Magazine Media Giant Bolsters TV Holdings

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Des Moines-based Meredith Corp. has added to its stable of tv stations by acquiring two stations from Gannett Co. for $407 million, mediabistro.com FishbowlNY reported.

Meredith adds Top 25 Market St. Louis' KMOV-TV and KASW-TV in Phoenix to its holdings of 12 television stations and approximate 30 magazines with the purchase, which is expected to be finalized during the first quarter of 2014 pending FCC approval. The media conglomerate already owns Phoenix CBS affiliate KPHO-TV.

UPDATE: FCC Allows Media Mergers

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The FCC last week approved the mergers of Belo Corp. and Gannett Co. (see "TUOL" post 6/13/13) and the Tribune Co. acquisition of Local TV LLC (see "TUOL" post 7/1/13), Broadcasting & Cable's Web site reported.

The FCC found that neither consolidation violated its rules and considered both acquisitions in the public interest.

ABC Bars the Door to 'Katie'; No 3rd Season for Gabfest

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High costs and disappointing ratings combined to sink Katie, Katie Couric's syndicated daytime yakathon, which will not return for a third season, the show's distributor, Disney-ABC Domestic TV, announced this week.

As reported in Ad Age, Capitalnewyork.com and elsewhere, Katie will cease production in June 2014, and air reruns through next September. The show's debut in September 2012, drew record ratings, and the gabfest ratings remained in the top 10 among daytime syndicated programs, but was expensive to produce and had seen its audience wane.

Couric, who reportedly pulled down a cool $20 million to join ABC (see "TUOL" post 6/6/11), recently announced plans to join Yahoo! as the Web site's global news anchor (see "TUOL" post 11/25/13).

GOP Reps. Fear FCC Study Effort to Reintroduce Fairness Doctrine

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The Federal Communications Commission's $900,000 study, "Multi-Market Study of Critical Needs," is drawing fire from Republican legislators who are concerned that the agency is laying the groundwork for reintroducing the Fairness Doctrine, Ad Week reported today.

The Fairness Doctrine, which was implemented by the FCC in 1949, was derided by the agency in 1987 as an unconstitutional infringement on the free press and expunged from the books two years ago (see "TUOL" post 8/24/11). The doctrine was aimed at airing conflicting views about controversial issues and required broadcasters to provide time for a response to personal attacks levied by the broadcasters.

The FCC study that has solons on edge intends to examine how tv stations choose news stories and how the news is produced and prioritized, according to the Ad Week article. Acquiring that data for analytic purposes would involve interviewing journalists about factors that affect their story selection and delving into their news philosophy.

Critics of the study view this as a blatant attempt to influence journalists' political speech. Newly appointed FCC chair Tom Wheeler has until January 10, 2014, to respond to questions posed by the GOP lawmakers, Ad Week reported, including why the study is confined only to the Columbia, South Carolina, market rather than tv markets of varying sizes and geographic locations.

FCC Eases Restrictions on Foreign Ownership of TV & Radio Stations

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The Federal Communications Commission yesterday unanimously signalled a willingness to expand foreign ownership interests in tv and radio outlets, according to articles by the TVNewscheck.com and FoxBusiness.com Web sites.

The Communications Act of 1934 sets a 25 percent cap on foreign ownership of tv and radio stations, but allows the FCC discretion to boost the ownership percentage in certain instances.  The FCC's 5-0 vote yesterday indicated a greater likelihood the agency on a case-by-case basis would relax the 25 percent foreign ownership restriction where it deems to do so would be in the public interest.

Democrat and newly selected FCC Chair Tom Wheeler told FoxBusiness.com the vote will "encourage ownership diversity [and] expand localism."  The broadcasting watchdog's decision "potentially removes obstacles to new capital investment, which will support small business, minority and female broadcast ownership, and spur innovation."

The Coalition of Broadcast Investment was a driving force behind the FCC vote. The FCC already has already permitted higher levels of foreign investment in wireless providers. Foreigners still are not permitted under FCC rules to directly or wholly own broadcast licenses.

All-Stock Merger Boosts Media General TV Holdings

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In a move that will refinance its debt at a lower interest rate and expand its geographical reach in tv stations, Richmond-based Media General Inc. ("MGI") will merge with New Young Broadcasting Holding Co. in an all-stock merger, the Lynchburg News & Advance (www.newsadvance.com) reported yesterday.

