Digital TV converter coupons up for grabs

Starting Tuesday, January 1st, television viewers can start applying for converter box coupons. The Commerce Department has set up a toll-free hotline (888-DTV-2009) and a website, where they can sign up for the $40 coupons that will allow their old analog tv's to receive digital broadcast signals. Each household will be eligible for two coupons.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, a Commerce Department agency, is running the $1.5-billion program designed to ease in the switch to digital television, set for February 17, 2009.

Court TV becomes history

Court TV became famous with the O.J. Simpson trial and other high-profile courtroom dramas in the 1990's, but as of Tuesday, January 1st it will be history. The network is changing its name to truTV, to emphasize its prime-time action programming. Only six hours of legal-oriented material will remain in the daily lineup, under the label "In Session."

Telemundo extends daily news mag

"Al Rojo Vivo con María Celeste," the Telemundo one hour magazine that competes with Univision's "Primer Impacto" during the 5 pm slot on weekdays, could be changing its time format permanently.

In November, Telemundo decided to lengthen the show an hour, airing from 4 to 6 pm. The network just announced the test run was so well received by the public, it will continue to run the extended edition of "Al Rojo Vivo" until the end of February of 2008.

Will Time Warner be dismantled?

Jeffrey Bewkes takes over as CEO of Time Warner Inc. next week, currently the world's largest media company. But analysts are already predicting Bewkes will quickly turn around and sell the AOL Web and Time Inc. magazine units, keeping and focusing on film studio and cable-TV networks, similar to Viacom Inc.'s holdings, which bring in more money.

Bloomberg reports the sale of AOL could go for as much as $18 billion.

Despite plunging stock, McClatchy supports Pruitt

McClatchy CEO Gary Pruitt may have engineered last year's $4.6 billion takeover of Knight Ridder Inc., but he has not been able to prevent his company's stock from a 78% price plunge. Under his watch, McClatchy lost $1.46 billion since the beginning of 2006. Despite the grim outlook, the Wall Street Journal reports the McClatchy family continues to unanimously support Pruitt.

Pruitt believes the company will recover from its slump, with the help of a new deal with Yahoo Inc. , which he hopes will bring visitors and ads to his newspapers' Web sites. He also plans to sell off some nonnewspaper operations and eliminate some non-journalist full-time employees, as part of his cost-control strategy.

McClatchy is now the nation's third-largest newspaper publisher. It is also one of the last of the large, family-controlled chains, with the McClatchy family controlling more than 80% of the voting stock.

Impremedia buys Rumbo

ImpreMedia has acquired the three Rumbo newspapers in Texas from Meximerica Media Inc.

Originally launched as dailies in four Texas markets in 2004, the Rumbo tabs were downsized to three times a week and in January, were converted to a weekly publication.

Rumbo enhances Impremedia's reach to 7 of top 10 Hispanic markets. It currently publishes La Opinion in Los Angeles and El Diario/La Prensa in New York City.

8 Fox O&O's sold for $1.1 billion

News Corp is selling eight of its Fox owned and operated stations to Oak Hill Capital Partners LP for about $1.1 billion in cash. Stations sold: WJW Cleveland, KDVR Denver, KTVI St. Louis, WDAF Kansas City, WITI Milwaukee, KSTU Salt Lake City, WBRC Birmingham, Ala., and WGHP Greensboro, N.C.

Bloomberg reports the sale will allow News Corp. to focus on its largest and most lucrative markets after its $5.2 billion takeover of Dow Jones & Co. this year. For Oak Hill, the purchase will help it create a broader U.S. network after it paid $575 million to acquire stations from New York Times Co. in May.

Televisa-Univision lawsuit goes to trial

A judge has denied Univision a motion to dismiss part of a Televisa lawsuit claiming breach of contract. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Judge Phillip S. Gutierrez ruled there is enough evidence to move forward with a trial, set to start March 18.

Televisa is suing for more than $100 million in damages for unpaid royalties and is looking to put an end to its program license agreement with Univision, which runs through 2017.

NBC backs off sale of Telemundo stations

NBC Universal has pulled WKAQ-Channel 2, Telemundo Puerto Rico and KWHY-Channel 22 in Los Angeles off the market. They had previously put both stations up for sale in October, after buying Oxygen Media. The stations' sale would have helped pay for NBC Universal's $925 million acquisition.

According to Hispanic Market Weekly, the company's asking price was too high for potential buyers.

