911 service, even though the Federal Communications Commission voted in May 2005 to require it from most VoIP providers. The problem is that Vonage can't get access to the 911 facilities controlled by competitors or because some dispatch centers are worried about legal liability if VoIP 911 calls fail, said Sharon O'Leary, executive vice president and chief legal officer for Vonage. But the IP-Enabled Voice Communications and Public Safety Act, introduced in January by Senator Bill Nelson, would fix those problems, O'Leary said. The bill would fix problems out of VoIP providers' control by requiring telecom companies that control 911 facilities to connect to VoIP providers and protecting dispatch centers from legal liability. The bill would also require VoIP providers to give a clear and conspicuous notice to customers who cannot receive 911 service.
http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/redirect?source=rss&url=http://www.info...
WRITERS GUILD PRESIDENT STARTS THE COUNTDOWN TOWARD CONTRACT'S END
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Michael Cieply]
Patric Verrone -- president of the Writers Guild of America West -- his union and its East Coast counterpart will begin what are expected to be exceedingly difficult negotiations with the conglomerates that own the networks and studios. Whether the entertainment business continues to operate as usual over the next year will depend in no small part on how he handles the encounter. Hollywood’s last extended shutdown occurred in 1988, when the writers began a five-month walkout over residual payments for the foreign sale of television shows, among other issues. The sides now face a potentially deeper dispute. The main areas of contention are the expansion of nonunion work by units of large media conglomerates like Viacom and News Corporation, and the way artists will be compensated for their work for the Web, mobile devices and other technologies still falling into place. Company executives have argued that it is impossible to devise pay formulas for systems that are still in flux. But Mr. Verrone is clearly intent on pinning down as much as possible now -- and on avoiding the kind of arrangements (like the one regarding home video) that many in Hollywood’s creative world believe deprived them of rightful gains in the past.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/11/movies/11guil.html
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Writers Guild President Starts the Countdown Toward Contract’s End
SMALL RADIO'S BIG APPEAL
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Alana Semuels]
Each Mapleton station has a unique identity, allowing it to stand out in an industry that's criticized for a uniform sound. Mapleton is California's second-largest radio group after Clear Channel.
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-radio11apr11,1,578244...
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Small radio's big appeal
WAS THAT KEVIN OR STEVE MARTIN?
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
[Commentary] Armed with a top 10 list--actually top seven--a la David Letterman and a phone answering machine bit -- shades of that other Button-down guy, Bob Newhart -- FCC Chairman Kevin Martin took gentle aim at himself and his critics at the annual Federal Communications Bar Association's chairman's dinner last night in Washington.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/blog/1380000138/post/780008278.html
Was that Kevin or Steve Martin?