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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30

Icahn Warns Time Warner Not to Sell AOL at Bargain
Reuters
Carl Icahn says he will hold the Time Warner board "personally responsible" if they forge a deal to sell all or part of AOL too cheaply. The prominent financier claims that the company "has not allowed certain people to come to the table." Analysts now say that Time Warner may be vulnerable.

Media Execs Ponder Future of Newspapers
Reuters
Execs at the Reuters Media/Advertising Summit are raising doubts about whether newspapers have a "sustainable model." The Internet is now seen as a "foundation media form," says one observer. "The print industry -- magazines and newspapers -- is tough and getting tougher."

Media Will Be Extinct Soon, Public Radio Host Says
Ball State Daily News
The corporate media giants will "collapse," giving way to smaller outlets as audiences and advertising dollars move to "citizen journalism" projects and other new media, predicts Bob Garfield, co-host of NPR's "On the Media." The media's "new world order" will not be orderly, he says.

Bowled Over: What the Alphabet Soup of Digital Media Spells for Top Firms
Hollywood Reporter
Time Warner is "wise" for holding on to America Online and allowing the marketplace to "dictate its reinvention," writes Diane Mermigas. Disney's television stations and films "require new business models." Viacom "needs a video game component." Google "has made itself irreplaceable."

Icahn Enlists Lazard In Time Warner Battle
Dow Jones
Carl Icahn is keeping up his pressure on Time Warner to restructure, saying that his group has hired Lazard to help it explore strategic alternatives to boost the media giant's flagging stock price. Icahn insists that Time Warner needs "major restructuring."

Lights! Camera! Google?
New York Post
Google is naming Ann Mather, a former exec at Disney and Pixar, to its board of directors. Mather's experience in the movie biz could help Google navigate a media landscape in which technology and content are intermixing. Terry Semel, the chief of rival Yahoo, is a former a movie exec.

Is Yahoo the King of Media?
Investor's Business Daily
For many users, Yahoo has become their first and last stop on the Web, says Charlene Li, an analyst for Forrester Research. "They are becoming a model for what a media company needs to be in order to be competitive in the future." Yahoo dwarfs all rivals in online news viewers.

EBay Traffic Leads Online Shopping Sites
Reuters
EBay had double the traffic of Amazon.com, its closest competitor among U.S. Web retail sites, at the start of the holiday online shopping season, according to Nielsen//NetRatings. EBay had 11.7 million unique visitors and Amazon 5.6 million on "Cyber Monday."

Microsoft Tests Classifieds Service
CNET News.com
Microsoft is developing a free online service that will allow people to list items for sale, events and other classifieds type of information. The service, code-named Fremont, is in internal testing. Fremont will compete with online newspaper classifieds, as well as services like Craigslist.

Burning Sensation: Could Craigslist Turn Newspaper Classifieds to Ashes?
Fortune
Craigslist makes money by charging employers in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco for listing jobs. The site is considering charging for job listings in Boston, Seattle, San Diego, and Washington, D.C. It is also set to charge New York real estate brokers a modest fee to list properties.

Salon.com Still Kicking
San Jose Mercury News
Salon.com is celebrating its 10th anniversary with parties in New York and San Francisco. The Web "zine" has 65 employees and is now hiring, says editor in chief Joan Walsh. "Salon went from being a really literary magazine to realizing that the opportunity on the Web was about news."

Sentinel Lays Off 21 in Cost-Cutting Move
Orlando Sentinel
Tribune's Orlando Sentinel is laying off 21 employees and leaving 33 positions open as it joins other newspapers struggling to cope with declining circulation and rising costs. Says publisher Kathleen Waltz: "There are changes in technology and the way we consume news."

Knight Ridder Freezes Spending
Philadelphia Inquirer
Knight Ridder is cutting back on a number of activities while its investment bankers consider whether the chain should be sold. Union contract negotiations at the company's Philadelphia newspapers are being put on hold "given the uncertainty that exists," says publisher Joe Natoli.

Making a Time-ly Exit
New York Post
Time Inc. is said to be looking to move up to 300 employees in New York City to an industrial park in Parsippany, N.J. The company describes the new facility as a location for back office functions. But some sources speculate that titles such as Field & Stream could be relocated.

Primedia Shareholder Sues KKR Over Deals
AP
Primedia shareholder Linda Parnes Kahn is suing Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, accusing the buyout firm of enriching itself in deals involving the media company it controls. The lawsuit comes as Primedia's stock price struggles in a market wary of a plan to split the magazine company up.

Disney Fine-Tunes ABC Radio Auction
Financial Times
Disney has narrowed the field of potential buyers for its 72-station ABC Radio division to three groups: Entercom, Cumulus, and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. Disney decided to consider a sale after the appointment of Bob Iger as CEO, which prompted a review of company assets.

FCC Boss Prods Pay TV to Do More on Decency
Reuters
Cable and satellite television are not doing enough to shield children from inappropriate content, says FCC chairman Kevin Martin. "The industry needs to do more to address parents' concerns." He declines to endorse a specific solution. Also: per-channel pricing "could be in consumers' best interests."

CBS Has a November to Be Thankful For
Washington Post
CBS will win the November ratings sweep, which ends tonight, by about 3 million viewers. Last week's most watched programs, in order, were: ABC's "Desperate Housewives"; CBS's "CSI"; ABC's "Grey's Anatomy"; and CBS's "Survivor: Guatemala," and "Without a Trace."

Wherever, Whenever Video in Spotlight for 2006
Reuters
Television's chieftains see opportunities for growth for video on different devices. CBS boss Les Moonves estimates that the network's hit franchise "CSI" will reap over $1 billion in revenue, from traditional television commercials, DVDs, licensed games and Internet clips.

Websites Dive Into Video iPod Revolution
USA Today
More video is coming to Apple's new video iPod. Rush Limbaugh will soon offer video clips of his radio show. San Diego-based start-up Veoh is to announce plans to offer 3,000 free video shows, including shorts of "The Three Stooges" and "Superman" and "Batman" cartoons.

