May 2008 News

Media buyer Initiative USA named Todd Gordon as senior VP, director of national broadcast.

Mr. Gordon joins the agency from MediaCom.

The addition of Mr. Gordon allows Initiative to promote Kris Magel, who joined the agency last year, to executive VP overseeing all national television. In addition to Mr. Magel, Mr. Gordon will work with Ray Dundas, who is also senior VP, director of national broadcast.

“I have known Todd for many years, and endorse him as a creative thinker who delivers fully integrated solutions for clients,” said Mr. Magel in a statement. “Todd has spent much of his career working on ‘challenger brands,’ which typically require their agencies to be smarter, faster, more innovative and more creative with their budget. This is a great match.”

(Editor: Jensen)

Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” will tape from Denver and St. Paul during the Democratic and Republican National Conventions later this year.

The Peabody Award-winning parody news show previously took its production on the road to cover the conventions during 2000 and 2004.

“The Daily Show” will be taped at the Byron Theatre in the Newman Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Denver nightly during the Democratic convention Aug. 26 through Aug. 29. It will tape at the History Theatre at McNally Smith College of Music during the Republican convention Sept. 2 through Sept. 5.

(Editor: Baumann)

In 15 years, broadcast television will only be useful for high-profile live events like the Super Bowl, awards shows and programs like “American Idol,” Ben Silverman, co-chairman of NBC Entertainment, said during a keynote interview at the TelevisionWeek Upfront Summit in New York.

Other shows will have to live on multiple platforms to survive.

“[Broadcast] will also be where we launch our episodic storytelling vehicles, but they will be living and breathing everywhere,” he said.

NBC plans to experiment with driving viewers to the Web from TV with its new fall show “Kath and Kim.” NBC will offer continued scenes online after each episode airs, Mr. Silverman said.

“Around our new offerings there will literally be shows that end on air and the last scene will continue online,” he said.

Online extensions of shows must be distinct from what’s on air, he said.

"'The Office’ lives as an event on Thursday night at 9 p.m. with millions of people watching, and then there is a Dunder-Mifflin social network online and hundreds of thousands of people are playing with it every day, but in no way are you watching the same thing you saw on TV,” Mr. Silverman said.

When asked about the reputation he has developed in his short time on the job as an entertainment chief who works closely with marketers, he said that’s due to the new generation of showrunners who are “friends” of advertisers.

That includes Tim Kring and Tina Fey, who head up popular NBC shows “Heroes” and “30 Rock,” respectively, Mr. Silverman said.

“Tina Fey loves American Express. They have been inside '30 Rock,' in the show. They have supported her through the Tribeca Film Festival,” he said. “Tim Kring enjoys his relationships with Nissan. He felt Nissan helped empower the growth of that show.”

Those relationships with brands are part of the new way of doing business as a TV entertainment executive, he said.

“I am trying to connect the dots of what we are all trying to do together as well as help move the goods and service of the advertisers who underwrite the content funding," he said. "Those things are not mutually exclusive. ... If you look at the best shows on television, those are also the best shows in which we are able to sell a credit card and automotive. This is how the business works and how the content is enabled to be delivered to the consumer.”

Mr. Silverman also addressed the failure of “Quarterlife” on TV. NBC brought the Web drama to prime time in March, but it debuted to the network’s worst ratings in the time slot in 17 years.
“It was probably the wrong concept," he said. "Had we been the MTV audience, that show might have worked.”

Web-to-TV migrations are more likely to work for “Blair Witch” or “Cloverfield” type concepts, as well as extreme comedy like “Jackass,” Mr. Silverman said.

(Editor: Baumann)

Blockbuster Games’ Promotion Includes Blu-ray Bundle
Blockbuster, the largest U.S. movie rental chain, announced a games promotion this week that includes a $500 bundling of products including a Sony PlayStation 3 console, which plays Blu-ray DVDs. Along with the PS3, customers get the “Spider-Man 3” Blu-ray disc, a “Transformers” game, a Blu-ray DVD remote, an HDMI cable and a card allowing either one weekly Blu-ray DVD or PS3 game rental for 12 consecutive weeks, Blockbuster said.

