Residuals Issue Stalls WGA Talks

By James Hibberd

The current Hollywood writers contract will expire without a deal tonight as negotiations hit a roadblock over DVD and online residual payments.

The Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers took a hardline stance in today’s negotiations, saying they would not continue talks unless the Writers Guild of America leadership dropped their demands for increasing DVD residuals—including online download-to-own.

“The companies believe that movement is possible on other issues, but they cannot make any movement when confronted with your continuing efforts to increase the DVD formula, including the formula for electronic sell-through,” AMPTP president Nick Counter said in a statement to the WGA. “No further movement is possible to close the gap between us so long as your DVD proposal remains on the table.”

The Writers Guild of America negotiating committee blasted the move as “completely unacceptable.”

“The AMPTP brought negotiations to a halt,” said the WGA in a statement. “This morning we presented the AMPTP with a comprehensive package of proposals that included movement on DVDs, new media and jurisdictional issues. We also took nine proposals off the table. The companies returned six hours later and said they would not respond to our package until we capitulated to their Internet demand.”

The parties had resumed negotiations earlier today with the assistance of a federal mediator. Writers submitted their new proposals. Though the details of the proposals were not released, negotiations hung on after-market residuals, with the AMPTP calling it a DVD issue and the WGA emphasizing the online download-to-own aspect.

No talks are scheduled for Thursday. The WGA issued a statement noting there will be a meeting with members Thursday night.

(Editor: Robbins)

Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame Inducts First Class Dec. 11

By Chris Pursell

The Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame will conduct its inaugural ceremony Dec. 11, enshrining 11 legendary figures from around the industry.

Hosted by sports broadcasters Jim Nantz of CBS Sports and Bob Costas of NBC Sports/HBO, the induction will be at the New York Hilton in New York City.

“Having two of the most recognized figures in sports broadcasting host our ceremony further underscores the widespread industry support we are receiving for this long-overdue event,” said selection committee chairman Ken Aagaard, who is also senior VP of operations and production services at CBS Sports. “This will truly be an evening in which the luminaries in sports broadcasting come out to honor their own and recognize those giants who came before us.”

The Sports Video Group, along with leading executives from the sports world, established the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame to honor executives from the worlds of sports, technology and broadcasting.

The first class for the Hall of Fame and the official reasons for their enshrinement will be:

Roone Arledge: “Chairman of ABC Sports from 1977 until 2002, Arledge is the unquestionable father of the modern era of TV sports broadcasting.”

Julius Barnathan: “For more than 40 years, Jules helped transform ABC Sports and the Olympic Games into a technical powerhouse.”

Frank Chirkinian: “While at CBS Sports, Frank revolutionized PGA coverage and turned the Masters into a TV sports mainstay.”

Howard Cosell: “Truly one of a kind, Howard changed the role of the sportscaster and, in two minutes during halftime of every ‘Monday Night Football’ telecast, helped redefine the way viewers and producers approached highlights.”

Harry Coyle: “The center-field shot in baseball? It was Harry’s idea and still remains the defining element of a baseball telecast.”

Jim McKay: “From 1961 to 1998 Jim hosted ABC’s ‘Wide World of Sports,’ transforming the very definition of televised sports into something more than just baseball and football.”

Pete Rozelle: “From 1960 to 1989 Pete turned the NFL into the premier sports league in the country and helped make the NFL the first league to broadcast every game on TV.”

Ed Sabol: “For more than 30 years Ed brought fans closer to the action than ever through NFL Films, the company he founded.”

Tom Shelburne: “The founder of NEP SuperShooters, Shelburne played a huge role in establishing the remote production vehicle market that plays an integral part in every TV sports production.”

Larry Thorpe: “One has to wonder where HDTV sports would be without him, and not just for his constant cheerleading of the format around the globe but also his integral role in the development of the CCD and the color studio camera.”

George Wensel: “George embodied the sports TV technical professional during his short life, becoming a ‘must-have’ tech during his days at NEP.”

