Is the Google-Yahoo alliance doomed?

Looks like Google and Yahoo may have to walk away from their proposed advertising partnership.  The Wall Street Journal today reports that "people familiar with the matter" say prospects for the agreement have "dimmed" and are "considering walking away from the deal as early as next week."

Both companies have had a series of meetings with the Justice Department to address concerns of regulators.

The alliance consists of putting Google technology to work targeting search ads on Yahoo pages.  The two companies had delayed the start of the ad deal to at least October 22, to give regulators more time.  That date came and went and now it looks like the deal won't prosper.  Microsoft and other advertisers have objected to the proposed deal, claiming it would give Google too much control over online advertising and restrict competition.

Hundreds of layoffs expected at Time Inc.

Time Inc. this week announced the company is undergoing a reorganization that seeks to cut costs.  Some veteran execs are leaving the company, others have been given new jobs and responsibilities. 

According to Mediaweek, CEO Ann Moore said Time Inc.'s 24 U.S. magazines will be grouped into 3 units, a move that's expected to generate hundreds of layoffs.  When she spoke yesterday at the Audit Bureau of Circulations meeting, she said the revamp would make the company more efficient, improve collaboration and enable faster decision-making.

Among the LAT casualites...

More names are continuing to surface of those laid-off at the L.A. Times earlier this week. According to Richard Prince's journal-isms, newcomer Francisco Vara-Orta, a Metro reporter and graduate of the paper's Metpro diversity program, Gil Reza, a reporter who wrote for the Organe County edition and Karen Tapia, a staff photographer were also given pink slips.

Former anchor turns to film, endorses Obama

Maria Arita, who was laid-off from her anchor job at CBS11 at the end of March has started her own film company in partnership with her husband.

In his blog, Ed Bark reports that Maria is the CEO and Creative/Producer of Verdicus Films and her husband, Thomas Howard is the Chairman and COO.

The company's first production is "Barack Obama: Who is this guy?"  The film, released on October 1st, is narrated by actor Blair Underwood.  In a blog, Maria urges friends to watch "a documentary that is going to change this election!"  She suggests that "anyone who cares about this country needs to see this film before November 4th."

Former anchor sues station

Former KBTV morning anchor Rocio Garza filed suit against the station, claiming it required her to pay $10,000 to resign.

According to The Southeast Texas Record, in the suit Rocio claims she was unhappy with her progress at work and opted to leave, until management reminded her that a clause in her contract stipulates she had to pay $10,000 if she left before the end of her employment term.  She decided to stay.  Rocio claims she was then demoted to weekend weather.

Rocio is looking to have the contract deemed unenforceable, in addition to damages, attorney's fees and other costs.

Lopez named El Paso Times editor

Chris Lopez is now the official successor to Don Flores, who quit his job as editor of the El Paso Times in August.

Publisher Ray Stafford picked Chris after a 2 1/2 month executive search. According to an EPT article, he starts his new job October 29.

Chris, a 25-year veteran of daily newspapers, is the former editor and VP of news of the Contra Costa Times and most recently worked as managing editor and general manager of The Desert Sun in Palm Springs.

75 layoffs at LAT

The L.A. Times today announced they're laying off 75 people from the editorial deparment.  The names are starting to trickle in.  

Among those out of a job:  Agustin Gurza, Latino arts and culture reporter and film critic Carina Chocano.  L.A. Observed has a more detailed list and includes excerpts from the "ax" memo.

Charges dropped in Laredo anchor case

Criminal charges against Roberto Galvez have been dropped.  The Univision sports anchor in Laredo was arrested in September after a family found him passed out inside their home.  At the time, he claimed he was kidnapped and drugged.

KGNS-8, the station that first showed the video of his arrest, now reports that investigators could not find enough evidence to support the tresspassing charges.

Another layoff round at LAT

When Eddy Hartenstein, the LAT's new publisher took the job in August, he said there would be no more staff cuts and that Sam Zell hadn't asked him to plan more in the future.

Well, word last week was there would be more.  And while how many newsroom layoffs and whose buyouts were accepted may not be known until next week, LA Observed is reporting that the ax has already fallen in the business department.  According to a memo posted on the blog, 31 people lost their jobs in the circulation department.

New channel to target Central Americans in U.S.