New owner makes immediate changes at Tribune

Tribune's $8.2 billion buyout is now officially closed. And immediately after taking control of the newly private company, real estate magnate Sam Zell began a shake up at the newspaper and TV company. He reshuffled the board and named new executives to head the broadcast and internet operations as well as a new chief administrative officer.

Tvnewsday reports that although he plans no immediate asset sales, Zell made clear changes are coming.

Shortly before Zell's takeover, Dennis FitzSimons, Tribune Co.'s Chairman and CEO announced he is retiring from the company at the end of the year.

Hernandez leaves World News Now

Taina Hernandez , who has been co-anchoring ABC "World News Now" for the past two years leaves the overnight broadcast. Richard Prince reports ABC spokesman Jeffrey Schneider told Journal-isms that Hernandez, "has decided to go on and do other things." One thing is having another baby, which Hernandez announced during her goodbye on the air.

Pappas considers selling stations

Pappas Telecasting Companies announced it retained Moelis & Co. "to assess strategic alternatives for the company," which could result in the sale of a portion of its television assets.

In a company press release Pappas says: “after more than 40 years in the broadcast industry, the time has come to simplify my life and spend more time with my family.”

In July, Pappas Telecasting launched a group of Spanish-language television stations under the brand "TuVisión," after breaking relations with Azteca América.

Tribune to pay $15 millon for circulation fraud

The Tribune Co. has agreed to pay a $15 million settlement in order to close the criminal fraud investigation into inflated circulation at Hoy New York and Newsday. Both papers reported false circulation numbers to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, between 2001 and 2004.

In an article published in Newsday, the paper acknowledges that it inflated circulation of its publication by as much as 100,000 copies, and Hoy's by as much as 45,000. To date, the newspaper has paid advertisers $83 million in restitution. As part of the settlement, Tribune will not face criminal charges.

Earlier this year, Tribune sold Hoy New York to ImpreMedia, publisher of El diario/La Prensa and La Opinión.

Excelsior launches entertainment tab

Starting this Friday, Excelsior, the Spanish-language weekly published by The Orange County Register, launches Expresso, a bilingual entertainment tabloid. Content will focus on "chisme" television and entertainment. It will also feature elements familiar to Latinos, such as an astrology column by Walter Mercado and the comic strip Condorito.

Expresso aims to target young, second-generation Hispanics whose primary language is English but are immersed in Latino culture.

FCC votes to lift cross-ownership ban

It came down to a 3-2 vote, with FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and the two other FCC Republican commissioners voting in favor of allowing broadcasters in the nation's s 20 largest media markets to also own a newspaper. The vote lifts a 32 yr-old ban on broadcast and newspaper cross-ownership in a single city.

Despite pressure from House and Senate members on Capitol Hill and multiple community groups to delay it, Martin pushed the vote through.

Several senators, including four Republicans, sent Martin a letter threatening to move legislation that would nullify the commission's ruling.

The FCC first tried to loosen the ban in 2003, but the move was rejected by a federal appeals court.

The Free Press, a non-profit advocacy group against the lifting of the ban has already started a campaign, involving the collection of signatures to reverse the ruling.

Miami Herald partners with "América TeVe"

The Miami Herald has reached an agreement with WJAN-Channel 41 "América TeVe" to air a TV segment based on the paper's long-running "Action Line" feature. The public service segment will be hosted by news anchor Alejandra Molina and will air Wednesdays during the 5PM newscast.

KRIV launches interactive Webcast

Ruben Dominguez hosts MyFoxHoustonLIVE! The interactive Webcast, will run commuter weather and traffic, quirky videos and irreverent news stories.

Viewers are encouraged to send in photos and videos and help pick out stories. The program runs live on weekdays from 4 to 4:30 pm CT.

Sun-Times approves $50 million cuts, layoffs

Directors of the Sun-Times Media Group Inc., approved a plan to reduce operating costs by $50 million in 2008. The measures include layoffs.

The Chicago Tribune is reporting the cost-cutting program will be put in place in the first half of next year.

Sun-Times Media's woes include shrinking circulation and loss of ad dollars to the internet. But the Chicago-based company has been particularly hurt by the actions of former CEO and Chairman Conrad Black, who along with three other former Sun-Times executives, were convicted this year on felony fraud related to the diversion millions of dollars that should have gone to the company.

