MIN ItB}(IDESBIlL *************************3-DIGIT078 s 1071159037SP 20000619 edl ep 2 IIILAURA K JONES, ASS1TANT MGR 330G < NALCENBOOKS a 42 MOUNT PLEASANT AVE (r) WHARTON NJ 07885-2120 135 Lu Z HI iilmIli.1,1..1..1.1,,.1.1...11,.1,111,,,ilul..1.111,111 Vol. 9 No. 31 THE NEWS MAGAZINE OF THE MEDIA August 9, 1999 $3.50 Andy Sareyan Ann Moore (standing), Susan Wylan MARKET INDICATORS National TV: Steady It's quiet now, but fourth-quarter scatte- keeps trickling in. Dot.coms, autos anrd packaged goods pac- ing well. Net Cable: Chilling Sales execs take sum- mer break as third quar- ter wraps and fourth quarter paces 25 per- Time Inc. plans a cent over upfront. Wall Street ups and downs new magazine causirg some jitters about end -of -year aimed at helping dot.ccm business. women cope Spot TV: Quiet Lazy summer days are with life Page 4 here. September is open, but October buys will likely get crunched as the expected fourth-quar- ter dcllars rush in. Radio: Sold out Fourth-quarter network scatter is all but sold out, diving rates through the roof. Up- front for first quarter next year is wide open. Magazines: Waiting Software companies are holding off from buying ads in third and Might of the Right FCC Gives Thumbs Up to LMAspage 5 fourth quarter. Huge spending expected in As former House Speaker Newt first quarter 2000 after Y2K stare is over. 'Gingrich hits the airwaves, Hearst Buys 'Chronicle, Sells Magspage 6 3 2> conservative talk radio is as strong W 7 as it was back in '94. Page 12 So Much for TV's Family Hourpage 6 11,196881 Sometimes careful aim makes all the 0 ow a I rn 00 CO 00 -4 When it comes to your marketing campaign, success is often measured by your ability to reachyour target audience. You could never be sure. Now, with TargitMail.com, you can be sure. TargitMail.com's system lets you both perform unlimited demographic/psychographic queries on millions of qualified potential customers and originate direct e-mail marketing campaigns 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Each recipient has consented to receive your message. Delivery is guaranteed, which means TargitMail.com can deliver your messages more efficiently and with a higher response rate (ROI) than any other vehicle. TargitMail.com. Because Targit is everything. Jones Laura K. 1 Xj6 1 tgs MEDIAWEEK August 9, 1999 http://www.mediaweek.com PAGE 3 AT DEADLINE Wenner Delays New Mag, Mulls Us Weekly Network) and Time Warner's World Championship Wrestling An Us weekly prototype has begun making the rounds to key (airing on TBS and TNT on cable). Tony Intellisano, a former advertisers and an announcement regarding its launch will be syndication exec with All American and president/founder of made next month, Wenner Media execs said last week. As a MAE, said WXO recently started making presentations to TV result, NetBook, a Web -oriented magazine, which was expected stations in the top 100 markets. to premiere in November, has been put on ice until next year. Simon Dumenco, formerly New York magazine's features edi- Gannett, Thomson Expanding Partnership tor, was to oversee NetBook's launch but will now work on tak- Thomson Newspapers and Gannett Co.'s USA Today are expand- ing Us weekly. Dumenco was on vacation and could not be ing their unique marketing and distribution partnership. Readers reached for comment. To help finance Us' increased frequency, in selected Thomson markets now will be able to purchase sub- Wenner has been talking to a number of potential investors. scriptions to their local dailies and the nationally circulated USA Meanwhile, Steve Garbarino, formerly editor in chief of Detour Today with a single buy. Earlier this year, Thomson's 35,000 -cir- and the Sunday features editor at the New York Post, has been culation Dothan (Ala.) Eagle started distributing copies of USA named style director. Today with the daily paper. The experiment so exceeded the companies' expectations that they USA Preparing Network Rollout INSIDE now are evaluating other markets where the Though the name "Cityvision" and the concept of arrangement might work. 100 percent original, localized programming appears dead at Barry Diller's USA Broadcasting, Addenda:Magazine advertising was up 14.7 the station group is expected to announce the roll- percent for July over last year, to $976 million, out of branded "network" programming in several according to Publishers Information Bureau. markets. A transformation of USAs TV outlets is Yahoo! Internet Life will increase its rate base anticipated this fall in Dallas and Atlanta, station from 700,000 to 900,000 with the February 2000 sources said, and stations in Boston and Chicago issue...Michel Botbol,fashion editor at W, has are also expected to