CNBC Tops Business Reporting Emmy Nominations

By Michele Greppi

CNBC’s prime-time magazine show “Business Nation” received four of the network’s eight Business & Financial Reporting Emmy nominations, announced Wednesday by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

NATAS will present the fifth annual Emmy Awards for Business & Financial Reporting at a luncheon Dec. 4 at the Rainbow Room in New York City.

CBS News received seven nominations, four for stories on “CBS News Sunday Morning” and three for “60 Minutes” stories. Programming seen on public television stations collected a total of six nominations. Three nominations went to CNN, two to NBC News and one to Bloomberg.

Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief Matthew Winkler will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the ceremony.

A detailed list of the nominated works can be found at www.emmyonline.tv.

(Editor: Robbins)

Truveo Extends International Reach

By Daisy Whitney

Video search service Truveo said it’s expanding internationally and introducing video search portals for France, Germany, India, Japan, Korea, Spain, Taiwan and the United Kingdom.

The new sites are available today at:

'Access' Renews Potts' Contract

By Chris Pursell

“Access Hollywood” has renewed correspondent and weekend co-host Tony Potts’ contract, giving him a multiyear deal to remain with the long-running entertainment newsmagazine show. Mr. Potts joined “Access Hollywood” in April 1999, coming to the show after 12 years in television news and sports.

“Tony Potts is the go-to guy when it comes to celebrity breaking news,” said Rob Silverstein, the show’s executive producer. “His stellar reporting during the Anna Nicole Smith story helped, once again, set ‘Access Hollywood’ apart from the competition. Tony is likable and relatable, someone our audience trusts.”

In addition to his duties at “Access Hollywood,” Mr. Potts contributes to “Today,” MSNBC and CNBC as well as CNN’s “Larry King Live” and “Showbiz Tonight.”

“It’s great to not only have the audience’s trust, but also the confidence of NBC Universal and ‘Access Hollywood’ to offer me this new deal,” said Mr. Potts. “There is not a better entertainment news show in the business, with a better attitude and with better people than ‘Access Hollywood,’ and I continue to feel right at home.”

‘GMA’ Taps Lee Woodruff as Contributor

By Michele Greppi

ABC News correspondent Bob Woodruff’s wife, Lee, has been named a regular life and family contributor to “Good Morning America.” Her assignment begins officially with an appearance this week.

Ms. Woodruff is a former public relations executive who has been freelancing for women’s and family magazines. She also is the founder of the Bob Woodruff Family Fund and co-author with her husband of “In an Instant,” a book about his injuries from a roadside bomb in Iraq and his stunning recovery.

“We look forward to seeing Lee on ‘GMA’ as she draws from her own experiences and personal insights to help our viewers learn about dealing with life’s many challenges and turning points,” “GMA” senior executive producer Jim Murphy said in Wednesday’s announcement.

Cable Networks Hold Viewers for Ads

High DVR Use Hurts Retention by Broadcasters

By Jon Lafayette

The main benefit to the ad business of this season’s sudden, complicated switch to commercial ratings is a new focus on how many people are actually watching commercials during the shows televised by broadcast and cable networks.

When viewing on digital video recorders is factored in, some cable channels perform better than the broadcast channels in terms of holding onto viewers for advertisers. But other cable networks sink to the bottom of the rankings.

While few in the media agency business think the Nielsen Co.’s average commercial ratings system is perfect, most consider it a step in the right direction. (A few carp that because Nielsen can only calculate ratings on a minute-by-minute basis, what it’s really measuring is the average rating of program minutes that contain some commercial content.)

This season there are reams of new numbers to crunch. Some network executives joke that all of the data streams pouring forth from Nielsen add up to a full-employment act for people in the television research business.

Indeed, there is no shortage of numbers, ways to compare them, people to parse them and interpretations of what’s going on in television land.

Few are as vocal as the redoubtable Steve Sternberg, executive VP of audience analysis at Magna Global.

From a business point of view, there are reasons to compare live program ratings (LP), which was the ad-buying currency for years, to commercial ratings for live programming plus three days of DVR playback (C3), this year’s new currency.

“Advertisers need to see both metrics to help determine what impact switching audience measurement methodology has on the cost efficiencies of their national television buys, and to get an indication of how many more or fewer rating points are available for sale in the marketplace (i.e., has supply changed significantly from a year ago),” Mr. Sternberg wrote in a recent report.