TVs Turn Into Vending Machines for Programs
USA Today
For the first time, ABC, CBS and NBC are letting viewers watch current prime-time hits on cable and video-on-demand and via Internet download. The deals could strain networks' relationships with affiliates, complicate the ability to turn new shows into hits and weaken the market for reruns.

Comcast and Viacom Battle for the Kids
Fortune
Comcast's new Sprout network for preschoolers is taking on Viacom's Noggin and Nickelodeon channels. Comcast believes the appeal of Sprout -- and particularly Sprout On Demand -- will discourage customers with young children from leaving for competing satellite services.

Multipartner Deal Means 'Idol' Will Air Through 2011
USA Today
Fox Broadcasting, the producers of "American Idol," the show's famously caustic judge Simon Cowell and Sony BMG Music Entertainment are agreeing to keep the hit show going for five more seasons, defusing disputes that threatened to shut it down after the fifth season ends in May.

Couric Quiet as NBC, CBS Make Changes at Top
USA Today
As talk continues about whether Katie Couric will leave NBC to anchor the "CBS Evening News," her current employer named acting chief Steve Capus as the new head of the network's news division. Meanwhile, CBS promoted '60 Minutes" producer Rome Hartman to run its evening broadcast.

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MAGAZINES & NEWSPAPERS
 
Pelle the Conqueror
Guardian
Free daily newspapers will one day replace their paid-for counterparts on weekdays, predicts Pelle Tornberg, CEO of the Metro International chain of free dailies. He expects 95% of paid-for newspapers will survive in a niche capacity, "with smaller circulation and probably increasing their prices."

Three-Year Budget Freeze for News Int'l
Financial Times
Rupert Murdoch's U.K. newspaper arm, News International, is imposing a three-year freeze on editorial budgets. The move reinforces the deteriorating outlook for British newspapers forecast by analysts at Morgan Stanley. They expect no growth in advertising next year.

Knight Ridder Hires Morgan Stanley to Advise on Sale
Dow Jones
Knight Ridder is hiring Morgan Stanley to help advise the newspaper publisher as it explores strategic alternatives, including the possible sale of itself. Morgan Stanley will provide a second opinion to Goldman Sachs, financial advisor to Knight Ridder since its creation in 1974.

Court is Asked to Freeze Herald's Assets
Boston Globe
Superior Court Judge Ernest Murphy is asking a judge to freeze the assets of the Boston Herald, saying that financial problems at the tabloid threaten to make it impossible for him to collect his libel judgment totaling more than $2 million.

Craigslist Founder Behind Online News Venture
TechWeb
Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist, is backing a new effort to deliver news online. Newmark maintains that he, not Craigslist, is partially behind plans for a new online media venture. "It's intended to complement, preserve and grow existing media," he says.

Ex-Programmer Arrested for Faking News Story, Yahoo Site
Japan Times
Police arrested a former computer programmer Monday for allegedly publishing a fabricated news article on a fake Yahoo Japan news Web site saying China had invaded the Japanese island of Okinawa. The news article attracted 66,000 hits before it was removed from the site.

Will Pay Web Sites Succeed Like HBO?
Slate
Mickey Kaus: "Aren't those who predict doom for the New York Times's TimesSelect like those who predicted doom for cable television?" Kaus suggests newspapers should band together in an online consortium and charge a subscription fee for access.

New York Times Begins Printing Outside U.S.
Crain's New York Business
The New York Times started printing its national edition in Toronto late Sunday, the first time the newspaper has published outside the United States. The paper is expanding nationwide distribution. Circulation in the New York City area has declined.

Voice Takeover Gets Green Light
New York Post
The FTC and the Justice Department have already signed off on the takeover of Village Voice Media by Phoenix-based New Times. The deal, when it is finalized, will give a 62% controlling stake in a combined company to New Times, which will oversee 18 weekly newspapers.

Harper's Set to Name Its Next Editor
New York Times
Harper's Magazine is to announce today that deputy editor Roger Hodge will succeed Lewis Lapham as editor in April. Lapham, 70, had run the 155-year-old magazine for nearly 30 years. Hodge says he has no plans to make significant changes to the intellectual, left-leaning title.

Time Warner's Stupid Gag Order
Slate
Time Warner chief Dick Parsons announced prior to an interview with Justice Antonin Scalia in front of 100 journalists and businessmen at the company's headquarters that the entire session was "off the record." "What possessed Time Warner to stage this farce?" asks Jack Shafer.

Murdoch Predicts Demise of Classified Ads
Financial Times
Newspapers are under threat as classified advertising moves online, says Rupert Murdoch. The News Corp. chief, who once described classifieds as "rivers of gold," says: "Sometimes rivers dry up." Also: The number of users of online classified advertising services increased 80% this year.

A Lifeline Online
San Diego Union-Tribune
Investors are worrying that newspapers' online business won't make up for the loss in print revenues. "We the Media" author Dan Gillmor asks: "Is the newspaper business model coming apart at a greater velocity than can be made up for with online content? Right now, the answer is probably."

Free Ads Guru to 'Restore Trust' in Journalism
Guardian
Craigslist founder Craig Newmark says he is involved with an online journalism project that may be announced over the next several months. "The American public has lost a lot of trust in conventional newspaper mechanisms," he says.

Rolling Stone is Going 3-D for No. 1,000
New York Times
In May, Wenner Media's Rolling Stone magazine will mark its 1,000th issue with a cover in 3-D. The cover is expected to be the most expensive in magazine history, "far, far, far in excess" of $100,000. Rolling Stone is raising its rate base for the special issue.

2nd Time Reporter to Testify in Leak Case
New York Times
Viveca Novak, a reporter for Time magazine, is being asked to testify under in the CIA leak case about conversations she had in 2004 with a lawyer for Karl Rove. Another Time reporter, Matthew Cooper, testified this summer about a July 2003 conversation he had with Rove.