Verizon Boosts FiOS TV Subscribers 28% in Q1
Verizon said this week it boosted the number of subscribers for its FiOS fiber-optic television service by 263,000, or 28%, to 1.2 million during the first quarter. The company, which launched FiOS in September 2005, has tripled its subscribers in the past year.

Fox News Channel Launches in HD Today
News Corp.’s Fox News Channel will begin broadcasting in high definition in some U.S. regions starting today. Time Warner Cable will air Fox News Channel’s HD broadcasts in parts of New York and Texas, the network said this week in a statement.

Cablevision Gets Rights to Distribute Hallmark Movie Channel in HD
New York-area cable television provider Cablevision acquired the rights to distribute Crown Media Holdings’ Hallmark Movie Channel in high definition, Crown Media said this week. The agreement was part of Cablevision’s distribution renewal of Crown Media’s Hallmark networks.

New York’s WPIX Starts News Broadcasts in HD
WPIX-TV, The CW’s New York affiliate, began airing its morning and evening news broadcasts in high definition, Newsday reports. WPIX’s studios have been upgraded to handle HD, and the station will be able to show field reports in HD within a few months, the newspaper says.

Voom HD Will Start Selling DVDs on Amazon.com
Voom HD, the high-definition television network owned by Cablevision, will begin selling videos of its shows through Amazon.com this summer. About 50 DVD titles, ranging from travel-related Equator HD programs to art-related Gallery HD shows, will be available on Amazon.com, the world’s largest Internet retailer.

Democrats Tap Microsoft as Convention’s HD Web Content Provider
Microsoft was named the official high-definition Web content provider for the Democratic National Convention, which takes place Aug. 25-28 in Denver. Microsoft said its Silverlight Web application, along with networks provided by Level 3 Communications, will allow viewers to customize their video programming during the four-day convention.

HD Shopping on QVC
QVC launched a high-definition version of its cable shopping channel today, reports Multichannel News. Negotiations are taking place with potential affiliates for QVC HD, the paper says.

HD programming picks for May 1-7: “Little Miss Sunshine,” “An Inconvenient Truth,” “Dr. Strangelove”

“Little Miss Sunshine” (HBO). Thurs., May 1, 9 p.m. Road-trip/beauty pageant indie flick garnered a best picture nomination and a supporting actor Oscar for Alan Arkin, not to mention airplay for the extended version of “Super Freak.”

“An Inconvenient Truth” (Showtime). Fri., May 2, 4:45 p.m. Davis Guggenheim’s award-winning documentary on global warming stars former Vice President Al Gore and launched a thousand Priuses.

“Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” (HDNet Movies). Sun., May 4, 7:35 p.m. Peter Sellers stars, Stanley Kubrick directs. For those who haven’t seen it, no explanation is possible. For those who have, no explanation is necessary.

The player: Burton Jablin, executive VP of Scripps Networks, which includes Food Network and HGTV

The play: Mr. Jablin helped lead Scripps’ launch of high-definition simulcast broadcasts of Food Network and HGTV in March, two years after the networks began programming in HD. Food Network is upgrading its New York studios, which will have the necessary equipment to broadcast in true HD starting in October. “So much of HGTV is about how people create greater beauty in their homes and yards, so it’s visually important to see what people are doing,” Mr. Jablin said. As for Food Network, “You can’t taste what’s being cooked, so it’s even more important to provide as much visual clarity and beauty to what we’re doing.”

The pitch: E.W. Scripps is counting on the HD simulcasts of two of its five channels—the others are DIY Network, Fine Living and Great American Country—to boost revenue at its networks division. Scripps Networks increased its first-quarter revenue by 15%, outpacing the parent company’s 6.8% revenue increase. Food Network revenue jumped 19% from a year earlier, E.W. Scripps said last week.

The challenges: Like other networks, Scripps is dependent on distributors such as cable companies to provide enough bandwidth to show high-definition programming. Additionally, both networks have shows that are rebroadcast over many years because of the evergreen nature of programming in the food and home improvement genres, so the channels are as much as five years away from showing all of their programs in true HD, Mr. Jablin estimated.

Backstory: Mr. Jablin, 48, joined Scripps in 1994 to help launch HGTV, and was in charge of the network by 2000. He’d previously worked in television news at Fox-owned KTTV in Los Angeles and CBS-owned WBBM-TV in Chicago. The Harvard University graduate grew up in Highland Park, outside Chicago, and now is based in Knoxville, Tenn.

