MEDIABLAB DAILY DIGEST MAR 12: MORE PRINCE HARRY PRESS NOW ACP FBN GOOGLE DOUBLECLICKS
March 12th 2008 03:35
NEWS CORP BUYS DUTCH-LANGUAGE FINANCE NEWS SERVICE TO BEEF UP DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Reuters reports that News Corp purchased Betten Financial News BV as part of a global expansion of its Dow Jones Newswires operation.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed for the purchase of Dutch-language news service.
"We're dedicated to increasing our coverage of local markets in local languages, and this acquisition helps us to better serve the needs of our European customers," Clare Hart, president of Dow Jones enterprise media group, said in a statement.
US POLITICAL BLOGS MOSTLY UNREAD HUFF AND PUFF ACCORDING TO HARRIS INTERACTIVE REPORT
A majority of Americans do not read the political blogs that have proliferated in the US presidency campaign, according to a poll released on Monday.
Reuters reported that only 22 percent of people responding to the poll said they read blogs regularly, meaning several times a month or more, according to the survey conducted by Harris Interactive.
Political blogs burst into the spotlight in the 2004 and 2008 presidential campaigns. Critics complain they can contain unchecked facts, are poorly edited and use unreliable sources.
Despite the attention blogs can get, the poll said 56 percent of Americans say they never read blogs that discuss politics. Another 23 percent read them several times a year, the survey showed.
While blogs are largely considered the realm of young people who are most internet-savvy, only 19 percent of people ages 18 to 31, and 17 percent of those ages 32 to 43, regularly read a political blog, the poll said.
PRESS NOW TO SET UP INDEPENDENT MEDIA CENTRE IN KURDISTAN
The Amsterdam-based organisation Press Now, which supports independent media in regions of conflict and countries in transition, plans to set up an independent media center in Suleymania, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, to train Iraqi journalists, editors and media personnel.
The centre, which will open in April, is financed and supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Netherlands-based foundation Democracy and Media.
The Kurdish regional government will also lend its financial support, according to International Journalists Network.
ACP APPOINTS NEW MEDIA REPRESENTATION IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA AND WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Sydney-based ACP Magazines has appointed HWR Media and Communications as the publisher’s media representation agency in Western Australia and South Australia.
HWR will assume responsibility for ACP Magazines’ media representation agency in Western Australia on April 30, and South Australia on May 30, replacing incumbent agency, Arnoul Media.
HWR was established in 1982 with the merger of three of South Australia’s largest media representation companies.
The company’s Creative and Custom Publishing divisions were established in 1999, in order to meet the increasing demands of clients.
“We are thrilled to have won the ACP Magazines business and look forward to engaging creatively and proactively in the representation of ACP Magazines in the South Australian and Western Australian markets, ”
Tom Raggatt, managing director, HWR Media & Communications.
Ends.
MURDOCH’S NEWS CORP LOSES LEGAL BATTLE OVER FOX BUSINESS NEWS DOMAIN NAME
News Corps’s Fox Business News in the US has lost its battle for the domain name FoxBusinessNews.com.
The World International Property Organisation's Arbitration and Mediation Centre ruled that Florida businessman Derek Hodges properly registered the domain name in February 2007.
Hodges runs Worldwide Directory Services, which resells domain names and also offers internet marketing services.
The arbitration panel ruled that Hodges could continue to use FoxBusinessNetwork.com because he had presented evidence that he had used the term "Fox Business Network" for his company for several years. Hodges also has been known by the nickname "the British fox" since the late 1990s.
In its written decision, the panel also rejected News Corp's claim that Hodges last August tried to extort US$50,000 from the company in exchange for the domain name.
Meanwhile, Multichannel News’ Mike Farrell reports that Rupert Murdoch said that the media giant is bent on increasing distribution for its Fox Business Network.
FBN already is available in about 35 million homes, Murdoch said at the Bear Stearns Media Conference in Pam Beach, Floridas on Monday. He said that the network needs to get to at least 60 million homes before it starts hitting its stride.
“What we have to do is get distribution,” Murdoch said. “We’re working very hard at getting more distribution. We’re already in maybe 35 million homes. We’ve got to get to 60 million homes, and then Roger [Ailes, chairman and ceo of both cable networks, as well as Fox Television Station Group] can really blast CNBC.”
