Reuters
U.S. telecommunications regulators will vote on proposals to free up more airwaves for commercial wireless use on Tuesday in a meeting that could be overshadowed if plans to act on contentious Internet traffic rules are circulated. At stake is how quickly consumers, particularly those using handheld devices, like Research in Motion Ltd's BlackBerry and Apple Inc's iPhone, can receive and download videos and other content. Meanwhile, FCC commissioners will vote on Tuesday on ways to find spectrum to make available for wireless broadband use. Without more efficient use of the nation's spectrum, consumers will experience clogged networks, more dropped …
Ad Age
Faced with flat budgets, marketers are experimenting with new media mixes this holiday season. According to BDO's Retail Compass Survey, 63% of CMOs said this year's holiday budget was flat, compared to 55% in 2009 and 43% in 2008. But this year, just one-fifth said their budgets were lower than a year ago. That's an improvement from 2009 and 2008, when 26% and 32%, respectively, reported lower budgets for the holiday season. Many retailers are scrutinizing the budgets they do have and allocating more to TV. One-quarter of CMOs said they were spending most of their budget on broadcast …
The Wrap
Fox News says it's laughing off two consecutive weeks of "Simpsons" jokes at its expense. Last week's episode of the Fox cartoon featured a Fox News helicopter with the slogan, "Not Racist, But #1 With Racists." This week the chopper's slogan changed to "Unsuitable for Viewers Under 75." A Fox News insider says the network hasn't complained, adding: At least "The Simpsons" is funny, unlike "Family Guy." "Family Guy" has repeatedly mocked Fox News, including in an episode in which Lois Griffin's character becomes a reporter for the network. Fox News and Fox Entertainment, which broadcasts "The Simpsons" and …
Adweek
Conan O'Brien and other Turner Broadcasting personalities are hitting the restaurant circuit. Turner has inked a sweeping agreement to supply content to IndoorDirect, the out-of-home video network located in some of the nation's biggest quick-service and casual restaurant chains, including McDonald's, Wendy's, Hardy's and Carl's Jr. The deal underscores the importance of growing channels like OOH nets as media companies and advertisers try to keep up with consumers in the increasingly fragmented landscape. IndoorDirect has a monthly reach of more than 15 million diners, per Nielsen. Over 1,100 restaurants are in the network.
AP
CBS News is overhauling "The Early Show" to give the broadcast team a fresh look. Co-anchors Harry Smith and Maggie Rodriguez are out, along with weather forecaster Dave Price. The morning news show's new anchor team will be Chris Wragge and Erica Hill, who have worked together anchoring CBS' Saturday-morning show. Hill is also the current news reader for the weekday version. Jeff Glor, anchor of Saturday's "CBS Evening News" and a reporter on "The Early Show, will take over the news reader job on the morning show, CBS said. Marysol Castro, formerly of ABC's "Good Morning America" weekend …
Ad Age
In a Procter & Gamble promotion gone drastically wrong in Brazil last week, the bomb squad was summoned after panicked residents called the police on Wednesday to report two large wooden crates abandoned in public squares in an upscale beach area in Rio de Janeiro. The city of 6 million was already on edge after days of fighting between violent drug gangs and heavily-armed police. The suspect crates were intended to be a teaser promotion for P&G's biggest-ever sweepstakes in Brazil, called "P&G Faustão's Airplane," with multiple drawings to be held on the Sunday afternoon variety show hosted …
Mediaweek
Ben Silverman's Electus, formed last year following the executive's much-maligned tenure at NBC, has emerged as a deal-making juggernaut in the online video arena, to the extent that many are crediting him with resuscitating a moribund medium. Over the past 12 months, the IAC-owned company has launched projects with four of the Web's biggest players: Yahoo, AOL, MySpace and Facebook. Soon the company will move forward into territory previously seen as perilous-scripted content for the Web. Besides the Web, Electus is active in TV and movies. Just last week the company announced a deal with VH1 to launch a …
Bloomberg
Sony Corp., Japan's biggest exporter of consumer electronics, plans to look for a new president who could eventually succeed Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Howard Stringer, sources say. Stringer would retain his roles of chairman and CEO. Stringer took on the president's job in April 2009 after ousting Ryoji Chubachi. Installing a president would give Stringer, who turns 69 in February, a deputy to lighten his work and travel load and offer the designee a chance to prove their mettle as Sony sets its long-term plans. Kazuo Hirai and Hiroshi Yoshioka, two of the company's so-called Four Musketeers, may …
Adweek
AdweekMedia/Harris Poll asked consumers to cite the kind of advertising they're most likely to ignore -- and 43% picked Internet banner ads. Search-engine advertising also didn't fare very well in the poll, either: 20% ignore them. Despite having come of age with the Internet, the survey's 18-34-year-olds were about as likely as their elders to pick banner ads as the genre they ignore the most (42%). The biggest variation by age cohort came with respect to TV advertising. While advertisers might think of the 55-plusers as a comparatively docile TV audience, that age group had the highest proportion …
The Wrap
Anderson Cooper's syndicated daytime talk show is still a year away from launching -- but Warner Bros. Television announced on Monday that it has secured distribution in four major markets: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Boston. The yet-to-be-titled one-hour show will debut next fall on WPIX in New York, KTTV in L.A., WFLD in Chicago and WFXT in Boston. With those key markets on board, Cooper is being positioned as a major daytime star, in the mold of Phil Donahue and Oprah. The show will shoot in New York, with Cooper serving as an executive producer. Cooper signed …