Radio Wires (Dec 4, 2010)

RAIN 12/3: Verizon steps up wireless broadband coverage This Sunday, Verizon Wireless will launch its 4G "LTE" high-speed wireless broadband service in 38 cities and 60 airports in the United States. This will effectively cover about one-third of the U.S. population. With Clearwire/Sprint's current "WiMax" service in several parts of the country, high-speed wireless broadband is becoming a reality for much of the country. And that can only increase the potential audience for webcasters. But high-speed wireless ain't cheap. We do a little math (and on a Friday!) in today's issue of RAIN: Radio And Internet Newsletter, at www.kurthanson.com.

News/talk continues to gray. The importance of adding FM simulcasts to news/talk AMs is underscored in the Research Director-Inside Radio PPM Format Norms 2010 study. Half of the average news/talker's audience (49.9%) has aged outside the 25-54 demo that advertisers covet. Nearly one in three (28.8%) are 65+.

Multichannel News: Comcast/NBCU Extend Joint Venture Agreement. Comcast and NBC Universal have agreed to a 90-day extension of their proposed $30 billion joint venture. Either party had the option of nixing the deal a year after it was struck, unless both sides agreed to an extension for government approvals.

TV Technology: Congress Passes CALM Act. Law will require broadcasters and advertisers to adopt technology to prevent overly loud commercials within one year of enactment.

TV Technology: Study: 3M U.S. Homes Ready to Buy Internet TVs. About three million U.S. homes are ready to purchase Internet-connected television receivers this holiday season.

Multichannel News: DirecTV Could Pare Some Networks. Satellite Giant to Look at Repackaging, Removing Some Channels

Tom Taylor: One thing Sirius XM isn't talking about - Howard Stern. One TRI reader says he's had business with the satcaster recently and that "nobody's talking about Howard. They all clam up." Is no news good news? Stern has walked out the door at the end of terrestrial radio contracts, leaving everybody hanging - only to sign a renewal with Mel Karmazin during his customary year-end vacation. Now he's facing his biggest renewal ever, again with Mel, and it's an important psychological moment for both sides. So here's a Twitter rumor for you - "Howard Stern is on the verge of signing a $600 million 3yr deal with Apple to host Internet/TV/iTunes broadcast." That's from Paul Scheer and last night it was caroming around the Twittersphere like a UFO sighting in Beverly Hills. (It's also on the Discussion Boards at Radio-Info.com, here.) We know Stern has been investigating new-media platforms. Apple has the cash to make a credible offer. But there are several problems with the scenario. #1, Apple's not currently in the content generation business. #2, Apple is notoriously G-rated when it comes to content. It's turned down all kinds of iPhone apps it deemed salacious. And "salacious" could be Stern's middle name (all in good fun). It would be a category killer, for sure. But is it another red herring, like the American Idol rumor?

Jay Posner, TV/Radio Sports: Viewers get many channels, but not enough. Cable networks and operators shortchange fans by failing to offer some channels.

John Maffei: TV/Radio Sports: Costs, circumstances force Channel 4 to reduce coverage of football title games. ARTICLE: The CIF San Diego Section high school football championships are one of Cox Communications' highest-rated programs, but also one of the most expensive to produce.

Gary Lycan: KKGO/105.1 FM "Go Country" morning personality Jay Coffey has left the station after only five weeks on the air.

Gary Lycan: Gary Spears, former personality on KIIS, KYSR and KBIG, is in his last week in L.A and will be relocating soon to Cape Coral, Florida + John and Larry Gassman host "Same Time, Same Station." It airs on Yesterday USA at www.live365.com + Ryan Seacrest, Laura Schlessinger, and Dean Edell make headlines.

Time to Shut Down the FCC (read more - Andy Kessler - WSJ)

Other Wires (Dec 4, 2010)

Broadcasting and Cable: Terry Takes Aim at Net Neutrality Proposal. Says FCC wants to "ram" the vote down the public's throats.

Multichannel News: TBN Signs With IPTV Service Launching In 2011. Religious Programmer Signs Carriage Deal With World Inspirational Network

Tom Taylor: The floodgates are opening for 4G. Again, it matters to radio because of all those radio-centric apps and also the stations who're streaming. Verizon is trying to catch up to Sprint's first-to-market 4G service, with speeds up to ten times faster than 3G. And now Clearwire plans to raise $1.1 billion through a debt sale, to keep building out its own 4G network. Sprint uses the Clearwire network as a backbone for its own 4G service, and it needs Clearwire to keep building. But the Wall Street Journal says there are tensions, because Clearwire harbors ambitions beyond working with Sprint - even though Sprint owns 54% of Clearwire. If you've run into slow speeds on your phone when surfing, especially when downloading - you'll want to know more about 4G. So will a lot of radio listeners.

