Country duo LOCASH will host a holiday to remember with an all-star Thanksgiving special on Westwood One. “A Thanksgiving Weekend Celebration with LOCASH” will be stuffed with cuts from their new album The Fighters, music from their A-list friends, and bountiful holiday memories.
The four-hour special will serve up music from Country’s biggest stars, including Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, Kenny Chesney, Carrie Underwood, Florida Georgia Line, Kelsea Ballerini, Dierks Bentley, and more. Plus, LOCASH's A-list friends – like Keith Urban, Thomas Rhett, Zac Brown, Sam Hunt – will share holiday memories and talk turkey about food and gratitude.
In addition, LOCASH will share stories and play their No. 1 hit, "I Know Somebody," their hit single, “I Love This Life,” and other tracks from their CD The Fighters.
Stations can air Westwood One’s “A Thanksgiving Weekend Celebration with LOCASH” any time Thursday, November 24 through Sunday, November 27, 2016, between 6:00 am and 12 midnight. For more information, contact Donny Walker at dwalker@westwoodone.com (615) 727-6987.
The holiday shopping season is under way and radio is crucial to driving sales. A new blog post from Pierre Bouvard, Chief Insights Officer, Cumulus Media and Westwood One highlights “5 Things To Know for the upcoming Holiday Shopping season.
The post-- outlines the key consumer and media insights for advertisers to maximize sales this holiday season:
Americans still flock to discount and department stores for holiday shopping. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 93% of sales occur offline.
AM/FM radio is the best way to reach holiday shoppers: 94% of adults 25-54 are reached during holiday weeks, according to Nielsen.
Radio and outdoor media influence purchase decisions the most, according to a recent study by Starcom Mediavest.
AM/FM drives more sales than streaming, because most AM/FM listening occurs away from home. Two-thirds of AM/FM listening is away from home, compared to only 38% of streaming audio listening. (Nielsen and Edison Research)
Radio drives ROI for department stores and mass merchandisers. According to Nielsen’s sales lift studies, a dollar of radio advertising generates $16 of incremental sales for mass merchandisers and $17 of incremental sales for department stores.
SiriusXM Thursday announced its extensive holiday music lineup featuring eight commercial-free channels celebrating the festive season, one to broadcast starting Wednesday, November 2.
SiriusXM's holiday music channels will offer listeners a variety of traditional holiday songs, classical Christmas carols, country Christmas classics, contemporary holiday tunes, soul music, Hanukkah music and Latin seasonal music.
SiriusXM's commercial-free holiday music channels will be available on multiple satellite radio channels, and via the SiriusXM App for smartphones and other connected devices and online at siriusxm.com
SiriusXM's holiday channel lineup features:
Holly (via satellite on channel 17) Will feature contemporary holiday music as well as traditional favorites, including songs by Kelly Clarkson, Pentatonix, Josh Groban, Madonna, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Brian Setzer, Jimmy Buffett and Mariah Carey. Wednesday, November 2 at 5:00 pm ET- Friday, December 30 at 3:00 am ET
Holiday Traditions (via satellite on channel 18) will feature traditional holiday music from the '40s through the '60s by artists such as Andy Williams, Ray Conniff, Bing Crosby and Nat "King" Cole. Monday, December 5 at 5:00 pm ET- Friday, December 30 at 3:00 am ET
Holiday Pops (via satellite on channel 76) Will feature classical Christmas carols and other holiday favorites by the greatest classical musicians of all-time, including the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Boston Pops, Luciano Pavarotti, The New York Philharmonic, King's College Choir and Thomas Hampson. Saturday, December 24 at 5:00 pm ET – Monday, December 26 at 3:00 am ET.
Country Christmas (via satellite on channel 58) will feature a mix of country Christmas music from contemporary and classic country artists like Garth Brooks, Carrie Underwood and Willie Nelson. The channel will also include the "12 Days of Country Christmas Live," a performance series featuring a different artist performance every day for 12 days. Artists include Collin Raye, John Michael Montgomery, T G Sheppard, Exile, The Bellamy Brothers, Mark Wills, Johnny Lee and more. Monday, December 5 at 5:00 pm ET – Monday, December 26 at 3:00 am ET.
Navidad (SiriusXM channel 785) will feature contemporary Latin holiday music and with traditional classics, including Jose Feliciano, Fania All-Stars, Gloria Estefan, Marco Antonio Solis, El Gran Combo and Tito El Bambino. Monday, November 28 at 5:00 pm ET – Saturday, January 7 at 3:00 am ET.
