Convergence on Trial
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#BXBBBHL *************************3 -DIGIT 078 10711590371P 20000619 edl ep 2 S3DG LAURA K JONES, ASSITANT MGR WALDENBOOKS 42 MOUNT PLEASANT AVE WHARTON NJ 07885-2120 IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII I1111111111111111111111111111111111111 Vol. 10 No. 31 THE NEWS MAGAZINE OF THE MEDIA July 31, 2000 $3.59 MARKET INDICATORS Maimed TV: Mixed ConvergenceonTrial Mon ng de.wart is very active. led by pia-ma- FCC may impose restrictions on AOL-Time Warner mergerPAGE 6 :euicals category. 'Movies are filing up orirre-tire avails ike langbusters, wills auto, packaged goocs and lot- ms are s -ow. Illet Cable: Slow ; letworks slil waiting out sunnier dn. spell, Doling o mid -to late Augdst for scate- activ- -yr to start heatig up. s:udios are a-peridirg, 'taking advan- age of It gher summer audience levels Assembling a deep pool Spot Tilt Tightening Entertainmen-_, bever- of writing talent has helped ages, beck-tc-scl-ool are ocking in mcilsfor late make United Talent Agency a summer %liticels and Olympics are soueezing power in the television business astiminute buys. West By Alan lames Frutkin Page 26 .oast rrarkets we tight. Radio: Rising hctir ty is p ckfric up for august rvitn back -to - UTA'sHollywood Clout school =ampaigns. dkuto and tdecommuni- :ations are strong. TV PROGRAMMING AGENCIES LOCAL MEDIA Magazines: Hot corporate b -an ling Producers Eye Donlin to Run NewTribune Seals :arrpaions cortinJe to Doo< at a rap d Dace as Summer 2001 GM Planning Unit Cross -Media Deals advertisers attempt to --ecast themselves as Low-cost shows could Starcom division winsTimes Mirror merger :Jew Economy Dlayers. keep nets on win streakS3 billion business yielding ad synergies O 0 uiu PAGE ; PAGE 8 PAGE 13 -0 WEEK e GUARANTEE 400,000of Today's Leading eBusiness Purchasers. Working at sites currently engaged in eBusiness - l00% GUARANTEED Active Purchasers who are buying Internet/eBusiness technologies and services- l00% GUARANTEED No Other IT Newsweekly Can Make This Claim GET THE RESULTS YOU DEMAND Endorsements 2000 Hottest Tech Media rantee Most Influential Journalist Rankings 2000cm Circulation Excellence 212-503-4850 or e-mail [email protected] Gold Medal Buythe eGu For mare informatior about advertising your product or service it eVIEEK, contact Slaf:r. Seymour, Publisher Today's Internet Economy Carries Few Guarantees Laura K. Jones Magazine Maven Aiir, n 1winn Mel's Son Expands Good Karma of the Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia. This week's EWis the first Viacom president Mel Karmazin's only son, Craig, last week national cover for Phish. purchased his fifth small-town Wisconsin radio station for a reported $2.8 million from TBK Communications Ltd., based Clear Channel Must Divest Lamar in Evansville, Wis. WKPO-FM plays the Rhythmic Hits for- Clear Channel Communications told analysts last week that the mat and reaches the Janesville and Beloit areas. The younger Justice Department is asking the company to divest AMFM's 30 Karmazin, 25, is sole owner of Good Karma Broadcasting percent interest in Lamar Advertising, the third -largest outdoor LLC, which began buying stations in August 1997. Karmazin company, by February 2003. CC, which is acquiring AMFM, is the general manager of the stations and appears on their owns the second-largest outdoor company, Eller Media. Also sports talk shows. last week, SFX Entertainment shareholders approved the com- pany's $4.3 billion acquisition by Clear Channel. Appeals Court Upholds Attack/Edit Rules The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Washington Circuit has Addenda:Bob Wright, who has spent 14 years as NBC ordered the Federal Communications Commission to act on the president/CEO, was named vice chairman of NBC parent com- 20 -year -old personal attack and political editorial pany General Electric. Wright also was named an rules by Sept. 29, upholding a previous court executive officer of GE. He will continue to hold order. The order was in response to a petition his NBC posts... The West Wing creator Aaron filed recently by the Radio -Television News INSIDE Sorkin has signed a $16 million, four-year pro- Directors Association and the National Associa- duction deal with Warner Bros. Television... tion of Broadcasters. Hearst Magazines' House Beautiful editor Mar- garet Kennedy was named editor in chief of sis- Men's Health Ups Zinczenko ter publication Victoria, replacing founding editor David Zinczenko last week was promoted to edi- Nancy Lindemeyer, who resigned last week after tor in chief of Rodale's Men's Health, from editori- 15 years to open a jazz club...Arbitron, which al director of MH International. Greg Gutfeld, only measures radio listening for persons ages 12 who was named MH editor last October, was and older, is testing the waters to see if there is ousted last week. MH now has a completely new marketplace demand for children's radio measure- lineup of executives, following this month's ment. In a recent study using the standard diary, appointment of Paul Turcotte as vp/publisher. Arbitron found that 90 percent of children ages 6 Zinczenko, who has been with the title for seven Disney's Padden testifies against to 11 listen to radio about nine hours per week. years, was responsible for the development and the AOL-Time Warner merger launch of MH in international markets. 