Liberal Blogger Hires Two Journalists
New York Sun
As some newspapers shrink their staffs, one blogger is hiring: Joshua Marshall of Talking Points Memo is seeking two journalists to work for a new blog that will offer "wall-to-wall coverage of corruption, self-dealing, and betrayals of the public trust in today's Washington."

More Tribune Job Cuts Coming, This Time at Newsday
Editor & Publisher
Next to feel the knife in the current round of Tribune Co. job cuts -- which in recent days have hit papers in Chicago, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Orlando and Hartford -- will be Newsday in Melville, N.Y. Decisions on job cuts will be made over the next two weeks, says publisher Timothy Knight.

Hollinger Int'l Clears Way for Fresh Board
Chicago Sun-Times
Frustrated shareholders of Hollinger International, the owner of the Chicago Sun-Times, are making changes in the company's board of directors. They claim the board failed to oversee management, allowing ex-chief Conrad Black to loot the firm. Now, some might push for a sale of the company.

Primedia's Losing Act Looks Likely to Continue
Crain's New York Business
Shares of Primedia now sell for less than the price of one of the publisher's magazines. The future looks bleak for the ever-shrinking publisher, as it plans to divide up what remains of its once prominent magazine business. Primedia's debt load of $1.4 billion smothers any profits.

Chrysler Rides Along with Time 'Person of the Year'
Advertising Age
Automaker Chrysler is entering a seven-figure sponsorship deal with Time magazine's "Person of the Year" franchise. The deal includes prints ads, a CNN documentary and even podcasts. (I Want Media's "Media Person of the Year" has yet to secure such a sponsorship. Interested?)

Use the Internet, Don't Fear It, Newspaper Editors Told
AFP
Newspaper editors from over 60 countries are meeting in Athens to explore ways to lure back readers from the Web. A new rival could be appearing soon in the form of cable television, says one attendee. "They can tell their advertisers overnight how many people watched a particular program."

'Anglo-Saxon' Equity Funds Consider Bid for VNU
Observer
Anglo-U.S. private equity groups Apax and Cinven could launch a bid for Dutch media company VNU, the parent of Billboard and Hollywood Reporter magazines. VNU last week was forced by shareholders to abandon a $7 billion takeover of U.S. health care data firm IMS Health.

Knight Ridder Criticism Issued
San Francisco Chronicle
Dozens of former journalists at Knight Ridder newspapers are critical of recent budget cuts at the publishing company and say that they may run a slate of candidates for the board of directors. They also criticize demands by some investors that Knight Ridder be put up for sale.

Ziff Davis Plans to Close Sync Magazine
New York Times
Sync magazine, devoted to electronic gear and gadgetry, will close after 18 months of publication. Sync struggled in an increasingly crowded men's magazine market. Its 20 employees will be laid off or transferred. The magazine's Web site will be turned over to Ziff Davis's game unit.

Celebrity Curse
New York Post
American Media, the publisher of the National Enquirer, Star and other magazines, is reporting a 32.5% drop in operating income. The company blames its revenue decline in part on Hurricanes Wilma and Katrina, which cut into newsstand sales.

New York's Moss Reaches for a Legacy
MarketWatch
Adam Moss, New York magazine's editor-in-chief since March 2004, gets high marks for sharpening the weekly's writing, writes Jon Friedman. "I aspire to make a magazine that people will remember," says Moss. One of his goals for 2006 is to get "personally involved in our Web site."

What's the Future of Newspapers?
Buffalo News
Newspapers are not obsolete, but they are "undergoing a radical restructuring," says Melanie Kirkpatrick, associate editor of the Wall Street Journal's editorial page, in a speech in Buffalo, N.Y. Online readers looking for accurate information will rely on newspaper sites, not blogs, she says.

Freelancers 'Losing Work' as Readers Write
Press Gazette
Are freelance writers losing work to bloggers? Freelancers in London are complaining that the Guardian newspaper's use of contributions by unpaid "citizen journalists" is squeezing them out. Says one freelancer: "There is great opportunity for exploitation."

Questions, Answers on Newspaper Business
AP
Are newspapers going away? Despite recent layoffs and the loss of young readers, newspapers still attract advertising dollars, especially in smaller markets where they are the dominant media outlet. The big question: Will they be successful in following readers and advertisers online?

More Than 1,900 Newspaper Jobs Lost in 2005
Editor & Publisher
Media layoffs are continuing. A conservative estimate puts the total loss of newspaper jobs around 1,900 this year. That figure does not include cuts at many smaller papers that don't often garner the same headlines as those made by Tribune, Hearst and other large companies.

Behind the Wave of CEO Departures
Folio:
Since June there has been a steady stream of CEO changes at magazine companies, including Gruner + Jahr, Primedia and Reed Business. Observers say the magazine industry is undergoing profound change. Top execs need to be "Internet savvy and Web passionate."

Conrad Black, Ex-Hollinger Chief, Indicted for Fraud
Bloomberg
Ex-press magnate Conrad Black and three other former execs of Hollinger International are being charged with stealing $51.8 million from the firm. Black, who built Hollinger into the world's third-largest publisher of English-language newspapers, may face 40 years in jail and $2 million in fines.

Out of Sync
WWD
Ziff Davis Media is reportedly looking to sell off Sync magazine, its title for gadget-loving men. Condé Nast and Hachette are among the companies that have been approached. Should the effort to sell Sync fail, Ziff Davis is expected to fold the 2-year-old title.

Playing Lad Mag Tag
New York Post
Emap chief Tom Moloney is said to have met recently with Hearst magazines head Cathie Black to explore either a joint venture or a sale of the U.S. edition of lad magazine FHM. Publishing the title as a standalone in the United States has been costly for the British publisher.

Five Tribune Newspapers to Seek Job Cuts
AP
Five Tribune Co. newspapers say they will cut jobs amid declining circulation and revenue. The Los Angeles Times is eliminating about 85 newsroom positions; the Chicago Tribune's job cuts will "likely" be fewer than 100. The Orlando Sentinel will cut "a limited number of positions."

