111 6 *************************3-DIGIT 4BXBBBHL 20020520 edl ep 2 STZ07G M, 4006171484UP w LAURA JONES, ASSISTANTMGR <WALDENBOOKS 120 -42 MOUNT PLEASANTAVE (WHARTON NJ 07885-2120 Z 111111 Vol. 11 No. 37 THE NEWS MAGAZINE OF THE MEDIA October 8, 2001 $3.95 MARKET INDICATORS NATIONAL TV: SLOW ABC's Start Buffets Disney Scatter sales are or hold as buyers wait to Network's sluggish early -season ratings no help for troubled giant PAGE 4see how the nevi sea- son's ratings shake out. TV STATIONS Decisions on firstirar- ter scatter canceltat on options have been Buyers Demand delayed until the Pint of the month. N.Y. Makegoods NET CABLE: WEAK Ratings drops result Aside from ESPN's NFL from weakened signals inventory, little fou -th- quarter scatter activity PAGE 5 is working. News net- works have picked op RADIO new business froli beer, movies and cellu- D.C. FM Slashes lar phone compa lies. SPOT TV: SHIFTING Commercial Load Stations are still trying to shift inventory pre- Bonneville station cuts empted by coverage of back to 6 min./hour the Sept. 11 attack!, but a nevi crisis bins: PAGE 6 Retail may be weaker than expected for the SYNDICATION next three molts. RADIO: STALLED Freshmen Face Inventory is widely available despite a Chopping Block slight uptick 'role fast food, autos, soft dinks /Wanda, lyanla, Elimi- and beer. Retail eller- date, others in danger tainment and TV line - ins are soft. PAGE 6 MAGAZINES: MIXED Mediaweek Magazine Pharmaceuticals are Monitor PAGE 53 staying the course in Strategists had expected a bonanza next first-quarter spencing. year. Now they are struggling to redefine Fourth-quarter iisir- politics as usual. BY ALICIA MUNDY Page 44 ance dollars are drop- ping off among NEl- iii California Gov. Gray Davis faces a difficult race ness and weekly t ties. 0 2 ' Introducing a bold new look for the company that is technology. CMP Media. CMP Media introduces a bold new logo and look, and continues to bring advertisers a world of powerful, unified, cross -platform media solutions - now backed by the global resources of United Business Media. With more than 200 publications, Web sites, events and marketing services in over 30 countries, CMP Media is the trusted source for today's tech news, information and innovation. To find out more, call 516-562-5000 or visit www.cmp.com/brandnew United Business Media EmbeddedSystems Ih WEEK Conferences TechWeb At Deadline Laura K. JonesOCT 0 92001 ABC Creates Teams to Sell All Dayparts National Network. Doug Rohrer was named executive vp/gen- ABC is reorganizing its sales division, setting up teams that will eral sales manager of the music group, which includes MTV, be able to sell across all dayparts, replacing the network's exist- VH1 and now CMT. As a result of the changes, Tom Cavallarc, ing system in which separate sales units sold individual day - sales chief for former CBS Cable properties TNN and CMT, has parts. The shift, which has not formally been announced. is left the company. being spearheaded by Mike Shaw, ABC sales president, to bet- ter serve the media agencies, which-especially in the most Primedia Stock Hits a Record Low recent upfront buying period-expressed a desire to buy all day - Primedia Inc.'s financial troubles escalated last week as the parts at the same time. Both CBS and Fox have some sales company's stock slipped to a record low, closing at $1.82 at personnel that sell across all dayparts; ABC's move will leave press time last Friday. Primedia may also be close to shedding NBC as the lone Big Four network with separate sales units for some special -interest magazines. While a Primedia spokesman each daypart. ABC officials would not comment on the reorgani- had no comment, several analysts reported that the company zation, but buyers familiar with the changes said could announce as early as this week which that Gary Montanus, currently head of Disney unit(s) it will put up for sale in order to raise the Kids Network sales, is expected to get a more $250 million it promised investors after its $515 prominent position following the restructuring. million purchase of Emap USA in July. Wenner Cuts More Staffers Addenda: Rino Scanzoni, former executive Wenner Media last week laid off approximately a vp/managing director of MediaVest, is in talks to half -dozen people in production and back -office fill Bob Igiel's post as president of national broad- operations. The latest round of cuts brings the cast at The Media Edge. Scanzoni may not be company's total layoffs this year close to 25 per- able to start until January, when his non -compete cent of its staff. A company representative said