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If It’s Not Bad Enough That Newsprint Is Going Up, So Is Ink
Flint Ink has announced a surcharge on news inks because of what it calls “rapidly escalating raw material, energy and freight costs.” The surcharge is in addition to recent price increases, the company said.
“We appreciate our customers’ loyalty and understanding of this situation,” said Mike Green, VP of the North American Publication and News Ink business units. No quotes available from a publisher on what he/she thinks of the increases or their “understanding of this situation”.
UK Radio Stations Get Big Fines For Fake Contests
It’s not just UK TV networks getting nailed by the Office of Communication (Ofcom) with seven figure fines for holding contests using phone calls/text messages to premium rate lines when the caller had no chance of winning. Ofcom has now fined 30 local radio stations a total £1.11 million ($2.2 million, €1.4 million) for activities that prevented prizes being won too quickly.
The stations, all owned by GCap Media, were fined heavier than they might have been because Ofcom was not enthralled by GCap’s own internal investigation, that it basically covered up the results of that investigation by placing an announcement only on its corporate web site and that GCap was not as full and frank as it should have been in helping the regulator’s investigation. It particularly was angry that there were no offers of refunds on-air, nor were such offers made on the local radio web sites with the result there was only one request for a refund in which all of £2 was paid out.
GCap stresses the events took place last year under the company’s old management and owners and the new owners and managers are putting in place new measures to ensure such problems don’t occur again.
Ofcom last month fined ITV, the country’s largest commercial terrestrial broadcaster, £5.675 million ($11 million, €7.1 million) for abusing premium rate phone services for various viewer competitions.
Prix Europa deadline announcement
entries due July 1
Prix Europa is a favorite event because celebrating good production is a good thing. A reminder went out for submissions, due July 1, already next week. (See Prix Europa presser here for details) (JMH)
Agora completes trader.com purchase
...and Axel Springer's looking at another Polish publisher...
Major Polish publisher Agora completed its purchase of trader.com (Polska) from Turkish giant Dogan Media Group. (See Agora release here and see earlier article on the deal here)
Polish media is a Hot Topic. Gazeta Wyborcza (owned by Agora) led with and Reuters followed up on a report that Axel Springer has asked the Polish government about the possible purchase of the government's 49% stake in Presspublica. Mecom owns the rest and has a contentious relationship with the government. (JMH)
BBC to close Romanian service
...€1.65 million savings...
Western international broadcasters continue to switch targets; cutting services to Eastern Europe, expanding in the Middle East. The BBC World Service announcement this week lacks surprise, Romania being in the EU and all. (See BBC WS release here)
I believe RFE/RL accountants have its Romanian service marked. I also believe Voice of Russia recently added a Romanian language service on local stations in Moldova. (JMH)
Conrad Black To Do The Time
A federal appeals court Wednesday unanimously rejected Conrad Black’s appeal of his 6 year prison sentence conviction for fraud and obstructing justice and the court did not accept even one argument pleaded by the former media mogul’s lawyers. (See the whole ugly story here)
The three-judge panel in a 16-page decision said there was “compelling evidence” of fraud presented for Black's conviction. He was done in by a surveillance videotape that captured him loading 13 boxes of documents from his Toronto office into his car after the Securities and Exchange Commission notified him he was under investigation. Judge Richard Posner wrote, “All that needed to be proved is that the document was concealed in order to make it unavailable in an official proceeding," Posner wrote. "The evidence of that was ample."
The court also upheld the convictions of former Vice President Peter Atkinson, former Chief Financial Officer John Boultbee, and the company’s top in-house lawyer, Mark Kipnis, who all received lesser sentences.
Black’s lawyers, naturally, were not pleased and said they are considering their further appeal options including asking the same court of appeals to take another look at the case. Legal observers say things are not looking bright for Black, however, because of the speed in which the appeals court delivered its opinion -- just three weeks after hearing the case – so apparently they didn’t find much in the appeal to debate, and their language in rejecting it was called “forceful”.
Black started serving time March 3 in a minimum security prison in Florida. Since there is no parole in the federal prison system it means he won’t be free until September, 2014.
Survey Says Top Executives Getting More News Increasingly From The Web
The Internet continues to be the most influential and important source of business information for 67% of top level business executives globally, an increase of 37% since 2004, according to a Forbes.com and Gartner Study. The bad news for newspaper publishers is that getting news from newspapers as the top source is down 36% by those executives.