The move, which awaits, but is expected to receive, license transfer approval from the FCC, will grow MGI's tv holdings from 18 stations, largely situated in the Southeast U.S., to 31 stations as far away as Lansing, Michigan, Sioux Falls, South Dakota and San Francisco.  Included in the 28 markets MGI will now reach is Richmond's own WRIC-TV.

Once consumated, MGI shareholders will own roughly a third of the combined companies' shares and the privately held New Young Broadcasting investors will own two-thirds of the combined companies. MGI will remain headquartered in Richmond.

Cruz (Out of) Control; FCC in Limbo

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So little time, so much destruction to reap.

Fresh from leading the GOP 16-day government shutdown, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R.-Texas) this week blocked the scheduled Senate vote Wednesday on Democrat Tom Wheeler, President Obama's choice to head the Federal Communications Commission, Reuters wire service reports.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D.-Nev.) can force a vote on the nomination if he can muster 60 Senate votes, generally difficult to do, though there is enough bipartisan detestation of Sen. Cruz that it may be possible.  Republican Congressional staffer Michael O'Rielly's FCC commissioner nomination also is awaiting a Senate vote, leaving what is supposed to be the five-member FCC Commission at loose ends.

Acting FCC Chair Mignon Clyburn also has had to contend with all but a couple dozen of the FCC's 1,700 staffers being furloughed during the shutdown, according to the Reuters article. Perhaps the FCC, overseer of the airwaves, was somehow interfering with the voices Sen. Cruz is hearing in his head chanting "President Cruz in 2017."

Canadians Un-Bundle for Approaching Cable Snap

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Canadian cable and satellite tv viewers may soon pick and choose which stations to watch without being saddled with bundles of stations of no interest to them, Reuters reports.

Industry Minister James Moore said Canada's Conservative government wants to unbundle tv channels to enable viewers to purchase the particular stations that they want to view. Some satellite and cable tv providers are taking the hint and already are touting "a la carte" pricing, the Reuters article noted.

Financial Woes Prompt Pacifica NYC Station to Jettison 2/3 of Staff

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Chronic financial problems plaguing Pacifica Foundation-owned forced WBAI-FM to pink-slip 66 percent of its staff effective today, the New York Times reported.

Nineteen of the noncommercial station's 26 staffers were axed, as Pacifica redirected funds to pay transmitter rent and retain the station's license. The move eliminated the 50-year-old station's news department.

WBAI-FM, long a liberal voice on the airwaves, was particularly hard-hit financially by Hurricane Sandy, which prompted the station to vacate its Wall St. studio. The Times reported the station has been awash in red ink for nearly a decade.

Other Pacifica Foundation stations are teetering as well, according to the Times article, including Washington, D.C.-based WPFW-FM, which insiders forecast may not last through September.

Alchemy Gone Amok?: Turning Old TV Shows into New Comic Books

"Imitation," once mused classic radio comic Fred Allen, "is the sincerest form of television."

Now, according to Business Wire, NBCUniversal is joining forces with St. Louis-based Lion Forge Comics, to crank out graphic novels (comic books for the less pretentious) based on 30-year-old tv hits. Talk about your fresh ideas.

From Punky Brewster and Miami Vice's Crockett & Tubbs to Knight Rider's Kit and the cast of Saved by the Bell, the digital comics are expected to be available later this year through Apple iBooks and the Amazon Kindle Bookstore, among other outlets. The Business Wire article reports that Lion Forge executives are likely to try to drum up excitement at the Comic-Con International gathering in San Diego later this month, a tall order given that much of the fan base for comics may only have encountered Punky Brewster et al. while channel surfing.

Look Out Belo: Gannett Buys TV Giant in Philosophical Shift From Print to Broadcasting

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McLean, Virginia-based media conglomerate Gannett Co., the nation's largest owner of newspapers, seeing the writing on the wall, is acquiring Dallas-based Belo Corp.,which will make Gannett the fourth-largest owner of network television outlets, according to reports by Reuters and Gannett flagship newspaper, USA Today.

The sale is slated for completion by the end of the year, pending antitrust approval, FCC blessings and the ok of two-thirds of Belo's shareholders, the latter of which is a fait accompli, as Belo's directors and executive officers, holders of 42 percent of outstanding shares, already have given the deal their thumbs up.