In an effort to reach the estimated 4 to 6 million Central Americans who live in the U.S., DirectTV is betting on Telecentro.  The satellite provider is expected to officially announce the launch of the new Spanish-language channel, which includes programming from 6 TV networks in Central America.  

In a Multichannel News article, Laura Martinez reports that Telecentro has been 3 years in the making and "is the brainchild of Mexican TV moguls Remigio Angel González, who owns several TV stations throughout Latin America, and Guillermo Cañedo White, the former finance chief of Grupo Televisa...."

The channel, to which already began airing on DirectTV 429, will combine top shows from networks in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama.

Marquez moves to London

ABC has relocated reporter Miguel Marquez from Los Angeles to London. Miguel, who has done extensive coverage of the Iraq war, has been working for the network from its L.A. bureau since May of 2005.  Prior to ABC, he worked as a CNN correspondent, based in L.A.

Velez-Mitchell gets CNN show

Jane Velez-Mitchell has been named Glenn Beck's replacement.  The conservative talk-show host whose commentaries upset Hispanic and Arab-American organizations, left CNN to join Fox News Channel.

"Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell" will air weekdays at 7 pm.  Jane was most recently a fill-in anchor for Nancy Grace and other CNN shows.  She previously reported for the syndicated show "Celebrity Justice."  Before that, she spent more than a decade anchoring and reporting for KCAL-9 in Los Angeles.

Café magazine launches in Chicago

A new English-language Latino Lifestyle magazine hit the streets in Chicago.  The first issue - October/November 2008 will have a circulation of 45,000 copies.

The magazine is produced by a group of former Tribune employees, including Alejandro Riera, the Editor in Chief for Café Media.

"After working as a reporter and editor for Exito and Hoy for more than 15 years, I felt that the time was right to begin a new adventure," says Alejandro.

According to its founders, Café "hopes to reach English dominant readers by providing original content grounded in their cultural values and interests."

FCC fines SBS

Radio Ink is reporting that the FCC issued a notice of apparent liability to Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS), with two separate forfeitures of $16,000 for recording a prank phone call for broadcast without the recipient's knowledge or permission. 

On July 19, 2007, Ruben Ithier, an independent contractor working with SBS's El Vacilón de la Mañana radio morning show, called a woman claiming to be a hospital employee.  He told her that her husband had been murdered and her daughter had been killed by a car.  When the woman became hysterical -- the FCC transcript cites "crying, screaming, inaudible conversation" -- Ithier said the call was a joke.

The stations admitted that the call, which was broadcast twice, was made at the request of the recipient's sister.  Normally, the airing of an unauthorized phone conversation carries a $4,000 fine, but the FCC raised it to $16,000 for each station that broadcast it, because it aired twice and the fact that SBS has a "history of violating the commission's rules." 

Now, I have to ask, what the heck were they thinking?  In what right mind does calling someone to tell them two of their most loved relatives have died constitutes a joke?

NBC to cut $500 million in spending

Jeff Zucker told staffers on Friday NBC Universal will cut $500 million in spending next year, representing about 3% of the company’s budget.

The news was delivered via memo: 

“We are living in a time of unprecedented economic challenges, and it is increasingly clear that the worldwide economic slowdown will continue well into next year,” Zucker wrote. “As we have been working on our budgets and planning for 2009, it has become evident that the decline in consumer confidence and spending will impact our operations.”

B&C reports the internal announcement comes despite the fact that NBC Universal had a 10% bump in third-quarter profits.

"Mac" leaves the air

Longtime weathercaster Maclovio Perez left WOAI-4 in San Antonio to take a job as spokesman for the Edgewood Independent School District.  He had been working at the NBC affiliate doing the morning weather and features for "San Antonio Living" for more than six years.

Maclovio has been on the air for more than 25 years, starting his career at WOAI, where he just retired from.  He worked at CBS-2 in L.A. for 16 years before moving back to Texas.

"Mac," as he's often affectionately called, didn't say any on air good-byes, preferring to exit his lifelong on-air career quietly. 

Santini in, Abraham out at Azteca América

Azteca América this week named Alberto Santini Executive VP of Programming, based in Mexico City and Los Angeles.  He will oversee strategic planning, development and acquisition of new properties and supervise all on-air promotions.  

Alberto, who has an MBA from Stanford, went through Univision's Executive Training program, ultimately working for the company from 1999 to 2007.  During his 8 year stay at Univision, he held several positions including Director of Programming.  He is credited with developing the Spanish-language version of "Desperate Housewives."