Murdoch said that while Fox Business is ready to fight for viewers with CNBC, it won’t get into a fight with Microsoft Corp over Yahoo.
“We’re not going to get into a fight with Microsoft, they have got a lot more money than us,” Murdoch said.
He added that while it “would have been nice,” to get a deal with Yahoo, “that is probably not possible now.”
GOOGLE CLOSES ON DOUBLECLICK DEAL HOURS AFTER EU REGULATORS GIVE APPROVAL
Mediapost reports that Google closed on its US$3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick just hours after EU antitrust regulators cleared the deal without imposing any conditions.
The company will use DoubleClick's display ad platform to "bring to market advances in technology and infrastructure that will dramatically improve the effectiveness, measurability and performance of digital media for publishers, advertisers and agencies, while improving the relevance of advertising for users," ceo Eric Schmidt said in a statement.
In approving the deal, the European regulators wrote that the merger posed no antitrust threat.
"The Commission's in-depth market investigation found that Google and DoubleClick were not exerting major competitive constraints on each other's activities and could, therefore, not be considered as competitors at the moment," wrote the European Commission.
The Federal Trade Commission cleared the deal late last year in a 4-1 vote.
The merger is expected to give Google an immediate boost in the increasing display ad market, which will reach US$28.6 billion by 2010, according to J.P. Morgan
The deal also appears to give Google access to a wealth of information about users' web-surfing history that could be used to target ads to them.
J.P. Morgan predicts that Google will leverage DoubleClick's data to command increased rates.
But Mediapost said Google won't necessarily be able to use this trove of behavioral data. Privacy advocates are pressing hard to prevent companies from compiling detailed profiles of users without their permission.
AFGHAN JOURNALIST UNDER DEATH SENTENCE FOR A REPORT ABOUT THE KORAN AND WOMEN’S RIGHTS WAS VICTIM OF A PLOT, SAYS BROTHER
Afghan journalist Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi gave a news conference at Reporters Without Borders headquarters in Paris about the plight of his brother, Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh, a fellow journalist who is under sentence of death in Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan.
"I last saw my brother on March 7 in prison," Ibrahimi said. "Like any prisoner sentenced to death, he was very anxious. And he is in danger all the time because there are around 30 criminals with him in his cell. He should be transferred to a prison where he would be safe. That is why we have asked the government not to put him in a prison with terrorists in Kabul."
Contradicting what has been said in many reports, Ibrahimi insisted that his brother never downloaded, printed or distributed a controversial report about what the Koran has to say about women's rights.
"This was a plot by students close to the fundamentalists who added his name to this report," Ibrahimi said. "They then alerted the secret services and the clerics. It was all trumped up. Perwiz never distributed this document. This should be clear. I am the target behind all this because of my articles criticising the crimes of the warlord and their allies, the religious fundamentalists."
Ibrahimi added, "After 20 days, the letter requesting the transfer of my brother's case finally arrived in Mazar-i-Sharif. This allows us to hope that the appeal will be conducted in better circumstances, especially as we have found a lawyer who is ready to defend him."
Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert Menard said, "We have obtained assurances from the Afghan ambassadors to France and Spain that President Hamid Karzai would never sign a decree authorising Perwiz's execution. This is an important point."
A young student and journalist who writes for the newspaper Jahan-e-Naw ("New World"), Perwiz was sentenced to death for blasphemy by a Mazar-i-Sharif court on January 22, at the end of a summary trial held behind closed doors at which he was not represented by a lawyer.
AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCES PANEL OF EXPERTS FOR THE NATIONAL BROADBAND NETWORK
The Australian Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, today announced the panel of experts to assess proposals to build the National Broadband Network.
The panel will be chaired by the Secretary of the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, s Patricia Scott. The other members of the panel are:
John Wylie, Lazard Carnegie Wylie ceo.
Tony Mitchell, Allphones chairman.
Laureate Professor Rod Tucker, University of Melbourne.
Professor Emeritus of Communications, Reg Coutts, University of Adelaide.
Tony Shaw, former Australian Communications Authority chairman.
Dr Ken Henry AC, treasury secretary.
“The panel will bring a fine blend of technical, regulatory, business, investment and policy skills and experience to the process,” Senator Conroy said.