Holiday Soul (via satellite on channel 49) Will feature classic soul and Motown holiday music from the '60s and '70s as well as R&B from the '80s and '90s including Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson, Luther Vandross, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, Dionne Warwick, The Four Tops, The Supremes, The O'Jays, James Brown, The Temptations, Lou Rawls and Toni Braxton. Tuesday, December 13 at 5:00 pm ET – Monday, December 26 at 3:00 am ET.
Radio Hanukkah (SiriusXM channel 787) will feature an extensive collection of Hanukkah-themed music, including contemporary, traditional and children's selections as well as daily reflections and prayers related to the holiday. Friday, December 23 at 5:00 pm ET – Monday, January 2 at 3:00 am ET.
New Year's Nation (via satellite on channel 18) is the ultimate soundtrack to New Year's Eve parties around the country and will feature the biggest, upbeat party hits from genres across SiriusXM's music platform. Friday, December 30 at 5:00 pm ET – Monday, January 2 at 3:00 am ET.
General Motors Co. and IBM Corp. this week said they are partnering to provide the auto industry’s first cognitive mobility platform to provide personalized marketing offers to millions of drivers beginning early next year.
The companies said OnStar Go will use Watson’s cognitive learning, or artificial intelligence capabilities, in a car to offer deals and advice in the vehicle dashboard. The system could help a driver avoid traffic, warn if a driver is low on fuel, turn on a gas pump and pay for your gas from the vehicle dashboard or order a cup of coffee while en route to a favorite coffee spot.
According to The Detroit News, Initial brand partners include MasterCard, ExxonMobil, Glympse, iHeartRadio and Parkopedia. It expands upon OnStar’s AtYourService, which was announced in January 2015, and offers deals from retailers. OnStar is a GM subsidiary that provides subscription based emergency, security, navigation and embedded Wi-Fi connectivity services along with adviser assistance.
“On average, people in the U.S. spend more than 46 minutes per day in their car and are looking for ways to optimize their time,” said Phil Abram, executive director of GM Connected Products and Strategy, in a statement. “By leveraging OnStar’s connectivity and combining it with the power of Watson, we’re looking to provide safer, simpler and better solutions to make our customers’ mobility experience more valuable and productive.”
The companies said the system would be available in more than 2 million vehicles in the United States that feature 4G LTE Wi-Fi hotspots by the end of 2017. It also will be available to millions of GM-brand app mobile devices.
Watson will be able to learn a driver’s preferences, if the driver gives consent, and companies working with IBM and OnStar can tailor location-based deals in vehicles. The system could even remind a dad to pick up formula or diapers at a store a few miles before his exit.
In 1922...WEAF in New York broadcast the first collegiate football game heard over a widespread radio network. Princeton played the University of Chicago at Stagg Field in the Windy City. The broadcast was carried on phone lines to New York City, where the network transmission began. (Princeton 21, Chicago 18.) In 1940...comedian Henry Morgan‘s radio career took a turn for the better as he debuted ‘Here’s Morgan,’ a nightly 15-minute strip on New York’s WOR. In 1945...CHUM launched as a dawn-to-dusk radio station.
On May 27, 1957, at 6 AM, owner Allan Waters switched the station to a "Top 50" format that had proven itself popular in some U.S. cities; Elvis Presley's "All Shook Up" was the first song played. "1050 CHUM" pioneered rock and roll radio in Toronto, and was noteworthy for hosting many noteworthy rock concerts including, among others, visits to Maple Leaf Gardens by Elvis Presley (1957) and The Beatles (1964, '65, and '66). While the station was rising to the top of the popularity ratings in Toronto in the late 1950s and early 1960s, it also built a new transmitter in Mississauga, Ontario (a few miles west of the current Toronto city line) along the Lake Ontario shoreline, and raised its power to its current 50,000 watts (DA-2) around the clock.
In the late 1950s, CHUM was calling itself "Radio One", as its ratings continued to increase. An important part of CHUM's success was the station's unpredictable morning man Al Boliska, who joined CHUM in October 1957, after working at station CKLC in Kingston, Ontario. By 1959, Boliska had made a name for himself as a disc jockey who got listeners talking. He also made them laugh, and became known for telling what he called the "World's Worst Jokes". Boliska also did a number of stunts, such as taking part in a professional wrestling match with Whipper Billy Watson. When he lost, that led to another stunt, where Boliska stayed away from his show for several days, saying he was now too discouraged by the loss to do his show. A hypnotist was called in, and Boliska's self-esteem was restored. Boliska left CHUM in late 1963 to go 'across the street' to CKEY.
