Rough few days for NBC, right? First, you have the whole Jay Leno prime-time disaster (which many experts and nonexperts saw coming); now you have yesterday's revelation from Dick Ebersol (chairman of NBC's sports division) that the Winter Olympics from Vancouver will actually lose money for NBC.

Ebersol noted that the cost of the broadcast rights for the games will exceed the company's advertising sales. Advertising sales slumped in the middle of 2009 and, although sales have picked up in the past four months, NBC is going to lose money thanks to the economic slowdown.

Continue reading Winter Olympics Will Lose Money for NBC

Winter Olympics Will Lose Money for NBC originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 11 Jan 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

North Koreans don't need DVR technology any more. The most important purpose of these devices -- to fast forward through commercials -- no longer applies, now that the reclusive Communist state has banned television commercials from the airwaves.

According to the Yonhap news agency, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il was upset when he saw commercials showing up on Korean Central Television in early July. The report quotes a source close to Kim as saying the ruler's response to the ad was: "What is this? That kind of rubbish appeared when China started reforms and openness." He was obviously pissed and hasn't been open to suggestions that he follow China's lead in embracing a limited form of capitalism.

Continue reading Kim Jong-il: No more TV commercials in North Korea

Kim Jong-il: No more TV commercials in North Korea originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is one in a series on prominent company nicknames. See all 25, and share your thoughts and memories about the Tiffany Network below in the comments.

If CBS Corp.'s (NYSE:CBS) nickname The Tiffany Network were newly coined, I'd speculate that it referred to the long history of Tiffany's, and how the current CBS viewing public had probably begun shopping there back in the '20s. If the company has a more recently gained nickname, it would be the silver (-haired) network, due to the skewing of its viewership toward the geezer crowd.

In reality, the Tiffany moniker hearkens back to the CBS of radio's heyday and the early days of television. With the likes of Edward R. Murrow reporting from London during the Blitz, Orson Wells scaring the bejebus out of listeners with his broadcast of The War of the Worlds, the hit multi-cultural comedy I Love Lucy, and the iconic western Gunsmoke, the network's reputation for quality was once as glittering as one of Tiffany's diamond-pavéd bracelets.

How the mighty have fallen. CBS, with debacles such as the Katie Couric news anchor stint, now lags behind Fox in weekly ratings.

The Tiffany Network is part of a massive entertainment company with fingers in television (66% of revenues), radio (remember radio?) (12%), outdoor advertising (16%), and publishing (6%). Yes, those are all very 20th century businesses. The question troubling current investors is just how the company will move into the 21st century without swapping all its diamonds for rhinestones?

Continue reading Company nicknames: Tiffany Network CBS becoming The Silver Network

Company nicknames: Tiffany Network CBS becoming The Silver Network originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 09 Aug 2008 18:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Ronald McDonald's first ad -- compelling or creepy? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 16 Jul 2007 15:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

CBS wins ad war, but NBC scores Paris Hilton interview originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 22 Jun 2007 09:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Google, eBay, DoubleClick launch ad clearinghouses originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 10 Apr 2007 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Vote for the Worst enjoys being a fly around the Tyrannosaurus Rex that is "American Idol."

`"American Idol" isn't really a talent competition," said Dave Della Terza, who founded the snarky Web site in 2004, in an interview. "It's a carefully crafted realty show."

Della Terza hasn't made many friends at Fox and its corporate parent News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) or among rabid fans who regularly accuse him of trying to ruin America's most popular television show. Their angry emails on Vote for the Worst are hysterical.

Topic number one on the minds of his readers is Sanjaya Malakar. For those of you who are in a cave or in a coma, Malakar is a hapless young man who has managed to charm his way into the hearts of the American public. Every week, millions of viewers wait to find out what pop song the 17-year-old will butcher next.

In other words, Malakar is perfect for Vote for the Worst.

"It's pretty obvious that he's scared out of his mind," he said. "It's so awkward that the judges never know what to say."

Last night was no exception. Malakar put his long flowing brown hair into a mock Mohawk. His rendition of No Doubt's "Bathwater" was weird. Simon Cowell summed it up perfectly when he said that at this point it doesn't matter what the judges say about Malakar. Cowell is Sanjaya's "favorite" judge because he's "brutally honest," according to the show's Web site.

This season has had a few highlights for Della Terza. Idol contestant Chris Sligh, the chubby guy with the curly hair, gave him a shout out after finishing one of his songs. The site was also mentioned on VH1's "Best Week Ever."

"He understands the humor behind our Web site," he said of Sligh.

Maybe he'll have more time to enjoy Vote for the Worst. Sligh's rendition of "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic" didn't rock the house.

Try as it might, Fox can't ignore Vote for the Worst.

The site gets about one million hits a day and as many as four million hits on show nights. I had trouble getting on Vote for the Worst during last night's broadcast.

Vote for the Worst makes money, but not enough for Della Terza to make a living, he said.

Della Terza took pains to point out that he has a real job. Actually, he's got two of them.

"This is definitely not a job," he joked.

Media World: Vote for the Worst pokes fun at "American Idol" originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 28 Mar 2007 09:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Mute that commerical, change television forever originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 27 Mar 2007 12:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Product placement: The American Idol juggernaut

Product placement: The American Idol juggernaut originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 21 Mar 2007 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

CBS Corp. (NYSE:CBS), whose "Evening News" broadcast trails its competition by a mile, recently named former MSNBC head Rick Kaplan to oversee the show. Anchor Katie Couric better hope that Kaplan brings a magic wand with him otherwise her job could be in jeopardy.