While the new C3 ratings measure commercial watching, there is still value in comparing how many people are watching a show—which advertisers used to pay for—versus how many are watching the commercials—what advertisers pay for now.

“Because there was so little C3 data available going into the upfront, most people estimated live ratings, and used indices to estimate C3,” Mr. Sternberg said. “But there was no seasonal data, and people had to do this essentially using just a couple of summer months of data. We need to monitor the percentages more closely than ever, because to a large degree people are still estimating live and using percent differences to estimate C3.”

“Equally important going forward is that we need to continually be able to project the impact of DVR usage as penetration grows,” he added. “The live falloff is not difficult to assess, because channel switching, particularly for broadcast, as we've noted in our commercial pod studies, is relatively stable year-to-year. But DVRs will increasingly result in less overall commercial audience retention. We have to anticipate the impact.”

In his report, Mr. Sternberg said it was important when measuring commercial retention to look at similar stream lengths. That means comparing live program ratings to live commercial ratings, or live-plus-three program ratings to C3. And the results of looking at live programming are quite different from looking at data that include time-shifting and fast-forwarding by DVR users.

In live viewing, the broadcast networks tended to have higher audience retention than their cable competitors, with the Big Four broadcast networks among the top 10 in all television.

But in the real world, where DVR use is becoming a bigger and bigger factor, retention by the broadcast networks tends to get hurt because more of their programming is watched on DVRs, which gives viewers an easier means of fast-forwarding through spots, which happens about two-thirds of the time.

In his report, Mr. Sternberg looked at the first two weeks of the new season, and did both comparisons.

In comparing household ratings using P3, or live-plus-three-days program ratings, and C3, Hallmark Channel scored the highest level of retention, with an index of 96%.

Rounding out the top 10 were Nick at Nite, HGTV, Court TV, BET, Headline News, USA, Adult Swim, TNT and ABC. All of those channels scored a 92 or better.

Among the other broadcasters, Fox was at 91, CBS at 90 and NBC at 89. With its younger-skewing audience, The CW scored an 87.

At the bottom of the pack were AMC, E! and MTV at 83 and WGN, MSNBC and VH1 with 84.

Mr. Sternberg said using household ratings seemed to be the fairest way to compare the networks. It’s also the most accurate, because the data deals with only a few minutes per hour and there were only two weeks of data available.

Starcom’s Taylor Sees Clients Embrace New Media

By Jon Lafayette

When packaged-goods companies are embracing digital media, you know there have been big changes in the advertising industry.

So says Ken Taylor, executive VP and group client leader at Starcom USA, who is responsible for running the agency’s Kellogg and Lego accounts.

With the combination of Kellogg and Lego, most people think his job is about marketing to kids. And that is one area he focuses on. Indeed, the kids marketplace is becoming a digital space at an accelerating pace as younger and younger kids go online, Mr. Taylor said.

But Kellogg is a major marketer to adults as well, and it is strongly embracing digital to reach grownups.

“When you start to see CPG [consumer packaged goods] companies like a Kellogg’s start investing truly appreciable percentages of their overall marketing mix into new emerging and digital spaces, you start to know you’re getting a watershed level of adoption within the marketplace,” Mr. Taylor said.

For Kellogg, the Pop Tarts brand has been a trendsetter in using digital media, including video-on-demand, broadband, instant messaging and mobile.

A couple of years ago, Pop Tarts ran a campaign called the Great Fruit Escape, featuring a “Survivor”-style competition among various flavors of the toaster pastry trying to get off an island and avoid being eaten.

“Consumers were able to vote on who they thought should survive and help pick the wining flavor at the end of it,” Mr. Taylor said. “It was activated across a multitude of touch points.”

More recently, Kellogg’s Special K brand worked with Yahoo to create a digital hub called MyK.com that provides information and community for the weight-managing woman.

“It’s been quite successful in terms of ROI and other brand metrics. We’ve seen some very favorable results on it,” Mr. Taylor said. Indeed, that’s a key advantage of digital media programs.

