The Tickle File is ftm's daily column of media news, complimenting the twice weekly feature articles on major media issues. Tickle File items point out media happenings, from the oh-so serious to the not-so serious, that should not escape notice...in a shorter, more informal format.

We are able to offer this new service thanks to the great response to our Media Sleuth project in which you, our readers, are contributing media information happening in your countries that  have escaped the notice of the international media, or you are providing us information on covered events that others simply didn't know about. We invite more of you to become Media Sleuths. For more information click here.

The Tickle File is a time honored journalistic tradition. Invented in 1761 by Urs Tickes, editor of a long disappeared Swiss newspaper, it is an effective tool for organizing article ideas.

To each journalist Tickes would hand 10 file folders saying "Halten Sie Ihre Ideen organisiert und Ihre Schreibtisch sauber, verdammt!"

Unfortunately Tickes met an unfortunate demise. While personally escorting a shipment of 10 million file folders from Sweden, the boat was sunk and all, including Tickes, was lost. Rumors of involvement by a militant Swiss journalists guild - Die organisierte Gesellschaft des Rechtgehirns, durcheinandergebrachte schweizer Journalisten - were never proven.

The legend of Tickes continues...

Here is the ftm Tickle File with notes from the ftm team...and you!

Tickle File Week of December 4, 2006

In 2007 Americans will spend the Equivalent Of One Week Reading a Daily Newspaper, but 65 Days In Front of The TV

In a report out today the US Census Bureau  says Americans  will spend the equivalent of five months next year consuming various media, and the reason they can do so much is because they do more than one thing at a time.

According to the survey, “People will spend 65 days in front of the TV, 41 days listening to radio, and a little over a week on the Internet in 2007. Adults will spend about a week reading a daily newspaper and teens and adults will spend another week listening to recorded music.”

The survey, part of the Census Bureau’s Statistical Abstract of the United States 2007, is based on an annual report issued by New York private equity firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson.(VSS)

So how do you consume nearly 10 hours of media daily, sleep eight hours daily and work eight hours, too? It’s all down to multi-tasking.

“If you drive to work, you drive listening to the radio and drive by a billboard and you consume two media. You might be sitting at home, listening to music, watching television, flipping through a magazine, and you might even surf the Internet with music or TV  on in the background,” explained .VSS  executive vice president James Rutherford.

notes:

For a recent look at French media consumers see this.

David Montgomery Swings The Axe – 350 Jobs To Go In Denmark

One of the big fears expressed when Britain’s David Montgomery bought Norway’s Orkla Media was that he would bring with him his reputation for cutting jobs. Seems there was good reason to worry.

Orkla owns Denmark’s Berlingske Officin that in turn publishes five main newspapers including  Berlingske Tidende ,and also it owns the Scanpix photo agency.. The group has announced it will eliminate 350 jobs – 13% of its workforce --  within two years.

Denmark has become a prime battleground for free newspapers competing against the paid-fors, with five free newspapers launched since August. One of the free papers is published by Berlingske Tidende.

Billionaire David Geffen Offers $2 Billion For the Los Angeles Times

Billionaire movie and music king David Geffen has offered the Tribune Company $2 billion cash to take the Los Angeles Times off its hands, but Tribune says it is too early to consider that – it is looking to sell the entire company outright.

Geffen’s bid is not the first Tribune has received from Los Angeles billionaires. Ronald Burkle, who made his billions from owning supermarkets, and real estate developer Eli Broad have also told Tribune they want to buy the Times.

Tribune is currently undergoing a review of its various options on whether to sell the company whole, sell off its broadcast division, or to sell individual newspapers. The Times represents about 25% of the Tribune Company’s total revenue..

Tribune was to have announced by the end of the year what it intends to do, but has postponed that announcement until Q1, a move analysts interpreted as meaning the company has not received the kind of offers it was interested in.

Dutch Ditch Analogue TV for Digital

Widely reported but less than stunning was the news that free-to-air analogue TV is gone forever in the Netherlands.