He was replaced by WKBW Buffalo radio & TV personality Jay Nelson, popularly known as "Jungle Jay" from his role as host of a children's show on Buffalo's Channel 7 which was also popular among Toronto youngsters. Nelson was Morning Host for more than 20-years on CHUM.
CHUM became well known for its zany contests. In the 1950s and '60's, it was contests such as 'The Walking Man', where listeners had to spot CHUM's mystery walking man using only clues given out on the air. The 1970s' "I Listen to CHUM" promotion had DJs dialing phone numbers at random and awarding $1,000 to anyone who answered the phone with that phrase. In 1976, there was the CHUM Starsign promotion. Listeners wore a button featuring their astrological sign. If CHUM's 'Starsign spotter' saw you wearing your Starsign, you won prizes such as money or concert tickets to major events.
In 1946...our favorite flying cowboy was heard on ABC radio for the first time. “Sky King” starred Jack Lester, then Earl Nightingale, and finally, Roy Engel, as Sky.
In 1950...Jack Benny's popular program on CBS Radio transitioned to CBS Television where it stayed until 1964 before moving to NBC-TV for its final year. His weekly radio show ran from 1932 to 1955.
In 1953...Red Barber resigned after 14 seasons as the radio voice of the Brooklyn Dodgers to join Mel Allen and the New York Yankees broadcast team.
In 1956...Elvis made his second appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” He sang several songs, including “Don’t Be Cruel” and “Hound Dog,” and Ed presented him with a gold record for “Love Me Tender.”
Brian Epstein
In 1961...While working as a clerk at a record store in Liverpool, England, Brian Epstein was asked by a customer (Raymond Jones) for a copy of "My Bonnie", the new single by a group called the Beatles. After a second customer requested the record, Epstein ordered it and went to the Cavern Club to hear this group. He later became their manager.
In 1963...New York DJ "Murray the K" played "She Loves You" by the Beatles. This is believed to be the first time a Beatle song was played in the U.S.
This claim is disputed by several. Pacific Northwest deejay Pat O'Day maintains that it was not Murray the K that played the first ever Beatles record in the US but in fact it was played in Seattle at Pat's station KJR 950 AM. (Date undisclosed)
WLS in Chicago charted it for the weeks of March 8 and March 15, 1963 (peaking at #35), before dropping it off. Some fairly exhaustive research at Kent Kotal’s Forgotten Hits establishes pretty clearly that WLS was the first station in America to play the Beatles, in late February 1963, nearly a year before the outbreak of Beatlemania across the country.
In 1986... KOB 770 AM in Albuquerque New Mexico changed its call letters to KKOB.
KOB was founded at the New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts in Las Cruces (now New Mexico State University) by Ralph Willis Goddard, and began broadcasting tests in 1919 under the call letters 5XD. On April 5, 1922 the station began regular operation as KOB, a callsign which had belonged to marine radio aboard the Princess Anne before its February 2, 1920 shipwreck on Rockaway Shoals, Long Island. New Mexico A&M sold the station after Goddard was electrocuted while adjusting the transmitter on December 31, 1928. In 1933 the station moved to Albuquerque, and was later bought by the Albuquerque Journal.
KKOB 770 AM (50Kw) Night Coverage
In 1948, Tom Pepperday, owner and publisher of the Journal, signed on KOB-TV, the first television station between the Mississippi River and the West Coast. The stations passed to Time-Life in 1952 and to Hubbard Broadcasting in 1957. Hubbard Broadcasting sold the radio stations in 1986. In order to trade on the well-known KOB calls, the new owners simply added an extra "K" to the radio station's call letters.
KOB was involved in a 38-year-long dispute with New York City station WABC (originally WJZ) over the use of the 770 kHz frequency. KOB was moved there from 1030 to make room for WBZ in Boston.
While the FCC requested that WJZ install a directional antenna to allow the stations to interoperate over large areas, the station refused to comply, encroaching on the range KOB was intended to cover.
Only after reaching the U.S. Supreme Court was the issue settled, when the FCC assigned KOB to a new license class. KKOB and WABC became sister stations when Citadel Broadcasting purchased ABC Radio in 2007; Citadel merged with Cumulus Media on September 16, 2011.
In 1995...The Hot 100.."Fantasy" by Mariah Carey was #1 for a fourth week in an excellent Top 10. Coolio logged a fifth week at #2 with "Gangsta's Paradise" after being #1 for three weeks--impressive. "Runaway" from Janet Jackson was #3 followed by the classic Seal song "Kiss From A Rose".
