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Murdoch Watch
…joining Premiere board…
German pay-TV channel Premiere’s board just may get a new member, Mr. Murdoch – The Elder. In mid-June, when the board holds its next meeting Rupert Murdoch could be named to a new seat. Premiere chairman Michael Boernicke told German media he “does not exclude the possibility” of increasing the size of the board to accommodate Mr. Murdoch. A News Corp spokesperson said it would “be appropriate” for Mr. Murdoch to join the board.
News Corp owns 19.9% of Premiere and is not expected to increase that stake beyond the 30% threshold, which, under German law, would require Mr. Murdoch to bid for the entire company or back out.
Premiere is ramping up for battle with Leo Kirch, The Elder’s old nemesis, over football rights. They are, of course, negotiating the old fashioned way… with lawyers. (Read more about the crazy world of sports rights here) (JMH)
Vanity Fair Got It Wrong – NYT
We mentioned in Wednesday’s tickle file the gossip being spread by Vanity Fair Magazine in its May edition that Arthur Sulzberger overrode the decision of his 20-member editorial board that was going to endorse Barack Obama and instead he ordered the newspaper to back Hilary Clinton for President. Well, Thursday the editor of the editorial board says that didn’t happen.
“Michael Wolff’s account of our endorsement is completely false,” Rosenthal said. “I haven’t a clue why somebody would print something that is not true.” He added “It is our policy not to comment on endorsements. But that article is so wrong, we felt we had to do it.”
No Wonder Craigslist With Nine Billion Page Views Each Month Is Financially Killing Newspapers
The numbers at Craigslist, the classified advertising web site that has cost US newspapers hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars in lost advertising, are absolutely astounding. There are more than 9 billion monthly page views, it runs more than 30 million new classified ads each month, it uploads more than 10 million images monthly and each month it lists more than 2 million new jobs. And that entire operation is run by 25 people from a small Victorian house in San Francisco..
The numbers, courtesy of a new report by Classified Intelligence, says Craigslist 2008 revenue will be about $81 million. “They charge in 11 cities for recruitment ads,” said Peter Zollman, a former UPI and Reuters sales executive who now runs Classified Intelligence. “In 10 of those cities, the ads are $25. In San Francisco they are $75. They also charge a paltry $10 for apartment listings by brokers in New York City. Believe it or not, all of that adds up to $81 million in revenue.“
Oh, No! Another state aid investigation…
…digital switch in UK questioned…
A “full inquiry” into UK Channel 4’s license fee funding was announced (Wednesday April 2) by the EC Competition office, answering a complaint by an unnamed commercial broadcaster. Who might that be?
Competition commissioner Neeley Kroes said she needs to“…make sure that any state support does not distort competition unduly.” At question is whether or not Channel 4 can receive license fee funding for the costs of digital switchover. Under EU rules state aid for broadcasting is OK so long as it funds public service programming. (JMH)
You’ve Read All The Doom And Gloom Stories, Now See The Movie
Not a day goes by that there’s not more bad news about the US newspaper industry to read. But if you’re tired of reading such then go watch the movie instead!
Stop the Presses: The American Newspaper In Peril had its world premiere in Dallas Wednesday as part of the American Film Institute's International Film Festival. The 80-minute documentary, inspired by a Dallas Morning News staffer who had accepted a voluntary buyout, is based on 110 interviews with about that many hours of footage.
And the movie’s sad conclusion? “It’s hard to find good things to say about the situation,” according to co-director and respected documentary maker Mark Birnbaum. “For this transition newspapers find themselves in, no one of anyone we talked to had the answers.”
Just How Independent Is The New York Times’ Editorial Board?
There’s a great story in the May edition of Vanity Fair Magazine about various goings-on in the New York Times and there’s a particularly juicy gossip item on how publisher Arthur Sulzberger’s stands up to pressure from his friends.
According to the story the newspaper’s editorial board decided to endorse Barack Obama in the New York primary. The Clinton campaign found out about that and got one of its big financial backers who just happens to be one of Sulzberger’s closest friends and financial adviser to persuade the publisher that Obama was the wrong candidate for the Times to endorse. The publisher is then said to have seen the error of his editorial board’s ways, overruled their decision, and the newspaper endorsed Clinton.
And they debate about how much Rupert Murdoch interferes at his newspapers. Seems he isn’t alone.
