• Dow Jones, Reuters Part Ways, Remake Business News Brands by Joe Mandese

    In a deal that will accelerate the restructuring of two of the biggest business and financial news brands, Dow Jones & Co. Wednesday said it agreed to acquire joint venture partner Reuters' 50 percent stake in Factiva, an electronic news retrieval service that will figure prominently in Dow Jones plans to move away from print media. For Reuters, the divestiture comes as it is moving away from its legacy as a financial news brand, and trying to evolve into more of consumer brand for global news and information. ...Read the whole story

  • Merrill Lynch: Fox, Cablevision Deal Means 25% Rev Jump For Net by David Goetzl

    Influential Wall Street analyst Jessica Reif Cohen issued a report Tuesday suggesting that Fox News Channel's deal with Cablevision could give the channel a revenue jump 23 percent higher than projections. The 75-cents-per-subscriber baseline positions FNC to extract similar pricing in future negotiations with cable and satellite operators, including imminent haggling with DirecTV. ...Read the whole story

  • 3Q Earnings: Scripps Down, McClatchy Up by Erik Sass

    E.W. Scripps Co. and McClatchy Co., two of the nation's largest newspaper publishers, both announced their third-quarter revenues and profits on Tuesday--delivering double-barreled declines and blaming the weak ad market for the disappointing results. Third-quarter profits were down 11 percent at E.W. Scripps, compared to 2005. McClatchy earnings rose from $38.6 million to $51.8 million, although much of this increase was due to its purchase of Knight Ridder in June. ...Read the whole story

  • MLB Completes Deals, Fox And Turner Share Championship Baseball Series by Wayne Friedman

    Major League Baseball has completed all its upcoming TV baseball deals, with a seven-year agreement to have Turner Broadcasting air part of the League Championship Series starting next season, along with Fox. Media executives estimate the LCS Turner deal to be between $50 million and $70 million per year. From this post-season deal, Turner hopes to gain new ad clients that are MLB league sponsors, and enhance its regular season package. ...Read the whole story

  • Outdoor Channel's New CEO Plans Upgrade, Possible Sale by David Goetzl

    Could the Outdoor Channel be put on the block? Certainly new CEO Roger Werner's track record suggests it. ...Read the whole story

  • NBC Wins Monday, 'Studio 60' Drops, 'Heroes' Sustains by Wayne Friedman

    All eyes are seemingly on "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip"--just not enough TV viewers' eyes. NBC's high-profile show dipped again to a 3.1 in adults 18-49 on Monday night. "Heroes" and "Deal or No Deal" saved the night, with CBS a close second. ...Read the whole story

  • Rev Crash Drives Auto, Tech Mags by Erik Sass

    The same trend that's eating into readership at niche magazines for sports enthusiasts is also delivering a jolt to auto and tech titles, including computer and consumer electronics. For January-September, automotive ad pages fell 12.7 percent compared to the same period last year--from 16,182 to 14,129--and ad revenue fell 10.1 percent, from about $1.65 billion to $1.48 billion. Tech ad pages are up 2.2 percent to 8,157 and revenue is up 6.8 percent to $769 million. But most of that is going to mass-market magazines, including cell phone and home PC advertising, leaving niche titles out in the cold. ...Read the whole story

  • Men's Enthusiast Mags Hard Hit, Ad Revenue, Newsstand Sales Way Down by Erik Sass

    Conventional wisdom holds that magazines need to pursue niche readerships to compete against Web narrowcasters. But if sports and tech enthusiast magazines are a yardstick, that advice is passe. These categories, dominated by male readership, are seeing significant drops in newsstand sales, ad pages and ad revenue. The culprit: the Internet. ...Read the whole story

  • Ad Club Panel: Political Advertising Controlled By Hacks by Tom Siebert

    A consensus of senior ad execs agreed that finding personal ways to reach voters is the key to successful political advertising. At a program hosted by the New York Advertising Club, the participants, representing both the left and right, despaired over the poor quality of political ads and the power of fear to win votes. The takeaway: advertisers need to figure out how to plug into voters' lives. ...Read the whole story

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