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CME’s TV Nova to launch news portal
…soon…
TV Nova is CME’s major cash cow… so far. And internet ad spending in the Czech Republic is screaming toward parity with TV advertising. So it’s no surprise that GM Petr Dvorak intimated in an interview with a local newspaper that he’s looking at that revenue source.
Earlier this year Dvorak suggested he’d like to buy an existing web portal. Apparently that didn’t happen. Leveraging the TV Nova brand with a news portal makes sense, particularly with TV Nova’s dominant audience share.
TV Nova’s prime time audience dropped, reported this week, to 41.9% for Q1 2008 compared with 45.2% one year on. It nearest commercial competitor, Prima TV, posted 17.7% audience share. (JMH)
What A Difference One Day Can Make On Share Prices
On Wednesday Gannett and McClatchy hit 52-week lows. On Thursday Scripps Howard issues pretty decent numbers for the company as a whole (newspapers still sucked) but it seemed to set a positive tone for the media putting even newspaper shares in a more favorable light.
Thus Gannett rose a whopping 8% on the day – maybe there were some savvy investors who just couldn’t believe seeing Gannett’s shares in the mid $20s – and McClatchy, which has no broadcast properties to lean on for support, still saw its shares rise jump an incredible 14.22% -- again maybe seeing McClatchy at a little more than $8 a share seemed just too much of a bargain to remain sitting on one’s hands. There was no special news affecting either company.
Merrill Lynch Says It’s Not Selling Its Bloomberg Stake
Merrill Lynch has been having financial difficulties lately because of sub-prime – it posted a $1.96 billion Q1 loss -- and it has been busy raising additional funds wherever it can and says it is going to cut another 2,900 jobs on top of the 1,100 lost so far this year. Also one might think now is the ideal time to cash in on its profits of its 20% holding in Bloomberg, but then one would apparently be wrong.
Chief Executive John Thain said Thursday the Bloomberg stake is not for sale. Perhaps he’s worried about the capital gains tax?
Merrill first invested in Bloomberg back in 1985 and by 1990 owned a 30% stake – the entire investment costing around $39 million. In1996 it reduced its holdings down to 20% and is said to have made about $155 million on that sale. The 20% it now owns is thought to be worth -- wait for it -- around $5 billion. That used to be pocket change to Merrill. No longer.
Dissident Shareholders Win Media General Board Seats
Media General now has three board members that management fought hard not to get, but shareholders sent a strong message (and maybe to the managements of other media companies) that they want a shake-up. Winning board seats were the three candidates put forward by Harbinger Capital Partners (the same equity fund that just got two directors elected this week to the New York Times Company Board)
Not that the new A class board members will have all that much effect. Media General, like the New York Times, operates under a two-tier share system and it is the B shareholders – primarily the Bryan family and company insiders -- that still control the board and therefore what the company does and doesn’t do.
Media General has a dual-class stock structure that ensures control by holders of Class B stock, which is not publicly traded and is controlled mainly by Bryan family members and other company insiders. And management is making that point very clear.
President and CEO Marshall N. Morton told employees in a memo, “"I want you to understand that Harbinger cannot, under any circumstances, forcibly gain control of Media General, and that the three new directors cannot gain control of our nine-member Board," he wrote.
"We will listen with courtesy to the ideas of the new directors, but, frankly, I believe they are going to have to prove themselves worthy of their places on our Board before they will be able to earn the confidence of the remaining directors," Morton added.
So there!
Gannett, McClatchy Shares Hit 52-Week Low
Shares of mighty Gannett hit a 52-week low Wednesday of $25.17 before closing at $25.86, still down 5.83% on an up day on Wall Street. The markets were not impressed with the company’s Q1 profit down 9% from the year before.
S&P puts Gannett’s long-term rating on credit watch negative and its comments just about sum up how the money people are looking at the shares of America’s largest newspaper chain. “We expect that the slowing United States economy will continue to exacerbate operating weakness at Gannett, coming at a time when the company and the newspaper industry in general have experienced prolonged operating weakness due to a secular shift in revenue away from print advertising,” S&P said.
Even though Gannett has been aggressively cutting costs for some time and growing revenue from online sources, print advertising revenue declines have outpaced these gains. It noted that Gannett repaid $1.1 billion of debt last year and in March repaid another $100 million, but S&P warned, “Worsening trends in newspaper advertising revenue could lead to a lower rating.”
McClatchy, which reported a Q1 loss, saw its shares sink to a 52-week low of $7.93 Wednesday before recovering to close at $8.30, but that was still down 6.43%. CEO Gary Pruitt told analysts, “Given revenue trends we have to reduce costs.” It’s Modesto Bee in California recently announced it was looking for 100 job cuts.
