Media Groups Knock Harsh Media Law Passed By Kenya National Assembly

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Press groups and free speech advocates have voiced concern about an Information & Communications Bill enacted by Kenya's National Assembly and backed by the African nation's president Uhuru Kenyatta, Bloomberg News reported yesterday.

The measure creates tribunals to hear complaints against reporters and media groups. Journalists are worreid about the deterrent effect of the harsh fines that may be levied for breaching the journalists' code of conduct, which could reach 500,000 shillings ($5,776)  for individual reporters and a maximum 20 million shillings ($231,244) for media companies, according to the Bloomberg article.

The Kenya Editors Guild is weighing a court challenge to the law.

Down at the Wire

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The 96-year-old E.W. Scripps Co.-owned Scripps Howard News Service, which provides syndicated news stories to newspapers nationwide, is shutting down, Bloomberg News reported today.

The wire service was done in by the same dwindling circulation and plunging advertising sales that has crippled print editions of the newspaper industry. A transition from Scripps Howard clients to the McClatchy-Tribune Information Services is expected to be completed by January 2014.

The Cincinnati-based news service, whose distinguished alumni include famed World War II correspondent Ernie Pyle, will eliminate seven wire-related editorial slots in its Washington, D.C. bureau. Like most media companies nowadays, Scripps is shifting its emphasis to its online and television audience.

News Corp. Sheds Newspapers

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The Dow Jones Local Media Group ("DJLMG"), owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, has unloaded several local newspapers to private equity manager Fortress Investment Group, LLC, GateHouse Media, Inc.'s majority owner, Bloomberg News reported today.

GateHouse Media will manage the acquired publications, which include the Cape Cod Times and The (New Bedford) Standard Times from TUOL's home turf, as well as the Portsmouth (N.H.) Herald and Ashland (Ore.) Daily Tidings. In all, DJLMG boasts 33 publications, including eight dailies. According to Bloomberg, Barrons, SmartMoney.com, AllThingsD., MarketWatch and The Wall St. Journal are the remaining properties of DJLMG following the transaction, financial terms of which were not revealed.

Canada Dry: Sun Media Corp. Shuttering 11 Newspapers; Axing 360 Jobs

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Earlier this month, Quebecor, Inc.-owned Sun Media Corp. announced 360 staffers would be pink-slipped as the media conglomerate decided to close 11 newspapers as the industry continues its hopeful march to digital salvation in the wake of declining print advertising and eroding circulation.

Bloomberg News reported that eight newspapers in Saskatchewan, Quebec, Manitoba and Ontario will fall by the wayside, along with editions of the free city paper, 24 Hours, in Edmonton, Calgary and Ottawa. The company hopes to realize a savings of 53 million dollars Canadian ($55 million) by the move, which Sun Media COO Julie Tremblay insists was necessary to remain competitive.

Less than a year ago, Sun Media slashed 500 jobs and turned off the lights at two Ontario production facilities, according to Bloomberg News.

Price Tag for Hulu Continues to Rise

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El Segundo, Calif.-based pay-TV service DirecTV reportedly is one of three suitors waving more than $1 billion at the owners of Hulu, LLC in hopes of wresting away the on-demand streaming video Web site, according to a Bloomberg News report.

Hulu's owners, News Corp., Comcast and Walt Disney Co., may be tempted by the sweetened pot to unload Hulu after their previous IPO and auction efforts came up short. Hulu airs webisodes, trailers, clips and other advertising-bolstered content from movie studios and cable and commercial networks.

The Bloomberg News article noted the other two seven-figure bidders besides DirecTV, the nation's second-largest pay-tv company, have not yet been identified.  Other companies who have tendered offers to acquire Hulu include Time Warner Cable, Inc., Yahoo! Inc. and private equity firm KKR & Co.

Bloomberg News Plays Matchmaker; Wonders if CBS & Time Warner Will Hook-Up

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It's spring and romance is in the air, which has Bloomberg News all atwitter in an article contemplating a union between thriving media giants Time Warner and CBS.

Time Warner may still be on the rebound from its painful 2009 break-up with AOL, with which it exchanged vows in 2001 to the tune of $124 billion. Both Time Warner and CBS already have dipped their toes in relationship waters as partners in the CW Network.

Bloomberg News reported that both merger candidates are attractive New Yorkers, with CBS presently the broadcast television ratings champ and Time Warner, owner of cable outlets CNN and TNT along with one of Hollywood's busiest movie studios. Whether the match made in broadcast heaven occurs depends largely on the whims of 89-year-old mogul Sumner Redstone, who holds more than three-quarters of CBS's voting rights.

