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CME adds Romanian radio in insider deal
...CME COO sells stations to CME...
CME announced the purchase of two radio stations in Romania - Pro FM and Info Pro. Both had been part of Media Pro, owned by Adrian Sarbu, currently CME's COO. The deal is worth about $20 million to Mr. Sarbu.
CME's statement said there would be 'synergies' with its MTV offering in Romania. Neither stations are highly rated. Nor does CME own other radio stations. (JMH)
New Médiamétrie
...details Monday...
First quarter French radio audience results just released show RTL still on top, NRJ slipping and the new Virgin Radio brand could be a winner!
Details with charts and graphs coming Monday... (JMH)
Broadcaster seeks new measurement service
…challenge to Arbitron?…
Cumulus Media, America’s second largest radio broadcaster, issued a formal request for proposals this week from research companies interested in providing a new measurement service for radio audience in the US. At the same time the company announced it would end its relationship with Arbitron for audience measurement in small markets.
Cumulus owns or operates over 300 US radio stations, many of which serve markets ranked 100 and smaller. The RFP is for a measurement service in those small markets.
The RFP is strikingly similar to a draft floated last year by Clear Channel research director Jess Hansen for an alternative to Arbitron’s PPM electronic measurement system. That plan, informally endorsed by several US broadcasters, was rendered moot when CBS Radio resigned with Arbitron. Clear Channel reportedly ‘supports’ the Cumulus initiative.
The Cumulus RFP was released April 14, coincident with the opening of the NAB Show, broadcasters convention. (JMH)
NAB Show sets record attendance
…gizmos in Las Vegas…
The US National Association of Broadcasters annual Las Vegas NAB show set an attendance record. Nearly one-third of those registered, 28,000 strong, ventured to Elvis-land from outside the US, a record according to figures released by NAB. The total registered for the event was about 105,000.
Manufacturers, large and small, put their latest and greatest gizmos on display each year at the NAB Show. The International Association of Broadcast Manufacturers (IABM) reported global sales of broadcast and broadcast-related gizmos gained 11.4% over 2006. The NAB Show closes Thursday April 17 after six days. (JMH)
Hello Thomson Reuters
The credit after the dateline may still be (Reuters) but it is not a British icon, the company behind that name is now 54% owned by Canada’s Thomson family.
It’s a bigger company, more than 50,000 employees in 93 countries, and its market share is increased to about equal to that of Bloomberg’s in the financial information field, and it is still governed by guarantees to protect editorial independence, but it is no longer carries just the Baron’s name.
Shares in the new company opened at £17 in London but dropped to £15.60 by the close, down 8% on the day. In New York they closed down 4.62% so all in all not much confidence shown on either side of the Atlantic in the new company. The company has promised $500 million of savings in the next three years and says it is embarking on a $500 million share buy-back for the next year. If those two don’t raise the share price then doubtful anything will until the financial and credit crises go away.
WSJ.com Increasing Readership
WSJ.com hosted 15 million visitors in March, a 175% increase over the year before. Page views were up 75%, according to the web site’s own numbers.
One reason for such growth is probably that the site now gives free access to stories called up through such aggregator sites as Google.
The subscriber base is now said to be more than 1 million and is growing some 10% a year.
And now you understand why Rupert Murdoch changed his mind and didn’t open all the site for free.
Gaza claims another journalist
…Reuters cameraman, 23, dead…
Caught in the middle of an Israeli Defense Force (IDF) troop movement (Wednesday April 16) in Gaza Reuters cameraman Fadal Shana was hit by fire from either an aircraft fired missile or a tank round. He had been traveling in a car marked ‘press,’ according to local accounts, and was wearing a flak jacket also clearly identifying him as a journalist.
He was pronounced dead at a local hospital. He was 23 and had worked for Reuters for 3 years. (JMH)
Icelandic Economic Problems Force Closure Of BostonNow Free Paper
One fast development from Iceland’s Baugur Group saying last week it planned to get out of the media business is the closure with little warning of the BostonNOW free newspaper.
Baugur, the newspaper’s primary investor, decided to cut and run, even though the newspaper was on target to make a profit in a couple of years, because of the deteriorating economic circumstances in Iceland where interest rates are now 15.5% and the krona has declined against the dollar 20% since January (it’s the dollar that’s been declining against most foreign currencies so the krona’s drop is a real indication of how bad things are).
“The death of a newspaper is a sad thing,” said BostonNOW CEO Russel Pergament, “But the death of a vibrant, flourishing newspaper because of economic turmoil thousands of miles away is beyond sad, and is something we never anticipated and for which we were totally unprepared.”
Dump 50% Of Your Staff And Still Maintain Quality?
Media General is having terrible problems in the Tampa, Florida market where the housing crisis has really slammed classified advertising at the Tribune. And the company is fighting a hedge fund that wants to put three of its own people on Media General’s board.
So to improve the finances Media General says it wants to shed about half of its 1,326 Florida employees, most of whom are in Tampa at the Tribune, WFLA TV, and the very successful TBO.com web site.
No doubt the group will assure us that quality won’t suffer as a result.
Eurovision song shocks French politicians
…English scandal…
French politicians lined up against singer Sebastien Tellier for singing his Eurovision Song Contest entry in English.
“This scandal has lasted long enough,” said MP Jacques Myard in a letter to public broadcaster France Tèlèvisions. The MP called on the broadcaster to “revise its choice to respect its obligations.”
