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TV AD MARKET PRIMED FOR PAY-FOR-POD; MOVE WOULD MARK HISTORIC SHIFT
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Claire Atkinson]
This year's $9.05 billion upfront may well be the last negotiated on the basis of program ratings as the TV-ad business embarks on one of the most radical shifts in its 65-year history. Broadcasters are preparing to junk the age-old metric of charging on the basis of who watches the programs and begin charging advertisers based on who watches the commercials. Execs at three of the big networks believe next year's upfront will be negotiated with commercial ratings, and Mike Shaw, president-sales and marketing at ABC, which raked in the biggest upfront ad haul this year, thinks it could happen even sooner, in the scatter market, well ahead of next year's marketplace. "Commercial ratings are going to be the new big thing," he said. "It has huge implications for the TV industry, based on return on investment and return on equity."
http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=110363

* Shaw: ABC Ready to Sell Now Using Commercial Ratings
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=10028...

POLLUTING THE BLOGOSHERE
[SOURCE: BusinessWeek, AUTHOR: Jon Fine]
[Commentary] Ted Murphy founded an interactive ad agency called MindComet and also runs a side business that pays bloggers to write nice things about corporate sponsors -- without unduly worrying about whether or not bloggers disclose these arrangements to readers. (A scan of relevant blog searches strongly suggests that, often, they don't.) He is launching PayPerPost.com, which will automate such hookups between advertisers and bloggers and thus codify a new frontier of product placement. Advertisers pay to post details about their "opportunity," specifying, among other things, how they want bloggers to write about, say, a new shoe, if they want photos to be included, and whether they'll pay only for positive mentions. Bloggers who abide by the rules get paid; heavily trafficked blogs may command premium rates. Those seeking to subvert PayPerPost from within can't: No pornographic or "illicit" content is accepted. Thanks in no small part to bloggers, this is an era of increased media transparency, and many shifty dealings between the business and editorial sides have been exposed. An undisclosed PayPerPost placement on a little-seen blog isn't the most egregious thing out there, but it's far from honest. Media may be more transparent, but the line between authentic editorial and paid placement is still often smeared, and defenders of disclosure can feel, like the proverbial buggy whip company, that they're terribly outmoded. Things being what they are, I should mention that no buggy whip association paid me to say that.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_28/b3992034.htm

LOCAL TELEVISION ACT: STATUS OF SPENDING FOR FISCAL YEAR 2005
[SOURCE: Government Accountability Office (GAO-06-858R), AUTHOR: McCoy Williams]
In December 2000, the Congress passed the Launching Our Communities’ Access to Local Television Act of 2000 (LOCAL TV Act). The act created the Local Television Loan Guarantee Program and established the LOCAL Television Loan Guarantee Board to finance projects to provide access to signals of local television stations to households in areas with limited or no access to such signals from a commercial, for-profit satellite service or other multichannel video provider. The program authorizes the board to approve loan guarantees up to 80 percent of loans, totaling no more than $1.25 billion in aggregate; however, since inception of the program, no loan guarantees have been approved and the program has not been utilized. Section 1006 of the act requires that the GAO perform an annual audit of the 1) administration of the provisions of the act and 2) financial position of each applicant who receives a loan guarantee under the act, including the nature, amount, and purpose of investments made by the applicant. In April 2005, the GAO issued the required annual report covering fiscal year 2004. Since there continue to be no loan guarantee recipients for GAO to audit, this report primarily addresses whether program administration during fiscal year 2005 satisfied the provisions of the act. Since fiscal year 2002, GAO has reported annually on the administration of the LOCAL TV Act as required by Section 1006 of the act. Since inception of the program, no loan guarantees have been approved and there are no current or anticipated budgetary resources available for future loan guarantees. On December 13, 2004, the board authorized closing out one of two existing contracts. The other contract expired on December 31, 2005. Fiscal year 2005 administrative costs totaled about $6,500. Given that the President’s Budgets for Fiscal Years 2006 and 2007 both pointed out that the unobligated budget authority for this program had been rescinded and the administration was not proposing additional funds for this program, GAO reiterates the previous matter for congressional consideration to rescind the balance of the appropriation for administrative expenses. In oral comments on a draft of this report, the board agreed with the GAO report.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-06-858R

HOUSE TO VOTE ON BILL TO CURB ONLINE GAMING
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Jim Puzzanghera]
After nearly a decade of trying, Congress appears ready to deal with Internet gambling, a phenomenon that has grown dramatically in recent years as millions of people from college students to retirees log on to play poker or wager on sporting events. The House is set to vote today on a measure -- part of the Republican leadership's election-year "values" agenda -- designed to choke off the flow of U.S. money to poker and other gambling sites, most of which are based overseas, because Internet gambling is illegal in the United States. The legislation would make it illegal for banks and credit card companies to make payments to Internet gambling sites. It also allows law enforcement officials to force Internet service providers to remove links to the websites. Many major credit card companies already refuse to process such payments. Opponents of the bill, including online gambling sites and a new group representing U.S. poker players, noted the growing popularity of Internet gambling and predicted that people would continue to sidestep laws.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-gamble11jul11,1,...
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