Although many are celebrating the emergence of Sony’s Blu-ray as the winner in the next-generation DVD player format war, count ABI Research among the naysayers.

Within the past two weeks, the Oyster Bay, N.Y.-based research firm has twice questioned whether Blu-ray sales will match the optimistic projections of analysts and movie studio executives, who have said next-generation disc revenue in the U.S. will triple to about $1 billion this year.

This week, ABI said Blu-ray’s high prices—promotions dropped some player prices to about $300 during the last holiday season before prices rose slightly after Toshiba discontinued its HD DVD format—will prevent significant adoption of Blu-ray for another 12 to 18 months. Last week, the firm said consumer ambivalence and the willingness for customers to “upconvert” standard players will stem the flow of dollars toward Blu-ray players and discs.

“I don’t think the top brand names are going to reach the magic $199 point for this holiday season,” said Steven Wilson, principal analyst at ABI Research. With so few companies making integrated circuits for Blu-ray players and a general supply shortage of the machines,
“There’s nothing driving their prices down.”

First-quarter Blu-ray disc sales more than tripled as Toshiba pulled out of the format war while retailers such as Best Buy and Netflix shifted support exclusively to Blu-ray, Home Media Magazine reported last month, citing Nielsen VideoScan figures.

Still, some of last year’s customer confusion from having two next-generation formats to choose from will continue, because many of the Blu-ray machines sold now don’t have the necessary functions to play all of the content accessories movie studios will be including on Blu-ray discs.

“What is driving demand for high-def DVD? It’s the desire to see high-quality video on your HDTV,” Mr. Wilson said. “But how many consumers are willing to pay current prices to buy players that will be obsolete in a year?”

Comcast’s first-quarter earnings beat analysts’ estimates as the largest U.S. cable television operator boosted revenue with more high-speed Internet and telephone subscribers. Cable subscriber numbers were little changed amid increased competition from satellite and fiber-optic television operators.

Net income fell 13% to $732 million, or 24 cents a share, from $837 million, or 26 cents, a year earlier, while revenue increased 14% to $8.39 billion, the company said in a statement this morning. Excluding one-time gains both this year and last year, profit rose 9.5% to $588 million.

Comcast’s Internet and phone revenue rose 12% and 65%, respectively, as the company bundled those services with its cable offerings to attract customers.

Comcast also launched a video-on-demand service in January that will have a high-definition content inventory of more than 1,000 TV show and movie choices a month by the end of the year. That service helped Comcast boost cable-based sales by 5%, despite a subscription base that shrunk slightly.

Subscription levels “exceeded expectations across virtually every product line,” wrote Bear Stearns analyst Spencer Wang in a note to clients today. “High-speed data net additions were particularly strong.”

Comcast was expected to earn 19 cents a share on $8.17 billion in revenue, the average analyst estimates in a Thomson Financial survey.

Comcast’s 24.7 million cable subscribers were little changed from a year earlier, despite growth of satellite operators such as DirecTV and newer fiber-optic services like Verizon’s FiOS and AT&T’s U-verse. Verizon said this week that its FiOS subscriber base has tripled over the past year to 1.2 million. DirecTV and No. 2 satellite operator Dish Network will release their first-quarter earnings later this month.

“Our performance demonstrates that our operating strategy is working in an economic and competitive environment that continues to be challenging,” said Brian Roberts, Comcast’s chief executive officer, in today’s statement. “We are confident that our outlook for 2008 is achievable and we are on track to deliver on our goal of consistent and profitable growth.”

Comcast reiterated its February forecast that 2008 revenue would rise 8% to 10%, or to $33.4 billion to $34 billion. Analysts forecast 2008 sales of $34.1 billion.

Investors were pleased with the company’s results as Comcast shares rose as much as 8.7% today. Before today, the stock had fallen 23% in the past year, compared with a 4.4% decline for the Nasdaq.

On Wednesday, Time Warner Cable reported first-quarter earnings that fell less than analysts expected as the next-largest U.S. cable operator also appeared to stave off competition from satellite and fiber-optic operators. Time Warner Inc. said it would sell its majority stake in the cable company “soon.”