No IOC Web Coverage Limits For The Beijing Games
With all the publicity over the protests at the various venues for the Olympic Flame run, an important media news story concerning Olympic Games coverage slipped under the radar. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced it would not impose any limits on the number of photos and news articles used by Web sites covering the Games.
That’s a refreshing stand given the position taken before the Soccer World Cup in 2006, The Rugby World Cup last year and various cricket events last year and this year where the rights owners tried to impose severe Web usage limitations.
And further good news from UEFA -- European soccer's governing body ñ that says it has reached an agreement with the European Newspaper Publishers Association that a greater number of pictures than had first been proposed can be transmitted on Web sites from June’s European championships being held in Switzerland and Austria. "The accreditation terms and conditions... give media more freedom to publish digital photos than originally proposed," said a joint statement issued by the two bodies. “There will be no restrictions in reporting from non-match venues, such as training grounds or camps."
Old meets new as Bertelsmann prints Wikipedia
…zeitgeist…
Media giant Bertelsmann will turn new media up-side-down as it publishes a print version of Wikipedia.
Random House, division of Bertelsmann, will publish in September a 1000 page version of the German version of Wikipedia, the renowned user-edited online encyclopedia. Random House proposed the idea to Wikipedia. The bound volume will include 50,000 of the most popular entries on the German Wikipedia site.
"It's a document of the zeitgeist," said Bertelsmann’s Beate Varnhorn. (JMH)
Afghan TV – No Bollywood Soaps
…a little too much…
Indian soap operas are the rage among TV viewers. But Afghanistan’s media authorities, with the blessingPresident Hamid Karzai, decided the lives and loves of unveiled Indian women is just too much.
“We want our television broadcasting to be in line with our culture, based on our society moral standards,” said President Karzai defending the decision.
Recently an all-Bollywood satellite channel launched in Russia. (JMH)
It Took Just Four Months For The WSJ ME To Go…
The changes in the Wall Street Journal are quite obvious in the four months since Rupert Murdoch bought Dow Jones – more political, international, and general reporting on its front page. Now there’s another change, Managing Editor Marcus Brauchli is resigning.
Lots of speculation why – the most frequent mentioned being he accepted some changes, but the total makeover being planned was just too much and there was too much hands-on by the publisher, too. In a way it is somewhat surprising because Brauchli and the Journal’s publisher, Robert Thomson, former editor of Murdoch’s Times of London, have good previous history together and were thought to be on good terms.
But perhaps the printers ink in Thomson’s veins is such that being an editor at heart means he really has taken on an editorial hands-on approach to the WSJ that could well be in conflict with any managing editor, no matter how good their personal relationship might be.
If Thomson is appointed temporary editor, don’t look for the temporary to be short.
…But How Long Will It Take To Get Permission To Buy Newsday
Sam Zell has made a deal to sell 95% of Newsday to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. for about $580 million, according to various media reports Tuesday. That’s the easy part. Now to get the Feds to agree!
The deal is being structured very carefully to enable the advantages that both buyer and seller wanted. For Murdoch it’s a joint venture with his New York Post that will enable the two newspapers to combine various non-editorial operations that will result in eliminating the Post’s annual losses of around $50 million.
For Zell, he wanted a deal that was about as tax-efficient as one can make it and that meant a non-cash asset swap in which Tribune gets cash by guaranteeing debt raised by the joint venture – that means no capital gains tax and a tax savings of around $200 million. Zell didn’t get to become a multi-millionaire without knowing all the tax tricks there are to know!
The thorn in all this is that there are already plenty of people voicing opposition to the deal because they believe it gives Murdoch too much media influence in New York. He has the Dow Jones newspapers, the Fox Networks, and The New York Post. Can he convince the Feds that Newsday is not one property too far?
Sulzberger Says It Again – The NYT Is Not For Sale
The New York Times Company is not for sale, publisher Arthur Sulzberger told shareholders at their annual meeting Tuesday, hoping to put an end once and for all to the constant rumors this week that Mayor Bloomberg was looking to buy, even though the mayor himself denied the story.
“This company is not for sale,” Sulzberger told shareholders. “This company will continue to have the ownership it enjoys today." He said the week’s media reports hinting that some family members were inclined towards a sale were “ill-informed.”
Google the worlds’ most valuable brand
…just in time for “times of turmoil”…
As if we needed yet another ranking as a reminder, Google was named the worlds’ most valuable brand by market research company Millward Brown (April 21). The Google brand, according to the study is worth $86.1 billion. The top 100 brands in the Brandz list are worth $1.94 trillion, up 21% from 2007. (Read about the Google business model here)
“This year’s brand ranking demonstrates the importance of investing in brands, especially in times of market turmoil,” said Millward Brown Optimor CEO Joanna Seddon. “Strong brands generate superior returns and protect businesses from risk.”
