The Tickle File is ftm's daily column of media news, complimenting the 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.

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If You Want To Know The Future Of Television Then Look No Further Than The Announcements The UK’s BBC and ITV Made This Week; Going Are The Days Of Switching On The “Box” Just To See What’s On!

Merger, Buyout Talks and Rumors Excite Stock Traders

A week of “irrational exuberance” started with Rupert Murdoch chasing Dow Jones. By Friday stock traders were bleeding from the nose as rumors chased rumors on who might be chasing Reuters.

EMI confirmed it is in talks with a private equity fund…or two…or more.

And, then, other rumors said Microsoft is making a bid for Yahoo.

All of this sent European media stocks higher on major exchanges.

ftm World Headquarters denies any rumor started or rumored about imminent take-over bids…though we have been trying to get Henry Kravis on the phone for months.

“Chief Yahoo” Happy With Chinese AliBaba Investment

Jerry Yang’s business card carries the title, “Chief Yahoo”.  The Yahoo co-founder was behind Yahoo’s $1 billion investment in Alibaba in 2005 to manage Yahoo’s China business.

It may prove to be a great financial investment, too,  if a New York Times story this week proves true – that Alibaba is planning to go public soon in the biggest initial public offering ever for a Chinese Internet company.

Yang said at a conference this week the Alibaba relationship was going well, but it’s still early days. "Our report card is very good in some ways and not so good in others," Yang said. "Our move so far looks like the right strategy but it's still early."

IAPA Chief Slams Venezuela

Rafael Molina, President of the Inter American Press Association (IAPA), has slammed Venezuela President Hugo Chavez for his decision to close down the country’s most popular TV station at the end of the month by not renewing its license.

In a statement Molina, who is publisher of El Día in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, declared, “In Venezuela, President Hugo Chávez, wielding increasingly absolute power that has no legal or technical justification, insists on not renewing the broadcast license of Radio Caracas Television (RCTV), for the sole reason that he is annoyed by its criticism of him.

“Other media have been fined, threatened with having to pay higher taxes, discriminated against in carrying out their reporting role, denying their access to news sources; and the placement of official advertising has been used as a means of punishment or reward. Government officials make no bones about their view that the best nation is one where the news media adopt a submissive editorial policy."

The IAPA is a non-profit organization dedicated to defending freedom of expression and of the press throughout the Americas.

Sarkozy Survives Presidential Debate With Polls Saying He Is Still On Top

The reviews of Wednesday night’s sole French Presidential debate between conservative  Nicolas Sarkozy and socialist Ségolène Royal say that Sarkozy did well enough to maintain, perhaps he even improved upon, his small lead in the run-up to Sunday’s election.

An  Opinionway institute poll said 53% of viewers found Sarkozy more convincing against 31% who said Royal did better. Opinionway said that Sarkozy was  eight points ahead of Royal.

The debate was carried by the most popular terrestrial commercial broadcaster, TF1, and the largest terrestrial public broadcaster, France 2. TF1 is always the  news ratings leader in France so it came as little surprise that around 13 million people watched on TF1 and seven million watched on France 2.  Peak viewing between the two  during the two hour forty minute debate reached about 23.1 million, a record for Presidential debates .

Record Audience for French Presidential Debate

As if more evidence is necessary of heightened interest in the French Presidential election this Sunday, Wednesday night’s debate between the two leading candidates drew 20 million viewers.

The 2 hour plus verbal battle between center-right candidate Nicolas Sarkozy and center-left candidate Ségolène Royal drew 13 million viewers to TF1 and 7 million to France 2. Audience estimates for radio, internet and other re-broadcasters are not yet available.

The 1995 debate between Jacques Chirac and Lionel Jospin drew 16.8 million viewers on the two French channels.

Market Share Of Top US News Sites Drops

The market share of visits to the top 10 US News and Media websites declined by 3.8% from March 2006 to March 2007, indicating that news consumption is beginning to fragment as users expand their range of news sources to non-traditional news websites, according to Hitwise, an online competitive intelligence service.