Despite all of the talk to the contrary, CBS has got to be wondering if it made the right move hiring Couric. Her predecessor Bob Scheiffer was doing a great job in the wake of the Dan Rather Memogate debacle. In fact, Couric's ratings are worse than his.

There's no doubt though that Couric faces a double-standard because she's a woman, though I don't think her gender is the reason for her poor ratings. Plenty of women anchor local and cable news shows. People just aren't warming up to her as the "Evening News" anchor. Maybe all of the tabloid gossip tarn shed her once golden-girl image. Whatever the reason, Couric is facing an uphill battle.

As the Associated Press points out, Couric's broadcast is a mess. Kaplan, a skilled producer, can make the "Evening News" more coherent. But if people haven't warmed up to the star anchor now, I am not sure they will once the broadcast is revamped.

Katie Couric needs a miracle to save her job originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 09 Mar 2007 10:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Viacom Inc. (NYSE:VIA) will be in no mood to celebrate at this year's upfronts but will have to put on a smile and fake it.

The upfronts are gatherings in which networks talk up their upcoming season to advertisers. The parties are great. There's lots of free food, free food and free stuff. Beneath the frivolity, there's serious business negotiations going on about advertising prices. This is where things get tricky for Viacom.

As yesterday's fourth-quarter results illustrate, Viacom isn't in a strong bargaining position. Wall Street was pretty underwhelmed too. The company had profit of $480.8 million, or 69 cents per share. Excluding one-time charges, profit was 65 cents. Revenue rose 32 cents for $3.59 billion. The results beat analysts' forecasts but concerns about growth tempered people's enthusiasm and the stock fell.

Blogging Stocks readers were divided. Forty-one percent expected Viacom to post disappointing results. It turns out that everyone was right.

The reason for investors' unease is simple: people just don't want their MTV. The performance of the cable business disappointed Wall Street and things aren't going to get better soon. Interestingly, Reuters points out that Viacom doesn't use the "C word" any more. They are now "media networks." Get it.

Perhaps the experts who were expecting a healthy cable upfront may have been too optimistic, though cable keeps snagging audience away from the broadcast networks. The bigger problem is that the Internet is stealing audience from cable. These are the young, hip viewers who advertisers covet. MTV has recently laid off workers and reorganized its sales force to better focus on the Internet.

For now, the company is very much in the TV business and that's a problem.

Continue reading Viacom won't feel much like partying at the upfronts

Viacom won't feel much like partying at the upfronts originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 02 Mar 2007 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT), which is in the midst of a huge Vista promotion, will be sitting on the sidelines at the Super Bowl, according to Bloomberg News.

That's right, Microsoft won't be running any advertisements on a show that will attract about 90 millions of viewers. Yeah, I know it's expensive but what's $2.6 million for a 30-second spot for the world's largest software company. Well, apparently too much.

Microsoft's decision underscores the new reality of advertising, which is return on investment or ROI. Marketing departments have to justify whether their spending is going to give their company the most bang for their buck. That's lead to a shift of dollars away from traditional media to the Internet where companies can precisely measure the effectiveness of their spending.

Even so, Microsoft's decision is odd. The company told Bloomberg that it decided to advertise on "CSI" and the Academy Awards broadcast where "there is less competition." There's also less viewers.

CBS Corp. (NYSE:CBS) will make bucket loads of money from Sunday's game between the Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts and there are plenty of companies willing to pay big bucks to participate. Let's hope that unlike previous years the game won't be blowout.

Microsoft skipping Super Bowl originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 02 Feb 2007 09:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

News Corp's fledgling (NYSE:NWS) Fox Business News cable channel reached a distribution agreement with Time Warner Inc.'s (NYSE:TWX) cable business, a key step in Rupert Murdoch's plan to go head-to-head against General Electric Co.'s (NYSE:GE) CNBC.

As the Wall Street Journal (subscription required) mentions, the deal will make Fox Business News, which Murdoch says will launch this year, available to Time Warner's 13 million subscribers. Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq:CMCSA), the no. 1 cable company. has already agreed to carry the channel.

Ever since Murdoch announced his plans for Fox Business News, I've had my doubts about whether there is enough of an audience to sustain two business channels along with Bloomberg TV (I worked for Bloomberg for seven years) as advertisers shift their spending online. Fox probably is going to offer very attractive rates to advertisers to get them to buy commercial time on the network. Companies will respond enthusiastically at first because they always like to be part of something new. Whether those advertisers will still be around six months later when Fox Business News becomes part of the media landscape remains an open question.

Still, Murdoch faced those same questions when he launched Fox News several years ago to compete against CNN and look what happened.

News Corp., Time Warner reach distribution deal for Fox Business Channel originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 03 Jan 2007 08:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has cut a deal with British broadcaster BSkyB to provide video programming and services like e-mail for the television firm's website. More important, Google video content will appear on BSkyB programming which runs through set-top boxes that store customer data. Google Adsense program for targeting advertising would be utilized to help serve relevant commercials.

The alliance joins Google with Rupert Murdoch, who controls the British company, which is run by his son.

Google stated that the deal was important to the search company. "This is a really, really big deal for us," said Eric Schmidt, Google's chairman and chief executive. "If it works, it will become our most lucrative deal from the get-go."

Indeed, that may well be so. Set-top box technology is employed in both satellite and cable deployments around the world. If Google's targeting tech allows ads to be more accurately served to consumers based on behavior, it would be a significant break-through for the TV advertising industry.

With newspaper and radio buying services already in place, Google goes after the TV.

Douglas McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

Google turns on the telly -- signing its potentially most lucrative deal yet originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 07 Dec 2006 09:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.