Music executive sues Univision

José Behar, president of Univision Music Group, is suing parent company Univision Communications for more than $36 million dollars. According to the NY Post, Behar alleges company executives hurt the music division's revenues in order to pay less for his equity stake in the music label, which is up for sale. A 60 page complaint was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.

A pending lawsuit from Televisa, which is looking to pull out of its programming pact with Univision, is scheduled for March.

Fox Sports en Español expanding... to Mexico

Fox Sports en Español is opening a production facility in Mexico in January. The facility will produce programming that will include talk shows and a daily news program for its U.S. Hispanic channel and its Latin American network.

Univision could benefit from writer's strike

The power of Univision is being noticed by the big networks, embroiled in a now six week long writer's strike. While the Big Five have been forced to air re-runs, the Spanish-language network is unaffected by the writer's strike and is enjoying a ratings heaven, with plenty of new prime-time programming shipped from Mexico. Media Life is reporting that last week, Univision zoomed past all the other networks in the ratings, making it the "strike's big winner."

Layoffs at BusinessWeek

About a dozen business and editorial staff members will be axed from BusinessWeek. The magazine's print and digital staff will be merged to create a single editorial operation.

Folio magazine reports the cuts will take place, despite the fact there's increased readership and newsstand sales are up 25 percent.

Impact of live blogging on a criminal case

Nicole Garcia's live blogging from a courthouse has apparently prompted witnesses to come forward and testify in a murder trial.

According to TVNewsday, the prosecutor in the case has said at least five people contacted the D.A.'s office after reading daily blog reports from Garcia, aTV reporter from the Fresno Fox station.

Visitors to the blog are able to see more complete accounts of the court proceedings, rather than the typical 1:30 story. Witnesses have come forward to contradict testimony believed to be inaccurate.

Univision NY hires new weatherman

Abel d’Angelo Hernández is moving to New York's WXTV as morning weatherman.

Hernandez, has been doing weather for the 5 and 10 pm weekday newscasts at KUVN, the Univision Dallas O&O since 2000.

His first day on the air will be on Monday, Dec. 17, on Noticias Univision 41 Al Despertar.

Tribune to sell Cubs and Wrigley

Looking to cut some of the multi-billion dollar debt acquired with the purchase of the Tribune Co., the investor group led by billionaire Sam Zell announced plans to sell the Chicago Cubs baseball team and Wrigley Field stadium in the next six months.

Bloomberg is reporting the sale could bring in more than $1 billion. Tribune today reiterated the going-private buyout will close by year-end, leaving it with about $12 billion in debt.

Yahoo and CNBC partner up

Yahoo has signed a licensing deal with CNBC. Content from the cable network will be distributed on Yahoo Finance. The partnership will give CNBC the opportunity to expand its distribution on the Web.

According to Mediaweek, this is a first of a kind deal for Yahoo Finance, involving 21 different Web properties worldwide.

New media start-up to target Latinos

A group of Latino media veterans teamed up to launch Mio.TV, a bilingual online multimedia entertainment, communications and social networking site aimed at young acculturated U.S. Hispanics.

Marketing y Medios reports the interactive site will allow users to access original Mio-produced content and is expected to compete against other major Hispanic-targeted online players, including Batanga, AOL Latino, Univision and YouTube.

The masterminds of the new media start-up are CEO Manuel García-Durán, the former chairman of Spain's Telefonica Media; Moses Frenck, EVP, business development/strategy, a former managing editor of Marketing y Medios; former HBO executive Concepción Lara, now Mio's EVP of programming; and former Lifetime executive Jenny Alonzo.

A private beta version of the site was unveiled yesterday during a press event, but Mio.TV is scheduled to go live for the public in late March.

Makeover for Latina magazine

Latina's new editorial director is planning a major overhaul of the magazine, in the hopes of turning it around.... bringing in a new look... and more money.

Mimi Valdés Ryan has called on some her former Vibe colleagues to help her revamp the March issue, which will have more fashion and beauty and less entertainment and food content. Lucia Moses details the makeover plan in Mediaweek.

Borja moved to new position at Yahoo! Telemundo

Borja Pérez was named Yahoo! Telemundo Alliance Leader. This is a newly created position focusing on integrating all editorial and marketing aspects of the Telemundo and Yahoo! joint venture. The main objective will be to increase traffic to the Web site and boost online advertising revenue.

Pérez will also continue his duties as VP of market development of digitial media for the network. He will report to Peter Blacker, Telemundo's senior vice president digital media.

