The sprawling Nexstar station group, which operates affiliates of all major networks, is exploring a sale once again. A 2007 effort was scuttled as the economy weakened. Moelis & Co. has been retained as an advisor. Goldman Sachs held the role the last time. Nexstar says it now owns or operates 63 TV stations in 34 markets and reaches approximately 11.5% of all U.S. television households. It owns or manages stations that include the sizable Salt Lake City market and the tiny St. Joseph, Missouri DMA, as well as dozens in between. In May, it brokered a long-term affiliation agreement with ABC for nine stations. Earlier this month, Nexstar completed the acquisitions of two CBS affiliates in Wisconsin and Michigan from Liberty Media for $20 million. The company, which posted a first-quarter loss on a slight revenue gain, says it has no timetable for a sale or another financial maneuver. Nexstar reported revenue of $313 million last year. Under CEO Perry Sook, Nexstar has been a pacesetter in pushing cable/ satellite/telco TV operators to pay retrans consent dollars to carry its stations. Nexstar, which like every station group has been trying to upgrade its digital activity, said last week it had acquired GoLocal.Biz, which will be used to offer local directories, coupon services and entertainment listings to company community Web sites. Noting that three other station groups -- McGraw-Hill, Freedom and Young -- are for sale, Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker wrote: "While there is significant supply, we believe potential bidders will include both strategic and private equity groups -- both of which we believe are looking hard at these assets."
As online video continues its dramatic rise, Ogilvy & Mather on Thursday officially debuted its own specialty video practice. In development for nearly two years, Ogilvy's Advanced Video Practice will work with brand clients to take video engagement beyond the "viral" view by targeting measurable engagements that place viewers directly into the sales funnel. It is being led by Robert John Davis, who joined Ogilvy in 2008, after leading Rainbow Media's cable network sites and serving as MTV Networks' first executive producer of convergence. "It is not just TV 2.0 -- a new way to get TV programs online," Davis said of the burgeoning video space. "This is a vibrant, interactive engagement medium that goes beyond watching videos to engaging with videos." According to Davis, the new practice should augment various Ogilvy specialty areas, including digital influence, search optimization and search marketing, creative, content strategy and social selling. "Video is too important to treat as an add-on to TV or Web marketing efforts," Davis said. "As advanced video opportunities continue to grow across mobile and device-oriented experiences, maximizing this channel is vital for a brand's success." During its test phase, clients who helped shape Ogilvy's new practice included IBM, Nestlé, DuPont and others. The practice will focus on several key aspects of online video, including the creation of strategic content and video search engine optimization, as well as the production and distribution of video across multiple digital platforms and measurement. Furthermore, the plan is to bring together experts from online video strategy and production with the Neo@Ogilvy search practice and OgilvyEntertainment, to provide clients with a full-service online video platform. Needless to say, trying to maximize the potential of YouTube as a marketing channel for clients is one of the key ways in which the practice will be exploited. "Our strategy is built around the belief that views will be maximized if you optimize for the multiple forms of search first, making it easy for audiences to find, consume and share the content when they need it most," Davis added.
Keeping with TV networks' efforts to spread around its content to different digital video distributors, CBS Corp. and Amazon.com today announced a non-exclusive licensing agreement. The deal will allow Amazon Prime customers to stream an additional 2,000 episodes of CBS TV shows -- now totaling 8,000 TV episodes and movies. Terms of the CBS-Amazon deal were not disclosed. Some 18 shows from CBS' library are part of the Amazon agreement. This includes: "The Tudors," which aired on Showtime; CBS' "Numb3rs" and "Medium"; the complete Star Trek franchise; and "Frasier" and "Cheers," both of which aired on NBC. In February, CBS also made similar library deal with Netflix under a two-year pact. Reports suggest that deal to be worth $200 million. Recently, Netflix added to its coffers with a renewal for nonexclusive TV and theatrical movie content from NBC Universal. One analyst suggested that deal gives NBC $300 million per year from Netflix -- a significant rise from $25 million per year it had been getting from the digital video service. In December 2010, Netflix inked a one-year deal with Walt Disney and ABC valued at around $150 million to $200 million. While that deal included library product, it also included more recent episodes of shows such as ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" and "Brothers & Sisters." "Amazon has created one of the most popular consumer marketplaces in the world, and we are very pleased to make these titles available to their Instant Video and Prime customers," stated Leslie Moonves, president/CEO for CBS Corp. "This new agreement represents another meaningful way for us to realize incremental value for CBS' content." Amazon Instant Video is a streaming video service with 90,000 movies and television shows available to purchase or rent. This service includes commercials; with individual shows priced as low as $1.99 an episode. Amazon Prime, a $79-a-year service, is commercial-free.
