July 1st, 2010 
joel OK, so you fork out $70-80 a month for digital cable, another $9 or more for Netflix, not to mention your $14 Sirius/XM, and $15+ newspaper subscriptions. Now the TV networks behind Hulu are hoping that you’ll share a ten-spot for unlimited access to your favorite TV series. Introducing Hulu Plus
What do you think? Is $10 a month for TV worth the same as $9 a month for DVD and streaming movies?
This media stuff for the consumer is getting expensive!
January 18th, 2010 joel 
24
With the new season of “24″ as a powerful lead-in, WFXP/Fox 66 begins Erie’s first hour-long prime-time newscast tonight at 10:00 PM.
Promos running Sunday night promised a greater and different approach to news, weather and sports for the 60-minute strip, which is slated to run 7 days a week. The prime-time news product should prove to be a powerful competitor to the current broadcast schedule. It also illuminates the reality of the cost of syndicated programming compared to repackaging local news.
What would make this move even more interesting is if WFXP put on a hip young anchor to match the prevailing network audience. I love Sean & Selina…but maybe a Jeremy Beecher-type would keep the high 18-35 year-old lead in.
Just my take.
January 1st, 2010 joel Happy New Year and welcome to the “teens!”
As was the case with much of the last ten years, the decade ended last night with the media front and center of culture’s conversation. With top-talker Rush Limbaugh finally released from a Honolulu hospital, and Fox viewers in O&O markets thankful for a momentary reprieve from losing their football, media doings are never far from top-of-mind.
Here’s the top stories we were talking about in 2009, by month:
July: The seven day build of a home for Erie’s Clara Ward culminated in the July 2nd reveal of the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition houseNext week, we’ll talk with one of Erie’s top media watchers about the past year and what we might see in the new year. Stay tuned.
Posted in From The Editor 
Tags: Clara Ward, Connoisseur Media, David Calabrese, Erie, Erie Bureau of Police, Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership, Erie Times-News, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Fox, GlobalErie.com, GoErie.com, John Kanzius, Lilly Broadcasting, media, Nancy Dymond, Obama, PGA, Phil English, Rush Limbaugh, Saturday Night Live, Tiger Woods, WICU, WRTS, WSEE, YouTube 
No Comments » 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.
Apparently, 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:
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: cable news, Direct TV, DISH Network, Erie, Erie Times-News, FIOS, Fox, Fox News Channel, Fox Sports, NFL Network, Time Warner Cable 5 Comments » 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: Fox, Fox Business Channel, Fox News Channel, Google, New York Post, News Corp., Rupert Murdoch, Wall Street Journal, Yahoo 1 Comment » February 28th, 2009 joel 
Classy 100 parent to be delisted: Citadel Broadcasting Corp., the group owner of WXKC, WXTA, WQHZ, and WRIE will be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange this week, according to AllAccess.com. Citadel will be become an “over-the-counter” stock with a new symbol to be determined. The stock has been trading over 30 days at under $1 and the market cap is under $75 million, both conditions for trading on The Big Board. CDL closed down a nickel Friday, to 0.09, dropping its market cap to $24.30M. Posted in The Feed Tags: ABC, CBS, Citadel Broadcasting, Erie Bayhawks, Focus on the Family, Fox, James Dobson, Jay Leno, NBA, NBC, New York Times, WCTL, WQHZ, WRIE, WXKC, WXTA 1 Comment »
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Deep Background for January 10-16, 2010
I’m increasingly convinced that there is a new “normal” in the Erie and national media construct.
Before you say, “Duh!”, let me say that the old business models of selling ads to show in front of massive audiences is not dead yet, but it’s increasingly impotent. That’s why, for example, you have these yearly knife fights between cable providers and content producers/networks. The networks like Fox have to generate additional revenue streams to pay for the high cost of production.
Meanwhile in the radio and newspaper world, the high amounts of debt on most media balance sheets (excepting the Times Publishing Co.) forces wholesale reductions in personnel and expenses just to pay the mortgage.
On the positive side, the new normal means tons of opportunity for entrepreneurial approaches in the new media space. You no longer have to wait for an FCC license or buy a million dollar press…you can just write an app.
Are we willing to embrace this new normal? Let’s pay homage to the past and wistfully “remember when.” But let’s also look ahead at all of the opportunities this proliferation of media provides.
I want to hear from you! Leave a comment, e-mail me, or tweet @pressandtower.
Embrace the chaos!