The rest of the Top 10: Michael Jackson with the 25th and last Top 10 of his career "You Are Not Alone", Sophie B. Hawkins had #6--"As I Lay Me Down", Groove Theory's "Tell Me", Hootie & the Blowfish at #8 with "Only Wanna' Be With You", Take That entered the Top 10 for the first time with "Back For Good" and Natalie Merchant's solo hit "Carnival" was #10.
In 1995...The Album Charts.."Daydream" by Mariah Carey was the top album. Insomniac by Green Day debuted at #2 with Jagged Little Pill from Alanis Morissette sliding to #3--for now. There really wasn't much competition at the time and Design of a Decade 1986/1996 by Janet Jackson debuted at #4.
The rest of the Top 10: The "Dangerous Minds" Soundtrack, Cracked Rear View by Hootie & the Blowfish after 66 weeks of release, Starting Over from Reba McEntire, All I Want by Tim McGraw was #8, The Woman in Me from Shania Twain was up to #9 and the solid album CrazySexyCool by TLC was still in the group after 48 weeks.
In 2005…Top 40 disc jockey "Bwana Johnny" (Rick Johnson) died of heart failure at the age of 56.
Bwana had been a popular disc jockey at the old 1260/KYA back in the late 1960s.
Before coming to the Bay Area in 1969, "Beautiful Bwana" worked at KLOG/Kelso, Wash., WUBE/Cincinnati and KJR/Seattle. He moved on to WWDJ/New York as music director and afternoon-drive jock (1971-1973) and spun records for a year at WFUN/Miami before returning to his hometown, Portland, Ore., as "Crazy Dick Simms" on the Rose City's legendary KISN in 1975.
Gannett Co., Inc. today reported third quarter 2016 results of operations.
Recent highlights include:
National digital advertising revenue up 18.5% (16.6% excluding acquisitions).
Digital-only subscriptions grew 45%; digital-only plus Sunday grew 40%.
Total third quarter digital revenues (advertising and circulation) of $205 million.
Initiated incremental cost cutting actions totaling $30 million annually.
Operating revenues for the third quarter were $772.3 million compared to $701.2 million in the prior year third quarter, an increase of $71.1 million or 10.1%. Excluding $14.3 million of unfavorable foreign currency exchange rate changes and $7.4 million of selected exited operations, revenues increased $92.8 million, or 13.2%, compared to the third quarter of 2015.
The increase in revenues was primarily attributable to the acquisitions of Journal Media Group, Inc. ("JMG"), North Jersey Media Group and ReachLocal and continued improvements in national digital advertising revenues. Revenue increases were partially offset by declines in print advertiser demand and a negative impact on classified employment revenues from an unfavorable affiliate agreement change with CareerBuilder. On a same-store basis, excluding the impact on revenues from acquisitions, foreign currency exchange rate changes and selected exited operations, operating revenues decreased 8.6%.
Robert J Dickey
Net loss for the third quarter was $24.2 million primarily due to $31.6 million of after-tax restructuring, acquisition costs, severance and other related items. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $55.3 million compared to $97.0 million in the prior year, a decrease of $41.7 million. Of this decrease, 42.9% or $17.9 million was due to $5.4 million of reduced EBITDA contribution from the August 2015 change to the CareerBuilder affiliate agreement, $3.0 million in unfavorable foreign currency exchange rate changes and $2.8 million related to the cost of certain labor litigation and other matters.
Robert J. Dickey, president and chief executive officer, said, "We have made solid progress integrating our recent acquisitions, which we expect will be strong contributors to our performance as we drive toward a digital future. While we saw signs of improvement late in the third quarter, we were disappointed with our performance, and as we expected, it was our most challenging period in 2016. We have implemented initiatives that will result in $10 million of additional cost savings in the fourth quarter to align our cost structure with the current industry environment. We are taking these actions to ensure we can remain nimble in the face of ongoing industry challenges while we continue our digital transformation."
SiriusXM today announced third quarter 2016 operating and financial results, including record quarterly revenue of $1.3 billion, up 9% from the third quarter of 2015.
Net income totaled $194 million in the third quarter of 2016, up 16% from $167 million in the third quarter of 2015. Net income per diluted common share was $0.04 in the third quarter of 2016 compared to $0.03 in the third quarter of 2015. Adjusted EBITDA grew 10% in the third quarter of 2016 to $492 million, while operating cash flow and free cash flow totaled $422 million and $357 million, respectively.
SiriusXM also announced today that its Board of Directors declared its first quarterly dividend in the amount of $0.01 per share of common stock payable on November 30, 2016 to stockholders of record as of the close of business on November 9, 2016. The company also announced that the Board of Directors intends to institute a quarterly dividend on its common stock in an aggregate annual amount of $0.04 per share.