The Bloomberg article speculates that CBS could come with a $35 billion price tag, not including the cost of catering,a band and the honeymoon. Neither of the would-be lovebirds commented for the story.

Timelines Trademark Suit Marches On Toward Trial

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Trial is slated for April 22 in Timelines, Inc. v. Facebook, Inc. (Case No. 11-cv-06867) as United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (Eastern Division) Judge John W. Darrah this week denied Facebook's summary judgment motion in the trademark and copyright infringement suit.

According to reports by Bloomberg News and PCWorld.com, Judge Darrah wrote: "At this stage in the proceedings, it is not unreasonable to conclude that as to this group of users, 'timeline(s)' had acquired a specific meaning associated with Plaintiff."

The six-year-old Chicago-based Timelines, Inc. unveiled Timelines.com in 2009 and registered trademarks Timelines.com and Timelines for its site that enables users to organize sporting events, historical occurrences and scientific advances, among other events, chronologically. The plaintiff sued Facebook in 2011 after the Menlo Park, Calif.-based social network created a profile redesign dubbed Timeline that chronologically organizes users' personal history.

Facebook filed a summary judgment motion, offering a fair use defense to the infringement claims and contending that the plaintiff's registered marks were generic and not descriptive enough to warrant federal protection. Judge Darrah noted that the plaintiff had more than 1,000 users and had invested millions of dollars in its Web site in ruling that Facebook "has failed to demonstrate, as a matter of law, that the marks are generic."

CBS Joins Lionsgate in TV Guide Network Ownership

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CBS Corp., which already enjoys the largest viewership among U.S. commercial tv networks and boasts ownership of premium cable channel Showtime, has purchased a 50 percent stake in the 32-year-old TV Guide Network ("TVGN") from JP Morgan Chase & Co.'s One Equity Partners.

CBS will share ownership of TVGN with Lionsgate Entertainment, which bought TVGN in 2009 for a reported $241.6 million (later unloading a 49 percent share to One Equity Partners), a heftier price tag than the roughly $100 million CBS doled out for its half-share, according to accounts in the Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg News and Deadline.com Web site. TVGN, which reaches 80 million homes, has made an awkward shift in the past four years from a combination of infomercials and scrolling grid of tv program listings, to the grid and reruns of enterainment programming such as Who's the Boss?, Designing Women and Dharma & Greg. Far from "must-see" television, though in fairness, TVGuide.com has been robust, growing to more than 25 million monthly online visitors, according to Deadline.com.

Lionsgate is the force behind cable tv hits, including Weeds, Mad Men and Nurse Jackie.

UPDATE: Readers Digest Submits Chapter 11 Plan to Bankruptcy Court

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RDA Holding Co., publisher of the 91-year-old Reader's Digest magazine, last week submitted its proposed Chapter 11 reorganization plan to United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Robert Drain.

As reported here (see "TUOL" post 2/19/13), in In re RDA Holding Co., Inc. (Docket No. 13-22233), Judge Drain will have to approve the plan that 70 percent of noteholders accepted last month that converts into new equity $231 million in notes, roughly 80 percent of the troubled publisher's debt, according to an article by Bloomberg News. About $244.9 million in notes is being considered a general unsecured claim under the proposed plan, Bloomberg reported.

The plan is hazy about how creditors to the tune of $380 million will be repaid. In the interim, RDA Holding Co. secured a $105 million debtor-in-possession loan from lenders organized by a Wells Fargo & Co. unit. Reader's Digest, which claims assets and liabilities exceeding $1 billion, also filed for bankruptcy in 2009 (see "TUOL" post 8/17/09).

Gray Lady 'Having Some Work Done': NYT Restructuring

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As part of its brand-strengthening strategy, The New York Times at the end of this month will restructure into digital, print and advertising divisions, according to an internal staff memo cited by Bloomberg News.

The Gray Lady will tear down the wall between its corporate operations and the New York Times Media Group, the Bloomberg article reported, as Media Group CFO Ronald A. Caputo will head up print operations, former chief advertising officer Denise Warren will command digital products and corporate side CFO Jim Follo will stay put.

Advertising revenue and circulation hits on the print edition side have prompted the Times to cast off About.com, plan a restructure of the International Herald Tribune (see "TUOL" post 2/25/13), and look for a buyer for its stable of New England newspapers, including The Boston Globe and Worcester Telegram-Gazette (see "TUOL" post 2/21/13). The Times, however, has enjoyed some success with paywall subscriptions for its digital edition.

Reader's Digest: Humor In Solvency

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To pare its debt by $465 million, the owner of the venerable Reader's Digest magazine has filed for Chapter  11 bankruptcy for the second time in the past five years, Bloomberg News reported.