Longtime Manager Plans to Leave Wenner
New York Times
Kent Brownridge, the general manager of Us Weekly publisher Wenner Media, is retiring after 31 years amid talk of tension with founder Jann Wenner. Says Brownridge: "The only thing that [Wenner needs] to worry about is the future of the magazine business, which is getting tougher."

>> MORE


 
TELEVISION & RADIO
 
FCC to Reverse Course on Cable: WSJ
MarketWatch
The FCC is expected to suggest that cable television companies could best serve consumers by letting them subscribe to individual channels instead of prepackaged bundles. The move could open a new front in government efforts to impose indecency standards on cable and satellite providers.

Televangelists on Unusual Side in Indecency Debate
Los Angeles Times
Religious broadcasters are fighting efforts by anti-indecency groups to thwart channels offering racy programming. Broadcasters like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell fear that changing the current cable system to "a la carte" pricing could cut into viewership.

Study: Parents Want Less Gov't Control Over TV
Hollywood Reporter
Most Americans want Big Brother to butt out of their TV watching, says a new study from TV Watch, a coalition that opposes government control of programming. Some 91% of parents say more parental involvement is the best way to keep kids from seeing what they shouldn't see.

Super Bowl Gets Rolling
Variety
The Rolling Stones are set to perform during the halftime of Super Bowl XL, slated for Feb. 5 in Detroit. The live ABC telecast will include a delay of five to 10 seconds to avoid a repeat of the controversy that followed Janet Jackson's "flashdance" two years ago.

Howard All Over the Dial
New York Post
Howard Stern is promoting his move to Sirius Satellite Radio in interviews on "60 Minutes," the "Today" show and possibly with a walk-on on "Saturday Night Live" in December. Stern's drive to become the "King of All Media" was derived from his days as an "outsider" in high school, he says.

Operator Axed in New CNN 'X' Flap
New York Post
CNN fired a phone operator for telling a caller the network was exercising "freedom of speech" when it put an "X" over Dick Cheney's face. Last week, the news network aired a report saying that a black "X," which appeared while Cheney was giving a speech on Iraq, was a "technological glitch."

ABC and CBS Clean House During Sweeps
CNNMoney.com
CBS and ABC each have five of the top 10 most-watched TV shows through mid-November, including "CSI" and "Lost." On NBC, Donald Trump's "Apprentice" and "Joey" are underperforming, leading to speculation that the network might move its one new hit, "My Name is Earl," to Thursday.

Disney Enables ESPN Fans to Dial In
Los Angeles Times
Disney is counting on ESPN's loyal audience to help it establish a toehold in mobile media. Its new wireless phone service delivers news, scores and video. Bob Iger says that Disney's "road map to the future" lay in combining its entertainment properties with new forms of distribution.

TiVo to Expand Abroad
New York Post
TiVo is to announce that it will begin selling its digital video recorders in Taiwan, a first step toward what execs hope will be a significant expansion abroad. Expanding in Europe is a priority, as is entering China, says CEO Tom Rogers.

MTV Buys Game Content Creator
World Screen
MTV Networks is acquiring most of the assets of GameTrailers, a producer and aggregator of broadband video content in the game genre. MTV devoted all of last week to video game-related programming, tied to the release of Microsoft's new Xbox 360 game console.

Static in Rupert's Satellite Dreams
BusinessWeek
As the media world is increasingly reordered by technology, Rupert Murdoch's satellite operation DirecTV is facing stiffening competition from cable and phone companies. Both cable and phone outfits are rolling out a variety of new services, including Web access and video-on-demand.

The Couric Countdown
Broadcasting & Cable
The "drumbeat is getting louder" that Katie Couric will leap to CBS this spring when her NBC contract runs out. David Blum: Anderson Cooper might be "the best hope for the future;" his CNN contract lasts two more years. NBC's Brian Williams: "This notion of a voice-of-God anchor is antiquated."

CBS Says in Talks with Google for Video Search
Reuters
CBS is in discussions with Google for video search and on-demand video, says network chief Les Moonves. CBS is also in meetings with Yahoo, although no deals have yet been struck. "They need our content," says Moonves, "we need their technology."

Producer Plans to Keep Old Spirit in Recast 'Nightline'
Los Angeles Times
Ted Koppel is leaving, but the journalistic soul of "Nightline" will remain intact, vows executive producer James Goldston. The revamped version of the venerable ABC News show debuts next week. The new "Nightline," co-hosted by Martin Bashir, promises not to go "tabloid."

Peeved Over TiVo
Variety
TiVo's plan to allow users to download TV shows and films to Apple's iPod and Sony's PlayStation Portable could strain relations with networks and studios hoping to develop revenue streams from digital distribution. TV and studio execs are said to be considering legal action.

Cable Network Trio Popping Over to Web
Zap2it.com
Trio, the NBC Universal cable network focused on pop culture, has been languishing and will go off the air at the end of the year. The network, best known for its series "Brilliant, but Cancelled," will move to the Internet, where it will become a broadband platform on Bravo's Web site.

XM Signs Derek Jeter
TheStreet.com
XM Satellite Radio is signing New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter as a spokesman. The move comes as XM tries to counter the media blitz being put on by its rival, Sirius, which has fewer listeners but is getting more press from signing up Howard Stern and Martha Stewart.

TiVo-iPod Deal Trumps Disney
TV Week
Television technology is advancing so quickly that the groundbreaking Disney-iTunes deal unveiled just weeks ago is already starting to look like a dinosaur: TiVo is to add a new service that will allow TV shows to be transferred onto both the iPod and the Sony PlayStation Portable.

President of NBC Speaks on Future of Network Television
Daily Northwestern
Technological advances are already paying off for NBC, says top exec Jeff Zucker. Ratings for "NBC Nightly News" improved after the network started offering daily newscasts on its Web site, he says. But Zucker is wary of the rise of blogs: "It is absurd how much attention they receive."