When it comes to multitasking, TV is more of a "solo" platform than any other. New research from Knowledge Networks shows that Internet users share that platform more than other media. Sixty percent of the time consumers spend with the Internet, they are using at least one other medium. This is also double the rate of consumers' use of TV -- 30% -- compared to other media. The study says TV is a solo medium 70% of the time. But the Internet isn't the most "shared" medium. That title belongs to newspapers, at 79%. Magazines come next at 71%. Not surprisingly, simultaneous use of the Internet with other media has grown among 18-34 consumers. It was 51% in 2009, rising to 64% in late 2010. Overall, the study says 20% of all minutes spent with the five media measured -- TV, Internet, radio, magazines, and newspapers -- are shared with one or more other media. "If we assume that every medium you add to the mix is likely to diminish attention to advertising, then television holds a unique advantage over the Internet when it comes to engagement," said Robert DeFelice, vice president of client services at Knowledge Networks and director of the MultiMedia Mentor research program. "But this also means that the Internet presents twice as many opportunities for reinforcing messages in other media," he adds, "if one has a clear sense of where and when target audiences might be likely to combine media use."
Pandora's push to become a multiplatform service got a boost this week with Verizon's announcement that it will make the personalized Internet radio service available to FiOS TV subscribers in major media markets, beginning with California, Texas, and Virginia. The companies plan to introduce Pandora in other Verizon markets in the not-too-distant future. The new service will offer users all the interactive functionality of Pandora's online audio service, including creating new stations based on the individual's favorite artists, songs and genres, bookmarking songs for purchase, and rating songs -- all through commands from FiOS remotes, including mobile devices with the FiOS TV Mobile Remote app. Verizon subscribers who already have a Pandora account can access it by entering their email address and password as they would normally. The Pandora-less can also sign up for a new account through FiOS. The deal should make it easier to access Pandora content on home entertainment centers. Previously, FiOS TV customers could stream a variety of online content from Windows PCs to TVs through Verizon's Media Manager service. Over the last year or so, Pandora has mounted a concerted effort to bring its personalized digital audio service -- originally online-only -- to new platforms, including cars and mobile devices. On the automotive front, in January Toyota announced that it will integrate Pandora into its new "Entune" multimedia system. Like previous auto integrations, users can connect Pandora to the Toyota Entune system via any cell phone with a data plan, including smart and feature phones. Pandora already has partnerships with several major automakers, including Ford and Mercedes, along with radio manufacturers Alpine and Pioneer, whose after-market products allow drivers to access Pandora from car dashboards.
Reebok is rolling out its new Reebok Lite line, which it describes as a cross between its '80s-era classics and cutting-edge technology, with a TV spot and videos by hip-hop producer Swizz Beatz. But don't look for any leg warmers, headbands, or Madonna references: While the shoes themselves may evoke '80s flashbacks, the new campaign is pure urban club culture. It includes 25 dancers, 150 extras and choreography from Hi-Hat, as lasers, smoke and an acrylic box create a multidimensional Classic R, enclosed within a box. A spokesman for the company, now owned by Adidas, says it marks the first time Reebok's Classics division will use TV in a decade, and that the spots will run on ESPN, Comedy Central, Adult Swim/Cartoon Network, MTV, and BET. The "new" line includes the Freestyle, as well as the Ex-O-Fit high top, the Classic Leather Runner and the Workout Low Plus. They're even sold in the original Union Jack box, which the company claims has been faithfully remade, right down to the exact standards of '80s typography. "In our Classic Lite collection, we've updated iconic Reebok styles with materials, colors and styling details that appeal to people who live their lives at the intersection of dance, art, street culture and sport -- and it's these people who we wanted to celebrate in the Reethym of Lite campaign," Todd Krinsky, head of Classics for Reebok, says in the company's release. In addition to TV, online ads are scheduled for Hulu, YouTube, MTV.com, Pandora, Complex, Facebook, BET.com, VEVO, and Twitter, with print appearing in such titles as Fader, Nylon Guys, and Spin. The spokesperson says Reebok is also commissioning custom public artwork, featuring interpretations of "Reethym of Light," in both New York and Atlanta.