Gannett, which counts USA Today,  the Detroit Free Press and The (Louisville) Courier-Journal among its stable of 82 newspapers, will nearly double its television holdings to 43 stations with the addition of Belo's 20 stations, nine of which are in the country's largest markets. Gannett expects to reach almost one-third of U.S. households with the acquisition.

As the newspaper industry continues to take on water with declining circulation and shrinking ad revenues, Gannett, which draws most of its revenue from print, is seeking a makeover. Once finalized, the transaction will enable Gannett to derive almost two-thirds of its pre-tax, pre-interest earnings from its combined digital and broadcast segments.

Belo Corp. previously saw the light in 2008 when it severed its broadcasting holdings, which range from KVUE-TV in Austin and KGW-TV in Portland, Ore., to KMOV-TV in St. Louis, from its newspaper assets, which were spun off into the publicly traded A.H. Belo Corp.

Directors of both companies unanimously approved the $2.2 billion deal, which involves Gannett forking over $1.5 billion in cash and assuming $715 million in debt from Belo.

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.

Esquire Network Programming Debuts in September

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The rebranding of the G4 cable network by the Esquire Network begins September 23 with a self-congratulatory two-hour tribute to the 80-year-old Esquire Magazine's history, according to the mediabistro.com FishbowlNY Web site.

The Esquire Network's male target audience is bracing for content designed, according to EN, to satisfy the "full, multi-faceted lives of today's modern men." FishbowlNY reports programming will include Brew Dogs, Horse Players, Risky Listing and How I Rock It. The latter program presumably will air later in the evening because it has more than a two-word title.

Brew Dogs stars two Scottish beermeisters who travel the U.S. sampling primo craft beers that probably have fuller heads than the audience watching Brew Dogs. Horse Players is a behind-the-scenes look at horse race handicapping that Esquire Network probably pitched to advertisers by promising them it would attract stable viewers.

For viewers who love danger and intrigue, Risky Listing explores the "competitive world of New York nightlife real estate" and is rated H for "Huh"? Lastly, How I Rock It is a lifestyle show hosted by 34-year-old former New York Knick Baron Davis and his torn ACL. Davis shares a birthday with the NBA-lovin' editorial head of "TUOL," so clearly, his show is the most promising of the lot.

The Hearst-owned Esquire Magazine that the staff of "TUOL" devoured in its youth featured writers such as Tom Wolfe, Norman Mailer and Gay Talese. The glimpse of Esquire Network content provided by FishbowlNY reveals one common trait among "today's modern men"--apparently, they're morons.

Digital TV Streamer Asks Court to Dismiss Broadcast Networks Copyright Suit

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In a 31-page motion for summary judgment, digital tv streaming service Aereo has asked United States District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Alison Nathan to dismiss copyright infringement claims brought by commercial public broadcasters. 

In American Broadcasting Cos. et al v. Aereo (Case No. 1:12-cv-01540), Aereo, which is financially backed by media mogul Barry Diller (see "TUOL" post 8/14/12), argues the March 2012, copyright infringement suit brought by commercial broadcasters CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox should be dismissed following the networks' failure to persuade the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to overturn Judge Nathan's earlier ruling not to issue a permanent injunction against Aereo for allegedly violating the broadcasters' right to public performance of its programming by not securing a license from the networks.

Aereo, which digitally streams broadcasters' programming over the Internet one-on-one to subscribers' computers and Web-enabled devices, contends its transmission to individuals' miniature antennae is nonpublic and in any case, protected by the fair use defense to copyright infringement, as reported by BloombergBusinessWeek(www.businessweek.com) and the Hollywood Reporter's legal blog THR, Esq. The networks counter that Aereo capturing their over-the-air signals and transmitting its programming constitutes a public performance that infringes on their copyrights.

Touch That Dial: Reports of the Death of Radio Premature

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A study by Latitude Research and OpenMnd Strategy commissioned by Clear Channel Media & Entertainment revealed that the demographic group most sought-after by advertisers still has a soft spot for radio.

The study, which included focus groups and an online survey of 1,000 folks between the ages of 13 and 54, found that 82 percent of participants immediately tune in the radio when they get into their cars, according to an article in the San Antonio Business Journal.  The Journal article reported that 94 percent of  those queried between the ages of 13 and 17 and 89 percent of  participants aged 18 to 24 said they listen to the radio at least once a week.