Clear Channel Upgrades 200 Stations to Digital
Reuters
Clear Channel is upgrading 200 radio stations to air high definition digital broadcasts featuring CD-quality music, as it aims to protect its market share from satellite radio services. The broadcaster expects that 95% of its 1,200-controlled stations will become digital by 2007.

NBC Universal Goes Peer-to-Peer
MarketWatch
NBC Universal will become the first major studio to make movies and television shows available over a legitimate peer-to-peer provider of Internet downloads, announcing a deal Thursday for on-demand, 24-hour rentals with Wurld Media, the parent of the Peer Impact service.

Deep Value on the TV Dial
Forbes.com
For years, owning a broadcast television station was the modern equivalent of owning a gold mine, observes The Turnaround Letter. Today, with the advent of cable television and the Internet, life is "less golden" for broadcasters. The pure broadcast TV stocks "have been beaten down."

Stern Plans Cliffhanger to Lure Listeners to Satellite
Billboard Radio Monitor
Howard Stern plans to announce "personal revelations" during one of his final terrestrial radio shows in mid-December. He also plans to broadcast his final show while leading a parade of his cohorts from his broadcast station's studios to his new home at Sirius Satellite Radio.

FCC Commissioner Abernathy Plans to Leave
Reuters
Republican Kathleen Abernathy will leave the FCC in December, which could leave the five-member agency with two open seats and give Democrats a temporary 2-1 majority. During her 4 1/2-year tenure, she supported attempts to ease limits on media ownership.

TV Ad Revenue at Big Three Networks Drops
Dow Jones
Advertising revenue at NBC, CBS and ABC declined 21.5% to $2.2 billion in the third quarter. Recent moves to make certain television shows available to on-demand platforms shows that the networks are seeking ways to ensure long-term growth, says the head of an industry trade group.

'Lost' Deal Hatched for Mobile
Hollywood Reporter
ABC's "Lost" is said to be spawning a second series for mobile phones in a deal soon to close with a major U.S. carrier. About 20 episodes -- each several minutes long -- are to hit phones early next year. A tie-in connecting broadcast and mobile versions is being considered.

'Designing' May Be Broadway Hit
FoxNews.com
Television shows may be headed to another new medium: the Broadway stage. Producer Linda Bloodworth-Thomason is updating her hit TV series "Designing Women" for a Broadway production. The original cast members may sign on to recreate their TV roles.

'On Demand' Will Bare More of Stern Footage
New York Daily News
Starting Friday, subscribers paying $9.99 a month for "Howard Stern on Demand" will have access to uncensored segments from the 11 years video cameras have been placed in the shock jock's radio studio. Stern's daily show on Sirius Satellite Radio starts in January.

MTV Gets Its Game On
GameSpot
MTV will devote an entire week to video game-related programming in anticipation of the Nov. 22 release of Microsoft's new Xbox 360 game console. MTV's GameORZ Week acknowledges the increasing significance of game culture among the network's audience of 18- to 24-year-olds.

Broadcast TV Networks Say DVRs Boost Commercial Viewing
Dow Jones
Seeking to stem the loss of advertising because of digital video recording devices like TiVo, network television execs claim that homes with DVRs actually watch 12% more TV. Some 53% of DVR users go back to watch commercials they mistakenly skipped, they claim.

>> MORE


 
INTERNET & DIGITAL MEDIA
 
eBay Heads to High Court
Red Herring
The U.S. Supreme Court says it will decide whether to bar eBay from using a patented technology that helps to generate almost a third of the value of the goods it sells. MercExchange, a patent-holding company, previously won an injunction that could force eBay to stop using its "Buy-It-Now" feature.

Google to Sponsor Manchester United Soccer Club?
CNET News.com
Both Google and Yahoo are said to be in talks to replace Vodafone as the shirt sponsor of Manchester United. Vodafone announced last week that it is ending its four-year deal with the British soccer club. The club's owners are looking to give Manchester United a higher profile in America.

The CueCat is Back
Wired News
In 2000, the CueCat bar-code scanner was distributed to magazine subscribers for use in redirecting readers to advertisers' Web pages. But few people used it. Now Coca-Cola in Germany is encouraging teens to snap ads with their camera phones and interact with an ad portal.

Who's Afraid of Google? Everyone.
Wired
Google's ever-expanding agenda includes video, print and classifieds. Next up: connecting users to advertisers via telephone. John Heilemann: Traditional media are coming to terms with Google's "vast ambitions." Kurt Andersen: Google's brilliance and ambition are "downright thrilling."

U.S. Online Sales Spike Seen on 'Cyber Monday'
Reuters
Online holiday sales are expected to take off on Monday, when consumers return to work and their fast Internet connections after the Thanksgiving weekend. "Cyber Monday" comes on the heels of the busy "Black Friday" shopping day when brick-and-mortar retailers begin to see big sales.

AOL Journals: You've Got Ads
Washington Post
America Online is upsetting some customers with its move to start posting advertisements on the pages created by AOL Journals, the company's blog platform. Jason Calacanis, who recently sold his Weblog network to AOL, describes the move as mostly "bad from a PR standpoint."

Time Warner Eyes 'Content Hub’
Multichannel News
Time Warner Cable is looking to build an in-home media hub to help consumers pull together all the digital content they keep at home, including music, photos and video files. Project "Santa Monica" is still in the early stages of design and prototypes are yet to be built.

Big Media Loves BitTorrent
Forbes.com
BitTorrent, the software that moves a good portion of illegally swapped movies and TV shows through the Internet, is forming an alliance with the movie industry to fight piracy. However, since BitTorrent is open source software, use of the program is likely to continue undeterred.

Net TV Startup Lands $16.2 Million from AOL, IAC
Reuters
Brightcove, an Internet television startup that helps programmers syndicate shows online, is attracting investors AOL, IAC/InterActiveCorp, Hearst, and Allen & Co. Program owners that upload videos to Brightcove's servers can opt to let Brightcove attach commercials to their videos.