Before joining Telemundo in 2006, Pérez worked as a business development manager for America Online's U.S. Hispanic division.

Radio format switch in Orlando

WQTM-AM 740 will switch from sports talk to the Clear Channel's Mexican Oldies "La Preciosa" format by January 1.

Although there's a predominant Puerto Rican population, Clear Channel is betting on a format targeting a fast-growing Mexican listener base in Central Florida.

ABC and NABET reach deal

ABC has reached a tentative agreement with NABET. The employees represented by the union at ABC have been working without a contract since March 31. Details of the four-year deal were not released.

The union said the parties reached their agreement after ABC made several significant modifications to its Oct. 22 "last, best and final" offer during off-the-record meetings.

Soto to host HGTV's White House special

Sabrina Soto, host of HGTV's Get it Sold and the daughter of former news director Roberto Soto, will be the host for this year's "White House Christmas 2007." She is the first Hispanic to host the show, which airs December 16, 17 and 25.

NY Univision news hits #1

WXTV-41, ruled in all key demos for Monday night primetime. The Univision two-and-a-half hour finale "Destilando Amor" telenovela gave a great lead-in to the 11 p.m. news.

Variety reports it's the first time in recent memory that Spanish-language news has been No. 1 on a weekday. The WXTV news also fared well during November sweeps, beating out WNBC for the No. 3 slot.

Telemundo names GMs in L.A. and Miami

Manuel Martínez is the new general manager at Telemundo's WSCV-Channel 51 in Miami. He leaves WNJU-47, where he held the same job. José Valle leaves KXTX-39 in Dallas to take over the GM slot at KVEA-52, Telemundo's flagship station. They replace Mike Rodríguez, who was temporarily doing double-duty, running both stations. Rodriguez was promoted to senior vice president of sales for Telemundo.

González named N.D. at KUVS

Univision's station in Sacramento, KUVS-19 has hired Isabel González to take over its news department, starting January 2nd. The news director position had been vacant for months. Isabel was most recently a producer for CNN en Español in Atlanta. She replaces Pedro Calderón.

Mega TV gains a Florida affiliate

Palm Beach and Martin counties in Florida will get to see Mega TV programming via WBWP Channel 57. The station reached an agreement to become an affiliate of Mega TV on Dec. 5.

NBC planning million-dollar cuts

Jeff Zucker is expected to make big cuts in the company's news division, including eliminating an entire level of MSNBC's management team, in an effort to save $20 to $40 million dollars.

The New York Post reports the cuts at NBC are expected to come down this week or next and would be evenly weighted between NBC News and MSNBC. CNBC staffers won't be affected during this round of cuts in order to better compete with the newly-launched Fox Business Network.

New title for Gómez at Univision

Bert Gómez was named VP of of government relations for Univision Communications. He will be the company's in-house lobbyist, reporting to chief strategy officer César Conde. Gómez was hired by Univision in April 2007, as vice president of political strategy.

Bill blocks FCC December 18 vote

The FCC won't be able to vote on loosening restrictions on newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership on Dec. 18. The Senate Commerce Committee yesterday unanimously passed a bill blocking the vote for that date, seeking to postpone it until 2008.

The bill now moves to the full Senate.

Acosta promoted to Sr VP of Tu Visión

Fernando Acosta is zooming up the ranks. Earlier this year, he was named vice president of Pappas' Hispanic television stations group. Now, Fernando has been promoted to senior vice president of Tu Vision Stations Group - a new network launched by Pappas Telecasting Companies on the five stations that ceased airing Azteca América programming on July 1st.

Fernando will oversee station operations, programming and affiliate relations. He'll also stay on as general manager of KAZA-54 in Los Angeles, which will carry TuVision programming when its contract ends with Azteca América in 2008.

Rodriguez promoted to the "Early Show"

Maggie Rodriguez left the anchor chair at WFOR in Miami to become co-anchor of CBS's "The Saturday Early Show" in June and less than six months later, she's been promoted to weekday mornings.

CBS announced yesterday that Maggie will be replacing Hannah Storm on the "Early Show." She'll be joining Harry Smith and Julie starting January 7.

"This is my dream job," says Maggie in a release. "I get to utilize the journalistic skills I've developed over the past 15 years and have fun at the same time with feature segments."

During the past six months, she has also reported for the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric and has anchored the weekend edition of the Evening News.