Tellier called the debate “bewildering.” (JMH)
By 2009 AP Will Earn Less Than 25% of Its Income From US Newspapers
Think of the AP and you think of the US news agency cooperative owned by US newspapers. The newspapers were so powerful that they delayed AP’s efforts to first service the competing broadcast industry –finally broadcasters were accepted as customers but not members – and then the newspapers for many years put a crimp in AP’s efforts to earn new revenues from new media.
But over the past 10 years or so times have changed and with US newspapers not wanting to pay more for their news but the AP needing to expand its news gathering – like adding video – it needed to find new revenue streams, and it has in the past five years done that very successfully.
How successfully? AP Chairman Dean Singleton told the AP’s annual meeting this year that by 2009 AP will receive less than 25% of its income from its members (newspapers). Its 2007 net income was $24 million, nearly double the $13.3 million it earned in 2006. Revenue rose in 2007 by 4.5%to $710.3 million.
Obama bin Laden?
And the annual foot in the mouth award goes to Dean Singleton, MediaNews CEO and AP chairman whose worst public nightmare came true Tuesday as he hosted the AP luncheon at the co-op’s annual meeting with the guest of honor Presidential candidate Barrack Obama.
So Singleton, in front of some 1200 news executives and the TV cameras, asks the candidate this question: "You said you want to reduce the number of troops in Iraq, can you imagine shifting a substantial number to Afghanistan where the Taliban has been gaining strength and Obama bin Laden is still at large?"
The audience roared with laughter, "I think that was Osama bin Laden," Obama noted.
Singleton quickly replied, "If I did that, I'm so sorry."
"No, no, no," Senator Obama responded, saying he has been living with such tongue slips for the past 15 months.
Singleton is a die-hard Republican and some Obama supporters have claimed in the past that Republicans have intentionally flubbed Obama’s name in order to link him with Osama bin Laden, although in this particular case there is nothing to indicate it was more than just an embarrassing error.
Olympic Torch, Binary Thinking and Neutrality
"There are no more Roger Bannisters"
This comment from Dr. Daniel Warner, ethics professor at the University of Geneva Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, deconstructs the myth. (Read full comment here)
As they say on the BBC...'Have Your Say'...send comments here. (JMH)
American working in China rants...
...the pot calling the wok, black...
ftm reader Peter Stromquist, living and working in China, adds thoughts about Tibet, China, culture and politics. (Read full comment here)
Peter mentions that he can watch anti-China demonstrations on TV in China but he never sees coverage on pro-China rally's on foreign TV. (JMH)
AP To Reduce Prices For US Newspapers In 2009
Newspaper publishers want every cost slashed even if the deals they have are a great bargain. Thus the AP, having not increased rates to its US newspaper publishers for two years, has now been forced to reducing rates even more than planned in 2009 because of the poor state of the US newspaper industry.
The AP already came up with a price restructuring for 2009 that created a service of core breaking news with separate add-ons for premium services with the expected outcome that member newspapers would save about $5.9 million. But the AP Board meeting over the weekend has now decided to increase that savings to $14 million.
Dean Singleton, CEO of MediaNews and AP chairman, told members meeting in Washington for their annual meeting, “We have a very simple message for you today. We hear you. We understand that these are both difficult and historic times for our industry.”
One other AP note of interest – Rupert Murdoch and Sam Zell were both voted onto the AP Board. What’s perhaps most interesting about that is that the two men actually have the time to deal with AP board matters given the businesses they are running. Mind you, on the sidelines they could discuss Zell selling Newsday to Murdoch, if the Feds would give competition approval to Murdoch having his fingers in the New York Post and Newsday.
US Print Newspaper Staffing Way Down And Online Staffing Hasn’t Increased
Newsroom staffing by US daily newspapers since the year 2000 is down nearly 7% -- some 3,800 full-time staff –and in 2007 alone the staffing dropped 4.4% from the year before, down 2,400, according to a survey by the American Society of Newspaper Editors.
Already this year big metropolitan newspapers like the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Seattle Times have announced editorial cutbacks, so it would appear the trend continues.
But non-print editorial employees have remained just about stable from last year – some 1,700 staff -- meaning that it doesn’t look like print journalists are being let go so online journalists can be added. In other words, it’s goodbye with few hellos.
According to the survey, 52,800 people at the end of 2007 worked full-time editorially at US daily newspapers – the last time the number was that low was in 1984.
Torch relay proceeds without demonstrations
…from Buenos Aires to Dar es Sallam to Oman…
The Olympic Torch Relay has moved on, literally and figuratively. No major protests or demonstrations were felt in Argentina or Tanzania, duely noted by the Chinese PR experts.
Another marketing expert with a global footprint, Publicis Group CEO Maurice Levy, said “I think we have seen the peak (of the demonstrations).” Speaking to the IAA World Congress he predicted that few world leaders would stay away from Beijing in protest.
"Economics are working against any kind of boycott. They can't take a chance with the economy. China represents so much nowadays…” (JMH)
The 'greening' of Chinese TV
...journalists prefer more science and less 'emotion'...
Media development/trainer Internews is everywhere so it's no surprise they've been working with Chinese State network CCTV. The recent project was a workshop for journalists working the 'green' beat. (Read Internews presser here)
The CCTV journos were not pleased with CNN's feature story on the Three Gorges Dam, saying it was one sided. Former CNN environment reporter Gary Strieker participated in the workshop.
That the CCTV journos said using 'experts' over 'local people' "carries more weight" is unsurprising for technophile China. Also unsurprising it that they find US reporting on the environment "too emotional." (JMH)
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