Clear Channel, a subsidiary of CC Media Holdings, Inc., is the nation's largest owner of AM & FM stations and also boasts 12 XM Satellite Radio stations, so readers may want to jiggle the antenna a bit before digesting the sponsored survey findings.

President Obama Taps Former Lobbyist to Lead FCC

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President Barack Obama yesterday nominated a 67-year-old former lobbyist for the wireless and cable tv industries to lead the Federal Communications Commission.

Tom Wheeler, a venture capitalist and managing director of the Washington, D.C.-based Core Capital Partners, is the President's choice to replace Julius Genachowski, who resigned in March after four years as chair of the five-member Commission. In the interim, before Wheeler faces a Senate confirmation vote, President Obama appointed FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn acting chair.

Wheeler is the author of Mr. Lincoln's T-Mails: How Abraham Lincoln Used the Telegraph to Win the Civil War (2008) and maintains a personal blog, Mobile Musings ("TUOL" is delighted to see a blogger make something of himself). According to reports in the New York Times, Mashable.com and The Wall St. Journal (the first media outlet to report the Wheeler nomination), the former trade association lobbyist will face a number of key votes if approved to helm the FCC, including media consolidation, net neutrality and wireless spectrum revisions.

The Times reported that 37 Senate Democrats sent President Obama a letter throwing their support behind FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, in hopes the President would appoint a woman to lead the FCC for the first time ever. Mashable.com noted in its post that Wheeler was a major contributor and volunteered in both of Obama's presidential campaigns, for those intractable believers in coincidence.

America's Most Wanted Unwanted by Lifetime

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Looks as if the quarter-century run of America's Most Wanted ("AMW"), hosted by John Walsh, may be drawing to a close, as TV Guide.com exclusively reported that Lifetime Television has decided not to renew the crime-busting reality show.

According to TV Guide, Lifetime is developing a pilot, John Walsh Investigates, that also would feature a blend of victim advocacy and crime-busting. Meanwhile, AMW may look for another network sugar daddy to support it.

AMW debuted on Fox in 1988, where it ran (like a fugitive from justice) for 24 seasons before Lifetime picked it up in December 2011. After 44 episodes on Lifetime, the last original episode aired on October 12, and based on the paltry ratings, the show couldn't get arrested.

According to the TV Guide article, AMW over the years assisted law enforcement in tracking down 1,202 fugitives worldwide. The show is distributed by Twentieth Television.

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.

Cooked Peacock: NBC Sinks to 5th in Key Viewer Group

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For the first time since tv ratings sweeps history, NBC sank to fifth place among viewers in the 18- to 49-year-old demographic group that advertisers crave, Deadline Hollywood (www.Deadline.com) reported.

 NBC "second season" shows such as 1600 Penn and Do No Harm landed with a thud in their debuts (the latter has since been cancelled for doing so much harm) and rival network CBS got a massive ratings boost from the Super Bowl, but that doesn't lessen the blow of finishing behind the fourth-place Spanish-speaking network, Univision.

Watch for some tweaking in the Peacock Network's ad campaign: "More viewers are watching NBC than the Emergency Broadcast Signal!"

Clear Channel Conglomerate Swallows Classic New York City AM Station

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)The New York Times reported today that Clear Channel Communications, Inc., the largest radio station owner in the U.S., will add WOR-AM to its stable of 850 properties.

The Times article said 50,000-watt, WOR-AM 710 on the dial, New York City's oldest operating broadcaster, will be the sixth New York City outlet owned by Clear Channel, though its first AM signal. Terms of the sale of WOR, which began broadcasting in 1922, were not disclosed.

The station has been owned by Buckley Broadcasting Corp. since 1989. The talk station's roster of talent includes former Governors David Patterson (N.Y.) and Mike Huckabee (Ark.), right-wing bomb-thrower Michael Savage and John Gambling (Disclosure: Gambling, the son of long-time WOR mainstay John Gambling Jr. of "Rambling with Gambling" fame, was a big dog at Boston University's WTBU-AM  in the early '70s at the same time as the ever-youthful staff of "TUOL" also toiled there on crazy late-night programs).

Other Clear Channel owned stations in New York City include WHTZ-FM "Z100", a Top 40 station, and WLTW-FM "Lite FM." WOR-AM ranked 19th in the July Arbitron ratings with 626,000 listeners, according to the Times article.