Posts Tagged ‘Fox News Channel’

TWC: dumping Fuel?

December 30th, 2009 joel

UPDATED (Sat. January 2nd, 6:30 AM ET): TWC’s  & Fox joint news release issued Friday night, Jan. 1:

The Fox Networks Group and Time Warner Cable announced today that they have agreed in principle to a comprehensive distribution agreement to provide more than 13 million households with programming from Fox Television Stations, Fox Broadcasting (FOX), Fox Cable Networks and Fox’s regional sports networks. The deal also includes carriage agreements for Bright House Networks’ 2 million additional subscribers.

“We’re pleased that, after months of negotiations, we were able to reach a fair agreement with Time Warner Cable — one that recognizes the value of our programming,” said Chase Carey, Deputy Chairman, President and COO, News Corporation.

“We’re happy to have reached a reasonable deal with no disruption in programming for our customers,” said Glenn Britt, Chairman, President and CEO, Time Warner Cable.

Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

FOXApparently, Time Warner Cable has money to buy full-color full page newspaper ads, but doesn’t want to pay more for some cable channels owned by FOX/News Corp.

Much as in the continuing debacle with NFL Network, TWC is taking the position of consumer protector in objecting to increased carrying fees. This time it is the entertainment side of FOX, including, in the City of Erie:

  • Fuel
  • Fox Reality Channel
  • Speed Channel
  • Fox Soccer Channel
  • Fox Sports World Espanol
  • FX

Notice that the list does NOT include Fox News Channel or the regional Fox sports channels, which would most likely cause a major uprising. According to the ad on page 8D in Wednesday’s Erie Times-News, these “channels may no longer be available as of January 1, 2010.”

For me, there’s not a channel on that list that I’ll skip a beat about. But for my neighbor the NASCAR fan, or the guy next door who’s an amateur BMXer, this is gonna hurt.

What’s frustrating is these negotiations should be mutually beneficial, but there is a bit of an upper hand on part of FOX. If TWC continues to drop channels, they will eventually lose market share to Direct TV, DISH and in other markets, Verizon’s FIOS. But I won’t shed a tear for a cable company that thoroughly enjoys their exclusive monopoly in the municipalities in and around Erie, and issued a huge double digit rate increase just a couple months ago.

If you want to weigh in on the negotiations, go to TWC’s RollOverOrGetTough.com.

Posted in Television Tags: , , , , , , , , , , 5 Comments »

Deep Background for September 27 – October 3, 2009

September 27th, 2009 joel

This week has been one very long computer session, and I’m looking forward to some more old media activities this week…maybe an episode of 30 Rock or The Office..woohoo!

At the beginning of last week, the major national headlines were about President Obama’s media blitz of the TV Sunday talk shows, with every major network represented except Fox News. That was curious to me since their ratings are highest for the 24-hour cable news channels, and because the President of the United States shouldn’t be fearful of talking to anyone. Anyway, the blazing headlines were regarding the Blitz, and my thoughts went to CommArts 101 and Marshall McLuhan’s “the medium is the message.”

So what was the story last week: the President’s details on health care, or that he was ubiquitous on the airwaves?

As always comment here on Erie media by clicking the title and scroll down. Or you can opine via e-mail at joel@nataliemedia.com, or tweet @pressandtower.

Embrace the chaos!

Posted in Deep Background Tags: , , , , , , 10 Comments »

News Corp. to charge for online content

August 6th, 2009 joel

Rupert Murdoch wants to try to cancel the free lunch online readers enjoy while eating away at his company’s, News Corp.’s, profits.

As quoted in his paper, the New York Post:

“Quality journalism is not cheap,” he said. “A newspaper that gives away its content is simply cannibalizing its ability to produce good reporting.”

“We intend to charge for all news Web sites,” Murdoch said, referring not only to the online versions of newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal, The London Sun and The Post, but also to news-related Web sites like those of Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network. Murdoch added that he expects to begin charging for news content online sometime during this fiscal year.

Murdoch has also lost faith in the ad-supported broadcasting model, and is looking to generate revenue from cable companies and ultimately end users for watching programming from his Fox TV network. Meanwhile, the article mentions that the industry is headed to a showdown between the content creators like News Corp. and the aggregators such as Google and Yahoo! who argue that their services enhances the originating brands.

There are plenty of naysayers out there that claim that only select brands like the Wall Street Journal are successful in charging for content, but there continues to be a dearth of any better ideas that pay for professional journalism.

Posted in New Media Tags: , , , , , , , , 1 Comment »

Did Bush attack Obama at Manufacturer’s event?

June 19th, 2009 joel

1600 people couldn’t be wrong, right?

John Guerriero didn’t think so. While covering former President George W. Bush’s speech and question and answer session at the Manufacturer’s Association annual event, the veteran Erie Times-News reporter described “a relaxed and engaging citizen-in-chief.” Portions of Guerriero’s reporting went into the The Associated Press wire piece about the occasion was equally even-keeled.