Full speed ahead.

With the adoption of liquid-crystal display televisions going worldwide and the U.S. switchover to digital broadcasts less than 10 months away, that’s the attitude Sony is taking with its factories as it attempts to ensure it has enough flat-screen televisions to meet the expected surge in demand.

Within the past week, Sony said it will double production of its Bravia LCD sets this year at its Slovakia plant, which serves Europe, to 4 million annual units, and will double the production of its latest generation LCD-panel production line, which it owns with Samsung, to 60,000 sheets a month by next year.

The company is the market-share leader for North American LCD televisions, almost all of which are high-definition sets, garnering 13% of the fourth-quarter LCD units and 23% of LCD dollars, according to DisplaySearch.

“They’ve had a year and a half of tight supply,” said Paul Gagnon, director of North America television research for NPD Group unit DisplaySearch. “They’re buying up every single panel they can get their hands on and selling it.”

Sony’s trying to capitalize on the coming U.S. switchover to digital broadcasts from analog in February. That event has helped drive digital televisions’ penetration of U.S. households to about 50% and likely will help increase the penetration of HDTV to a similar figure, the Consumer Electronics Association said last week.

The switchover, along with falling prices, also helped drive worldwide LCD TV panel shipments, which jumped 69% in the first quarter, DisplaySearch said this week.

In January, Sony said its electronics unit’s fiscal sales for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2007, rose 10.2%, compared with 9.6% for the company, largely on demand for its Bravia LCD televisions. The electronics’ division’s operating profit fell 7% from a record year-earlier quarter as Bravia prices declined.

The company is likely to continue to drop its Bravia prices for the sake of market share as it ramps up worldwide production, said Gagnon.

“It’s a strategic decision to operate in a little bit of red ink now,” said Gagnon. “If that pushes the weaker competitors out of the market, so be it.”

Sezmi Corp., formerly Building B, will release a new set-top box that combines traditional broadcast TV, cable programming, movies and Internet video into one streamlined reception system.

The company announced it is starting to test the technology in pilot markets with select broadcast, broadband and advertising partners. It plans to release the product commercially at national retailers by the end of the year.

Sezmi will combine broadcast and cable content, films and online video in a customizable manner. Through the service’s remote control, individual users can access personalized channels based on favorite selections, suggestions and recorded materials, integrating live and on-demand content.

“With the impending digital transition, the consumer shift to on-demand viewing, high definition, Internet video and other disruptions, now is the time for a true [TV] alternative to emerge,” Parks Associates vice president and principal analyst Kurt Scherf said in a release. “From what I’ve seen, Sezmi’s differentiated approach, leadership and industry relationships makes it a strong contender to fill this void.”

Sezmi will announce its operating markets and roster of partners at a later time.

With a faltering economy chief in many marketers' minds, the total dollars committed in this year's broadcast-TV upfront could be flat to down, several media executives said today.

Speaking at a conference hosted by TVWeek and Advertising Age, media buyers and network executives described a climate of caution and concern, owing to fears the U.S. economy has moved into a recession, as well as massive shifts in technology that allow consumers to get entertainment and information in places other than the five big broadcast outlets.

While marketers are still considering budgets, "There's no doubt we are in the middle of the recession, and the upfront might be affected," said Geri Wang, senior VP-president of prime-time sales at ABC.

One media buyer was even more direct: "From the numbers perspective, it's challenging to see a flat or positive upfront. I don't think that's going to happen. I think it will be down," said Kris Magel, exec VP at Interpublic Group of Cos.' Initiative, where he oversees national TV buying.

Tight scatter market

That talk sets up an intriguing marketplace as advertisers decide how much of their ad budgets to commit to TV overall. Because of ratings erosion -- some of it exacerbated by the recent writers strike -- TV networks are seeing diminishing reach and must run clients' ads more frequently in order to get those commercials in front of the same number of people as in years past. Tight supply has made so-called scatter advertising, or ads bought as needed rather than during the upfront, very pricey. In a recent conference call with investors, CBS CEO Les Moonves said, "Network pricing in the scatter market continues to be up double digits."