He replaces Harry Abraham, a former Telemundo network programming exec.  Azteca América refused to comment on his departure.

Sirius-XM lays off 50

The two merged satellite radio providers pink slipped 50 on and off-air employees on Wednesday.

According to The Washington Post, a company source admitted the company started the layoffs that were expected to come after the FCC approved the $3.3 billion Sirius and XM merger.

Muñoz promoted at Univision Radio

Radio Ink is reporting that Univision has named Chris Muñoz EVP/GM of Univision Radio Sales. He was previously a Univision Radio SVP overseeing network radio revenue and marketing platforms.  

Olmeda named UNITY president

Rafael Olmeda, the immediate past president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) was named president of UNITY, the umbrella organization of NAHJ, NABJ, AAJA and NAJA.

Sun Times eliminates Puente from editorial board

Teresa Puente is the latest laid-off casualty at the Chicago Sun Times.  She had been on the editorial board since October of 2007. 

Teresa, who is a Chicago native, previously worked for the Chicago Tribune. She is currently a member of the journalism faculty at Columbia College in Chicago.

She told NAHJ board member Brandon Benavides that she was concerned about the lack of diversity on the editorial board after she and one other person of color were laid off today. 

Nielsen giving up on M&M?

Word is that Nielsen may stop production of Marketing y Medios, the online publication dedicated to Hispanic media and marketing.

According to Laura Martinez, who founded the print version of the trade magazine in 2004 (no longer in print), M&M's Web site has not been recently updated and the position of its lead reporter/writer, held by Della de la Fuente, has been eliminated.  In her blog, Laura is reporting that company sources have told her "Hispanic media and marketing will be covered on a freelance basis."

Delgado quits anchor job in Philly

Lori Delgado will no longer anchor at NBC-10. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports the station confirmed she resigned "to spend more time with her family."

The 29 yr-old Bronx native was last seen on the air Sept. 26. Lori was involved in an incident with former NBC-10 anchor Vince DeMentri, who was fired in August and filed a sex-discrimination claim against the station. According to his attorney, Lori was named as a defendant for "intentionally interfering with [DeMentri's] contractual relationship with NBC."

The Telemundo casualites

The names of those laid-off at Telemundo network are trickling in. Sources at KVEA-52 tell me there were about a dozen layoffs at the Los Angeles station, including weather anchor Toni Romero. Others who lost their jobs: Ana Bautista, web producer and Rudy Hernandez, Inland Empire Reporter.

In Miami, word is that reporter Alberto Tavares, who has been at WSCTV-51 since 2006 is out, as well as
Executive Producer Nicole Freixas.

In all, the network cut about 5% of its workforce (about 100 people). I had reported yesterday that the entire staff of Al Rojo Vivo Fin de Semana had been let go, but I've been told 3 employees were reassigned. The show´s host, Candela Ferro will remain with the network in a yet undetermined role.

Rumors that sports anchor Andrés Cantor was among those laid off are untrue.

In an official statement, spokesman Alfredo Richards said of the layoffs:

"Telemundo is making changes to its organization to meet the challenges of the current economic times. Our workforce will be impacted as we evaluate the work that we do across the network and stations and prioritize our focus to secure continued growth."

Major layoffs at Telemundo nationwide

Telemundo network has done a round of layoffs at the network and local stations around the country.

Sources tell me the weekend edition of "Al Rojo Vivo" with Candela Ferro has been cancelled, eliminating its entire staff. Reporters, producers, writers and editors and other personalities have been laid-off at the L.A. and Miami stations.

I will have more details tomorrow.

La Conexión is sold

La Conexión, the Triangle's first Spanish-language newspaper, has been sold. Its owner, Michael Leary Sr., announced the sale of the 13-year-old weekly in Wednesday's edition.

According to the News and Observer, Leary wrote an open letter to readers saying publishing a weekly newspaper had become a "heartache," particularly due to a decline in advertising. La Conexión itself also published a story about the new ownership, which includes a picture of the old and new owners.

Terence McEnally III, a Raleigh lawyer who represents Hispanic clients bought the paper for an undisclosed price. The free weekly has a circulation of 20,000.