The number of top level executives who read the Internet instead of or before the newspaper has increased 22% since 2004, while those reading the newspaper first thing in the morning has declined 11%.
“This study further underscores our belief that the highly desirable C-Level (top level) executive audience will continue to increase its use of the Internet as a primary source of business information, while newspaper consumption for business purposes will continue to decline,” Jim Spanfeller, CEO and President of Forbes.com, said in a statement.
But then the president of a business news web site would say that, wouldn’t he? No comment from the Wall Street Journal or the Financial Times.
$8 Million Enough To Figure Out The Future Of Newspapers?
Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism is getting $5 million and the City University of New York’s (CUNY) graduate School of Journalism is getting $3 million from a philanthropist who wants them to figure out the future of newspapers, both in print and online.
The money comes from former newspaper executive Leonard Tow, 80, whois the former chief executive of Citizens Communications and Century Communications. The two schools will also use some of the money to train students in digital journalism.
CUNY’s Tow Center for Journalistic Innovation will concentrate on research and development schemes leading to new business models, and bringing in the venture capitalists to fund the best, while Columbia will concentrate on digital skills.
"Fast food sends schoolgirls into sexual feeding frenzy" -- A Headline That Is Not Appreciated In Japan
The Yomiuri Shimbun has run a piece on the troubles its competitor, Mainichi, has been having with its English language web site, and it’s just too good not to run in its entirety:
“The Mainichi Newspapers decided to shut down a controversial section of its Mainichi Daily News English-language Web site, in response to increasing public criticism, the newspaper announced Tuesday.
“The Mainichi said that some articles carried in the section, which was titled WaiWai, were found to be "too vulgar" and carried "inappropriate content."
“It also decided to take punitive measures against the head of its Digital Media Division, which is responsible for overseeing the site, the manager responsible for the section, and the editor in charge.
“The section in question was designed to introduce various aspects of Japanese society as well as its manners and customs by quoting reports in Japanese weekly magazines, the newspaper said.
“However, the corner reportedly began carrying sensationalized stories on dubious topics containing seriously vulgar expressions over at least the past six years, with headlines such as "Fast food sends schoolgirls into sexual feeding frenzy."
“Consequently, the section drew criticism from readers, who complained its stories were "too vulgar and debauching Japan by sending around the world information that could be misunderstood."
“In late May, the Mainichi took measures to resolve the problem, withdrawing problematic stories from the site and changing WaiWai's editorial policy, the newspaper said.
“However, the newspaper eventually decided to shut down the column last Saturday, concluding that it would be necessary to fundamentally overhaul it with the goal of establishing a sound editorial structure.
"’The internal checking system was lenient. We sincerely apologize to our readers for making them feel uncomfortable,’" a Mainichi spokesperson said.”
Pay TV promises more in Eastern Europe
follow the money, says report
Oh, you know, growth forecasts for media are tempting. Here's yet another for Eastern European from Informa Telecoms that's sure to warm the cold-cash hearts of stock traders and investors: pay-TV revenues to more than double by 2013. (See Informa presser here, with suitably reproduced tables)
Russia will see more pay-TV growth because Russians have a bit more money in their pockets and Russian TV companies (and cable companies... and telecoms) are building out as fast as they can to meet demand.
In other markets - Czech Republic and Hungary, for example - that head-room has been largely exploited. Plus, inflation is starting to get in the way.
In his release statement, Informa's Adam Thomas mentiones more mergers and acquisitions in the region. What he really means is more consolidation as organic growth in Eastern European TV is over. It's on to the Web and IPTV. (JMH)
Creative finance in television
…and you thought the guys in accounting were boring…
And if you thought the real business of publicly traded media companies is audience and programs, think again.
Russia’s Prof-Media cashed out its credit linked notes (CLN) issued in December 2006 for US$250 million. (See Prof-Media’s statement here) CLNs are, essentially, leveraged bets against default giving investors a premium return. When a company pays the notes on time, everybody is very happy. When things don’t quite work out, investors are left holding the bag for a big bank loan. This is what took down Italian food producer Parmalat not all that long ago.