“The government will formally call for innovative and competitive proposals to roll-out the new network with a view to having construction underway by the end of 2008.”
The panel will be supported by the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, with support from other key departments and specialist advisors in relation to economic regulation and technical, legal and financial and commercial issues.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will provide advice on pricing and competition issues and deliver a written report to the panel.
The new network is expected to:
deliver speeds of at least 12 megabits per second;
use fibre-to-the-node or fibre-to-the premises architecture;
be available to 98 per cent of Australian homes and businesses;
have uniform wholesale pricing that offers consumers real value for money; and
provide open access to wholesale broadband services on transparent, equivalent and genuinely pro-competitive terms and conditions.
“The Australian government is moving quickly to fulfil its election commitment to support the roll-out of a new national high-speed fibre broadband network, by investing up to $4.7 billion,” Senator Conroy said.
THE FINANCIAL TIMES ENDS ITS 15-YEAR DEAL WITH INDIA’S BUSINESS STANDARD
Mint, the Indian business news daily run by former Wall Street Journal staffer, Raju Narisetti reports that the Financial Times, in a re-plan of its Indian operations, has ended its deal with Business Standard.
Mint said, “London’s Financial Times is on its way out of a 15-year relationship with the Indian financial newspaper, the Business Standard, ending a landmark partnership that had, in recent times, become a source of frustration for the British newspaper’s parent, the Pearson group, which had high hopes of the booming Indian newspaper market.”
Mint said that while details of the complex separation deal were not fully clear, Busienss Standard will retain the right to use the Financial Times name and content through at least 2008.
In the interim, Financial Times is closing an online content deal with Network 18 Media and Investments Ltd, the diversified media conglomerate, which, through its TV18 India Ltd, runs CNBC TV18 as well as Moneycontrol.com financial news portal in India.
The relationship with Network 18 is likely to lead to a business newspaper relationship as well.
Mint, which competes with Business Standard, has an exclusive print and online content deal in India with The Wall Street Journal.
INDONESIA’S SCTV ANNOUNCES NEW AD AGENCY FOR NEW PROGRAMMING PUSH
Indonesian TV station Surya Citra Televisi (SCTV) has awarded ad agency MEC Indonesia its business, and the brief will include program launches and media ratings reports for the TV station among local and regional newspapers and print media.
Media Asia reports that the full brief, including media budget and the length of contract - believed to be two years - has yet to be finalised.
SCTV is one of the largest TV broadcasting stations in Indonesia and is owned by PT Surya Citra Media group. The TV station achieved 17 percent audience share in 2007.
BBC WORLDWIDE APPOINTS NEW GLOBAL DIVISION MANAGING DIRECTOR
Marcus Arthur, the director of BBC Worldwide London magazine division, has been promoted to the post of managing director of the BBC commercial subsidiary's global brands division.
The Guardain reports that Arthur will take up his new role at the end of this month, reporting directly to the BBC Worldwide chief executive, John Smith, and overseeing a range of the organisation's "passion" websites, including radiotimes.com, bbcgoodfood.com and topgear.com.
He will also assume management responsibility for both the Top Gear and Lonely Planet, the travel information group, in which BBC Worldwide acquired a 75 percent stake in October 2007.
VALE CAROL BARNES, HIGH-PROFILE UK BROADCASTER
High-profile and revered UK broadcaster Carol Barnes, for many years a reporter and presenter on ITN's flagship program News at Ten and other bulletins, has died aged 63 following a stroke
In 1994, she was voted newscaster of the year.
The Guardian reported, “An attractive figure on the screen, Barnes had an authoritative presence and a marvellously clear broadcasting voice. She brought to the program considerable experience as a broadcaster and as a competitive newsgathering reporter, often on hazardous assignments. She covered the Northern Ireland troubles and the 1981 Brixton riots, and in 1984 was assigned to follow Democrat Geraldine Ferraro's bid to become the first woman vice-president in the US elections.”
During the coverage of the Iranian revolution in 1979, ITN sent a male reporter to cover the turbulent street scenes in Tehran. Barnes protested, saying, "It's my story."
Her editor explained that he was not going to expose a then heavily pregnant woman reporter to the menace of the Iranian capital.
