• Miramax And Zenithmedia Part Ways (AdAge)
    Movie studio Miramax is parting ways with its media-buying agency, ZenithMedia Group, just days before the start of the upfront. The company is moving the account back to Santa Monica-based Palisades Media Group.
  • Hot Races Push U.S. Campaign Ad Outlook to $1.5 Bln (Reuters)
    U.S. political candidates will pour $1.5 billion into advertising in this year's tight races to control the White House and Congress, but the record spending has yet to produce a convincing message for either of the two presidential contenders, ad industry watchers said.
  • DirecTV To Sell Set-Top Box Unit To Thomson For $250M (Forbes)
    DirecTV Group Wednesday said it agreed to sell its set-top manufacturing business to French consumer electronics maker Thomson S.A. for $250 million. The sale is the latest in a series of changes wrought by News Corp., which gained control of DirecTV at the end of last year.
  • Fox Takes Gay-Themed Reality Show One Step Further (Reuters)
    Two straight men will do their best to pass themselves off as gay as they compete for $50,000 in an upcoming Fox television special, "Seriously, Dude, I'm Gay," the network said on Thursday.
  • TV Ratings, Minorities and a Study in Futility (New York Times)
    More than a month after announcing the creation of a task force to investigate complaints about the way it plans to gather local television ratings, Nielsen Media Research has yet to appoint a single task force member.
  • Clear Channel Skirting TV Ad Sales Event Next Week (Reuters)
    Radio and billboard operator Clear Channel Communications will be sitting on the sidelines when U.S. TV networks try to sell their upcoming seasons to a group of disenchanted advertisers next week in New York, an executive said.
  • BBDO Executive to Step Down (New York Times)
    Allen Rosenshine, the chairman and chief executive of BBDO Worldwide in New York, the largest agency of the world's largest agency company, the Omnicom Group, is stepping down as chief executive for the second time. And this time, he says, he means it.
  • NBC Universal Sees Smaller TV Ad Price Increases (Reuters)
    NBC Universal expects the network will secure more modest price increases for commercial time than it did last year when it negotiates with advertisers during the "upfront" marketplace that kicks off next week, a network executive said on Wednesday.
  • Limbaugh to Criticize Fla. Prosecutor in Ads (Reuters)
    Conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh has purchased full-page ads in two Florida newspapers to charge that local prosecutors are politically motivated in investigating him for "doctor shopping."
  • Networks are Facing Reality for Fall (USA TODAY)
    Ending a season in which reality TV outlasted and outplayed sitcoms and dramas, the six broadcast networks are readying plans to swing for the fences all over again.
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