Sports rights on the agenda
…calls for collective rights…
Television sports rights have inched up the European Parliament’s agenda. Monday (March 31) the Committee on Culture and Education read a report outlining a wide ranging agenda on sports. (Read Culture Committee release here)
The Committee is favoring “collective selling” rights for sports broadcasting to promote “equitable redistribution” on TV income.
Notably, EuroParl’s position is quite consistent with questions asked by the German Federal Cartel Office about Bundeslega rights. (See earlier article on the fight over sports rights) (JMH)
Ever Heard of ZellCoMediaEnterprises Inc?
These are tough times at Tribune with cash flow dropping 30% in the last quarter of 2007, but that doesn’t mean it can’t see a funny side to it all (there’s a funny side to that?) Anyway, we republish the first two paragraphs of a news release issued April 1 by its vice president for propaganda and disinformation:
CHICAGO, April 1, 2008—Tribune Company, the largest employee-owned media company in the nation, today announced it has changed its name to ZellCoMediaEnterprises Inc. or ZCMEINC. Zell, who made a fortune in real estate before deciding he'd like to dabble in an industry completely unfamiliar to him, announced the change in his record-setting 437th email to exhausted employees this year.
"H---, I put $315 million into this thing, and we're on the hook for $13 billion—the least I ought to get is my name on the company's stationery," said Zell, who remains chairman and CEO of the newly named enterprise.
What Is Ok To Telecast At 8 p.m. Isn’t Necessarily Permissible At 4 p.m.
Ofcom, the British broadcasting watchdog, has told ITV, the country’s largest commercial broadcaster, that repeats of its popular Midsomer Murders program which normally airs in the early evening are too gruesome to show in the daytime without more severe re-editing.
The particular program that received a complaint showed a man being electrocuted. Ofcom said such scenes were inappropriate to be shown at a time when “significant” numbers of children could be watching (But don’t kid’s cartoon programs show even worse?) ITV has previously been criticized for repeats at the earlier hour of shows featuring strangulation, bad language, and a man using a razor to cut his throat.
You may well ask why such shows are on in the afternoon? Shouldn’t that be the time for children’s TV? ITV in a quest to improve its afternoon ratings has banned its children’s programming to its digital channels, and indeed the ratings have gone up with the murder and mayhem.
The network says it does re-edit the shows for the earlier time-slot. Apparently not enough.
Ad spending shifts
…growth moves East…
New forecasts by ZenithOptimedia (March 31) predict more of the same; ad growth will continue to shift Eastward and away from most traditional media.
Worldwide ad spending, according to one of the worlds’ biggest media buyers, will grow 6.5% in 2008, not the 6.7% earlier predicted. North America and Western Europe could be hit hardest with growth in ad money only 3.8%, substantially lower than the earlier forecast of 4.4% growth.
Ad spending in the rest of the world, says Zenith, will surge to 11.1%, higher than the earlier prediction of 10.9%.
Not unexpectedly, Zenith says ad spending in Russia and China will continue to be hot, hot, hot. By 2010 Russia will become the worlds’ 6th largest ad market, growing over 90%. China will reach 4th place, growing about 60%.
Zenith expects only cinema and outdoor advertising – both outside the home media – to grow. Oh, so will Web advertising; but you knew that.
"Once again, we have substantially increased our forecasts for Internet advertising as it has continued to exceed our expectations," said the big ad buyer. "Online video and local search are now generating substantial new revenues. In the slightly longer term we expect behavioral targeting on social networking sites to provide fruitful new opportunities to advertisers." (JMH)
Jammin’ in China
…where’d that noise come from?…
French broadcast equipment manufacturer Thales Broadcast and Multimedia (TBM) denied (Sunday March 30) that shortwave transmitters and antennas sold to China were designed for jamming, according to Le Monde. Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) earlier reiterated its claim that the equipment was used for jamming foreign broadcasts, implying that TBM was aware of the intended use.
“Thales Broadcast and Multimedia sold standard shortwave band broadcasting equipment in China at the end of 2002,” said a company statement quoted by the French daily newspaper.
In 2005 an RSF expert claimed that TBM antenna systems designed specifically to jam shortwave broadcasts were seen in China. Other claims suggest China has sent radio jamming to Zimbabwe.
Now, as then, TBM has maintained that they just sell stuff and have no idea how people use it. TBM representatives have been in China as recently as last week.
Thales Broadcast and Multimedia was traded back to French defense contractor Thomson by French defense contractor Thales at the end of 2005. Thomson previously sold its broadcast transmitter business to Thales, which renamed the unit Thales Broadcast. TBM currently operates within Thomson’s Grass Valley unit. (JMH)
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