DECEMBER 11-25, 2006 $3.99 VOL. 16 NO. 45 AVIEEKwww.mediaweek.com Web 1.0 Portals Fight for 2.0 Life Yahoo, MSN, AOL missions unclear in a search, Web video and user-gen world PAGE 4 THE MARKETPLACE CBS Runs Ahead Of Upfront Pack enitracic bOlitl scatter ewes well for sales side PAGE 5 RESEARCH Commercial Stats Stirring Up Spats plow Nielsen data win work in '07 upfront debated PAGE 6 TV PROGRAMMING Nets Clone 'Close Encounter' Slate Nets beaming human stories into '07 sci-fi projects PAGE 6 as HM 7119i47204 In the first of our th VISIT THE NEW BRANDWEEK.COM TODAY! Syndication Report for )u( ;- -_/) MARC BER repo The Rachael Ray Show is the only 8BXBUDIM AUTO** 3 -DIGIT 078 84885291628 CONT E 0032 LAURA CYR new talk show to attract a sizable BORDERS EXPRESS audience, as vet strips dominate 42 MOUNT PLEASANT AVE WHARTON NJ 07881-2120 P0001 SPECIAL REPORT BEGINS ON PAGE 14 HARD-HITTING & RELENTLESS IN PIS MOST COMPETITIVE NEWS HOUR P4 % Highest P25-54 Growth in Evening News LOU DOBBS TONIGHT * WEEKDAYS EY * Source, Nielsen Media Research. Mulutrak: Yeer-to-date 12/25/05- 10/29/06 vs. Year Ago minus Hurricane Katrina month (12/27/04- 10/30/05 exc. 8/29/05 - 9/25/05). All data based on P25-5410001. Includes all general newscasts on cable and broadcast. SCO 2006. Cable News Network. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Market At Deadline Indicators NATIONAL TV: CALM ITW CABLE SUES DIRECTV, CHARGES FALSE ADS argument filed in the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals While fourth-quarter Time Warner Cable on Dec. 7 filed a lawsuit in federal in New York, the FCC dismissed broadcasters' claims prime -time inventory is court against DirecTV, charging the satellite operator that free speech was threatened and that its policy was scarce, media agencies with false advertising and deceptive business practices unreasonable. In challenging the FCC's decision, say there are avails to related to its carriage of NFL Network. broadcasters contend that the com- be had at dose to In a complaint filed in the U.S. District mission is inconsistent because it rules upfront prices. This is Court for the Southern District of New INSIDE against some shows while accepting especially true near air York, the cable provider said DirecTV the use of the same word in others. dates, as the nets put ran newspaper ads in local NFL mar- units held for make - kets, including New York, Green Bay, MEDIAWEEK I ADDENDA: goods back into play. Wisc. and Cincinnati that claimed foot- News Corp. chairman Rupert Mur- ball fans would be locked out of certain doch and Liberty Media chair John NET CABLE STRONG in -market NFL Net games unless they Malone, last week verbally agreed to lighter inventory in the subscribed to DirecTV. In fact, in -market swap News Corp.'s 39 percent con- kids' marketplace NFL Net games are available to fans via trolling stake in DirecTV for Liberty's allowed Nickelodeon local broadcast affiliates. 19 percent voting stake in News Corp and Cartoon Network to (see Space & Time, page /0)...Google command CPMs above I DIAL DOUBLES UP ON APPRENTICE said it has begun selling radio spots to upfront pricing. Hard NBC will kick off another season of select Ad Words advertisers as part of Eight activity is slow and The Apprentice with a bevy of product a beta test...NielsenConnect an- steady, with movement placements. Not only will Dial be a nounced plans to launch next year a among the endemics as first-time sponsor, but it will be the new global in-store measurement wel as some travel and first company to sponsor two service in partnership with In -Store consumer electronics. Murcko pumps up episodes of the show in a single sea- Marketing Institute...Newsweek will Women's Health's son. This season's sponsors will also raise its cover price to $4.95, effective SPOT TV: MIXED ad pages Page 29 include AdSpace Networks, Adwalker, with its Dec. 25 issue-its second hike Northeast struggling AMC Entertainment, El Polio Loco, this year. In May, the newsweekly due to soft spending among automakers, GNC, The Home Depot, KB Home, Space & Time 10 hiked the price up to $4.50 from $3.95. Lexus and Priceline.com. The latest increase comes a month particularly Daimler - Opinion 12 after archrival Time raised its price by Chrysler. Texas and I RODALE REVAMPS AD SALES Media Elite 24 $1 to $4.95. Also, Newsweek has Southern markets are Rodale, publisher of Men's Health and changed its close date to 6 p.m. on healthy. Strong cate- Prevention, on Dec. 11 will assign Mr. TV 34 Saturday from 6 a.m. on Sunday, but gories include telecom, online salespeople to individual publish- the on -sale date remains Monday for electronics, movies. ers as it looks