clause with MediaVest expires...The Television the cuts are an attempt to streamline the compa- Bureau of Advertising and several major media ny during the present economic slowdown. Wen- shops-including Initiative Media, The Media ner flagship Rolling Stone has slipped 18 percent Edge, BBDO/PentaMark, MediaVest and Mind- to 1,207 ad pages through its Oct. 25 issue, Share-last week released a set of uniform stan- according to Mediaweek Magazine Monitor. dards they would like computer software makers to incorporate into programming that handles Stations Resist People Meters Conde Nast's James Truman electronic data interchange...Forbes will freeze its Nielsen Media Research last week said it will turn says he tried to find uses ad rates for next year at $77,760 for a four-color on people meters in Boston for the May 2002 IV for Mademoiselle Page 53 page. The business biweekly, which raised its sweeps, dispensing with the current methodology rates 20.6 percent over the last two years, has of set -tuning meters and diaries used in 53 other Local Media 9 decided a rate increase at this time would hurt local markets. While cable operator AT&T Broad- business...News Corp.'s Fox Stations Group is band and regional news service New England Ca- Market Profile 16 expected to announce it will swap TV stations ble News have signed up for the service, Boston with Meredith Corp. Under the deal, Fox would Opinion 43 TV stations, which have seen their ratings decline own two stations in Orlando, Fla. (Fox outlet WOFL during the demonstration period, are holding out. Media Elite 48 and UPN affiliate WRBW) while Meredith would "We've operated without Nielsen ratings before, own two outlets in Portland, Ore. (UPN affiliate and we can do it again," said Michael Carson, KPTV and Fox outlet KPDX)...Fox News Channel vp/general manager of NBC-owned WHDH-TV. Nielsen is helping signed Shepard Smith to a multiyear contract last week. Terms agencies craft letters to stations encouraging them to sign up for of the deal were not disclosed. the new measurement device. MediaCom executives have given presentations to all the market's stations advocating meters. Corrections: An At Deadline item in last week's issue about John Rollins' resignation as president of Spin should have MTV Nets Restructures Sales Unit said that Rollins returned to the magazine, where he spent part MTV Networks restructured its sales force last week into two of his early career, as group publisher in 1997 after the title was groups. Sue Danaher was named executive vp/general sales acquired by Vibe/Spin Ventures. Also last week, the name of manager of the new entertainment group, which includes Nick- Kristin Peace, vp of development for Paramount Domestic Televi- elodeon, Nick at Nite and TV Land, in addition to TNN: The sion, was misspelled in the Movers section. MEDIAWEEK (ISSN 0155-176X, USPS 885-580) is published 47 times a year. Regular issues are published weekly except 7/9, 7/23, 8/6, 8/20, 12/24 and 12/31 byASM Communications Inc., a subsidiary of BPI Com- munications Inc., 770 Broadway, New York, NY 10003. Subscriptions are $149 one year, $249 two years. Canadian subscriptions are $342 per year. NI other foreignsubscriptions are $319 (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 additional mailing offices. Subscriber Service(1-800) 722-6658. MEDIAWEEK, 770 Broadway, New York, NY, 10003. Editorial: New York, (646) 654-5250; Los Angela., (323) 525-2270; Chicago, (312) 583-5500. Sales: (646) 654-5125. Classified: (1-800-7-ADWEEK). POSTMASTER: Sendaddress changes to MEDIAWEEK, P.O. Box 1976, Danbury, CT, 06813-1976. If you do riot wish to receive promotional material from mailers other than ADWEEK Magazines, pleasecall (800) 722-6658. Copyright, 2001 ASM Communications Inc., a subsidiary of BPI Communications Inc. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted, h anyform 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 October 8, 2001 MEDIAWEEK 3 ABC Not Much Fox: 80% Sold for Baseball Playoffs, 75% for Series By late last week, Fox had sold about 80 percent of its ad inventory for baseball's American and National League divisional Help for Disney and League Championship Series games. The network had sold about 75 Network's slow start this season adding to troubled giant's woes percent of its World Series inventory. "It's definitely been slower than in years THE INDUSTRY By John Consoli past, but we are talking to a good num- ber of people," a Fox network executive INalt Disney Co., already bat- said. Fox begins televising baseball's tered by declining attendance four divisional series tomorrow night.