In re RDA Holding Co., Inc. (Docket No. 13-22233), filed in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, revealed the company that publishes the 91-year old Reader's Digest ("RD") claims both assets and liabilities of more than $1 billion. A victim of declining ad revenues and shifting public taste toward electronic news media outlets, RD last filed for bankruptcy protection in 2009 (See "TUOL" post 8/17/09).

The magazine, which was founded by DeWitt and Lila Wallace, was acquired in 2007 by the Ripplewood Holdings LLC private equity firm for $1.6 billion, according to the Bloomberg News article.  Under a proposed restructuring backed by Wells Fargo & Co., senior notes totaling $465 million would be converted to equity, thereby reducing RDA Holding Co.'s debt by 80 percent and allowing it to emerge from insolvency with $100 million in debt.

RD's Web site boasts that its readership worldwide exceeds 25 million.

Comcast Completes NBC Universal Purchase a Year Early

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Philadelphia-based cable giant Comcast paid Fairfield, Conn.-based General Electric $16.7 billion this week to purchase the remaining 49 percent interest in NBC/Universal, a year ahead of the planned completion of the acquisition (see "TUOL" post 9/2/11), according to accounts by Bloomberg News, Mediabistro.com and others.

The deal, expected to be finalized by the end of March, fattens GE's bank account by $12 billion, includes a $4 billion debt guarantee from Comcast, $700k in preferred stock and another $1.4 billion to acquire real estate, including NBC's 30 Rockefeller Plaza building and CNBC's Englewood Cliffs, N.J., headquarters.

Comcast takes on the NBC broadcast network, cable networks Bravo, USA Network and MSNBC, as well as Universal Studios and the Universal theme parks. According to the Bloomberg News article, NBC Universal's enterprise value has jumped to $39.1 billion from $37.5 billion when Comcast initially gobbled up 51 percent of the entertainment company.

As a Comcast subscriber, "TUOL" may have something further to say about the merger in the future, on a weekday, between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Banker Banks $95k in Libel Judgment Against U.K. Paper

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Associated Newspapers Ltd., U.K. publisher of the Mail on Sunday, apologized in London's High Court last week for allegedly accusing a prominent financial figure of perjuring himself and participating in a purported conspiracy to defraud banks, Bloomberg News reported.

Irfan Qadir, a well-known figure in the U.K. banking community, reportedly pocketed 60,000 pounds ($95,000) from Associated Newspapers in a settlement. The High Court last October said the Mail on Sunday unfairly published a story accusing Qadir, a former Bank of Scotland director, of playing a key role in an alleged conspiracy to defraud banks out of 49 million pounds without including a judge's comments in the article noting the allegation was unsupported by evidence, according to Bloomberg News.

Poor Time Inc.: Media Conglomerate Trims Workforce by 6%

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Vowing to "transform our company into one that is leaner, more nimble and more innately multi-platform," Time, Inc. CEO Laura Lang this week announced the media giant was pink-slipping 6 percent of its global workforce, or roughly 480 of its 8,000 employees.

According to online accounts by Bloomberg News and AdWeek, Time, Inc., the largest U.S. magazine publisher, suffered a 6.2 percent drop in sales over the first three quarters of 2012, compared to a year earlier, to $2.47 billion. Lang took the helm of Time, Inc. last year after a successful stint at the Digitas digital ad agency.

Declining newsstand sales of magazine titles, such as People and Fortune, had the industry and Time, Inc. employees fretting about looming layoffs (see "TUOL" post 1/11/13). The media company endured significant layoffs in 2008 and 2009 as well (see "TUOL" post 10/30/09).

Don't Divest of Me, Argentina...

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A four-year antitrust battle between the Argentine government and the South American nation's largest media conglomerate is not over yet, according to Bloomberg News, which last week reported a judge issued an injunction postponing divesture of media holdings.

Grupo Clarin SA ("GCSA"), which owns four tv stations, 10 radio stations, 240 cable tv operators and Internet Service Providers and Clarin, the nation's largest newspaper, dodged the effects of Article 161 that requires divestiture of tv and radio stations. (See "TUOL" post 10/6/10.) A judge last week delayed the deadline for GCSA having to submit a plan to sell assets without setting a new deadline, pending another court ruling on the constitutionality of Article 161.

Argentina's 59-year-old President Christina Fernandez de Kirchner and GCSA have been at loggerheads over what the government perceives as media bias in the coverage of an export tax dispute involving the government and farmers. According to the Bloomberg article, GCSA's cable entity, Cablevision SA, would have been forced to pare its 168 licenses nationwide down to 24 to comply with the antitrust measure,

CNN Zucker-Punched

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Jeff Zucker, 47, is the incoming president of CNN Worldwide, a new chapter in a career that has included stints as executive producer of  NBC's Today Show at age 26, head of NBC Universal and executive producer and co-owner of "Katie," Katie Couric's talkfest syndicated by Disney.

