Archive for September 1st, 2006
Broadcast execs are doing some early Labor Day celebrating with this news: Brent Bozell, founder and president of the Parents Television Council, said today he’ll step down on Jan. 1. Unfortunately, he’ll still be on the board, but perhaps his upcoming departure will bring some sanity to the group that’s largely responsible for fueling the government’s indendency crackdown. Earlier today, Bozell’s group filed a complaint with the FCC over the “fall over ass and tit” comment by Helen Mirren during NBC’s Emmy broadcast.
September 1st, 2006
According to the latest research from Hitwise, MySpace pulled ahead of MSN search in terms of the amount of traffic it sends to retail sites. This is very encouraging news for MySpace to say the least, since the $900 million News Corp. deal with Google to become the exclusive search provider for most its web properties (including MySpace) has yet to kick in. As part of the deal, Google will also get to place its paid search ads exclusively on MySpace. By the way, almost 15% of all retail traffic goes through Google with Yahoo finishing a distant second at 4.69%.
September 1st, 2006
An update here on the CBS airing of “9/11.” (See our article from earlier this week.) On two of its affiliates, Sinclair Broadcasting is delaying the airing of CBS’s documentary from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Sunday, September 10. There are swears heard in the documentary, which has aired twice without penalty. WGME in Portland, Maine, and KGAN in Cedar Rapids, Iowa are holding off until the “safe harbor” 10 p.m. hour. It’s understandable Sinclair would do this amid FCC irrationality and the hysteria at the Parents Television Council which is protecting the nation’s youth from reality. Young people wishing to learn about that day in our history had better TiVo the show - it’s a school night.
September 1st, 2006
NPR revealed plans yesterday to launch a digital music service during the first half of 2007. They won’t be selling downloads. According to NPR COO Ken stern, the site will be “a unique place for people to discover, learn and have a community around music.” With already 52 podcasts available on iTunes, NPR hopes the new service will dramatically expanded their reach online.
September 1st, 2006
Online advertising grew 49 percent in the first half of 2006 compared to the first half of last year, according to new numbers from Nielsen Monitor-Plus. Spanish-language TV was up 21.8 percent, due in part to the World Cup. Local magazines are next with 10.4 percent. Meanwhile on the local television front, spot TV in the top 100 markets grew 3.5 percent. And spot TV in markets 101-200 dropped .6 percent.
September 1st, 2006
Good Lord, I was kidding. But the Parents Television Council has filed an indecency complaint with the FCC because Helen Mirren said she was glad she didn’t fall “ass over tit” on her way up to accept her Emmy. And the PTC wants every NBC affil that showed it to be fined. L. Brent Bozell of the PTC writes, “It is utterly irresponsible and atrocious for NBC to air this vulgar language during the safe harbor time when millions of children were in the viewing audience. People are getting sick and tired of networks allowing unedited profanity on their award shows in front of millions of youngsters, and with NBC this practice is becoming habitual.”
September 1st, 2006