Tight scatter usually augurs a robust upfront market, when advertisers commit between $9 billion and $9.5 billion to the fall prime-time lineups of the major broadcast networks. That's what helped the total for upfront commitments for the 2007-08 season rise to about $9.19 billion, up from a relatively lackluster $8.95 billion for the previous season. Cable came in at around $6.9 billion, up at least 6% from a $6.5 billion take in the previous year. Syndication came in at about $2.06 billion.

This year, however, the economy may throw a wrench into that tried-and-true formula. Some marketers may be forced to cut back on what they spend in this year's upfront, said Linda Yaccarino, exec VP-general manager, Turner Entertainment Sales and Marketing. Others may take advantage of competitor cutbacks and increase budgets. But overall, she said, marketers likely will "take a much more thoughtful approach."

Other hurdles

Broadcast networks face other hurdles as well. Due to the writers strike, they won't have as much new programming to introduce immediately in the fall. There is also concern among buyers that more reality programming could hurt the medium in the long term, as viewers tune in for short-lived game shows and tabloid contests but see less of the scripted fare that keeps them hooked for years. Cable also has gained ratings share, according to analysts, and Turner has said it wants to increase its supply of original programming.

ABC Family is touting two things most advertisers crave: original programming year-round and viewers who pay attention to commercials.

With the Writers Guild of America strike cutting into its development time, ABC Family will have three new original series airing this summer.

“The new season starts for us in the summer,” said ABC Family President Paul Lee.

Some of those shows will have 30-second shorts called “Nikki in the City” during their commercial breaks. “Nikki” is about a hip, urban woman and the products she uses. Advertisers will be able to place their products in the shorts, which are designed to help keep viewers tuned in while spots air. Last year, the network began airing sponsored “Tease and Reveal” vignettes with that goal.

ABC Family has done research with Nielsen Entertainment that shows an ad running on ABC Family has higher recall than ads on other networks aimed at younger viewers, including MTV, the CW and VH1, said Mr. Lee.

ABC Family in 2007 had a record year in prime time in total viewers, adults 18 to 34, adults 18 to 49, women 18 to 49 and viewers 12 to 34. The network aims optimistic programming at young viewers in the millennial generation.

ABC’s Family’s new summer shows include one-hour drama “The Middleman,” based on a series of graphic novels, launching June 16. Mr. Lee has high hopes for the breakout-star potential of cast member Natalie Morales.

“The Secret Life of the American Teenager” launches July 1. The network has rounded up a young cast to join veterans Molly Ringwald, John Schneider and Ernie Hudson.

“Samurai Girl” will air as a six-hour special-event premiere over three consecutive nights starting Sept. 5.

One or two of the shows will be brought back in the spring, Mr. Lee said.

Original series “Lincoln Heights” returns for a third season in the fall with 10 new episodes. Also returning in the fall is “Greek,” with 12 new hours. “Kyle XY” returns with 10 episodes in January.

The network is getting ready to start production on its first half-hour multicamera comedy “Roommates.” The show, expected to air in the spring, is about a group of friends starting their post-collegiate years.

Also on the way is “Sophie,” a comedic half-hour about a woman having the worst year of her life.

The network’s schedule also is dotted by original movies and its annual “25 Days of Christmas” extravaganza.

Ion Television, the nation’s largest broadcast television station group, announced a new set of programming initiatives for the 2008-09 season Thursday at its upfront presentation in New York.

Under the new network branding motto “Positively Entertaining,” Ion introduced a slate of prime-time programming comprised of syndicated episodes of “Boston Legal,” “ER,” “The Dead Zone,” “Ghost Whisperer” and “Criminal Minds.”

The network, which targets the 25-54 demographic, also announced plans to air 12 original movies produced by RHI Entertainment, its partner in weekend primetime programming.

“Advertisers aiming to build market share and showcase their products need look no further than our new lineup,” said Ion president of sales and marketing Stephen Appel in a statement. “Ion Television will be recognized for its value, innovation, ratings growth and expansive reach.”

Ion Television, owned and operated by Ion Media Networks, reaches more than 94 million U.S. television households through its nationwide broadcast television, cable and satellite distribution systems. Via digital multicasting, Ion Media has launched digital TV brands including kids channel qubo.

Objectifying Web cuties is going co-ed.

