The CW TV network will buy some ratings data from Rentrak, Rentrak said. “We were drawn to Rentrak because of their larger sample size and believe their service will be complementary and supplemental to what we see today, thereby giving us a more complete picture of the CW’s viewership,” said Mark Pedowitz, the CW’s president.
FCC Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Robert McDowell will speak on a panel at the NAB Show April 17 at 2:30 p.m. PDT, the NAB said. They'll be joined on the panel by Beasley Broadcast Group Chief Financial Officer Caroline Beasley and Schurz Communications Senior Vice President - Electronic Marci Burdick.
Media General said it amended its bank credit agreement, giving it more financial flexibility and pushing back some maturities. By refinancing some debt due March 2013 with $225 million in new notes issued before May 25, 2012, the company will be able to delay the maturity of some of its debt by two years, it said. “We are pleased with the overall parameters of our new financing structure,” though Media General’s interest costs will increase this year, said CEO Marshall Morton.
The 14 biggest pay-TV distributors added about 380,000 subscribers in 2011, Leichtman Research Group said. That marks a slowdown from 2010 when the industry added about 175,000 more subscribers, it said. “Despite a relatively saturated market, low housing growth and an increase in ‘over-the-top’ alternatives, the multi-channel video industry grew modestly in 2011,” said Bruce Leichtman. The industry ended the year with about 94.5 million total subscribers. About 7.9 of those were from Verizon and AT&T’s U-verse, 33.8 million from DBS operators and 52.7 million from the major cable operators, the research group said.
Nielsen said it will sell more stock in a secondary offering of 25 million shares. Separately, it said it’s developing a cross-platform audience measurement service with GroupM. “Our advertiser clients increasingly recognize that traditional television advertising and online video advertising must work together,” said Rino Scanzoni, GroupM’s chief investment officer. “It’s vital that we have consistent measurement and that’s our goal in working with Nielsen."
Comcast said it will redeem its outstanding $562.5 million 7 percent senior notes due 2055 at 100 percent of the principal amount, plus accrued but unpaid interest.
Wireless carriers should stop selling Huawei devices due to national security concerns, Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., said in a floor speech Monday. “But if they do, they have an obligation to inform their customers of these threats,” he said. Huawei, a Chinese cellphone manufacturer, seeks to “dominate the telecom market,” Wolf said. “There should be no doubt Huawei poses a serious national and economic security threat to the U.S.,” he said. Wolf cited news reports linking the company to the People’s Liberation Army of China. “Huawei’s efforts to sell telecom equipment to U.S. networks have long troubled the U.S. defense and intelligence community, which has been concerned that Huawei’s equipment could be easily compromised and used in Chinese cyberattacks against the U.S. or to intercept phone calls and emails from American telecom networks,” he said. The company also supplies equipment to Iran, said Wolf, citing news reports. A Huawei spokesman said it’s “pretty unfortunate” to see the “perpetuation of tiresome misinformation [about Huawei] which has never been substantiated in any way.” The company builds commercial equipment for “commercial customers built to commercial specifications,” much like its European competitors who have factories in China, he said. Huawei is committed to transparency and ready to engage in “fact-based” discussion about its business, he said. Huawei announced in December that it would stop taking new business in Iran.
Boxee CEO Avner Ronen demonstrated its video device to commissioners Mignon Clyburn and an aide to Robert McDowell (http://xrl.us/bmyvj5), as the consumer electronics maker tries to dissuade the FCC from letting cable operators encrypt the basic-programming tier that its product accesses without scrambling (CD March 12 p6). What the agency has proposed on encryption would “cause existing products consumers rely on to stop working [and] force millions of users to rent set-top boxes,” said a slide shown in last week’s meetings. Encryption would “harm start-ups trying to innovate in the space, prevent competitiveness in the market place” and “benefit cable operators at the expense of consumers and startups,” said the slide, filed Monday in docket 11-169 (http://xrl.us/bmyvkb). “Millions of consumers may see their TVs go dark,” another slide said. Boxee asked the agency to make cable operators scrambling basic-tier channels ensure subscribers don’t have to pay more to rent hardware, and let third parties certify non-cable devices “at no or low cost to device makers."
The NFL doesn’t want the sports blackout rule changed but does seek changes to program access rules, Commissioner Roger Goodell and other league executives told the FCC’s three members in separate meetings last week. The sports blackout rule bars pay-TV companies from showing games that don’t sell out when they're not broadcast on TV, and the NFL was expected to lobby the commission to keep the rule as some groups including one backed by subscription-video companies want it junked (CD March 16 p14). “Those rules serve the public interest and are working for the benefit of fans, sports leagues, and the broadcast industry,” the NFL said in an ex parte filing (http://xrl.us/bmyvhr). Program carriage “reform” is needed, the filing posted Friday to docket 12-3 said. “Changes to streamline the complaint process would benefit independent programmers and also improve the Commission’s process."
Five hearing-impaired groups opposed a captioning exemption request by Archery Adventures. The producer sought an exemption in January for its Accept the Challenge broadcast TV show (http://xrl.us/bmyvfn). The request “provided insufficient information to demonstrate that it cannot afford to caption its programming,” said Telecom for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, the National Association of the Deaf, Cerebral Palsy and Deaf Organization and others. “A petitioner must present detailed, verifiable, and specific evidence that it cannot afford to caption its programming, either with its own revenue or with alternative sources. AA’s petition does not meet the statutory requirements.” The groups’ filing was posted Monday to docket 06-181 (http://xrl.us/bmyvgd). An FCC public notice Tuesday said comments are due in 30 days to another exemption request, by Huntington Park Church of Christ.