And in another indication of the power of local news, Hitwise said that Topix, com, a local news aggregator site, increased its market share of visits by 81% in the same period. Topix is owned 31.9% each by Gannett and Tribune with McClatchy owning 27.2%

Search engines, particularly Google, are responsible for more News and Media category website traffic than ever before. Print News websites received 29.7% more traffic from Google in March 2007 than in March 2006, and Broadcast Media sites received 35.9 % more traffic from Google in the same time period. News Aggregators (such as Yahoo! News, Google News, and Drudge Report) and portals were also significant sources of traffic for News and Media websites.

"Search engines were more likely to be the first step for Internet users in their search for information about breaking news events, and search engine results from news video services, video sites like YouTube, and blogs were more likely to contain the information they sought, thus hastening the growth of non-traditional news sources," said Lee Ann Prescott, Hitwise director of research. 

“Rocky” Really Should Know Better

Movie star Sylvester Stallone ran afoul of Australia’s drug laws when he made a promotional visit in February, resulting in preliminary court hearings, so “Rocky” has now banned Australian journalists from a Hollywood news conference to be held to promote his Rocky Balboa DVD.

Australian customs said they found 48 vials of an illegal growth hormone in Stallone’s luggage. Stallone’s lawyers are now providing a court with a wealth of medical information on why he takes such growth hormones. Australian media, of course, had a field day that “Rocky” wasn‘t the way he is naturally, and he needed the hormones.

Stallone, on the other hand, failed to find the humor in all this. As a 20th Century Fox flack says, “I've just received word that unfortunately we will not be sending any Australian media to attend the Stallone junket due to his impending court case."

Apparently Rocky thought the Australians might ask him about the court case. Not that any other journalist might do that with the Australians absent!

Ever Wonder How Much Airlines Spend On Your In-Flight Newspaper?

Pakistan International Airlines spent 157 million Rupees ($2.6 million, €2 million) on newspapers and magazines during the last three years, according to a government written reply to a Parliamentarian’s question.

In 2004 it spent 42 million Rupees ($700,000, €535,000), in 2005 it spent 45 million Rupees ($760,000, €580,000) but in 2006 the figure jumped to 70 million Rupees ($1.1 million, €845,000).

That kind of money bought the national flag carrier 30 national and regional newspapers -- English and Urdu – in 2004 plus seven local and international magazines; 33 dailies and 20 magazines in 2005; and 34 dailies and 19 magazines in 2006.

The Murdoch Benefit

They’ve got to thank Rupert Murdoch. European media stocks rose Wednesday, a day after Murdoch’s $60 bid for Dow Jones, perhaps strategically announced on  a day when most European exchanges were closed for the Labor Day holiday.

BSkyB, principally owned by Murdoch, showed it biggest share rise in more than three years, even as the company battles Virgin Media in court. BSkyB shares gained 7.8% at one point in the days trading on higher net subscriber data.

ProSiebenSat1 (Germany), Lagardére Media (France) and RCS MediaGroup (Italy) all posted higher share trading. Both Lagardére and RCS Media gained 2.2%. Dutch publisher Wolters Kluwer gained 2.8%.

But there was cold water tossed on the generally good media trading news. Credit Suisse released a statement saying…

“This (Murdoch/Dow Jones) deal is likely to stimulate interest in the media sector after having underperformed the market by 5% over the last month, although we would caution that this is a special situation and a special buyer for strategic reasons.”

US Says It is Concerned At Global Restrictions Limiting Press Freedoms

The US says it is concerned about “increasing limitations on press freedoms around the world.” A US State department statement said that “in many countries, governments are tightening libel laws, and media ownership is increasingly controlled by governments and pro-government forces.” Don’t suppose they were thinking of Russia as they drew that up?