“The fact that I can put an ROI against it, as well as the fact that I can say it’s moved certain brand-equity measures, that champions TV right out of the gate, doesn’t it?” he said.

And clients like Kellogg are no longer merely dabbling in the digital space.

“If you go back a couple of years, it was, ‘Well, television is doing scale, and this other stuff will provide me with a deeper level of engagement.’ We’re getting to a level of scale with Yahoo and Google where all of a sudden we can provide both,” he said.

Growing up in the Chicago suburbs, Mr. Taylor wasn’t one of those people who knew exactly what he wanted to be when he grew up. At Bradley University, he had four majors: He tried math, fine arts photography and commercial design before choosing marketing communications.

After graduation, with the help of his sister who knew a secretary at the agency, Mr. Taylor got a job as an estimator in the media department at Leo Burnett, which later became Starcom.

Since then, he’s been professionally monogamous, but has had plenty of changes of scenery over the course of his 19-year career, moving from Chicago to Hong Kong to Los Angeles and Detroit before returning to Chicago after the birth of his daughter.

Working on different accounts has been refreshing as well. His other clients have included Reebok, Procter & Gamble, McDonald’s and General Motors.

“I’ve had the ability to move accounts and move cities, and in fact move countries, and get a really diversified perspective on the business, and it’s kind of nice because you have the safety net of working for one company,” he said. “You’re applying your skill base in a whole new manner based on that particular client’s business and the category they operate in.”

Mr. Taylor and wife Ellie have two children, Matt, 7, and Anna, 5. Besides spending time with his family, he likes to cook.

“I’m the weekend or dinner-party cook. I love to put on a good show.”

He also likes to make furniture. He works in a variety of styles: Shaker, mission, classical, modern. He made nothing for his office yet, and probably won’t for a while, because he lost his workshop. His father, with whom he shared a garage workshop on the south side of Chicago, retired. At the same time his mother got tired of brushing snow off her car and decided to reclaim the garage. He’s hoping to be able to put his tools in the basement and get back to woodworking.

Mr. Taylor also puts his building skills to work for Habitat for Humanity. He recently spent a week of his vacation time with other members of his church constructing homes in Waveland, Miss., which was devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

Who knew: Mr. Taylor’s wife recently became a yoga instructor, teaching at a health club and at a yoga studio. Has she got him on the mat doing yoga? “She’s trying her best, man,” he said. “I’m making every effort to be open to it.”

Sci Fi Rolls Series Set in Mysterious Warehouse

By Jon Lafayette

In the last scene of the film “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” the prize Indiana Jones wrested from the Nazis is packed up and sent unceremoniously to a vast government warehouse filled with nondescript crates.

A new series recently greenlighted by Sci Fi Channel is set in Warehouse 13, described by the network as a massive, secret storage facility that houses every strange artifact, mysterious relic, fantastical object and supernatural souvenir ever collected by the U.S. government.

The main characters are two FBI agents. After saving the life of the president, they are promoted to South Dakota, where they are assigned to search for objects stolen from the warehouse and to investigate incidents involving new objects that belong in the collection.

“Warehouse 13” is based on a script from Rockne S. O’Bannon (“Farscape”), Jane Espenson (“Battlestar Galactica”) and D. Brent Mote. It will be produced by Universal Media Studios beginning in December for an expected premiere next summer.

“Like our successful series ‘Eureka,’ ‘Warehouse 13’ is a fun, intriguing concept that should continue to broaden our audience through present-day, relatable stories with an imaginative twist,” said Mark Stern, executive VP for original programming at Sci Fi. “Rockne has delivered a wonderful script and we can’t wait to get this into production.”

Sci Fi has been ramping up its production of original series. New shows in the hopper include the drama “Revolution” and the reality series “Ghost Hunters International.” The network recently began developing a dramedy, “Earthlings,” and renewed “Stargate Atlantis.”

In December it will air “Tin Man,” a new look at the story of Oz starring Zooey Deschanel, Alan Cumming and Richard Dreyfuss.

Chart: Most-Recalled New Prescription Drug Ads 2006-07 TV Season