Jim Myer
The Board also approved an additional $2 billion of share repurchases, bringing SiriusXM's total repurchase authorization to $10 billion. SiriusXM has already repurchased an aggregate of $7.6 billion of common stock under its stock repurchase program.
"SiriusXM's performance in the third quarter was exemplary. We grew self-pay subscribers by 385,000 and turned in record quarterly high levels of revenue and adjusted EBITDA. Additionally, we attained our highest-ever ARPU and adjusted EBITDA margin and lowest-ever SAC per installation and customer service cost per subscriber. In short, our business is operating more efficiently than ever before, and we are pleased to increase our revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance for the second time this year," said Jim Meyer, Chief Executive Officer, SiriusXM.
"We remain dedicated to bringing the best audio entertainment in an easy to use bundle of programming to a nation of listeners. In recent months, we've strengthened areas where we are leaders, such as country music, added new talent in talk programming, and held special, one-of-a kind live music events for subscribers and listeners nationwide, all content you can only find at SiriusXM," added Meyer.
THIRD QUARTER 2016 HIGHLIGHTS
SiriusXM Subscribers Approach 31 Million. The company added 345,000 net new subscribers during the most recent three month period to end the third quarter of 2016 with approximately 31 million subscribers. Self-pay net additions were 385,000 during the third quarter, resulting in self-pay subscribers of 25.5 million at September 30, 2016.
Strong Revenue Growth and Record ARPU. Revenue climbed 9% to a quarterly record of $1.3 billion. The growth was driven by a 7% increase in subscribers and a 3% increase in average revenue per user (ARPU) to $13.04.
Record Adjusted EBITDA. Adjusted EBITDA in the third quarter of 2016 was $492 million, a record quarterly high, and up 10% from $447 million in the third quarter of 2015. Adjusted EBITDA margin was a record high 38.4% in the third quarter of 2016, up from 38.2% in the third quarter of 2015.
"Since the start of the third quarter, we spent roughly $300 million to repurchase 72 million shares of our common stock. SiriusXM's average share count declined by 8% in the third quarter 2016 from a year earlier as a result of our share repurchases. We are also pleased to announce a regular dividend as an element of our capital return program, beginning at $0.01 per share per quarter. Our debt to adjusted EBITDA remained just 3.4 times, and we ended the third quarter 2016 with a cash balance of $572 million in anticipation of the October 1 redemption of our 5.875% Senior Notes due 2020. We expect to continue strong capital returns to stockholders while making strategic investments in technology, content, and new satellite infrastructure," noted David Frear, Chief Financial Officer, SiriusXM.
Host of “The Kelly File,” one of the cable-news channel’s most popular shows, Megyn Kelly is in active talks over her contract, which expires next July. Her profile has been rising during the presidential election cycle, in part thanks to a dust-up with Republican candidate Donald Trump.
Keeping Ms. Kelly is a priority for senior management, including Rupert Murdoch, chief executive of Fox News and co-executive chairman of its parent company, 21st Century Fox.
Asked if Ms. Kelly would stay at the channel, Mr. Murdoch told The Wall Street Journal that she is important to the network and he hopes to get a contract signed “very soon,” but noted, “it’s up to her.”
Murdoch said he is kept abreast of the talks “every minute of the day.” While he doesn’t want to lose her, he said, “we have a deep bench of talent, many of whom would give their right arm for her spot.”
Mr. Murdoch and his family are major stakeholders in both 21st Century Fox and Wall Street Journal owner News Corp.
For the final year of her current deal, Kelly is set to receive about $15 million, people familiar with the matter said. The people said she is seeking an average annual salary north of $20 million for her next contract—which would put her on par with Fox host Bill O’Reilly.
Murdoch said money isn't an issue in the talks. Kelly declined to comment.
The networks seen as most likely to make an aggressive play for Kelly are CNN, where she could go up against Fox News in prime-time, and ABC, where TV executives say she might fit well on “Good Morning America” or in an evening newsmagazine.
Kelly’s show has averaged 2.7 million viewers this year, according to Nielsen, second among Fox News shows to Mr. O’Reilly’s “The O’Reilly Factor,” which is averaging 3.2 million viewers this year.
Megyn Kelly and Rupert Murdoch, on the other hand, are now effectively negotiating in public, according to Brian Stelter at CNNMoney.
Murdoch rarely grants interviews at all, so his decision to speak suggests some drama behind the scenes.
Vanity Fair's Sarah Ellison recently reported that Murdoch and his sons James and Lachlan, who jointly run 21st Century Fox, want Kelly to renew her contract before she begins a book tour next month.