Radio Wires (Dec 3, 2010)

TV Technology: Proposed FCC Rules Give Fixed and Mobile Services Co-primary Status in all TV Bands.

RAIN 12/2: Nearly one-third of mobile phone users now Internet radio-ready. Mobile Internet radio penetration continues to grow... or at least it should. A new study from Nielsen says almost 30% of mobile phone users now own smartphones (which are capable of receiving streaming audio).That's up from 21% in the first quarter of this year. More than one-third (35%) of current smartphone owners want an iPhone as their next mobile device.

Other Wires (Dec 3, 2010)

Multichannel News: NCTA: Net Neutrality Order Is Imperfect, But Fair Resolution. Industry reaction was guardedly supportive Wednesday of the Federal Communications Commission's proposed network neutrality order vote, scheduled for Dec. 21

'MNF' Sinks To Season Low With 49ers-Cards. ESPN Averages 'Just' 11.2 Million Viewers.

Radio Wires (Dec 2, 2010)

Randy Dotinga: Don't let door hit you on way in.

TV Technology: FCC Opens TV Spectrum for Broadband Use. The notice also proposes a framework of rules to allow two or more TV stations to operate on a single 6 MHz channel.

RAIN 12/1: Most webcasters up in September 2010 Webcast Metrics. Ando Media yesterday released their Internet radio rankings for September 2010. Pandora still holds the top spot in the domestic rankings with slight growth over August. Meanwhile, most terrestrial broadcasters continued the audience growth they began in August after summertime declines.

Radio World: 400+ AM Stations Are Using Translators. Broadcasters are `embracing' the FCC ruling, BIA/Kelsey finds.

Radio World Online: Canadian Satellite Radio Companies to Merge.

Greater Media: For those of you old enough to remember, radio stations used to engage in pitched battles to be the listener's first preset on their car radio -- Auto manufacturers, receiver makers, software companies and smartphone carriers are all jockeying to control consumer attention and choice with a new generation of connected in-dash devices which are far more complex than today's audio sound systems.

All Access: Sirius XM Passes The 20 Million Subscriber Mark.

All Access: DR. DEAN EDELL has announced his retirement from radio. EDELL will end his show as of DECEMBER 31st after what he estimated at about 5.000 shows.

Other Wires (Dec 2s, 2010)

FCC targets web access. FCC chairman Julius Genachowski announced plans today to try again at establishing rules regulating broadband access. The so-called "net neutrality" guidelines would prevent service providers from limiting or charging extra for certain content. Some observers are worried ISP limits could hurt the long-term growth of streaming media services. But Genachowski faces resistance in the courts, in Congress and among some of his fellow commissioners.

Multichannel News: Level 3: Comcast Doesn't Have Right To Set Pricing For Network Access. Level 3 Communications fired back Tuesday at Comcast, asserting that the dispute between the two companies isn't about network-peering terms but whether the MSO should be allowed to set pricing for network access.

Multichannel News: Comcast Open To FCC's Participation In Resolving Level 3 Dispute. Comcast is willing to have the Federal Communications Commission oversee negotiations with Level 3 Communications to resolve their dispute over Internet interconnection fees, the cable operator said in a letter to the agency Tuesday

Washington Post: Could Smartphones Crash Cellular Networks?

Tom Taylor: TV is skeptical, but the FCC wants some spectrum back, for mobile broadband. Chairman Julius Genachowski wanted to do this earlier in his tenure, but at least he feels he's underway, with yesterday's 5-0 vote to start investigating new spectrum for his "National Broadband Plan." The "yes" votes of Republican Commissioners Rob McDowell and Meredith Attwell Baker don't mean they'll be voting "yes" on the eventual plan. This is just the FCC launching a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. For one thing, it contemplates giving wireless broadband providers "equal access to TV broadcast frequencies that could become available in spectrum auctions." They'd be "co-primary users." The plan is for some TV operators to voluntarily turn in some spectrum - as much as a third of it - in return for an incentive. Then the agency would re-auction it, while re-packing TV signals into the remaining two-thirds of the band. Does radio care about this? It should. A lot of radio listening is headed toward IP delivery, and that means more spectrum for broadband.

All Access: FCC To Vote On Net Neutrality Regulation December 21st.

Soap Opera Update (Dec 1, 2010)

NBC renewed "Days of Our Lives" to run through the 2012-2013 season.

ABC has plans to run "All My Children" and "One Life to Live" at least through 2012, but with ratings low, and SoapNet going away in January 2012, it's anybody's guess whether these will be renewed, or if the demise of SoapNet would help boost the ratings of ABC's three soaps. "General Hospital" may go through 2013 but it's a guesstimate.