In addition, the department said, the number of independent press outlets is declining, while restrictions are multiplying on the use of Internet search engines and the right to free expression on the Internet.  The department warned that “those who try to independently seek, receive or disseminate information and ideas are being persecuted.” Don’t suppose they had China in mind for that broadside?

Beyonce Says Media Untruths Sometimes Drive Her To Want to Kill

When stars crave attention they deserve whatever they get. But when they don’t and the media is still all over them then life becomes very difficult. In a frank exchange with Vibe Magazine Beyonce Knowles tells it like it is:

"Everybody messes with celebrities. At a point, you just have to decide if you really want it. If you do, you have to have a tough skin. And after you get a certain amount of success, you have no choice.

"Either you're gonna turn to other things to take away the pain you feel, or you have to deal with it and move on. If it's something about my sister or my nephew or it's something evil, then yes, I'm upset. I wanna kill somebody. If it's a rumor that's vindictive, or something harmful, or something everybody believes that is completely not true, then it's frustrating because there's nothing you can do about it."

"If someone misquotes you, or says some complete lie, and then they go back and retract that, people still don't believe you didn't say it. So sometimes it hurts. Sometimes I wanna cry. Sometimes I wanna scream. Sometimes I wanna curse people out."

Is she really telling us that sometimes the media tells untruths? That the media misquotes?  That it spreads vindictive rumors? That retractions aren’t very effective? Could all of that really be?

MG Baltic Media Considers IPO

MG Baltic Media voiced interest in going public through an IPO within the next year. The company will be the first media company listed on the Vilnius Stock Exchange. 

If the IPO moves forward, equity fund Amber Trust will sell its 20% interest in LNK TV, principally controlled by MG Baltic Media which bought the television station in the Bonnier sell-off in 2003.

Popular Journalist, Berlusconi Critic Returns to Italian TV

Well-known Italian journalist Enzo Biagi returned to television after a five year absence. He was among several journalists to fall to former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s ire, condemned as a “criminal.” He lost his TV slot on RIA Uno a few months after Berlusconi’s outburst.

At the time RIA officials denied political influence.

Biagi, now 86 years old, returned to RIA TRE with a ten minute analysis slot. Opening the first show, he excused himself for his absence saying he’d been “interrupted for technical reasons.”

Yahoo! Can Also Spend Big When It Wants To

With Google seemingly buying a company every other week for hundreds of millions, or even for more than $1 billion, it may have been forgotten that the most visited US web site is not Google, it is Yahoo!, and Yahoo! has it in mind to increase its advertising dollars.

It announced Monday it was buying the 80% it didn’t already own in Right Media, an online advertising auction site, for $680 million in cash and shares.

Right Media has found success with web publishers who are willing to auction advertising positions that have not already been sold. The payoff for the web publisher may not be big bucks, but for every page that is passed without an ad it is a lost advertising opportunity, so better something than nothing.

BBC-TV Online Catch-Up Service Approved

The BBC Trust, basically the board of directors, has approved the BBC’s proposed web-based, on-demand TV service that will allow viewers to catch up and download programs from the past seven days and store them on their computers for 30 days.  No launch date was annou8nced.

The service will be provided at no charge, but the BBC said it will cost the corporation £132 million ($264 million, €195 million) over five years.

Ashley Highfield, the BBC’s Director of Future Media and Technology, said in a statement, “BBC iPlayer responds to the need for greater control and flexibility over how and when audiences access BBC content. It is a critical part of the strategy to maintain impact and relevance in a world where viewing and listening habits are shifting from linear to on-demand.”

Recycling Usage As Good A Reason As Any To Subscribe To The Daily Newspaper

If newspapers are having trouble convincing people to buy print to read, then they can always try having them buy print for its recycling benefits.  A story by Susan Lakes in the Hattiesburg American, in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, deserves global distribution:

“FOXWORTH - Ralph Franks said he's not out to make any kind of political statement about the benefits of recycling. He just wants to move into a tightly insulated home with great soundproofing.