One key to winning global brand value prominence is scoring big in the BRIC countries; Brazil, Russia, India and China. Unsurprisingly that’s good news for aspirational brands KFC, McDonalds, Nike and Levi’s.
Disney was the highest ranked media brand to make the 2008 Brandz 100 list, number 21. WAIT! It is the only ranked media brand. Nokia was the highest ranked brand in Europe. (JMH)
Dutch journalist refused entry to Israel
...'rude' police...
Radio Netherlands Worldwide journalist holding Dutch and Palestinian passports was denied entry to Israel yesterday. (Read RNW release here) She called police officers' attitude "rude."
Last week an Israeli tank round mortally wounded a Reuters photographer. The week before that Israeli authorities shut down an English language radio station set-up by a South African broadcaster to promote dialogue between Palestinians and Israelis. (JMH)
Free Digital Newspapers To Mark Earth Day
Taking advantage of the great news peg of not killing trees, NewspaperDirect has a great offer for today, Earth Day – one month of free digital access to more than 600 newspapers from 74 countries in 38 languages. It’s available on PressDisplay.com using the offer code: EARTH DAY.
Not exactly good news to newsprint producers, but here is how NewspaperDirect claims it is helping the world’s environment. “Every hour of every day a mature tree is saved by people who choose to read their newspapers online with PressDisplay.com and with our SmartEdition e-papers,” said Alexander Kroogman, NewspaperDirect CEO. “By some calculations it takes 17 trees to produce one tonne of newsprint. By using PressDisplay.com at home, at work, while commuting, or when traveling we can all reduce our carbon footprint.”
There’s probably not all the paper savings they claim, -- what about folks who like to print everything they get in digital form – but you’ve got to admit it’s a great Earth Day promo.
Bloomberg Says He’s Not Interested In The NYT
New York media circles were a twitter Monday because of reports in Newsweek and The New York Post that Mayor Bloomberg might be interested in riding to the rescue of the New York Times which has been under siege from dissident shareholders for some time now. But multi-billionaire Bloomberg, who made his fortune in the financial news business, says, No thanks, “I’m not a newspaper person”.
Which might be a polite way of saying that only mad dogs buy into US newspapers these days. But it’s possible the financial community may not be absolutely convinced because NYT shares that had shed most of their 3% gain for the day right after the mayor told a news conference that he wasn’t interested, then clawed back all of those gains and then some, closing up 5.52%.
Bloomberg’s fortune is thought to be some $11 billion. NYT shares have a market capitalization of $2.48 billion so even with a premium he could easily take the company private. And the New York media were hinting that some members of the Sulzberger/Ochs family would not necessarily object to selling out to the mayor because they believed he would protect the NYT’s editorial integrity (not exactly what the Bancroft family originally said about Mr. Murdoch).
The official line from the NYT, meanwhile, is that the current two-tier share system suits and protects the newspaper very well, thank you very much.
Western journalists have China in their sights
...do the Chinese authorities really care?...
A workshop aimed at sports journalists preparing for the Beijing Olympics has been held in Paris under the auspicies of the World Association of Newspapers and the Knight Foundation. Other press freedom advocates participated: World Press Freedom Committee, the Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters Without Borders, Human Rights in China and Asia Presse. (Read pressers here and here)
WAN's statement says there will be 3 journos in Beijing for every athlete. The mission of the conference is to keep up pressure on Chinese authorities to allow foreign media to report freely on everything.
Clearly Chinese authorities are paying attention. A distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack on CNN's website caused internet outages in south Asia Friday and Saturday. (JMH)
Public broadcasters lose more friends
...what happened to the good ol' days?...
The European Publishers Council (EPC) fired a round at public broadcasters with arguments taken from years of complaints by commercial broadcasters. The battleground is the European Commission's inquiry on the application of state aid to public broadcasting. (Read the EPC release here)
Once upon a time the print media sector at least tacitly supported public broadcasting, seen then as a balance to the dreaded commercial television. That was then, this is now, and now is different and it's about new media. Several public broadcasters - only the big ones - have made decisive moves into new media. Contrary to this and other EPC statements, public broadcasters have been leaders into new media as the private sector - broadcasters and publishers - sat on the sidelines... mostly hoping the good ol' days before electricity.
But it's no longer tenable for PSBs to define their mission as 'we'll know it when we see it.' It's also ridiculous to find State Aid supporting the advertising sector. (JMH)
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