Cable TV – and radio, for that matter – has long been the norm in the Netherlands. Fewer than 75,000 households will even notice that the old way of watching is gone. 70% of Dutch households receive analogue TV via cable.

But, it’s a first, yes? Switzerland could have been first, but that’s another story.

Online Video Ads Just 2.6% Of Overall Internet Advertising

Video commercials on the Internet have fallen way behind the actual usage of Video online, according to a study by eMarketer. While one-third of Internet users access video in some form at least once a month only 2.6% of total Internet advertising is video.

eMarketer forecasts that within three years half of all Americans will view video online. According to ABI Research, older Internet users prefer news and sports video clips, while the younger consumers go for viral clips.

And now Its Mastercard 1 Visa 0 and FIFA Sends Off Four Employees

When we last visited the FIFA debacle of having a US District Court rule invalid  a new contract with Visa that knocked MasterCard out of its World Cup sponsorship, the football governing body said it was shocked by the decision and would appeal.

Following a few days of media comment on the callousness in which FIFA had dumped its long-term credit card sponsor, MasterCard, for around double the money from Visa, FIFA now says that four employees involved in the negotiations with MasterCard and Visa have been fired for dishonesty during the negotiations and in giving false reports to various FIFA committees.

Among those now gone is FIFA’s director of the marketing and television division.

Broadband Penetration Now At 78% In The US

Seventy-Eight per cent of those US homes accessing the Internet do so via broadband, an increase from 65% a year earlier, according to Nielsen/NetRatings.

And those broadband users spend an average of 35 hours a month on the Internet, compared to a bit more than 26 hours for dial-up users. Broadband users accessed twice as many pages as dial-up users.

ITN Gets Another Reuters Editor-In-Chief

Geert Linnebank is stepping down as Reuters editor-in-chief at the end of the year to take on a special role as adviser to CEO Tom Glocer. As part of that new job he will be the Reuters board representative at television news provider ITN in which Reuters holds a 20% stake.

He’ll see a familiar face there. His predecessor, Mark Wood, is ITN’s chairman.

KISS FM Gains in Spanish Audience Survey

AIMC released the EGM radio audience figures for July-December yesterday (December 12).  Cadena SER maintains its lead among the big networks, though its Monday-Friday gross reach fell about 4%. Cadena COPE, in 2nd place, also lost audience. Onda Cera is in third place, increasing slightly.

The notable winner is KISS FM, gaining just under 5% listeners.

Overall, Spanish media usage rose with daily newspapers increasing 0.5%, television 0.6% and radio 1.3%. Internet usage increased 10.3% and magazines 4.1%.

Azeri Private Radio and TV Company Returns to Air

In an abrupt change of heart (or something) Azerbaijan’s National TV and Radio Council (NTRC) has allowed private TV and radio broadcaster ANS to resume broadcasting. International media groups praised the decision, reversing the three-week forced closure.

The NTRC ordered the stations closed because of re-transmitting RFE/RL, VOA and BBC programs violated licensing rules. At the time the regulator strongly suggested that an application for license renewal by ANS would not be welcomed. In yesterdays’ flip-flop the NTRC said ANS would be allowed to resume broadcasting with the understanding that the broadcaster would, indeed, reapply.

RFE/RL, VOA and BBC were quickly granted their own FM frequencies in the Azeri capital Baku, to start January first.

Skeptical RFE/RL sources said, “This may not last beyond February.”

Also noted was the December 9 meeting between Azeri First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva and US First Lady Laura Bush in Washington DC. Mrs. Bush will travel to Baku in January.

The NTRC’s statement said the change of heart resulted from "the good will of President Ilham Aliyev.”

Americans Use Their Digital Phones To Mostly, Well, Phone

Supporting grim trends found globally for mobile entertainment companies, nearly three out of every four Americans are using their mobile phones just for talk and to send text messages, according to the IDC research company. And cost is a main reason for not adopting media content.