Central European Media Enterprises (CME), another big publicly traded investment vehicle, won an award for its creative financing. (See CMEs release here) Treasury Today bestowed its Adam Smith prize to CME for “best practice and innovation in the leveraging corporate debt solutions category.” Not exactly an OSCAR, but finance guys don’t often like a spot-light. (JMH)
UK Uproar Over Two Guys Kissing Forces Heinz To Withdraw Mayo Ad
With close to 200 complaints within its first week, Heinz in the UK has withdrawn a deli mayo ad showing two men kissing one another on the lips with “Mom” saying to “Dad”, “Love you, Straight home from work sweet cheeks.”
Complaints have ranged from “offensive” to “inappropriate to be seen by children”, and parents complained it raised discussions in the home on why two men were kissing. The ad already was banned from being shown in children’s programming, not for its sexual content, but because the product is too high in fat, salt, or sugar content and such “unhealthy” foods are banned from being promoted within UK children’s programming. But the ad can be can be shown in programs aimed at adults in which advertisers know from the ratings that a lot of kids watch, too.
The week is still young but that was not the only blip on British TV. John McEnroe, a BBC analyst for Wimbledon that started Monday, described younger players as “greedy bastards.” Presenter Sue Barker exclaimed, “You can’t say that,” and apologized to camera. McEnroe’s retort, “In the US that’s not a strong word.”
More Than 1 Billion Page Views For Euro Soccer Championships
Who says Soccer is not the world’s most popular sport? More than 42 million people from more than 200 countries have this month accessed euro2008.com, the official site of the European football (soccer) championships. And the most interest has been shown by two countries not playing – the UK followed by the US. In all traffic is double previous records and there have been more than 1 billion page views.
And even though the UK didn’t have a side in the championships UK TV ratings for BBC and ITV have been remarkably strong, at least 20 shares, and Sunday night’s Spanish penalty shootout thriller over Italy saw the BBC score a 29.6 share with more than seven million viewers.
Washington Post Executive Editor Gets Kicked Upstairs
Len Downie, Executive Editor of the Washington Post, told a hastily convened newsroom meeting Monday that he is leaving September 8 but he will remain with the Washington Post Company as a VP at large – in other words he gets kicked upstairs with salary “as a trusted friend and advisor”, but publisher since February Katharine Weymouth, granddaughter of Katharine Graham of Watergate fame, now gets to pick her new generation editor. Downie had been Executive Editor for 17 years.
Among those mentioned to replace Downie are former Wall Street Journal managing editor Marcus Brauchli, New York Times deputy managing editor Jonathan Landman, and Washington Post managing editor Phil Bennett.
Set-to box tax ruling angers pay-tv operators
“…money we’d rather not lose…”
The Financial Times reports (June 23) that pay-tv operators may appeal a European Commission ruling classifying set-top boxes as recording devices making them subject to a 13.9% tax.
Communication devices are not subject to the tax when imported into the EU. Recording devices carry the 13.9% import duty. The EC changed the classification last month.
“It's a material amount of money we'd rather not lose," said Cable Europe President Manuel Kohnstamm, quoted in the FT article.
Broadcasters continue Arbitron challenge
“confidence…not fully restored”
The heads of five US radio broadcasting companies fired back at ratings service Arbitron in a letter obtained by ftm. The companies are seeking further delay in Arbitron’s electronic measurement service PPM and are challenging sample framework and accreditation issues.
“Speaking as the vast majority of the industry our confidence in the system has not been fully restored as of this writing,” said the letter, undersigned by executives of Clear Channel, Cumulus, Cox Radio, Inner City and Saga Communications.
Last week Arbitron announced the previously delayed PPM roll-out would resume in September. (See last weeks Tickle File)(JMH)
UN salutes radio programs
Gold to XM Satellite Radio
The United Nations Department of Public Information (UN DPI) honored four radio program producers (June 19) for “exceptional radio programming that best reflects and exemplified the values, aim and ideals of the UN.” Each of the award winners tackled difficult and timely subjects. The awards are part of the annual New York Festival for radio programming and promotion.
The gold award was given to US broadcaster XM Satellite Radio for The Invisible: Children Without Homes, broadcast on the Bob Edwards Show, a series of stories about the horrors facing homeless children. SBS Radio, Australia, was given a silver award for The Stolen Generation, produced by young people examining the impact of the Australian government’s previous practice of removing Aboriginal children from their families and the subsequent government apology.
Bronze awards were given to Irish public broadcaster RTE for One in Eleven, stories of breast cancer survivors in Ireland, and Swedish educational channel Utbildningsradion (UR) for Breaking the Silence in Israel, looking at freedom of speech in Israel. (JMH)
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