Thousands of readers are checking out the first annual Hottest Male Web Host tournament on Daisy Whitney's New Media Minute page on TVWeek.com.

As self-proclaimed "equal-opportunity objectifier" Daisy Whitney explains in this video, she set up a Sweet 16-style poll on Monday and called for voters to pick their favorites from eight initial pairings. The Men of the Web are rallying their troops, asking their fans to put them over the top. The contest has inspired an impassioned last-minute grassroots campaign for Black 22 host David Price.

After the first round of the tournament ends May 2, Daisy will set up the next round in the battle to crown the first ever New Media Minute-TVWeek Hottest Male Web Host.

Viacom reported higher first-quarter profits and strong sales of its “Rock Band” video game.

Net earnings rose 33% to $270 million, or 42 cents a share, from $203 million, or 22 cents a share, a year ago, the company said Friday.

Revenues rose 15% to $3.1 billion. Excluding the impact of restructuring charges at MTV Networks a year ago, adjusted operating income rose 14% in the first quarter.

“Content creation is our central mission and our ongoing investments in programming are paying off as we see our television ratings continue to improve, said Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman, citing MTV’s “Randy Jackson Presents: America’s Best Dance Crew,” TV Land’s “High School Reunion” and BET’s “Iron Ring.”

“Audiences are also responding to our digital content, which is moving beyond our own branded sites through smart distribution deals with leading online and mobile partners,” Mr. Dauman said in a statement.

Viacom’s Media Networks division, which includes MTV, VH1, Comedy Central and BET, reported a 15% increase in operating income to $694 million. The company said 9% of that increase was due to the year-ago restructuring charge.

Revenue for the media networks division was up 16%. The increase was principally driven by “Rock Band” sales, the company said. Worldwide advertising revenues were up 8% to $1.05 billion, led by Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and TV Land.

The company said it expects low double-digital annual growth in diluted earnings per share from continuing operations.

“Viacom entered 2008 at an aggressive pace, delivering strong results in the first quarter. We continue to unlock new value in our businesses as we create innovative ways for our audience to engage with our unparalleled entertainment brands,” said Sumner Redstone, executive chairman of Viacom. “I am more confident than ever that we have the right strategies and the best management to deliver on our commitment to grow shareholder value over time.”

(Editor: Jensen)

Viacom said it will limit spending to $100 million on its new premium TV and video-on-demand joint venture.

Speaking on Viacom’s first quarter earnings conference call with investors Friday, CEO Philippe Dauman said the joint venture with MGM and Lionsgate would give the company more flexibility and enable it to better monetize its content.

Mr. Dauman said Viacom is the lead investor in the project and will have a significant stake in it, but not a majority holding.

He said that with output deals from multiple studios available, there was a unique opportunity to change the rules in the pay business. There won’t be a similar opportunity for a long time, he said. (Ironically those output deals had been with Showtime, which was part of Viacom up until it was spun off with CBS Inc. in 2006.)

“We are optimistic about where it stands,” Mr. Dauman said. “Having it be announced allowed us to speak very freely to potential distributors across many, many platforms. The level of interest, and in many cases enthusiasm, has been extremely encouraging to us.”

Viacom also said that domestic advertising sales rose 7% in the first quarter, and that they are expected to rise by a similar amount in the second quarter, despite concerns about a weakening economy.

Mr. Dauman said that the strength of its networks’ ratings, their momentum and the strength in the scatter market were positive signs.

He added that the economic environment “does not seem to impact in any significant way our major categories of advertisers, which include motion pictures, quick-serve restaurants and games.”

All of those categories “seem to be recession-resistant, slowdown-resistant, whatever you want to call it,” Mr. Dauman said. “At this early point in the quarter, we expect our domestic ad sales growth in the second quarter to be comparable to the first quarter.”

Some analysts on the conference call questioned why Viacom’s ad growth wasn’t in the double-digit range like some other cable network owners.

Mr. Dauman said that Viacom’s youth-oriented audience was largely unchanged while networks catering to older viewers were showing gains because of the effects of the Writers Guild of America strike.

He also said that the company is adjusting well to the new commercial ratings system being used for ad sales.