A new report estimates about 4.5 million, or 4%, of U.S. homes will have only over-the-top delivery of video service by the end of this year. That figure, according to SNL Kagan, is projected to rise to 12.1 million over the ensuing four years, which would be about 10% of homes. They would rely on Netflix and Amazon for content. Kagan says over-the-top consumers "impacted the subscriber counts for multichannel service providers in 2010." They are expected to "exert competitive pressure going forward." Executives at cable providers say there is scant evidence of cord-cutting, and reductions in subscriber rolls are due more to factors such as the economy or slowed household formations. In 2010, the second and third quarters marked the first declines in subscribers with a multichannel subscription, but the figure did increase for the full year. Kagan estimates that about 85% of homes had a subscription at the end of 2010. (The figure counts homes with multiple subscriptions just once.)
Known more for watches and other personal electronics, Casio is taking to the airwaves for the first time to advertise its phones with an advertising campaign showing off the toughness of its G'zOne Commando Android-powered smartphone. The television and Internet video campaign, with the tagline "Tougher is Smarter," depicts the phone going through a series of real-life tests designed to show off its military-grade specifications, which include being able to withstand extreme temperatures, vibration, drops and submersion. "It's trying to show [that] the phone has been tested in these environments," Charlotte Runco, a representative for Casio, tells Marketing Daily. "This phone can withstand these extreme situations." The vignettes depict the phone being put through a series of tests, such as being strapped to a surfboard, attached to the undercarriage of a sports car, being taken on a trail run and enduring a "hot yoga" class. The spots employ the question, "Are you Commando tough?" The effort is targeted at consumers who lead an active lifestyle and don't want to worry about their phones (with a secondary target at anyone prone to clumsiness and mishaps with their devices), Runco says. The television commercials began this week, airing on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live. The commercials will during a wide variety of programming, including during ABC's "Expedition Impossible," as well as on cable networks such as Spike, Fuel, the Military Network, the Outdoor Channel and ESPN. The brand has also signed on as a sponsor of the X-Games, which will air on ESPN on July 28-31.
HD commercials now comprise almost 20% of all TV commercials -- about double the share they had a year ago. For the second quarter of 2011, a new study from Extreme Reach says the reason for the spike is lower distribution costs, more local TV adoption of HD commercials and a simpler execution of HD spots in overall campaigns. Extreme Research says these factors are important, considering a slower growth in HD advertising in 2010. Low-cost, cloud-based services have driven down costs for some business segments by 30%. The company says 94% of local TV stations that can take HD commercials use cloud-based services. Overall, 44% of local TV stations and 63% of cable operators can take HD commercials -- versus a 27% number for TV stations and 50% by cable operators. The boost has been pushed by different levels of advertisers. Where only major big brand advertisers had used HD commercials, now regional and smaller markers -- grocery stores and regional auto dealerships -- are incorporating HD messaging into their campaigns. Says John Roland, CEO of Extreme Reach: "Advertisers had been in a holding pattern for a while when it came to HD. The Q2 numbers reaffirm what we've heard from advertisers for a while: When key industry hurdles to adoption become less pronounced, you'll see more and more HD ads on TV."
Pandora's push to become a multiplatform service got a boost this week with Verizon's announcement that it will make the personalized Internet radio service available to FiOS TV subscribers in major media markets, beginning with California, Texas, and Virginia. The companies plan to introduce Pandora in other Verizon markets in the not-too-distant future. The new service will offer users all the interactive functionality of Pandora's online audio service, including creating new stations based on the individual's favorite artists, songs and genres, bookmarking songs for purchase, and rating songs, all through commands from FiOS remotes, including mobile devices with the FiOS TV Mobile Remote app. Verizon subscribers who already have a Pandora account can access it by entering their email address and password as they would normally. The Pandora-less can also sign up for a new account through FiOS. The deal should make it easier to access Pandora content on home entertainment centers. Previously, FiOS TV customers could stream a variety of online content from Windows PCs to TVs through Verizon's Media Manager service. Over the last year or so, Pandora has mounted a concerted effort to bring its personalized digital audio service, originally online-only, to new platforms, including cars and mobile devices. On the automotive front, in January Toyota announced that it will integrate Pandora into its new "Entune" multimedia system. Like previous auto integrations, users can connect Pandora to the Toyota Entune system via any cell phone with a data plan, including smart and feature phones. Pandora already has partnerships with several major automakers, including Ford and Mercedes, along with radio manufacturers Alpine and Pioneer, whose after-market products allow drivers to access Pandora from car dashboards.
