FTC takes back power to review media mergers The Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Justice Department last night abandoned a controversial agreement in which the FTC had ceded its media merger review authority to Justice. The about-face comes after…
Title: President of Panasonic Broadcast & Television Systems Co., a unit of Panasonic System Sales Co.Background: Mr. Baisley assumed the helm of Panasonic Broadcast in early April after most recently serving as general manager of planning for Panasonic System Sales…
What it is: Stars II +, an integrated traffic, sales and automation system from VCI in Springfield, Mass.What it does: The system, introduced in 1998, manages and automates commercial spots for on-air systems. It books the orders, schedules the spots,…
Hoping to signal a get-tough attitude about digital TV, the Federal Communications Commission last week warned that stations that don’t meet the agency’s transition deadlines could lose their DTV licenses.“The leash is short, as it must be,” said FCC Chairman…
The National Association of Broadcasters is using its financial muscle to block former federal regulator and outspoken industry-basher Gloria Tristani from winning a U.S. Senate seat in New Mexico.NAB’s Television and Radio Political Action Committee already has plowed $10,000-the legal…
NATPE 2004 location up in the airExecutives with the National Association of Television Program Executives have confirmed that while its convention in New Orleans is on as scheduled for next year, the organization has formally released its commitments to hold…
Someone ought to cancel the upfront-and eventually someone will. The upfront is an anachronistic ritual that does not reflect the changing economic imperatives of a television business that simply isn’t what it used to be. It defies many of the…
Of all the sales lines I heard last week during the upfronts in New York, the one during NBC’s presentation spoken by “Saturday Night Live’s” “Weekend Update” anchor Tina Fey had a particular ring of truth.“Why should you buy advertisements…
“Not if we’re still thinking of network TV as a mass medium. Its MTV ratings are equivalent to No. 75-80 in network prime time, not a level to aspire to. But right after `Fear Factor’ … well …”Bob Laurence, TV…
The upfront is over and the post-mortem has begun.Ad buyers have expressed concern about the large, wholesale scheduling changes on ABC, CBS and Fox being able to establish early viewer sampling, but in general, most felt that the networks’ programming…