Zucker will take the helm of CNN in January, succeeding Jim Walton, who completes a nine-year run in the position. CNN, CNN International and HNL are among the entities Zucker will oversee, according to accounts in the New York Post, Bloomberg News and CNN. CNN reaches a 100 million U.S. households, but its prime-time programming attracts fewer than a third of the viewers who watch Fox News. Zucker will disassociate himself from "Katie," though don't be surprised if he tries to lure Her Royal Perkiness to CNN's Prime-time schedule.

He is an accomplished broadcasting executive, though during his five-year reign as NBC Universal's Majordomo, NBC has finished fourth in network ratings, trailing CBS, ABC, FOX and just edging out the Emergency Broadcast Signal. When Donald Trump's Celebrity Apprentice is a bright light of one's oeuvre, it's ok to feel a bit jumpy if you're a CNN shareholder.

Zucker will be right at home at CNN, which currently languishes in third place behind cable rivals Fox and MSNBC. It remains to be seen whether moves such as enlisting chef Anthony Bourdain to host a program will reverse CNN's recent series of missteps, that include Piers Morgan and  Parker & Spitzer.

Murdoch's Interest in 'YES' Men

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The YES Network cable channel, which broadcasts the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Nets games, has sold a 49 percent ownership share to Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., Bloomberg News reports.

News Corp.'s reported $3 billion deal with the Yankees, Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. and other investors for an ownership stake in the pay-TV channel allows for Murdoch to increase his ownership share to 80 percent after three years, according to the Bloomberg article. New York Yankees games will continue to be broadcast on YES through 2042 because of a five-year extension of its current agreement.

According to a recent article in Forbes Magazine, the YES Network generates annual pretax earnings of $200 million. "TUOL"'s tireless staff are devoted New York Yankees fans and concerned that the loopy (politically and otherwise) Australian Murdoch will only be interested in the team's "right" fielder.

Virtual Lobbying

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The nation's capital isn't wanting for lobbyists, but add the Washington, D.C.-based The Internet Association to the list of lobbying groups looking to influence Congress on issues ranging from online security to privacy.

Bloomberg News this week reported that Michael Beckerman will serve as the IA's CEO and president. Group members include Google, Facebook, AOL, Zynga, EBay, Expedia, Monster, LinkedIn and Trip Advisor.  Economic growth in the ether will be one of the organization's principal goals.

Censorship on the Menu at New Delhi Trial of Facebook and Google

Image via WikipediaFreedom of expression lovers have turned their attention to New Delhi's Patiala House where social media leviathans Facebook and Google went on trial Tuesday for failing to remove objectionable content from their sites.

As reported by The Wall St. Journal and Bloomberg News, an adverse ruling in the high stakes proceedings could impose heavy fines on Facebook and Google and subject executives of the social media companies to jail terms. Microsoft Corp. is also a defendant, but the focus thus far is on Google and Facebook as the repositories of the purportedly offensive content.

Indian journalist Vinay Rai initiated the criminal complaint, alleging the defendants display content that "seeks to create enmity, hatred and communal violence," according to the Journal article. Facebook and Google believe India's information technology law shields them from liability, but Delhi's High Court is not expected to address the defendants' efforts to dismiss the case against them before May. Unlike China, India has not blocked Web sites, but censorship suits are not a rarity, but are a hindrance to social media companies' business operations.

According to reports, fewer than 10 percent of India's 1.2 billion citizens are online. Facebook monthly users in India total roughly 46 million, while Google estimates reaching 300 million Web users in India by 2014. Bloomberg reports that Google has taken down most of the material about which Rai complained.

Facebook and Google previously pulled  purportedly religiously offensive content from their sites that upset Mufti Aijaz Arshad Qasm (see "TUOL" post 2/7/12).

Ecuador Law Curbs Press Election Coverage; Censorship Feared

Image via WikipediaUrged by President Rafael Correa to stamp out "illegitimate propaganda," the Ecuadorian Constituent Assembly has enacted a law preventing news media from writing about candidates or their movements within 45 days of an election, Bloomberg News reports.

Voters will choose a president, vice president and members of the Assembly (which supplanted the National Congress in 2007) on Jan. 20, 2013, but free press advocates, such as the Committee to Protect Journalists, are concerned the legislation, that encompasses positive and negative coverage of candidates, may be used to stifle journalists.