Kelly's book "Settle for More" comes out on November 15, and while she is promoting it she will undoubtedly be asked about her future at Fox.
Kelly has been reluctant to renew so quickly, according to a person who has spoken with her.
She is genuinely torn about staying at Fox, a network known for its conservative bent, or moving to another network.
Hosts like Kelly are sometimes restricted from having formal talks with rival networks until their contracts are about to expire.
But executives at other networks have made it clear that they'd be interested in talking with her.
Kelly has one of the highest-rated shows on cable news, and she has talked about wanting to broaden what she does, "in the vein of Charlie Rose" or Oprah Winfrey, according to a Vanity Fair profile earlier this year.
The Murdochs have many potential outlets for Kelly, including the Fox broadcast network. But a prime time special she hosted in May did not live up to (admittedly inflated) expectations.
Rupert Murdoch’s comments to The Wall Street Journal are the strongest signal yet that his company does not intend to make significant programming changes at Fox News Channel despite the recent departure of the network’s architect Roger Ailes, reports Variety.
Ailes, the former chairman and CEO of Fox News, left the company in July after multiple women made allegations that he harassed them sexually. Ailes denied the charges, but the parent company ousted him after an internal probe drew accusations from female Fox News employees.
“We’re not changing direction,” Murdoch said in the interview. Doing so, he added, “would be business suicide.” The Fox News unit accounts for approximately 20% of the parent company’s operating income.
Fox News does have one looming challenge on its schedule: What to do with its 7 p.m. hour, which veteran anchor Brit Hume is filling temporarily until Election Day. Hume returned to a regular slot at the network in September after Greta Van Susteren opted to leave after trying to negotiate a new contract with Fox News spurred by the presence of a clause in her pact that allowed her to leave if Ailes were to depart.
Less than two weeks shy of the election, Zucker speaks with The Hollhywood Reporter about his network's winning strategy, narrowing the Fox News gap, his post-election plan and what might happen to all those political pundits.
When Jeff Zucker calls 2016 the "best year ever" for cable news, he's not being hyperbolic.
Thanks to unusually high interest in the presidential race and reality TV star turned Republican nominee Donald Trump, aggregate primetime viewership is up 50 percent, and showings among adults 25-54 are up 55 percent. But with all of the widespread wealth, the cable chief has a unique excuse to brag. Zucker heads into his first presidential election as CNN Worldwide president with cable news' most appealing ratings narrative.
Highlights:
The soundbite: "In terms of demos, CNN is closer to Fox than we've been at any point in 15 years, and we have a bigger lead over MSNBC than we've had in the last 13 years."
On keeping election pundits post-election: "We're going to continue to employ a number of commentators going forward. I don't think it will be at the same level that we've had this year, but we'll begin to assess that after the election."
On the reported $100M in extra 2016 revenue for CNN: "I'm not going comment on that other than to say that NPR is a fine journalistic organization."
On Trump TV: "I've seen a little bit of what they're doing. The beauty of the internet is that anybody can be a broadcaster now. Again, I think the future of that depends on the next 13 days."
Viacom Inc. is close to naming longtime executive Bob Bakish interim chief executive officer as the company explores a possible merger with CBS Corp., according to Bloomberg.
Bakish will have the opportunity to become permanent CEO, said one of the people, who asked not to be named discussing private deliberations. The decision to name him isn’t final, and someone else could be chosen, reports Bloomberg. Viacom’s board is scheduled to meet Monday but could sooner.
Viacom, the owner of cable channels including MTV and Nickelodeon, will look to Bakish to provide stability and leadership as the board weighs a potential recombination with CBS, a process that could take weeks or months. A graduate of Columbia Business School, he has worked at Viacom since 1997 and has run the company’s international networks since 2011.
The appointment would make him Viacom’s third CEO in as many months. Bakish would succeed Tom Dooley, Viacom’s interim chief since August. Dooley took over after billionaire Sumner Redstone and his daughter Shari, who control both companies, ousted longtime CEO Philippe Dauman following a power struggle and court fight.
Dauman had been a close ally of Sumner Redstone, but the company faltered under his leadership and he resisted Shari Redstone’s efforts to replace him by going to court. He stepped down in August. Dooley, previously Viacom’s chief operating officer, has been interim CEO since then. He plans to leave by mid-November.
The Redstone family holds a roughly 80 percent voting stake in both Viacom and CBS. The two media companies were split a decade ago and the Redstones are now pressing them to recombine. The boards of CBS and Viacom are exploring the possibility.