Those are some of the reasons why Franks and his wife, Wendy, are insulating their new 2,500-square-foot home with recycled newspapers.

"If you walk into a house like this, it's tighter," Ralph Franks said about what he's seeing and hearing so far. The home is under construction and should be move-in ready by June.

"There are no gaps," he said.

Friends sold Franks on the paper insulation product. They told him their utility bills had dropped 60 to 70 percent with the insulation.

Franks watched the process when workers from an energy company in Jackson blew in the insulation. "They spray it (the paper) with a hose," he said.

He's pleased with the results so far.

"There are no gaps. It's more soundproof," he said.

MTG Sees No Pay-TV Subscriber Growth

Weakness in Sweden’s television market led Modern Times Group (MTG) CEO Hans-Holger Albrecht to conclude that revenue growth means getting more from existing pay-TV subscribers.

“For pay-TV,” he told an investors’ conference call, “we see no subscriber growth going forward, the focus is on ARPU.”  That’s “ average revenue per user.”

MTG released Q1 results, the best first quarter in the company’s history, according to Albrecht’s statement. Revenues were up but the margin slipped for 18% from 19%.

Stagnant ad sales in Scandinavia were off-set by revenues from MTG’s Russian investment CTC Media.

GCap Buys AM Network

GCap purchased the Classic Gold network of 18 AM stations for €5.78 million (£3.95 million) from UBC Media. The strategic consolidation will merge the Classic Gold stations with GCaps Capital Gold as one quasi-national classic hits radio brand.

Classic Gold holds digital (DAB) licenses, crucial to GCap’s over-all digital strategy and significant as the UK regulator OFCOM is making noises about shutting down the AM/MW band to broadcasting. GCap previously held a 20% stake in UBC Media’s digital license subsidiary.

French Election Warms Up

With the French Presidential election just one week away, one might question why Socialist candidate Segolene Royal appeared in a television debate not against her opponent , Conservative Nicolas Sarkozy, but rather against Francois Bayrou, representing the Center,  who came in third  in the first round of elections and is thus no longer in the running.

Probably has to do with Royal looking for Bayrou’s endorsement, which she did not get, but one definitely gets the impression that Bayrou prefers Royal to Sarkozy – is that because he feels in six years time he would have an easier time campaigning against a Royal incumbency than a Sarkozy one?

Anyway, Sarkozy and Royal are to hold their televised debate on Wednesday.

It was not easy, however, to find a television platform for the Royal-Bayou debate, with Royal accusing the Sarkozy camp of using influence to dissuade the major channels from showing or hosting the event.

She wanted the debate to have as wide an audience as possible to persuade Bayou’s supporters to come to her side. Recent polls show she is catching up to Sarkozy, who still leads by a few points, and Bayou’s voters could make all the difference.

Showing that pressure, Sarkozy’s campaign manager exploded when told of Royal’s accusations of persuading major TV stations not to show her Bayou debate.

“This is slander, slanderous insinuation. These comments are extremely serious. This is Stalinist behavior – to say things without proof is very serious.”

You mean politicians in France, unlike politicians everywhere, don’t say things without proof?

Guess What’s Making A Comeback On Roofs All Over America?

With the newest of high technology, high-definition television, comes the lowest of technical applications, the television antenna.

The antenna is on the way back. Recent estimates had said that only about 10% of Americans viewed television via the roof-top antenna but then a surprising technical feature started making the rounds -- that an over-the-air high definition signal received via roof-top antenna offers superior quality to a cable or satellite transmission because over-the-air signals are not compressed.

Of course, getting local signals over-the-air means one doesn’t get all of those stations available only via cable or satellite, but if one is spending thousands on a new TV then it’s logical to want the best possible picture.

No doubt if cable and satellite begin to feel the pinch enough then their compression ratios may get changed.