“It is clear from the survey results that many people just want to use their mobile phones to make calls,” said Lewis Ward at IDC. “The fact that four out of 10 survey respondents feel they are overpaying for data services does not bode well for the future of this market,” he said.

SMS is, however, beginning to catch on with more than 50% of American mobile users having an SMS subscription for an average $3.70 monthly. News alerts make up about one-quarter of all SMS messages received.

Bias and Deception Two Major Media Faults, According to US Survey

Some 40% of a university survey group said the media suffers from deception, exaggeration, sensationalism, bias, or inaccuracy. The survey, conducted by Middle Tennessee State University College of Mass Communications showed that what worried respondents the most were issues around truth telling.

The poll of 1,017 randomly selected US adults found that 19% say media bias or one-sidedness concerns them the most. Another 11% named media dishonesty and 9% were concerned by media invasion of privacy.

The university said the results were consistent with previous polls and studies showing increasing American concern over truth -telling issues.

In Case You Didn’t Know It, Traditional Media Is Not Dead

Some 73.6% of consumers rely on their local TV news while 68.9% depend on their local newspaper, and those kind of statistics cut across all demographics, according to a survey by Ketchum and the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Strategic Public Relations Center.

The survey said, “What’s clear is that consumers still heavily rely on traditional media for the information they need to make purchasing decisions and to consider issues.”

The survey notes its strong “traditional media is not dead” finding comes at a time when circulation and TV ratings are down, and there are so many doom and gloom stories about the future of newspapers. The survey said it looked at media-usage habits “and not whether consumers are subscribing to publications or viewing TV news less frequently. Many consumers undoubtedly are looking at newspaper and TV stations and network’s Web sites and considering them to be under the traditional media umbrella.”

Noon Today Is The Time For ProSiebenSat1 Bids

Back in August last year Axel Springer thought it had a deal to buy ProSiebenSat.1 which operates five free German television stations for €4.2 billion, but the German antitrust authorities turned the deal down. Today, December 12, 2006, ProSiebenSat1 is expecting three competing bids valuing the company at around €6 billion, and Springer is still in there, via the back door.

The competition authorities turning down Springer’s bid last year was a bitter pill, since Springer wanted so much to set itself up as a print and television competitor to Bertelsmann. But Springer is not out of the running quite yet. As they say, where there’s a will there’s a way.

Springer, which still owns 12% of ProSiebenSat.1, in November bought 25% of Turkish television giant Dogan Yayin for €325 million.  Four days later the Turkish company said it was bidding for ProSiebenSat1.

The other two buyers are said to be combinations of private equity firms.

notes:

Ah, yes, here's what we wrote in January.

To Gina Lollobrigida The Media Is Public Enemy Number One

Beware of a woman scorned, the saying goes, and Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida is scorned, and as far as she is concerned it’s all the media’s fault. She wants revenge and she says she is going after some of them with lawsuits plus attempts to get privacy laws changed to protect citizens from sensationalism.

She had been romantically involved for some 22 years with entrepreneur Javier Rigau Rafois and the media didn’t really get too crazy over that. But recently the couple announced they were engaged and would marry in January, and that was a whole different thing in Italy and Spain.

As he put it, he “loved and respected” Gina but their relationship was over – he could not accept the massive media intrusion into his life.

She was a bit more exact. “It’s a disgrace. It can’t be allowed to go on. If these people know they will be taken off the air and they will have to pay massive fines then I’m sure this vileness will stop. I have decided to try and get the law changed. I am only a little person, but I have a great desire to succeed.”

Gannett Denies Newsquest Is For Sale

The UK’s Sunday Express caused quite a stir with its story that Gannett was considering selling its UK Newsquest regional newspapers, but Gannett put a damper on it Monday saying it’s not so.

“There is no truth to the report in London’s Sunday Express that Gannett is considering selling its UK subsidiary Newsquest. Newsquest is a valuable part of the Gannett company,” Gannett’s one paragraph news release said.