She was nervous about flying, and to overcome this she learned to fly and qualified as a private pilot.
Barnes was also in the news in 2004 following the death of her daughter Clare in a skydiving accident near Barwon Heads, near Melbourne, Australia.
Her daughter, aged 24 – the offspring of a seven-year relationship between Barnes and Denis MacShane, the Labour MP and former foreign office minister – , died after her parachute failed to open properly.
Friends felt that Barnes never fully recovered from the loss.
US PRIVATE EQUITY GROUPS CONSIDERING VIRGIN MEDIA TAKEOVER
The Observer in the UK reports that Richard Branson could “scoop” $750 million if Virgin Media is sold to US private equity groups, which are actively considering launching a takeover bid, despite continuing turmoil in the credit markets.
According to a private document entitled 'Project Coaxial' - seen by The Observer - Blackstone, Cinven, KKR and Providence Equity are prepared to offer US$6 billion to $7.5 billion for the company, in which Branson's Virgin group holds a 10.5 percent share.
The Observer said, “News of the continuing interest of private equity in Virgin Media will surprise investors, who had assumed that bidders were put off after the summer's liquidity crisis made it difficult for potential buyers to borrow from the banks to fund a deal. Even now, it is uncertain whether the venture capitalists could secure funding.”
The consortium is being advised by Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and Perella Weinberg Partners.
Virgin Media is quoted on the New York Nasdaq exchange. Any bidder would have to take on the group's borrowings, which are believed to stand at around $11 billion.
EVIDENCE OF MORE PRINCE HARRY-AFGHANISTAN MEDIA LEAKS OVER GOAT BEHEADING INCIDENT
The Guardian reports that UK military chiefs are investigating a soldier who tried to cash in on Prince Harry's secret frontline posting to Afghanistan by blowing his cover during the agreed news blackout.
The inquiry centres on photographs of Harry witnessing the beheading of a live goat during Christmas Day celebrations with the Gurkhas just 10 days after his arrival in the southern province of Helmand.
The photos were offered to a tabloid newspaper in defiance of strict orders of secrecy.
The Guardian said, “The extraordinary pictures were taken at Forward Operating Base Delhi, the remote outpost where Harry was serving as part of Battlegroup South just 500 metres from the Taliban. They show the prince filming on his mobile phone as the goat, which was later curried for Christmas lunch, was beheaded by his platoon commander, Lieutenant Moran, who used a traditional kukri knife to dispatch the animal. He was accorded the 'honour' after Harry declined it.
“The soldier then approached the Sun newspaper, telling it. 'Harry was asked if he fancied cutting the head off, but he declined and the honour went to his platoon commander. It was pretty horrific to watch, but that is the way things are done out here. There are no takeaways, so animals are slaughtered by hand.'
The Sun did not publish the photographs until after news of Harry's 10-week deployment emerged on the controversial US website, the Drudge Report.
AUSTRALIA’S NINE NETWORK BUYS HI-5 KIDS TV PROGRAM PRODUCTION COMPANY
Australia’s Nine Network television company and Southern Star have joined forces to purchase Kids Like Us, the production company for Hi-5 kids TV program, with immediate effect.
Hi-5 is a global phenomenon. The television series now screens in 118 countries with a global audience reach in excess of five million people and enjoys considerable success in Asia, the UK, the US and Latin America.
Over 2 million tickets have been sold worldwide to Hi-5 concerts and there are currently four new casts touring Latin America with licensing agents and DVD distributors set up in Argentina, Mexico and Brazil.
Hi-5 series 10 will launch on The Nine Network on July 7, 2008. Hi-5 also airs several times a day on Nick Jr.
Hi-5’s latest DVD instalment from Village Roadshow ‘Party Street’ will be in stores from April 2, 2008.
In Australia, the television series has won three Logies for Most Outstanding Children’s Series, a record breaking five consecutive ARIAS for Best Children’s Album, and the Helpmann award for Best Children’s Presentation of a live show.
To date 435 half hour episodes have been produced, 25 DVD/videos, nearly 80 books and 11 CDs have been released in Australia alone.
Cathy Payne, chief executive Southern Star International, said, “We look forward to building on the success that Hi-5 has enjoyed over the past 10 years and in particular as we take the show to its next stage of development internationally.”
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