I attended the Social TV Summit in Los Angeles yesterday. (Actually, it was held at the Bel Air Country Club, but that's another story.) As the summit's title suggests, it was a day spent listening and talking about how social media is intersecting, enhancing and altering television viewing, media and advertising. It was a great conference and hit a hot topic at exactly the right time. Noted media economist and co-host Jack Myers grabbed everyone's attention with his opening remarks, boldly predicting that social TV marketing would be an $8 billion to 12 billion annual market by 2020. While I haven't fully gotten my head around those numbers yet, Jack is a good friend and has been extraordinarily accurate in his macro market projections over the years, so I'm inclined to believe them, particularly when you consider them within the context of the $40 billion to 50 billion annually which he has previously forecast for all of social media marketing by 2020. Where will all of this money come from? Here are some of my thoughts: First, what is social TV? While I don't think you can really nail down a great definition of social TV at this point, since it's so nascent, I view it as all of the activity occurring at the intersection of social media and television devices and programming. It includes second screens used while watching TV, networked companion devices that support or relate to TV, social tools and applications on connected TVs, and all of the TV-related content and conversations on social media. TV viewing plus Web and social use is big. Users spend an enormous amount of time surfing the web while watching TV. 78% of users do both at least monthly, and one-third of all Web browsing occurs in front of a TV. Companion device usage while watching TV is big, too. 35% of tablet and iPad usage occurs in front of the television, and this is before we really have that many robust and specialized applications to truly enhance or support better TV viewing experiences. Many (including me) predict that app-enabled iPhones, tablets and iPads will be the dominant "remote controls" for home television in a few years. Strong measurable linkage between TV viewing and social media expressions. Companies like Blue Fin and TrendRR are doing incredible things bringing Web-like Big Data crunching visualization to TV-related social expressions. Now, marketers and their agencies can know exactly what and how many social expressions their TV ad impressions generate. Lots of new TV-related social tool. Check-in tools have become big in location based services. Similar tools are now available for TV viewing. Services like GetGlue and Miso are helping TV networks and programmers establish loyalty-based relationships with their viewers, enabling them to "check-in" while viewing, earn badges and even get show stickers sent to them in the mail. Will this add up to $12 billion annually in nine years? I don't know, but I do think that it's going to be really big. What do you think?
When I was on the media agency side of the business, and sat through numerous upfront presentations, there would generally be at least one or two cable networks trying to sell me on some sort of value index that went above and beyond just the Nielsen ratings. While some of these indexes were interesting, all were fundamentally flawed. Some networks incorporated MRI, IAG, or some other measure that certainly have their uses, but are not appropriate for measuring viewer involvement or engagement on an immediate or ongoing basis. A few years ago my buyers asked me to develop a better set of value factors that could be used for all clients -- value factors that I could not find fault with (and anyone who knows me understands how difficult that is) and that objectively examine all networks. There were a few attributed I thought essential for developing value factors: · The size of the audience is not a significant consideration. Ratings, percent composition, or other such metrics are therefore not part of the equation. The idea is to · The data should focus not only on program engagement, but rather on minimizing commercial avoidance as well. · The measurement should be transparent and easily replicated. One should be able to provide the analysis to support how the factors were derived. No secret sauce or black boxes here. · A buyer or planner should be able to do the analyses at any time during the year covering any period of time, daypart, program, or demo. Analyses that can only be done once or twice a year do not allow for changing direction in mid-season (when the competitive TV landscape often changes dramatically). This is particularly important to analyze cable networks that air original scripted programming only certain times during the year. · The information should be based on currency data to avoid a claim that the value factors are based on metrics people don't believe in or use. The following are the critical parts in the development of the Commercial Value Index (CVI). Average Time Spent Per Viewing Event: The more time you spend with a channel or program in a single sitting, the more interested you likely are in the content and the greater the likelihood you are exposed to the commercials. The Average Time Spent Per Viewing Event provides a reasonable indication of viewer involvement. The data is available from Nielsen's NPower system. Channel Switching: Less channel switching during commercials means greater viewer involvement and a higher degree of commercial exposure. Channel