However Washington Times reporter Joseph Curl saw it differently. In an article headlined, “Bush takes swipes at Obama policies,” Curl equated Bush’s reaffirmation of his capitalist and anti-terrorism ideologies, hardly breaking news, as attacks on the Obama administration.

Even though Curl admitted that President Bush repeatedly said that he would not directly criticize President Obama, the Times reporter took Bush’s defense of his eight years of policies as an attack on Obama.

In my review of the reporting, all it took was one reporter; even better, one headline writer of an influential newspaper to send the political class all chattering.

The Drudge Report had the screaming headline: “It’s On: W Slams O!” at 4:45 AM Thursday. That was enough to send FoxNews, The Huffington Post, MSNBC, USAToday.com, and even the NBC Nightly News into a feeding frenzy over the “fact” that President Bush took the gloves off.

That was news to the $180 a plate glitterati at the Bayfront Convention Center!

JET-TV’s Kim Thomas interviewed political leaders that were at the event, including Manufacturer’s and Business Association President Ralph Pontillo:

I’m at a loss as to why the national media is trying to spin this in a negative way when in fact the President never once spoke out against the current administration under any of the questions he was asked or in his presentation whatsoever.

We were not able to confirm any existence of the transcript of President Bush’s remarks before post time. But isn’t it curious and troubling to have everyone actually at an event relate first-person content that is totally at odds at what is now considered reported “fact” by a national media who did not even attend?

Or is this evidence of a national press corps that is so sensitive to any public comments that are contrary to the current administration’s policy, that just a restating of pre-January 20th philosophy is considered a slam.

Posted in Newspaper Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , 15 Comments »

Response to Erie cop YouTube reveals city’s poor message management

April 22nd, 2009 joel

Jimmy D.

The use of a pet name to refer to the leader of the internal affairs unit of the Erie Bureau of Police by the Mayor of the City of Erie was the tipping point early on in the continuing case surrounding the behavior of an Erie policeman caught on video and displayed on YouTube. The lack of professional response to the crisis set before them by the Mayor and Chief of Police Steve Franklin during that first interview by the Times-News’s Ed Palattella meant that this situation would have a much broader scope than the outrageous antics of one drunk cop “letting off steam.”

By originally putting the focus on the video author and the attempt to remove it from YouTube via court order, the city has shown that it has a deep lack of understanding of the modern media landscape and crisis management tactics. They didn’t realize that while they were responding with poor judgment when the video was first revealed, that they were already reluctant passengers on an Acela bullet train that would take this story global, complete with close to 60,000 hits on YouTube for the original video so far this morning, thousands more on the copies, CNN and Fox News calling for talking heads, and a U.S. Department of Justice investigation in play.
(more…)

Posted in Branding Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments »

Erie media and the time crunch

March 25th, 2009 joel

Over the past week I’ve made a significant observation: when I get out of my Press and Tower journalism mode, and act as a typical Erie citizen in my routine, I consume little traditional Erie media.

The reason why this is occurring to me now is that for the past week, I’ve had a few really big deadlines at work that have me concentrating on the tasks morning, noon and night, so my blogging juices have gone on the back burner for a little while. My schedule put me in a mode of everyone else who doesn’t have a regular blog deadline, and here’s what I found out.

When I was in radio, we talked about “appointment radio;” making moments that people would stop and change their routine to listen to. This past week, when my life made me just average busy Joe Cume member, I found that there is very little in Erie media that I’ll make an appointment to watch, read or listen. Perhaps the most regular consumption is 15 minutes scanning the Times-News with my coffee and cereal. 15 minutes of NPR or Barry and Jim on the way to work. More sporadically I’ll catch Sean and Selena, or Amanda and Kevin about once a week each. Music on the radio is a weekend thing, 80’s on Classy 100, swing on WQLN, and worship on WCTL. Like many, I find that media viewing and listening is a secondary action while doing something else: eating, driving, getting ready for bed.
(more…)

Posted in From The Editor Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments »

U.S. Senate votes to ban Fairness Doctrine revival

February 27th, 2009 joel

Legislative Update

On Thursday, U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) successfully attached the Broadcaster Freedom Act as an amendment to a bill providing the District of Columbia a voting representative in the House. According to Fox News, the amendment passed 87-11 and effectively outlaws the “Fairness Doctrine,” a defunct FCC policy that required opposing viewpoints to be aired on controversial issues on broadcast stations.

Views on the Doctrine depended on who you talked to. There was significant fear on the account of broadcasters that the policy would be reenacted, threatening conservative talk radio and religious broadcasting because of the onerous bookkeeping that would be required. Others feel that that the whole Fairness Doctrine revival was just a canard drummed up to incite and engage the conservative base.

Recently, Democrats such as Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), and Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), along with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) have made public their support in reinstating the policy. Last Friday, Rush Limbaugh wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal asking the President to “keep the airways free.”

In the end, Pres. Obama has come out and rejected the reinstatement of the Doctrine, making the vote Thursday an easy one for the majority. One hitch may be the also passed amendment by Sen. Dick Durbin that orders the FCC to encourage radio ownership “diversity.”

A similar bill is running through the House.

Posted in Radio Tags: , , , , , , , , , , No Comments »
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