Google in Talks to Buy Riya
Red Herring
Google is said to be in talks to buy Riya, a photo-search company that uses facial recognition to organize pictures. The firm sorts and classifies photos using tags and labels. Riya could be Google's response to Yahoo's acquisition of Flickr, which also uses tags to organize photos.

Internet Still Young, Faster Access to Spur Growth
Reuters
The Internet is still in its early days and will be further fueled as faster access proliferates, say execs at a tech summit in San Jose. Broadband homes already allow for viewing of movie trailers and the like. Says Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang: "The consumer can really be the programmer."

Media Deals Push Blogs Into the Mainstream
Financial Times
Recent deals with the mainstream media by bloggers Andrew Sullivan, Nick Denton and Jason Calacanis are making blogs available to a larger audience. The rapid growth in Internet advertising and the lack of inventory on popular Web sites are seen as key factors behind the deals.

Dot-com Diehard Salon Rides Latest Media Tide
Variety
The latest business model for online magazine Salon, now celebrating its 10th anniversary, is to let non-subscribers view content for free, but only after watching a video ad. The site has launched a video blog, and Salon execs have talked with MSNBC honchos about sharing video content.

Google Lets Web Sites Sign Up Advertisers Directly
Reuters
Advertisers wishing to place ads on Google-supported Web sites can now sign up directly on those sites, in a move analysts say addresses concerns about the search giant's growing advertising clout. Participating sites are now able to post a link to "Advertise on this site."

Random House: Digital is Our Destiny
BusinessWeek
Unwilling to let a Google, Yahoo or Microsoft dictate terms in cyberspace, Random House is outlining ways to start offering its books directly to consumers on a page-per-view basis. Also, Random House plans to launch a movie division to parlay its books into films.

Fox to Offer Movies Online via Movielink
AP
Movielink, a joint venture of five Hollywood studios to offer movies over the Internet, is adding Twentieth Century Fox, allowing it to offer movies from all major studios for the first time. Movielink and similar legitimate movie download services aim to offer an alternative to illegal piracy.

Xbox 360: The Rumble For Your Rec Room
U.S. News & World Report
Microsoft's new Xbox 360, which hits stores Tuesday, is out to end the reign of Sony's PlayStation gaming console. The new Xbox 360 could be the device that heralds the arrival of the HDTV era. Video game machines are expected to be among the first devices to capitalize on high-def.

Cisco Expands Video With Scientific-Atlanta Buy
Dow Jones
Cisco is set to acquire set-top box maker Scientific-Atlanta for $6.9 billion. The acquisition comes as phone and cable industries are gearing up to offer a "quadruple play" of services -- voice, video, Internet and wireless -- in an increasingly competitive landscape.

Reuters Group Launches Instant Messaging Hosted Service
Dow Jones
Reuters is launching a professional instant messaging service to connect the financial community in real-time to MSN Messenger and AOL Instant Messenger services. Users of the new Reuters service will be able to exchange information with financial professionals worldwide.

Online Daters Sue Matchmaking Web Sites for Fraud
Reuters
A new lawsuit is accusing Barry Diller's Match.com of goading members into renewing subscriptions through bogus romantic e-mails. People on the Match.com payroll even "went on sham dates." A separate suit claims that Yahoo Personals posts fake profiles in an attempt to boost numbers.

Building a Better Boom
New York Times
The Internet is exciting again, writes John Battelle, author of "The Search." "Once again folks are rushing in." But, "we are not in a bubble. Most companies this time around are finding homes at large, stable companies like Yahoo, Google, News Corp. The era of the hot Net IPO is over."

Google's Riya Designs?
Om Malik's Blog
Google may be preparing to make another acquisition. The search giant is rumored to be eyeing Riya, a Redwood City, Calif.-based photo service. The start-up's technology promises to allow users to automatically tag people in photos so users can search for just the photo they want.

An Inside Look at IAC/InterActive
SmartMoney.com
Company insiders are snapping up shares of Barry Diller's Internet firm IAC/InterActive. Board member Steve Rattner spent $270,000 of his own money on 10,000 shares earlier this month, bringing his total holdings to just about 25,000 shares.

IPods Invade This Year's List of Hottest Toys
Boston Globe
This year for the first time, iPods and other digital music players are appearing on the National Retail Federation's annual list of the top 10 categories of toys. The iPod debuted in sixth place for girls -- right behind video games. For boys, video games came first.

Google: The $400 Club
CNN/Money
On Thursday, shares of Google eclipsed the vaunted $400 mark. The stock price has nearly doubled this year and surged about 375% since the company's IPO in August 2004. One asset manager observes: Google "is a business that is entirely dependent on advertising."

Yahoo Hits Five Year High on Advertising Optimism
Reuters
Yahoo shares climbed 6% Wednesday, hitting a five-year high, amid expectations the company's earnings are poised to rise thanks to strong demand for advertising space on the Web portal. Says one broker: "Traders are falling all over themselves to get on board Yahoo."

Blogs Become Conglomerates
Red Herring
Bloggers are "shedding their pajamas" and entering new business deals. Open Source Media, an experiment combining blogs and journalism, launched Wednesday after landing $3.5 million in funding. OSM, formerly known as Pajamas Media, has signed up more than 70 contributors.

Yahoo to Add 5 Gawker Media Blogs to Web Site
Washington Post
Yahoo is adding daily feeds from five blogs produced by Gawker Media. "Yahoo has developed a certain weird geek chic," says Gawker founder Nick Denton. "The key to the deal is the wider audience out there. This is the same younger audience that responds to 'The Daily Show.' "

iTunes to Stop Going for a Song?
New York Daily News
The 99-cents-per-song model may soon be history, say execs at music giant EMI. iTunes may start charging less than 99 cents for tracks from lesser-known artists or for older songs, but charge more for new tunes from superstars. "We will see flexible pricing," predicts one exec.