6 Clarifications:A story and cover headline in last week's issue gave a misleading impression Fox, USA Share Window on Search Local Media that ABC's Good Morning America has been Fox Broadcasting Co. and Studios USA have 13 steadily gaining in ratings on NBC's Today show. signed with Blair Witch Project producer Haxan While GMA has improved its ratings significant- Films to bring back the paranormal series In Market Profile ly since co-anchors Diane Sawyer and Charles Search Of.. as a weekly prime -time program on 18 Gibson joined the show 18 months ago, Today both Fox and USA Network. In a groundbreak- has maintained a consistent average lead of 1.8 ing move, Fox agreed to a shared prime -time Magazines million viewers and a 1.5 -point average ratings window with USA, allowing the cable net to run 28 advantage over GMA over the past 10 weeks. In Search Of.. episodes between 8-11 p.m. eight The Media Elite Also, in last week's "Bimonthlies" Mediaweek days after they air on Fox. Traditionally, broad- Magazine Monitor, due to incorrect data sup- 47 casters have only allowed cable nets to run repeats plied by T&L Golf the magazine's year-to-date outside of prime time. ad pages were inaccurate. T&L Golf counts 316.89 pages to date, a 30 percent increase over 1999. EWCatches Phish With Split Cover Entertainment Weekly published its first split cover since 1995 Correction:In the article "Fixing Brewster's Place" in last this week with four separate covers, one for each of the mem- week's issue, former Fitness editor Sarah Mahoney's new job was bers of the band Phish. The last time the Time Inc. weekly ran incorrectly described. Mahoney joined Meredith's Ladies' Home split covers was for a commemorative issue following the death Journal as editor. Susan Crandell is editor of More. MEDIAWEEK (ISSN 0155-176X) is published 48 times a year. Regular issues are published weekly, except the second and fourth weeks of August and the lasttwo weeks of December ,by ASM Communications, Inc., a subsidiary of BPI Communications Inc., 770 Broadway, New York, NY 10003. Subscriptions are $145 one year; $245 two years. Canadian subscriptions $310 per year. Allother foreign subscriptions are $310 (using air mail). Registered as a newspaper at the British Post Office. Canadian Post Publication Agreement Number 1430238. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and additionalmailing offices. Subscriber Service (1-800) 722-6658. MEDIAWEEK, 1515 Broadway, New York, NY, 10036. Editorial: New York, (646) 654-S250; Los Angeles, (323) 525-2270; Chicago, (312) 583-5500. Sales: (646) 654-5125. Classified: (1-800-7-ADWEEK). POSTMASTER: Send address changes to MEDIAWEEK, P.O. Box 1976, Danbury, CT, 06813-1976. If you do not wish to receive promotional material from mailers other thanADWEEK Magazines, please call (800) 722-6658. Copyright, 2000 ASM Communications, Inc., a subsidiary of BPI Communications Inc. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system,or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Reprints (651) 582-3800. www.mediaweek.com July 31, 2000 Mediaweek 5 Premiere Nets to Launch Witnesses Sizzle Four Services in January Premiere Radio Networks and AMFM Radio Networks last week detailed plans for combining following the imminent At AOL-11111 Grilling merger of Premiere parent Clear Channel Communications and AMFM Inc. Pre- miere Radio Networks, which will drop Heated exchanges punctuate session; FCCmay impose conditions on deal the AMFM name, will launch the merged company's network offerings on Jan. 1. WASHINGTON /By Alicia Mundy The new Premiere will have 12 t took more than four hours for the ney/ABC's well -hyped opposition to the RADAR -rated networks. Four will be veneer to crack and for the most seri-merger. He reminded everyone that NBC new, including Pearl, a full -service net tar- ous issues to surface about America had once raised allegations against Rupert geting women, and Morning FM Drive, a Online's proposed merger with Time Murdoch's News Corp. regarding foreign complement to Premiere's Morning AM Warner, TV industry opposition to it ownership. Then, when the two came to an Drive. Pulse, targeting adults 25-54, and and the Federal Communications agreement letting NBC use News Corp.'s the younger -skewing Action will offer 15- Commission's seeming hesitance to inter- then -satellite holdings, NBC's opposition second live reads by local personalities.