Networks like MTV and VH1 took big hits because their viewers didn’t stay on the channel during commercial breaks. “We’ve used a combination of methods in those networks where there is falloff,” Mr. Dauman said. Those included increasing the number of breaks and making them shorter, allowing sponsors to take over commercial pods and adding program content to pods.

“All of these things have made our viewer retention better than anticipated and we see room for improvement,” he said.

(Editor: Jensen)

The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists pushed the start date for its negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers again, as the AMPTP and the Screen Actors Guild continue their separate contract negotiations.

AFTRA agreed last week to postpone its negotiations until May 5. It now will begin negotiations on May 7, at the request of SAG and the producers, AFTRA said.

SAG and the producers announced today the organizations are extending their negotiations on a day-by-day basis until May 6. Talks originally were set to conclude today.

Both of the actors unions’ contracts with the AMPTP are set to expire in June.

AFTRA announced Wednesday that a deal was struck in separate talks with the producers over non-prime-time broadcast shows that AFTRA represents, including “Saturday Night Live” and “Entertainment Tonight.”

That three-year deal includes pay increases up to 3.5% for performers and revised terms for new-media material.

A group of congressmen is calling on the Pentagon’s Inspector General to probe whether the Department of Defense went too far in trying to sway the opinions of military analysts on network and cable TV shows in behalf of the Iraq war in ways that may have been illegal.

In a letter released today, 41 congressmen, led by U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., called the Pentagon effort an “unethical, and potentially illegal, propaganda campaign aimed at deliberately misleading the American public.”

The New York Times recently disclosed that the Pentagon worked hard to convince the retired military officials who appeared on TV to offer the military’s viewpoint at a time some were working for companies that seek military contracts.

A week ago Rep. DeLauro wrote to TV and cable networks seeking explanation of standards for the military analysts. That letter went to ABC News, CBS News, CNN News, Fox News Channel and NBC News and asked executives of each to publicly disclose their standards for military analysts.

“When the American people turn on their TV news, they expect coverage of the Iraq war and military issues to be using analysts without conflicts of interests,” those letters said. “When you put analysts on the air without fully disclosing their business interests, as well as relationships with high-level officials within the government, the public trust is betrayed.”

The new letter from the 41 congressmen raised similar concerns about the Defense Department’s role.

“When the Department of Defense misleads the American people by having them believe that they are listening to the views of objective military analysts, when in fact these individuals are simply replaying DoD talking points, the department is clearly betraying the public trust,” said the letter.

A Pentagon spokesman did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

The first ever New Media Minute-TVWeek.com "Hottest Web Host" Tournament enters its final round of voting today.

The contest, which kicked off in late April, will conclude on Friday, May 9 at 2 p.m. when the polls close. Last week, voters whittled down the pool of contenders to eight contestants, who will compete directly against each other, plus one new wild card candidate.

The male Web hosts left standing are: Leo Laporte (This Week in Tech), Gary Vaynerchuk (WineLibraryTV), Jeff MacPherson (Tiki Bar TV), Erik Beck (Indy Mogul), Michael Somerville (Love, Somerville), Kevin Rose (Diggnation), Martin Sargent (Internet Superstar), Chris Leavins (Cute with Chris) and David Price (The Middle Show).

Voters can vote once for one guy. The polls close this Friday and the winner will be announced and crowned next week.

In the first round of voting, nearly 15,000 total votes were cast. “This proves that we are tapping into a previously unmet demand to objectify male Web hosts,” said Daisy Whitney, the host of the New Media Minute. “I can’t wait to see who audiences, readers and viewers side with now that they only have one vote for one guy to cast. This will surely be an exciting week at the polls.”

(Editor: Baumann)

NBC Entertainment Co-chairman Ben Silverman said his contemporaries in Hollywood understand intuitively the symbiotic relationship between advertisers and programmers.

"There's a new generation of creative forces inside Hollywood who I've grown up with and helped accelerate the careers of many of them, and they all have been marketed to everywhere they live," Mr. Silverman said at the TelevisionWeek-Advertising Age Upfront Summit last week in New York. "They understand what's enabling them to get the $50 million that NBC invests in their first 13 episodes is the fact that advertisers are working with us and that we have a comfort level that the advertisers we are partnering with are behind what we're doing as well."