Police Investigate Craigslist Posting
News:
Days after a woman was accused of offering her 4-year-old daughter up for sex on Craigslist, the site is facing a new investigation over a posting inviting people to a "bashing party" targeting the homeless. Most Craigslist users are legitimate and trustworthy, insists founder Craig Newmark.

Users Crowd Into MySpace
BusinessWeek
Some feared that News Corp.'s acquisition of MySpace.com would spell the demise of the social-networking site. Instead, MySpace is growing more rapidly, currently adding 150,000 new users a day. It now gets more traffic than eBay. The deal is expected to spur more Internet consolidation.

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ADVERTISING & MARKETING
 
TiVo Users Soon Can Search for Ads
Wall Street Journal
TiVo is partnering with several big media-buying operations to offer its users a system that lets them search for commercials centered around a specific topic. Expected to launch next spring, the feature will allow TiVo subscribers to search for ads that match their interests.

Disney Uses iPods for Ads
Red Herring
Disney and Clear Channel will become the first major media companies to deliver promotional videos to the new video iPod. Disney plans to offer video content from its upcoming movie "The Chronicles of Narnia;" Clear Channel will provide 60-second video clips of its "Rush Limbaugh Show."

Radio Sees Podcasts as New Source of Ad Revenue
Mediaweek
Premiere Radio Networks, which already does a brisk eight-figure business offering subscription podcasts of Rush Limbaugh and other personalities, has cut its first advertising deal with Starburst, which will pay six figures to sponsor a podcast based on the show "Ryan Seacrest American Top 40."

An Adman's Guide to Survival
BusinessWeek
As bad as the current upheaval is for television and newspapers, it's worse for advertising agencies, claims Bob Greenberg, CEO of interactive ad agency R/GA. Ad agencies now have to design e-commerce and create retail environments. "They aren't in the business of ads anymore."

Web Advertising Up 34 Percent
Reuters
Spending on Internet advertising rose 34% in the third quarter to $3.1 billion from a year earlier, setting a quarterly record, according to data from the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers. The move is drawing marketing dollars away from newspapers and network TV.

TV Ad Rules Are Challenged by 'Pod' Busters
Wall Street Journal
Advertisers and TV networks are rethinking the commercial-break format in a response to DVR technology. Formerly forbidden five-second ads, known as "pod punchers," are surfacing as networks tweak the system. The five-second blips are positioned at the end of commercial breaks.

Blogs, Podcasts, Cell-Phones Are Toddlers in Ad Market
InternetWeek
Advertising execs see blogs, podcasts and Web-enabled cell phones as newcomers in the market that are worth watching, but have yet to prove they're worth major investments, says a survey by the American Advertising Federation. A rep for the AAF says: "It's a wait-and-see approach."

Online Ad Sales Soaring, Report Says
CNN/Money
Many of the nation's leading Web sites are selling out the inventory of their most viewed ads and dramatically raising rates, according to the Wall Street Journal. The front Web pages of Yahoo, AOL and MSN are said to be sold out on big display ads for months in advance.

Hollywood Unions Protest Product Placement
AP
Hollywood writers and actors are calling for a code of conduct to govern a growing trend of hidden advertising in TV shows and films, and they say they will appeal to federal regulators if studios don't respond. The also want a cut of the advertising revenue.

TV Networks Turn to New Media to Customize Ads
Washington Post
Viacom is taking a page from Google's playbook: Almost all of the Web sites for the television stations of the company's CBS and UPN networks are being revamped to include a search technology that displays sponsored advertising links along with news searches by users.

Advertisements to Invade Online Games
AP
Online game provider Shockwave.com will begin offering advertisers a way to insert ads within the games themselves. The move is believed to be the first such invasion in Web-based games. Young male audiences are said to be spending more time with games than traditional media.

Burger King Sponsors Video iPod Downloads
MediaPost
Advertising is coming to the video iPod. Burger King is sponsoring comedic shorts that can be downloaded and played on the new device, thanks to broadband video site Heavy.com. Also: Playboy and Penthouse are eyeing the video iPod as a platform to sell adult content.

Flashy Ads in Motion
New York Post
New York advertising company Submedia is setting up a series of innovative streetside ads around Manhattan with images that "move," like a cartoon flip book, when a person walks by a series of static panels. Says one pedestrian of the new ad format: "It's like seeing it on TV."

Google: Thinking About the Future of TV Ads
ZDNet.com Googling Google
Google is rumored to be creating its own branded digital video recorder. The company has registered the domain googledvr.net, among several others. A Google DVR could allow the search giant to serve up relevant ads based on the television program being watched.

Webisodes Return, Now as Advertising
USA Today
Webisodes -- original minishows for the Internet that were all the rage before the Internet bubble -- are back, this time as advertising vehicles. Many offer a "sophisticated form of social networking." I Can't Believe It's Not Butter's "Sprays of Her Life" is a hit online soap-opera parody.

Internet Deals a Body Blow to Television Advertising
Times of London
Television viewers can now use DVRs to skip past ads and buy commercial-free programs to play on their iPods. TV is "still an incredibly powerful medium," says the head of one British ad agency. But the "conventional use of TV by advertisers is on the way out."

New Ad Age
Newsweek
Interactive Internet promotions are now so enticing that some consumers are spending more time with the ads than the content. The Web site for the movie "Wedding Crashers" allows visitors to upload digital photos of themselves so that it looks like they are interacting with the actors.

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MEDIA COMPANIES
 
Rupert Murdoch Tells All
Press Gazette
News Corp.'s Internet strategy will "never be fully formed," says Rupert Murdoch. "The Internet is changing, very disruptive technology and there are new inventions coming along every month." Should traditional journalists be fearful? "Not at all." But journalism "may not always be on paper."