FCC Chairman accused of "possible abuse of power"

Two key House lawmakers are investigating the Federal Communications Commission, accusing chairman Kevin J. Martin of "possible abuse of power" and criticizing him for not handling proposed cable TV and media ownership regulations in an open and fair manner.

According to the L.A. Times, Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee and Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), who heads the Energy and Commerce subcommittee that will conduct the investigation, expressed concern over the FCC not making available the full text of the proposed rules to the public before it voted on them, and Martin's failure to give other commissioners details of proposals until it was too late for them to analyze them.

"It is one thing to be an aggressive leader, but many of the allegations indicate possible abuse of power and an attempt to intentionally keep fellow commissioners in the dark," says Stupak.

Martin and the four other FCC commissioners have been called to an oversight hearing today, and a Senate committee will hear testimony from them next week.

Gonzalez to testify against media consolidation

Juan Gonzalez, a columnist for the New York Daily news and a past president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, will be on Capitol Hill tomorrow to testify against further media consolidation.

For years, Gonzalez has spoken out against media consolidation and its negative consequences, including the lack of access to minority broadcast ownership. He will address the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet which is holding an FCC oversight hearing on minority media ownership.

The session starts at 9:30 am EST. You can hear Gonzalez’s testimony live on the Energy and Commerce audio webcast.

CaribeVisión seals deal on 6 TV stations

It's cost them more than $60 million dollars, but CaribeVision Holdings has closed the deal on the purchase of six TV stations that make up its network in New York, Miami and Puerto Rico.

The stations are: WPXO in New York, WFUN in Miami and WJPX, WIRS, WKPV and WJWN in Puerto Rico.

Carlos Barba, president of the network, says they'll now be focusing on developing and growing the network.

New Orleans gets Spanish-language TV station

The first full-power Hispanic-owned TV station in the Big Easy officially debuts this Friday. KGLA-42, a Telemundo affiliate will attempt to reach out to the estimated 75,000 to 135,000 Hispanic households in the New Orleans area.

"Latinos are grossly underrepresented in all the population studies done in the area," says Jorge Fuentes, the station's Director of Programming. "But the increase in Latino businesses gives us a better perspective of our audience. Before, Latinos in New Orleans were transitory migrants. Now, a lot of the folks that came for reconstruction after Katrina are staying in the city."

Fuentes promises to deliver local programming, including soon- to-air news briefs and eventually a daily newscast. It would be the only television station in the area to provide local news in Spanish.

Its sister station, KGLA 1540 AM, Radio Tropical Caliente was the only source of news and access to resources for the Spanish-speaking Latino community after hurricane Katrina.

Ernesto Schweikert, III bought the radio station in 1990 and in May of 2007, bought WHMM-42, switching its call letters to KGLA-42. He is the General Manager of both stations, operated under Mayavision, Inc.

KGLA-42 is digital only station. It currently can only be seen on digital television sets, or via cable and DirectTV.

FCC approves Tribune purchase

Sam Zell will be able to take over Tribune. Federal regulators waived a key rule that will allow the company to continue to own TV stations and newspaper properties in the same cities. As it currently stands, the company's waiver will run out in two years, or six months after litigation over the cross-ownership issue ends.

The Hollywood Reporter reports the FCC permanently grandfathered the company's ability to own the Chicago Tribune, WGN-AM, and WGN-TV in Chicago, saying the city is so diverse that there was no need to make them sell.

Univision dominates 6 pm in S.F.

KDTV-14's 6 pm newscast was the November sweeps leader among 25- to 54-year-olds, beating all the Bay Area English-language stations. It's a first for the Univision station.

Joe Garofoli, from the San Francisco Chronicle, points to an "evolving media landscape," where there's an exodus of English-language news consumers from TV and print to online, while ethnic news outlets continue to grow.

Well, that's nothing new... that's been happening for many years. And while there's downsizing in English-language media, Spanish-language media, which is now in many cases part of the mainstream media, is expanding its news operations and its reach.

Important to note: Telemundo eliminated their local newscast in the Bay Area. They currently have one crew submit stories that are part of a regional newscast, broadcast from the Dallas Telemundo production center.

Flores lands in Bakersfield

Reporter Bernadette Flores is now part of the 29 Eyewitness News Team. She had been working for almost two years at KSWT News 13 in El Centro, California. She previously worked as a news assistant at KABC in Los Angeles.