The controlling shareholders want CBS CEO Leslie Moonves to run the combined business, people with knowledge of the matter have said. Yet Viacom needs a leader in the interim.
(Reuters) -- Media companies plan to ask U.S. regulators to force AT&T Inc (T.N) and Time Warner Inc (TWX.N) to share their trove of customer data if the telecom and content companies merge, fearing the combined behemoth would have an unfair advantage selling targeted mobile advertising, a handful of media executives told Reuters this week.
Customer data has become a key to the media industry's future as TV networks strive to provide the same kind of advertising as digital companies like Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) Google and Facebook Inc (FB.O), which tailor pitches according to what they know about their customers.
AT&T's proposed $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner would give the media company's networks, such as HBO, Cinemax and Turner, potentially unprecedented data about viewers who have AT&T cell phones and DirecTV accounts.
The deal will be reviewed by the U.S. Justice Department, and it is unclear how the enforcement agency would approach customer data access as an antitrust issue since it has not yet arisen as a source of contention in a major U.S. deal.
With the rise of online and mobile video streaming services, the promise of sending different ads to different viewers appears attainable, starting a race among established media brands.
"With this deal, Time Warner will have access to more data on the content consumption habits than any other media company in the world," said Patrick Keane, president of Sharethrough, a platform for buying "native" ads.
If Time Warner can use AT&T data to target ads to a group such as young, affluent men who watch a specific sports team, it will have a huge new advantage with advertisers, said an executive at a rival media company.
"The money will gravitate to the programming with that data," the person said, adding that the company would go to regulators. "We are interested in making sure that we have access to our customer data in the same way that Time Warner will have access to data."
If HBO, which has its own over-the-top streaming video service, gets access to AT&T's data about viewers watching content on competitors like Hulu, Amazon or Netflix, that is also an unfair advantage, said another executive at a separate media company that also plans to ask regulators to act.
All the media executives wished to remain anonymous because conversations are early and confidential.
Randall Stephenson
READY TO SHARE?
AT&T and Time Warner acknowledge that data is a key driver of the deal.
"What it allows us to do is just move faster, with more innovation, better consumer offerings, more different price points, more effective advertising, and therefore people are going to see that more of the cost of content can be borne by advertising," Time Warner Chief Jeff Bewkes told CNN on Monday.
And AT&T Chief Executive Randall Stephenson told Reuters at a conference in California that the company is open to allowing other content providers access to customer data.
"To the extent that it keeps their content costs down, we'd be open to it," he told Reuters.
Rivals are already amassing a significant amount of data from multiple sources. Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N) will be able to tap data from Yahoo Inc's (YHOO.O) 1 billion monthly users to tailor advertising if it completes its $4.8 billion purchase of Yahoo's core assets.
Customer data is a new area for antitrust law, which enforcers will be pressed by media companies to take on in the AT&T case.
"This is a structural advantage that AT&T would have over its rivals, and competition authorities should be concerned about the possible effects," said John Bergmayer, senior counsel at advocacy group Public Knowledge.
First the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission, which share the work of ensuring that mergers are legal, must decide if there is a problem and then whether there is a solution.
"Enforcers don’t quite know yet what that (big data) means for antitrust or what to make of it," said Elai Katz, an antitrust lawyer with the law firm Cahill, Gordon & Reindell LLP.
Katz said that antitrust enforcers would look at how much data was involved, whether it was available from other companies and whether access was a competitive issue before deciding whether it is worth addressing in the merger.
Antitrust enforcers usually prefer that companies who want to merge solve any antitrust problems by selling an asset, like a brewery or a factory, rather than have a behavioral condition on a deal, like requiring licensing data, which is harder to enforce.
But such behavioral remedies would "have to be considered in a case like this," Katz said.
The Federal Communications Commission, which regulates the telecoms industry, still puts behavioral conditions on merger approvals, but it was not clear whether the FCC will consider this deal.
If AT&T has to share data with media rivals, that could undercut the value of the deal, advertisers said. But if AT&T can build a platform with addressable advertising and targeted content, it might compete with new media such as Google, Facebook and Snapchat, said Bernard Gershon, president of media and technology consulting firm Gershon Media.
"The Holy Grail is advanced advertising and delivering custom content and ads," said Gershon. “It is the data and the direct relationship with the consumer that makes this deal so powerful."
According to a source close to Trump, the idea of a Trump TV network originated during the Republican primaries as a threat Kushner issued to Roger Ailes when Trump’s inner circle was unhappy with the tenor of Fox News’s coverage, according to a Bloomberg story "Inside The Trump Bunker".
