• Comcast Pretends Cord Cutters Don't Exist
    A couple of months back, Tech Dirty noted that the TV companies were in complete denial, insisting that the idea that people would cut the cable cord to go Internet-only would never happen. The same day the article appeared, so did a report saying that cable TV had suffered its first ever decline in subscribers. It seems that's continuing. Comcast lost 275,000 cable subscribers last quarter, and has lost 622,000 in the first nine months of 2010. However, the company has an ingenious way to make it clear that those people aren't cord cutters. Why not? Because they're …
  • TV Stations in 2 States Yank American Action Network Ads
    At least two television stations in Connecticut and Colordo have yanked misleading attack ads in the last 24 hours financed by the conservative group American Action Network. Sophomore Rep. Chris Murphy (D), of Connecticut's 5th district, was the target of an ad taken off the air Monday night by Hartford's Fox affiliate. Among other accusations, the ad noted that the new health-care overhaul would force "jail time for anyone without coverage." Colorado Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D), another American Action Network target, reports that a Denver-based NBC affiliate today has pulled a second ad off the air. The Center for …
  • 3 Key Hires At JWT
    JWT still hasn't filled its chief creative officer role, but today the WPP Group shop confirmed three key appointments for its New York headquarters. Joining the agency in the new position of chief creative innovation officer is James Cooper, currently an integrated creative director at the New York office of Saatchi & Saatchi, who also has worked at Another Anomaly in New York and Dare in London. Cooper will steer digital creative efforts for JWT New York. JWT also changed leadership of client management, naming Beth Waxman-Arteta and John Baker co-presidents of client services. The duo succeeds …
  • Spike Eyes More Scripted Fare To Broaden Male Target
    Spike TV -- in an effort to draw in older, male viewers -- will jump into the scripted series ring with a slate of fictional comedy and drama shows. The network is hoping that the addition of scripted content will help bolster its struggling ratings by attracting more men 25 to 49 to complement its core18-to-34 male audience base,says Spike president Kevin Kay. The network is looking to rebound from a 15% audience decline in total prime-time viewers during the third quarter. Kay says the mix of scripted comedy and drama fare will help broaden Spike's audience and …
  • Media Cos. May See Ad Recovery Continue
    Diversified media companies are expected to post quarterly results close to year-earlier figures, although the advertising market continues to improve from a sharp downturn during the recession. Prices in the broadcast television ad market were reported to be up 30% in September, at the start of the fall season, from two months earlier, as political-ad demand has been strong. Ad-revenue growth is likely to be especially stout at cable-television networks. Even the number of ad pages in long-struggling U.S. magazines inched up in the third quarter, the second growth period in a row. Also, through Oct. 24, 2010 …
  • OMVC Names New President
    The Open Mobile Video Coalition, which is developing mobile DTV for the broadcasting industry, has elected LIN Media President Vincent Sadusky president, succeeding Ion Media Networks CEO Brandon Burgess, who has headed the group since it was formed back in 2007. Burgess will continue to serve on the executive committee. OMVC is currently testing/showcasing the service in the Washington/Baltimore area to provide feedback on how consumers are using the service, as well as to provide a technical test-bed for its refinement. Currently, 70 stations are broadcasting mobile DTV nationwide.
  • Carlyle To Buy CommScope
    The Carlyle Group will by communications cable maker CommScope said in a $3.9 billion deal. Carlyle will acquire all of CommScope's outstanding common shares for $31.50 each in cash, a premium of 36 percent to the stock's close Friday. The deal is the latest sign of a resurgence of acquisitions by private equity firms, which are under pressure to invest billions of capital raised in the past few years. CommScope posted a third-quarter profit that beat market estimates and said popular devices like smartphones and tablet PCs have created demand for mobile Internet.
  • Martha Stewart Reorganizes Management
    Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. replaced its heads of marketing, broadcast sales and digital-advertising sales with newly appointed executive vice president Sally Preston amid a reorganization. Preston, previously group publisher, will oversee media sales and marketing. Janet Balis, executive vice president of media sales and marketing, and the executives in charge of broadcast and digital-ad sales are departing. Martha Stewart Living, owner of the namesake magazine and TV cooking show, is trying to revive sales growth after two straight years of falling revenue. The shifting of its TV shows to the Hallmark Channel this fall has been "disappointing …
  • Corporate Contributions Avoid Transparency, Voters In Dark
    The Supreme Court sent a wave of corporate and union money flooding into campaign ads this year, but it did so with the promise that the public would know - almost instantly - who was paying for them. But the high court majority were wrong. Because of loopholes in tax laws and a weak enforcement policy at the Federal Election Commission, corporations and wealthy donors have been able to spend huge sums on campaign ads, an estimated $266 million as of Tuesday and counting, confident the public will never know who they are, election law experts say. Corporate donors have …
  • Cablevision New Offer To News Corp Rejected
    With only a few hours before the World Series begins on Fox, Cablevision put a new offer on the negotiating table. In a statement Wednesday, Cablevision said it had told News Corporation, the owner of Fox: "We agree to pay the rate Fox charges Time Warner Cable for carriage of WNYW-Fox 5 New York and WTXF-Fox 29 Philadelphia for a period of one year. This is higher than the rate we pay any other New York broadcast station." Cablevision did not specify what that rate would be, and it did not mention a third station that is affected in …
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