undergo alterations. All USA been appointed creative director at Harper's outlets will be remotely operated out of the USA 2Bazaar...American Express Publishing promoted digital production hub in Los Angeles. "The bene- Ed Kellyto senior vp and group publisher for fit of the Miami experience will be reflected in 5 Travel & Leisure,Mark Stanichto senior vp for USA Broadcasting's next stations," said Adrienne Reich) adds a dash of consumer marketingand Cara Davidto corpo- Becker, a spokesperson for USA Networks. new talent at Gourmet rate sales director...TBS has nabbed the broad- 50 cast window rights for The Deep Blue Sea from AP Buys UPI's Radio Contracts Warner Bros., a sister division of Time Warn- The embattled UPI wire service, which has had an LOCAL MEDIA er...The WB Network, looking to bolster comedy endless change of owners and managers, has 16 development within the network and at its in- agreed to sell its 400 radio and TV news contracts house production unit, Michigan J. Frog Produc- to The Associated Press, its chief competitor. UPI MARKET PROFILE tions, has signed Fox vetMichael Clementsas publisher Gary Burkhart said the company will 20 vp of current programming. focus its efforts on the Internet. AP already domi- nates the broadcast news market with 3,700 radio THE MEDIA ELITE Media All -Stars Balloting Moved Up and 800 TV clients. 28 Mediaweek's 1999 Media All -Stars nominations have been rescheduled due to production require- New Wrestling League Formed MEDIA PERSON ments. The deadline for filing ballots is Sept. 10, Mark Anthony Entertainment, a New York - 54 1999. The ballot appears on page 49 of this issue. based syndication house, has teamed up with Las Vegas-based Strongarm Sports to form a Clarification:The July 26 edition of the new wrestling league and series, WXO Wrestling. Set to launch Mediaweek Magazine Monitor should have noted that Women's in January 2000, Mark Anthony plans to offer 52 weeks of orig- Sports & Fitness had three more issues in 1998 than in 1999 and inal, hour-long episodes. WXO Wrestling is the latest league to has an average paid circulation of 500,815. Also, a story in the tap into the burgeoning audience for the sport, which has been July 19 issue misidentified Mark Lieber, the president of Film dominated by Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation Roman's syndication division, which is launching the new Max league (airing in syndication, pay -per -view and on cable's USA Degree TV kids and teens block. MEDIAWEEK (ISSN 0155-176X) is published 47 times a year. Regular issues are published weekly except the first, third and fifth weeks of August and thelast two weeks of December by ASM Communications, Inc., a subsidiary of BPI Communications Inc., 1515 Broadway, New York, NY, 10036. Subscriptions are $140 one year; $235 two years. Canadian subscriptions $300per year. All other for- eign subscriptions are $300 (using air mail). Registered as a newspaper at the British Post Office. Canadian Post Publication Agreement Number 1430238. Periodicals postage paidat New York, N.Y. and addi- tional mailing offices. Subscriber Service (1.800) 722-6658. MEDIAWEEK, 1515 Broadway, New York, NY, 10036. Editorial: New York, (212) 536-5336; Los Angeles, (323) 525-2270; Chicago, (312)464-8525. Sales (212) 536-6528. 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 promotionalmaterial from mailers other than ADWEEK Magazines, please call (800) 722-6658. Copyright, 1999 ASM Communications, Inc., a subsidiary of BPI Communications Inc. No part of thispublication may be repro- duced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior written permissionof the publisher '\GE 4 http://www.mediaweek.com August 9, 1999 MEDIAWEEK MIDI j4 WIRE CEMA Predicts Interference Time Inc. Plans From Microradio Stations The proposed creation of new low -power FM stations by the Federal Communica- tions Commission for use by community, church and minority groups suffered a New Magazine major setback last week, with the submis- sion of engineering test results by the Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Offshoot of 'People' will help simplift life Association. In comments filed with the FCC, CEMA concluded that the likely MAGAZINES / ByLisa Granatstein interference with existing stations' signals Time Inc.'s People Magazine Group September and has since worked on various would have negative consequences for the will look to simplify women's lives magazine and Web projects. listening public. with Real Simple, a new lifestyle The decision to launch Real Simple, how- In its statement, CEMA noted that it magazine that will roll out next ever, was slow in coming. Last December, the did not oppose the low -power initiative, March.