The warring factions eventually reconciled. But Trump became enamored by the power of his draw after five media companies expressed interest.
“One thing Jared always tells Donald is that if the New York Times and cable news mattered, he would be at 1 percent in the polls,” says a source.
“Trump supporters really don’t have a media outlet where they feel they’re represented—CNN has gone fully against Trump, MSNBC is assumed to be against Trump, and Fox is somewhere in the middle. What we found is that our people have organized incredibly well on the web. Reddit literally had to change their rules because it was becoming all Trump. Growing the digital footprint has really allowed us to take his message directly to the people.”
It’s not clear how much of this digital audience will remain in Trump’s thrall if he loses. But the number should be substantial. “Trump will get 40 percent of the vote, and half that number at least will buy into his claim that the election was rigged and stolen from him,” says Steve Schmidt, John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign chief and an outspoken Trump critic. “That is more than enough people to support a multibillion-dollar media business and a powerful presence in American politics.”
(Reuters) -- A task force of more than 30 major technology and communication companies said they have made progress but have not found a solution to eliminate "robocalls" or automated, prerecorded phone calls, but a top U.S. regulator urged faster action.
"We are not yet where we want to be," Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler said Wednesday at a meeting of industry executives who have been working on the issue since August. "We've not reached the goal. We need solutions now."
The strike force said it would report back by early 2017 on strategies for blocking unwanted automated calls. But Wheeler wants "commitments and timelines" to move up action.
AT&T Chief Executive Officer Randall Stephenson, who is chairing the strike force, said the blue-ribbon group has "come a long way in 60 days and we've got a long way to go - I fully recognize that Mr. Chairman, he said. "There's no one part of this ecosystem that's going to fix this. So it's going to take everybody's cumulative efforts."
Tom Wheeler
Wheeler wrote major companies in July urging them to take new action to block robocalls, saying it was the top source of consumer complaints at the FCC. Scam artists often times based abroad try to appear to call from a bank or a government phone to trick consumers into disclosing confidential financial or account information.
Wheeler said he and Stephenson will bring the strike force back together in six months to check in on the group's progress.
Google parent Alphabet Inc, Apple Inc, Verizon Communications Inc and Comcast Corp are among members of the "Robocall Strike Force" that joined the task force that has met more than 100 times since August.
FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said more action is needed. "There are no prizes for participation," she said.
The strike force hopes to implement Caller ID verification standards to help block calls from spoofed phone numbers and eventually create a "Do Not Originate" list that would block spoofers from impersonating legitimate phone numbers from governments, banks or others. It is also working on authentication standards in a bid to try to ensure a phone call is from the number that appears.
The task force ran a "Do Not Originate" with Internal Revenue Service phone numbers that were often spoofed that reduced robocall complaints by 90 percent.
The IRS phone numbers on the list had to be "receive only" and had to be entered into a database, said Joan Marsh AT&T's vice president for federal regulatory affairs. "There is no easy way for any of this," this I adds a multiple pronged effort."
There are other technical issues about how to create and manage the database of phone numbers and how carriers get access to the database.
Carriers cannot block all mass automated calls or texts made because of legitimate communications from schools, weather alerts, utilities, political calls and others. Marsh said it is tough to "get the bad ones" but not block calls people want.
Hiya Inc, a company that tracks unwanted calls, estimates that U.S. mobile phones received 984 million robocalls in September.
The FCC does not require robocall blocking and filtering but has strongly encouraged phone service providers to offer those services at no charge.
The strike force brought together carriers, device makers, operating system developers, network designers and the government.
Other companies taking part include Blackberry Ltd, British Telecommunications Plc [BTCOM.UL], Charter Communications Inc, Frontier Communications Corp, LG Electronics Inc, Microsoft Corp, Nokia Corp, Qualcomm Inc, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, Sirius XM Holdings Inc, T-Mobile US Inc and U.S. Cellular Corp.
Everyone’s been anticipated big numbers for the World Series with the Chicago Cubs playing for the first time in more than four decades, and Game 1 did not disappoint.
Fox averaged 19.4 million total viewers, according to Nielsen overnights, up 30 percent from last year’s opener between the New York Mets and the Kansas City Royals, which averaged 14.9 million.
It’s 59 percent better than the 2014 opener between the San Francisco Giants and Royals, which posted 12.2 million.
In fact, it’s the best Game 1 since 2009, the last time the hugely popular New York Yankees were in the World Series. That year, the opener averaged a 13.8.
Among adults 18-49, the game averaged a 5.6 rating, up from a 4.6 last year, according to MediaLife.