Since 2003, "Port Charles", "Passions", "Guiding Light", and "As the World Turns" left the airwaves. The way the latest ratings trends are suggesting, the genre isn't getting enough new viewers to replace those who die off. It's only a matter of time when the numbers will continue to drop, or some might consider converting to a weekly prime time series, which is far more lucrative in the home DVD market as it's easier to sell a 22-hour season on DVD than it is to sell a 250-hour season, which has zero marketing value.

Ryan is Clear Channel's Hope (Dec 1, 2010)

Radio Wires (Dec 1, 2010)

Sirius XM is ready for some (more) football - including online play-by-play. The satcaster's new five-year deal takes the relationship with the NFL through the 2016 Super Bowl, and for the first time it can offer play-by-play online. Also today - Sirius XM says it just passed the 20-million subscriber mark.

RAIN 11/30: Net usage differs by radio format, says study. New research from the Media Audit shows Internet usage differs by radio format. Listeners of Dance CHR use the Internet the most per day (nearly 6 hours a day among younger listeners). Interestingly, while listeners of Hispanic radio spend 15% more time than average tuning in to AM/FM, they spend the least amount of time online per day.

TV Broadcast: Deborah McAdams On: PBS, KCET, Retrans and All That Jazz. I came across a great episode of "Austin City Limits" last night on the local PBS affiliate quite by accident. It was quite by accident because I cannot for the life of me figure out the PBS schedule. I haven't been able to since John Lawson cut that "landmark" multicast carriage deal for Association of Public Television Station members. Afterward, PBS stations across the country started cranking out multiple program streams. That was cool.

Multichannel News: Level 3 Alleges Comcast Demanded Fees To Deliver Internet Content. Network services provider Level 3 Communications on Monday alleged Comcast forced it to pay recurring fees to transmit Internet video and other content to cable customers, but the MSO countered that Level 3 misrepresented negotiations between the two companies and was trying to get a "free ride" on its network.

Tom Taylor: "This is not a Howard Stern deal", says Dr. Laura. She tells the Orange County Register that in going with Sirius XM, "I am not going to be making more money doing this" than she does with her familiar terrestrial radio syndication. But it will be less hassle, for sure. She says "I had enough of the censorship, I had enough of being called hateful." And in fact, some of the online commentary the last few days has been about so-called "hate radio." So beginning January 3, 2011, Dr. Laura's program will be available on Sirius channel 102 and XM channel 155, as well as Sirius Internet Radio, XM Radio Online, and the Sirius XM apps for the iPhone, iPod touch, BlackBerry and Android devices. Sirius XM will replay the live show later in the day as well as on weekends. One thing radio folks tend to forget - the Dr. Laura show has already been clearing for two hours a day on satellite. They're entering a whole new stage of their relationship, but parts of her show have already been on the bird.

Radio Wires (Nov 30, 2010)

Multichannel News: Find the Cost of Retrans (On Your Cable Bill). Charter Communications wants its customers to know that as far as cable delivery is concerned, broadcast TV is fee, not free, TV.

Multichannel News: CSN California Remains Dark On Dish. Almost six days after it won an arbitration ruling, Comcast SportsNet California remains off of Dish Network

NFL Network Notches Third-Largest Audience With Jets-Bengals

Major League Programs: The Thanksgiving weekend is one of the busiest sports weekends of the entire year, yet some radio and TV stations clearly overlooked when scheduling programming for the sports fans. It's not that the personalities do not deserve some time off, but it is that we as sports fans deserve a realistic alternative instead of being kicked to the curb.

Deal on radio royalties for musicians falls apart.

Dr. Laura Schlessinger is joining Sirius XM, starting Monday, January 3. Dr. Laura will air live, weekdays from 2-5 p.m. ET on Sirius XM Stars (Sirius ch. 102/XM ch. 155). "Coming to SIRIUS XM is an amazingly freeing transition from terrestrial radio for me. Satellite radio is a forum where a diverse group of people get to speak their minds without fear," stated Dr. Laura. "I can't wait to preach, teach and nag about morals, values, ethics and principles. My brain is buzzing with new ideas for my program's content, direction and expansion, including guest interviews with people who intrigue and inspire me. I couldn't be more giggly if you tickled me!" Dr. Laura announced in August that she would be ending her long-running syndicated Talk show, once her contracted ends at the end of 2010.

Ramsey: Poll Finds Radio Listeners Don't Look For FM In Mobile Phones

Other Wires (Nov 30, 2010)

FMQB: Report: Apple Denying Radio Station Apps. App maker claims that Apple rejected recent radio streaming iPhone apps, comparing them to spam.