Newsquest publishes more than 300 newspapers in the UK, including 18 dailies. Gannett admitted as recently as last week that Newsquest has been having a bit of a tough financial time lately (it still is making lots of money but not as much as it used to) with advertising and circulation taking hits, as is happening with most UK regionals. The company has been embarked on major cost-cutting.

Trading Tumbles for French Broadcasters

NRJ Group was punished at the Paris bourse for lower than expected revenue for the first nine months. Year on year, company revenue dropped 51% to €37.5 million from €78,2 million and turnover dropped 26.1% to €55.1 million from €75.1 million.

The company disclosed an expected operating loss of €10-12 million for its television venture. Accumulated losses for its mobile phone company are expected to exceed earlier estimates, about €30 million.  

TF1 stock was hit as BNP-Paribas downgraded to neutral.

Television operator M6 stock dropped as it moved to acquire Teva.

Azeri Regulator Approves BBC, RFE/RL and VOA FM Licenses

Azerbaijan’s National Television and Radio Council (NTRC) approved 24-hour FM licenses for Radio Liberty (RL), the Voice of America (VOA) and BBC broadcasts, according to the Azeri Press Information Agency (APA).  When the 101.7 FM frequency is operational on January 1st, RL and VOA will abandon their MW/AM frequency. The BBC was assigned 103.3 FM.

RFE/RL, VOA and BBC programs had been re-broadcast on FM using the ANS broadcasting network. The NTRC suspended all ANS licenses because of the re-broadcasting.

Europe Plus Baku, affiliated with French broadcaster Lagardère, was granted a 6 year license renewal.

Serbia Closes Unlicensed Broadcasters

The Serbian government will move this week to shut down 33 radio and 8 television stations operating without licenses. The stations were still operating after the December 1 deadline for closing after losing applications for new national licenses.

We do remember when Italy shut down its illegal pirate broadcasters, yes?

Here’s A World Cup Score FIFA Doesn’t Like: MasterCard 1, Visa 0

Mastercard has paid FIFA $100 million over the past 16 years to be the an official World Cup sponsor. But then comes rival Visa offering $200 million  for the next eight years and FIFA tosses its long-time partner. But now the US District Court has ruled FIFA offside, and says Mastercard gets to keep its World Cup connection. FIFA says it will appeal.

The court ruled that Mastercard’s contract with FIFA gave it the right to renew its sponsorship, a right the court said FIFA did not allow Mastercard to exercise. To FIFA, no doubt, $200 million for eight years sounds a lot better than $100 million over 16. 

FIFA, meanwhile, said it always acted in good faith and will appeal.

If Visa had been successful it would have meant it had the exclusive credit card sponsorship for the world’s three largest sporting events – The Olympic Games, The Super Bowl, and the World Cup.

Universal’s Bid To Buy BMG Music Publishing Stumbles At An EC Hurdle

If Universal Music is allowed to buy BMG Music Publishing then it becomes the world’s largest music publishing company, just ahead of EMI. That, plus having an EC court rule last July that the EC’s approval of the SonyBMG recorded music merger was wrong has given the Commission cause for thought – translation: it’s going to conduct an in-depth investigation.

Not exactly what Universal or Bertelsmann wanted to hear. Universal says it has no doubt the merger will go through eventually. For Bertelsmann it means it is going to have to wait on the €1.63 billion ($2.17 billion) sale price that it wants to help pay down the $5.8 billion bridge loan it took out in July to buy out the 25% holding of minority shareholder Groupe Bruxelles Lambert.

The merger has won FTC approval in the US, but in Europe independent music organizations like Impala  have voiced opposition.

UK’s Press Gazette Not Dead After All

It may have missed an issue, and it no longer has its editor-in-chief, but the UK’s Press Gazette is back after Wilmington, an information group, bought the assets from the bankruptcy administrator of Press Gazette Limited.    

Wilmington had tried to buy Press Gazette a year ago but lost out, but bankruptcy made it a whole new proposition. New editor-in-chief Tony Loynes said, “The British journalistic community deserves a magazine of vitality, integrity and self-sufficiency, and we will make damn sure they get it.”