Murdoch's Shopping List
Business 2.0 Blog
Ever since Rupert Murdoch's acquisition of MySpace.com, industry watchers have been waiting for his next move. News Corp. is rumored to be eyeing VoIP company SIPphone and a search engine. Among the search possibilities: Snap, Lycos and Blinkx.

Runaway Productions, Slow DVD Sales Imperil Studio Jobs
Los Angeles Times
The outlook for California's film and television economy appears murky, according to a new survey by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. Studios are beginning to cut jobs in anticipation of a slowdown in DVD revenues.

Disney CEO Iger Says Movies Must Get to DVD Faster
Dow Jones
Disney boss Bob Iger says that his studio has held talks with theater operators about selling the DVD of a movie while it is still playing in the theater. Also, watching episodes of ABC shows on an iPod is a "different consumer experience" than watching them on DVD, he says.

Viacom Sees No Huge Buys Despite Deluge of Pitches
Reuters
Viacom has eyed assets ranging from the Hallmark Channel to iVillage and "MySpace-type" Web sites. But the soon-to-split media giant has no plans for any big acquisitions. Industry sources say the company could consider selling off some of its radio or book publishing properties.

Media Giants Cling to 'Growth' Label Even as Their Core Businesses Plateau
Kagan Research
Internet media is a growth sector these days, but traditional media companies are mostly anchored in adjacent media sectors with moderate prospects, says Kagan Research. Growth rates for most traditional media company assets are described as "lackluster" and "anemic."

New View for Media Conglomerates
Motley Fool
Video entertainment is headed to every possible distribution pipeline, observes Motley Fool contributor W.D. Crotty. "Investors would be wise to take stock of the evolving playing field. Traditional media could be on the verge of a large-scale shift in sources of revenue."

Murdoch and Trujillo in Internet Talks
Financial Times
News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch and Sol Trujillo, CEO of Telstra, Australia's dominant telecoms company, met Sunday to discuss "how the two companies can work together" in the Internet age. Telstra announced last week that it would launch a broadband movie download service.

Lachlan Murdoch Gives Evidence on One.Tel Collapse
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
In one of his first public appearances since exiting News Corp., Lachlan Murdoch gave testimony in Sydney on Tuesday regarding the collapse of telco One.Tel. Murdoch, a former director, appeared "tanned and relaxed." News Corp. lost tens of millions of dollars when One.Tel folded.

Media Marvels
New York Post
It's about that time when some people start to wonder: Who will be named "Media Person of the Year" for 2005? Last year it was Jon Stewart, who followed Bonnie Fuller, who was preceded by Martha Stewart. Candidates for this year include Anderson Cooper, Judith Miller, Howard Stern.

Fighting Words for Time Warner
BusinessWeek
Time Warner should be broken up, says financier Carl Icahn. The cable division "and possibly the publications" need to be divested, he says. Icahn is planning a proxy fight to replace "some or all" of the directors and to seek the "ouster" chief Dick Parsons. "Just look at their blunders."

Disney's Bob Iger Views iTunes Arrangement as 'Incremental Consumption'
TV Week
Disney CEO Bob Iger doesn't expect that his company's broadcasting business will suffer as a result of making several hit TV shows available through iTunes. "While the iPod is offering a wonderful experience, people would not opt to watch a program on an iPod and not on a large screen."

It Was Classic Murdoch
Melbourne Herald Sun
When a journalist suggested that News Corp. had moved to the United States to find a softer corporate governance environment, chief Rupert Murdoch responded: "I'd say that's bull----." News Corp.'s share price is "rotten," he admits, due to a love affair with the Googles of this world.

Crunch Time for Sony Honcho
New York Post
Sony chairman Howard Stringer will remove either SonyBMG CEO Andy Lack or SonyBMG chairman Rolf Schmidt-Holtz following the expensive recall of 5 million defective CDs, sources say. SonyBMG is recalling audio CDs that software leaving users vulnerable to hackers and viruses.

VNU Scraps $6.3 Billion Takeover; Chief Executive Quits
Bloomberg
VNU, the publisher of trade magazines including Billboard, is abandoning its planned takeover of U.S. health care data firm IMS Health following a shareholder outcry. The company may wait for the ad market to improve to get a "higher price" for a possible sale of its business information unit.

News Corp.'s Murdoch Sells Investors on Internet
Forbes.com
Rupert Murdoch admits that the share price of his News Corp. is "rotten," due to investor fears of the impact of the Internet. Getting Web-wise is an industry-wide problem, but the Internet will become profitable for media firms, he predicts. Also: News Corp. has no interest in Knight Ridder.

The New Power Generation: How You'll Know When the Boomers Have Lost Control of the Media
Slate
The baby boomers who are in positions of authority throughout the media are seeing their cultural references -- in news, books, advertising -- being toppled by a younger generation, writes Jack Shafer. Boomers "don't get and don't particularly care to get" video games and rap music.

Primedia to Buy Stake in Automotive.com
AP
Primedia is acquiring a majority stake in auto Web site Automotive.com for $72.5 million. The specialty magazine publisher, whose titles include Truckin' and Car Craft, says the initial investment will cover an 80% stake, and it will buy the remaining 20% of the site by 2010.

Media Stocks Tackle Net Ad Challenge
Financial Times
Shares of media companies are underperforming, as investors worry that the growing use of the Internet and digital distribution will erode business models. "The market senses the threat more than the opportunity," says Steven Rattner, managing principal of private equity group Quadrangle.

Dialogue: Rupert Murdoch
Hollywood Reporter
News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch: "People under 30 turn the dial -- they try everything. Looking at the Internet, people over 40 probably use eight or 10 sites but use them quite a lot. People under 30 use 100 sites. ... There's no mystery to a blog: Put up your thoughts (and) find friends."

Winner Learning at Lunch with Rupert Murdoch
New York Post
Bill Zanker, chairman of The Learning Annex, is the $57,100 winning "mystery" bidder in the eBay charity auction for a lunch with News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch. "I'm fascinated by Rupert," he says. "I figured what better expert to give me advice than Rupert Murdoch."

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