Television creative executives and brand marketers share both interests and tactics when trying to reach a target audience, he said. For exclusive video of Mr. Silverman's comments as well as his other comments on the TV industry, visit TVWeek.com's Upfront Navigator destination.

Networks are the crucible where the two groups pursue their parallel goals. That means putting creative executives and advertisers together without letting their functions blur, he said.

"You don't want to go so far as to kind of basically convert the whole West Coast creative force into an ad agency," Mr. Silverman said. "And you don't want to go so far within the ad agency to have every copy writer pitching TV shows. But you do kind of need to find a way to meet in the middle."

A keystone of good journalism is transparency. That is, telling the news consumer enough about how a story was reported to let them judge how much credence it deserves.

Recently, The New York Times pulled back the curtain on how television news networks fell down on the transparency front in their coverage of the Iraq war.

The Times reported that to drum up support for the Iraq war, the government cultivated former military men to speak on the issue as analysts. The military gave the veterans access to officials and special briefings. The catch is that many of the analysts had side businesses that benefited from the access they got, giving them a disincentive to criticize the war.

The story also documented the TV networks’ processes for vetting analysts. TV networks for the most part declined to comment in detail, saying the onus was on analysts to disclose any connections that could color their commentary.

They couldn’t be more wrong. The burden was on the networks to ask; for the most part, they did not. The most basic journalistic precepts require news outlets to question experts on whether they might have interests that lend a bias to their analysis.

So far, most of the broadcast and cable networks haven’t responded in a meaningful way. CNN, in the Times story, said it did require analysts to divulge all sources of outside income, but didn’t know that one of its military analysts had outside businesses related to the Pentagon. To CNN’s credit, the network did acknowledge it failed to ask that analyst the relevant question.

In the end, the cadre of military analysts who had a relationship with the Pentagon and gave on-air opinions helped shape the public’s opinion of the war. And the networks failed to provide their viewers with information that would have let the audience judge how much weight to give those voices.

We urge TV news divisions to stop shifting the burden of disclosure to analysts, and to accept the burden of asking commentators whether they have interests that may affect their credibility.
The first step toward improving is admitting error. It’s time for the network news divisions to ‘fess up and move forward.

Promax/BDA will present World Wrestling Entertainment Founder-Chairman Vince McMahon with its Lifetime Achievement Award at the association’s 53rd annual conference, set for June 17-19 in New York. Mr. McMahon will be recognized for his syndication, cable and pay-per-view entrepreneurship that helped make WWE the popular sport it is today.

“In the course of his career, [Mr. McMahon] turned a regional syndicated program into a global super-brand that reaches 130 countries in 23 languages with programming for virtually every conceivable platform available in today’s marketplace,” said Promax/BDA President Jonathan Block-Verk. “Add WWE’s huge merchandising success and constant trailblazing into new media models, and you get the very essence of successful brand development.”

In addition to receiving the award, Mr. McMahon will participate in a question-and-answer session with TelevisionWeek Deputy Editor Chris Pursell. Geof Rochester, WWE’s executive VP of marketing, will present a case study on WrestleMania’s marketing strategy and success.

— Sergio Ibarra

Although the protracted writers strike restricted the number of original episodes of scripted series for several months, the great majority of special programming was still telecast. A few specials were modified; for instance, the annual Golden Globe Awards presentation was reduced to a quasi-press conference.

Ratings measure how many viewers tuned to this season’s broadcast network specials. An additional measure of value is how attentive viewers are to a show.

IAG Research’s measure of attention, Program Engagement (PE), is based on a viewer’s response to questions about a show’s content. Because PE is strongly linked to ad recall, specials with higher PE scores offer a superior environment for commercials.

The table below shows the most engaging special telecast on each of the five broadcast networks since the beginning of the current broadcast season. Excluded from this analysis are theatrical films, news shows and sports programming.

As you can see from the table below, the leaders within each network form an eclectic group. The quintet is different in genre, in program length, in demographic skew and in reported ratings level. There is a holiday special based on a hugely popular film, an awards show, a made-for-TV movie (which introduced, or reintroduced, a scripted series), a miniseries and a more-than-fashion show. Nevertheless, these five programs attracted higher proportions of attentive viewers, a special achievement indeed.