Hinojosa joins Detroit News

Mark Hinojosa is moving to Detroit. Starting October 20, he becomes the New-media Director for the Detroit News. He will be in charge of the development and production of the company's Web site and the distribution of content to mobile devices.

Mark was one of more than 40 employees and the highest-ranking Latino journalist laid-off at the Chicago Tribune in August. At the time, he was the Associate Managing Editor for Multimedia.

Rodriguez out at KSEE

News anchor Rich Rodriguez no longer works at KSEE-24. Rich had been at the Fresno NBC affiliate since 2001.

According to the Fresno Bee, Rich refused to take a 35% pay cut. The station, meanwhile, refuses to comment on his departure, saying it´s a "personnel matter."

The 54 yr-old anchored the 6 and 11 p.m. and was also known as the face of Crime Stoppers.

Rich previously worked as reporter and anchor at KFSN, Fresno´s ABC affiliate. He left that station in 1999 and in 2000 ran for Congress. He lost the election by 6,000 votes. A couple of months later, he took the anchor seat at KSEE.

Former Telemundo anchors turn to acting

Mirna Pineda and Mariela Gómez de Ell, former Telemundo anchors in Phoenix will be peforming in a local theater. The play "Rosa de dos Aromas," has a short run - just Oct. 10 and 11.

Mirna tells me this is just a fun thing that she wanted to try out, but that her main focus is providing leadership and personal development training.

Mirna most recently had a radio show on La Buena Onda 1190, which went out of business in July. She says she's looking for other radio outlets where she may continue connecting with her audience.

Moreno a step closer to Congress

Helena Moreno, the WDSU-6 New Orleans anchor who quit her job to run for office is in a run-off with indicted incumbent U.S. Rep. William Jefferson.

The Democratic Party primary for Louisiana's 2nd Congressional District took place on Saturday, eliminating other candidates and leaving Helena facing off the 18 yr congressman on November 4.

Martinez named news director

Tony Martinez, WSNS-44's executive producer, was promoted to news director. Tony has been the acting news director since July, when Esteban Creste left the Telemundo station in Chicago to become VP of news of KVEA-52 in Los Angeles.

Prieto promoted to VP of ABC NewsOne

Al Prieto, until recently an Executive Director, has been promoted to Vice President of ABC NewsOne. In this new role, he will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the network's affiliate news service.

Al began his career at ABC News in 1983 as an intern at "Good Morning America," continuing on in the show working in the research, booking, and Field and Series departments. In 1988, he became a NewsOne writer, working his way up several management positions.

Hire update at L.A. Daily News

I reported on Tuesday that Carolina Garcia, executive editor of the L.A. Daily News had made some new Latino hires. I missed 2. She also did additional expansions to her news team.

"I also hired two reporters and two copy editors, and they also were diverse candidates, Asian American, African American and two Latino reporters," Carolina told Richard Prince's Journal-isms on Wednesday.

Justino Aguila and George Sanchez are the new reporters.

200 buyouts at Star-Ledger

The Star-Ledger of New Jersey today announced that more than 200 non-union employees signed up for buyouts, one of the goals the owners were hoping to achieve to avert a sale or shutdown of the newspaper.

Although the buyout numbers appear to be there, the non-union employees have until the end of business on Oct. 7 to rescind.

Mourelo leaves Telemundo

Ernie Mourelo has left KVEA-52. His last day was Friday, Sept. 26. Ernie has been the Assistant News Director at the Telemundo station in L.A. for the past 4 years. He's moving to WLWT-5 in Cincinnatti, where he will take on the role of Director of Digital Content for the Hearst Argyle-owned NBC affiliate. His first day on the job is October 13.

About the move, he says "it was a good job opportunity."

Ernie previously worked as Executive Producer at KNSD in San Diego for almost 5 years, before moving to L.A.

Televisa hires Move Networks to deliver online shows

Televisa is pushing to become a top online video-on-demand provider. The Mexican broadcasting company has just announced it has tapped on to Utah-based Move Networks, Inc. to deliver live and on-demand sports and entertainment programming on Televisa's new web portals.

According to a company release, Move Networks partnered with Schematic and Microsoft Silverlight to develop Televisa's new online channels and find ways to monetize the online programming.

Televisa's new portals - www.televisadeportes.com, dedicated to sports content including live and VOD and www.tvolucion.com, which focuses on entertainment such as prime time TV series, news programming, novelas and classic movies, are up and running.