•
Analyze This: A new study from
Bortz Media and Sports Group for the
NCTA claims,
"The U.S. cable industry supports nearly 1.8 million jobs representing gross economic output amounting to more than $251 billion, and has continued to grow in recent years despite the national economic downtown ... " Click
here for details and
here for an interactive map. ---
SNL Kagan’s
Deborah Yao reports
Madison Square Garden reported a 40% increase in net income for Q4. ---
Deutsche Bank initiated coverage of
Nielsen with a ‘buy’ and a target of $34/share citing staggered contracts, a dominant competitive position and “sustainable competitive advantage.” (Maybe.)
•
Retrans: As
Bernstein Research’s
Craig Moffett notes about the retrans proceedings, “By most accounts ... the prospects are relatively dim for eliminating the non-duplication rules. The FCC’s rulemaking is, in fact, more like an 'inquiry' than a 'rulemaking' (in FCC-speak, an NOI rather than an NPRM). We don’t expect much to change. In the past, we’ve argued that it is scale, and specifically relative scale, that matters. Bigger distributors get better deals than smaller ones; ditto bigger broadcast groups. Notably,
Comcast reached an agreement with
LIN last week (without a blackout). A year ago, we published a
Bernstein Whitebook that serves as detailed playbook for Retransmission Consent disputes. In it, we crossed each distributor against each major station group. The results are enormously helpful in understanding who has the leverage in each dispute.”
•
In the Courts:
SNL Kagan’s
Deborah Yao also reports
Adult VOD, Inc. filed a law suit against
Time Warner Cable alleging “‘bias’ for holding it to ‘an unreasonably high editing standard’ but letting competitors such as
Playboy Enterprises, Inc. get away with much more prurient content, titles and descriptions, according to a March 4 filing with the
New York State Supreme Court.”
•
Tech:
SCTE and
Comcast U. are teaming up to increase training resources for Comcast. --- Meanwhile, the
Denver Post reported some operations at Colorado-based
Comcast Media Center will relocate to
NBCUniversal facilities in Englewood Cliffs, NJ ... some consolidation resulting from the acquisition.
•
Measurements & Ratings:
Rentrak signed
Hallmark Channel and
Hallmark Movie Channel.•
Advertising/Marketing:
Cablevision’s ad targeting is featured in the
WSJ here. Along with
GroupM brands, the company deployed “the simultaneous delivery of advertising from five different advertiser brands sharing a single :30 unit across nearly three million households in the New York Metropolitan area."
•
Programming: Using
C-SPAN’s
Communicator series,
NAB boss
Gordon Smith said the divided
Congress is, for NAB, a good thing ... procedural hurdles make it harder to pass things. --- Also from C-SPAN, you can find the
Technology Policy Institute’s
Online Privacy after the DOC and FTC Reports panel
here. ---
MercuryNews.com has a story about how
YouTube will mimic a group of cable nets
here. ---
Iditarod is underway and
GCI is streaming it. ---
SBJ’s
John Ourand notes the first time arbitration is being used is in a programming rights dispute between the
NY Nets and the
YES Network. --- And, John says
ESPN’s PR department is launching a blog aimed at fans.
•
Up, Over & Down There:
Fidelity Int’l, a top-5 investor in
BSkyB, told London’s
Sunday Times News Corp should pay £11B ($17.9B) ... upping the ante by about £3B ($5B).
•
Mobile:
Sprint and
White Pages have launched the 1st online directory for wireless business listings.
•
Spectrum: Swedish telco regulator
PTS says it raised SEK $2B (@$326+M) auctioning off 800MHz band spectrum for 4G expansion by
TeliaSonera.
•
More News in The Morning BRIDGE ... early tomorrow morning in your in-box.•