to grow now...MN Networks Retail spotty. online ad sales by 50 per- formed a new division tar- cent in 2007. Bill Ostroff, geting young men, includ- RADIO: SLOW president of Rodale Inter- ing nets Comedy Central, Stations in markets out- active and chief marketing Spike TV, TV Land and side Top 10 are having a officer, will add responsibil- several digital properties, more jolly holiday sea- ity for ad sales, and Mary - under division president son, but overall, Dec- Ann Bekkedahl, executive Doug Herzog. ember is not as healthy vp, group publisher, will as previous months. report to him instead of to I CORRECTION: Retail varied; many ad- CEO Steve Murphy. On the In the Nov. 27 issue, the vertisers holding out for content side, Rodale will Magazine Monitor incor- last-minute campaigns assign once -centralized rectly reported the per- to drive store traffic. online staffers to individual centage growth of Red - MAGAZINES: ACTIVE editors in chief. Individual magazines Helping American Business book's ad pages for 2006. The title Fashion, pharmaceuti- also will be assigned brand executives. Media celebrate its centennial grew 4 percent over 2005. cals and retail remain Dec. 7 were (I. to r.): VNU chief strong for health and I FCC DEFENDS INDECENCY POLICY transformation officer Mike I HAPPY HOLIDAYS! beauty titles. Food/bev- The Federal Communications Commis- Marchesano, ABM CEO Gordon Mediaweek will not publish issues on erage and beauty mar- sion last week defended its new inde- Hughes, VNU Business Media Dec. 11 or Dec. 18. The next issue keters spending heavy cency policy in court, saying its "fleetingCEO Bob Krakoff and VNU BM comes out Jan. 1, 2007. Check out to promote health -ori- reference" rule is constitutional. In an editorial director Sid Holt. Mediaweek.com for breaking news. ented product lines. mediaweek.com December 11, 2006 MEDIAWEEK 3 INTERACTIVE BY MIKE SHIELDS MEDIA WIRE NBCU's Pilot to Put "Fresh Portals Struggle Eyes" on TV Sales Division New NBC Universal ad sales president Michael Pilot said the structure of the NBC sales division under his watch will To Keep in Tune remain basically unchanged. But Yahoo reorgs staff, beefs up tech, as traditional Pilot believes his appointment, re- portals fight for search dollars and mind share placing Keith Turner, allows NBC parent It should pull in roughly $5 billion in revenue General Electric to this year-more than some cable networks. "put a pair of fresh In fact, its third-quarter revenue increased by eyes" and bring in 20 percent over last year. And its 128 million "some fresh think- unique users per month make it the largest ing" at the top of its Web site in the country; its home page alone TV sales division. reaches more than half of all Web users. Pilot, who was most recently president So why does Yahoo have the feel of a com- and CEO of GE's Equipment Finance pany in crisis? And what does all this mean for Group, responded to industry observers the Web's long -dominant media players-the who questioned his lack of experience in portals Yahoo, AOL and MSN? television by saying, "I'm new to the Whether it is due to managing their own media side, but I'm not new to sales. I've rapid growth, facing an online media land- been involved in sales all my life." scape that frequently changes overnight, or Pilot said the promotion of Ed simply dealing with out -of -whack Wall Street Swindler to chief operating officer of the demands, each of the Internet's Big Three has NBCU sales division, a newly created been forced to rethink its organiza- post, was a formal recognition of the role tional and management structures While the portals try Swindler had taken on during his previ- of late. In the past few months, to play for a wide ous tenure as executive vp of NBCU Tele- Microsoft formed a unified digital audience, they face embrace fundamental changes. vision Group. "For a number of years, Ed ad sales group, then bumped up the more streamlined "The portal is something of an has developed all strategic pricing for company'stopsalesmanager, rivals like Google. early Web creation," he said. NBC properties and has worked on the Joanne Bradford, to run MSN. "They were the front door to a upfront process, collaborating with the Meanwhile, AOL just brought in million sites. Google is the sales department," he explained. "He will NBC executive Randy Falco toreplace front door to the Web now." However, with continue in that role." departing CEO John Miller. AOL, Yahoo and MSN each reaching over 100 Marianne Gambelli, executive vp of But it was Yahoo last week that took the million users each month, total abandonment NBCU sales and the prime negotiator in boldest steps toward change.