Switching is calculated by taking the live commercial minute rating divided by the live program rating. The only reason the live commercial rating would be lower than the live program rating is because the channel was changed. Live Viewing: With DVR penetration fast approaching 50% for key demos, there is no question that avoiding commercials is easier than ever. The bulk of DVR playback includes fast-forwarding through commercials. Nielsen simply cannot measure this phenomenon. Even Nielsen's C3 measure misses a substantial amount of fast-forwarding through commercials. Aside from minimizing channel switching, the best way to minimize commercial avoidance is to maximize the percentage of live viewing. This is calculated by simply dividing the live rating by the live + 7 rating. Calculating the Commercial Value Index Each element in the CVI is analyzed for all networks. The average for all broadcast and cable networks combined becomes a 100 index. Each network is then indexed to the average to develop a value factor for each category. The three factors are then averaged to arrive at a Commercial Value Index for each network. I give each factor equal weight, but if you think one element is more important, you can weight them anyway you want. The CVI for 4th quarter 2010 showed: For adults 25-54 the Top 10 ranked networks were, ION, USA, ABC Family, TNT, CBS, Lifetime, Adult Swim, ABC, AMC, and Syfy. For adults 18-49: TBS and Nick-At-Nite joined the top 10 and ABC Family and Syfy fell out. All the other networks remained, but the order changed somewhat. Looking at different demos, such as persons 12-34 or men 35-64 obviously yields different results. Anyone can do this analysis and arrive at the exact same answers. Full disclosure: I am currently consulting for ION Media Networks. The Commercial Value Index, however, was developed long before I started consulting for any cable networks. The data holds up to scrutiny, and is as transparent as Nielsen data can be.
Summer is the time for networks to drive big awareness for the fall season -- especially for new shows. But sometimes with a change in characters, more marketing is needed. High on the list here is the obvious: CBS' "Two and a Half Men." What better to get our attention than an outdoor and print campaign showing -- what else -- three men, including new cast member Ashton Kutcher? Oh, by they way, they are naked behind a sign touting the start date of the new season. What's behind the sign? (A double entendre, I'm sure). Hmmm... perhaps it's what is behind the new direction of the show... or about the demise of Sheen's character. On that last point, we're betting some nasty, unique death with hookers, drinking, gambling, perhaps some fast cars thrown in. Key aficionados are no doubt tweeting a lot -- wondering what this all means. That's the hope of CBS. (We also wonder how Patrick Jane is going to get out of his mess for seemingly killing off Red John on another CBS show, "The Mentalist.") CBS' message on the "Men" ad: "All will be revealed... 09.19.11". It is a nice teaser. But maybe not all that original. A slightly embarrassed Kutcher is in the middle of Jon Cryer and Angus T. Jones, with Cryer looking down -- presumably at Kutcher's private parts. Kutcher is a key draw for women -- and young women -- a key demographic component of primetime network television. Naked and/or embarrassed looking young men go a long way in drawing attention. I prefer an earlier photo -- not of a marketing kind. In May, just after the announcement of Kutcher's addition to "Men," a photo captured the three actors seemingly screaming at each other. An argument? So they said -- with tongues firmly in cheeks. More controversy? We can only hope. In a more disparate entertainment media environment, the better question is whether "Men" can morph into a different show and find a new gear.
For a long time I've doubted that the Internet would replace traditional over-the-air and wired television as the primary source for video content. I just didn't believe that Hulu, Netflix, YouTube or any other online service could take the place of broadcast and cable networks. My conclusions were partly based on hard evidence -- Nielsen research shows that only about 1% or 2% of all "three-screen" video is consumed over the Internet -- but, like many commentators, I mostly extrapolated from my personal anecdotal experiences. Unlike some of the people I hang around with -- media reporters, research geeks, engineers -- I am not an early adopter. I do not have an iPad, have not signed up for Google+, and do not thrill to the pending upgrades of any of my technology products. And until now, I haven't seen any reason to connect my TV to the Internet. Nevertheless, as a consumer I do keep an eye out for technologies that will improve my life, which is why I recently bought an Apple TV. The issue is that we are a family of rabid Red Sox fans living behind enemy lines in Yankee territory, and the baseball games we want to watch are not available on standard TV. We are longtime subscribers to MLB.TV (at $25/month) and have followed the games online -- but it's just so painful to sit in the living room watching a baseball game on a laptop when there's a nice big HDTV in the same room. I knew there were various solutions to this problem, but was unwilling to spend the money to upgrade my existing Blue-Ray player to an Internet-enabled one. Nor, with a teenage boy in the house, did I want to introduce an X-Box into the living room just to access the Internet. However, I was willing to try an Apple TV. Like most Apple products, the genius of the Apple TV is its simplicity and ease of use. Plus it only costs $100, which seems reasonable for a purely indulgent purchase. The device itself is small -- not much bigger than a pack of cards -- and simple to install. All you need to do is plug a power cord into the wall, connect an HDMI cable to the TV, and hook up the Internet (either WiFi or wired.) The navigation is intuitive and the HD quality is good. When I tune to MLB.TV, it's almost like watching baseball on regular TV (without the commercials.) As an added benefit, Apple TV also provides easy access to Netflix, so I was able to investigate what the Netflix craze is all about. But after having the Apple TV for about a month, I wonder if I'm missing something. I don't understand why anyone thinks Netflix could compete with regular TV. The problem isn't the quality of the viewing experience -- which is high -- but with the content. There's much less streamable Netflix programming than I had assumed. There are a handful of movies I plan to stream - eventually, at some point. I am delighted to see that the full library of "Saturday Night Live" and "The Office" seasons are now easily accessible. And my son is catching up with all the "South Park" seasons he was forbidden to watch growing up. But I find that my Netflix viewing is limited to times when there is absolutely nothing else to watch on TV. In the long run, Netflix may challenge the traditional syndication model, because it is fundamentally a new way of syndicating content, but viewers will first have to be trained to proactively look for the programs they want, rather than just turning on the TV to see what's there. So the bottom line is that Apple TV is great for making Red Sox games available on our living room TV. That was $100 well-spent. And by making Netflix easily available, it has created an emergency back-up option for periods when I'm craving a particular rerun. But would I cut the cord and cancel my cable now that I have Applet TV? No way. And even if Apple TV offered Hulu Plus (which for some surprising reason it doesn't) I don't think I would actually cancel cable and give up live television, sports, "Mad Men" and the other networks that are currently unavailable on Hulu. What my experience with Apple TV has made obvious is that there are no real technology obstacles to making Internet TV ubiquitous. It's clearly possible to create a simple elegant device to stream content to an HDTV. The real obstacle is the reluctance of content providers to turn over their programming to services that would undermine their remarkably successful ad-supported business models. Duh! And really, why should they? Creating content is not free - why should content creators give it away for free? The notion that the Internet will fundamentally change the way we watch television seems more and more like a pipe dream as we come face to face with the economic realities of licensing content. With its new pricing plan, Netflix streaming is now going to cost $7.99 for a lot of movies and TV shows I don't really need. What will the price be when they have more movies and TV shows? Maybe a lot closer to my current cable bill? Hmmm...
How do you save a media brand when your name is Rupert Murdoch or News Corp.? You shut down a profitable weekend newspaper; you buy back $5 billion in News Corp. shares; you cut bait on trying to take over British Sky Broadcasting; you trot out a couple of resignations ; and you take out full-page ads in U.K. newspapers, including one that had long pursued a story against one of your own papers. There'll be more coming. Murdoch's initial brand message in the U.S., as the owner of a group of tabloid newspapers, was "tough, get-the-story-at-all-costs, and for-gods-sake-don't-apologize." Some of that tough brand patina later worked its way onto the Fox network in later years, and onto take-no-prisoner reality shows. But now many fear that some of his brands have gone too far. Murdoch -- perhaps biting his tongue -- offers a personal apology for phone hacking and claims of bribing police. At the end of the print ad, he hints there will be more to come: "In the coming days, as we take further concrete steps to resolve these issues and make amends for the damage they have caused, you will hear more from us." Hmmm... Might that mean a TV ad as well? Right now, the News Corp. brand problem seems to be contained in the U.K., but it may not end there. The FBI is investigating News Corp. operations in the U.S. because News Corp. employees might have tapped phones of the families of 9/11 victims. So the question of what happens to the brand in this country is going forward. Perhaps nothing will happen. Don't expect advertisers to cut back on their buys on Fox's "American Idol" or "Glee," or on the Fox News Channel. But you can't take an FBI investigation lightly. Many might think that if such behavior was okay for one News Corp. media outlet, why not others? That's the danger, and why News Corp. looks to contain the damage. Tabloid journalists -- or any journalists -- have an increasingly tougher time competing in the vastly growing digital world. But a crime is a crime. Having a "tough" image at a newspaper will only take you so far. Murdoch first said in The Wall Street Journal that the accusations were "total lies. Now, he says, there was "serious wrongdoing." News Corp.'s brand message is seemingly changing.