LIN TV cancels contract with Univision in Indianapolis

Univision viewers in Indianapolis will no longer get the network's signal through WIIH-17 starting tomorrow, January 1st. The only way to see Univision programming will be through a satellite service with a national feed.

According to Tania E. Lopez, from the Indianapolis Star, LIN TV Corp., the owner of WIIH, decided not to renew its contract with Univision, which expires today.

The Univision blackout in the Indy metro area comes just months after WIIH's sister station, WISH-8 eliminated the only local Spanish-language TV newscast.

In a statement, a LIN TV spokesperson said it was the company's intention to continue providing Spanish-language programming, but were unable to "come to appropriate terms on our contract with Univision."

Cabrera is gone from WESH

Metereologist Ivan Cabrera is no longer working at WESH-2 in Orlando. The station's GM gave no details and his agent said a confidentiality agreement is keeping Ivan's lips sealed, though the parting was "very amicable," according to the Orlando Sentinel.

Ivan had been working at the NBC affiliate since May of 2006. The station's Web site billed him as "the first bilingual meteorologist on non-Hispanic television in the Orlando market to deliver weather information fluently in English and Spanish."

Ivan is a native of Cuba, who holds seals of approval from the American Meteorology Society and the National Weather Association. Prior to WESH, he was a meteorologist for WSI Corp. in Boston. He also did weathercasts for Fox News Channel, NY1 News, Bay News 9 in Tampa and News 8 in Austin.

NBC's attempt to sell Miami station fails

The $205 million deal for WTVJ in Miami is off. The economy and FCC delays were blamed. The Washington Post Co. announced it effectively bought the NBC O&O back in July, but in a joint statement today, both companies said "the deal has been terminated.”

According to B&C, the FCC last Friday said it would increase the opportunity for public comment on the proposed sale, which had been opposed by three members of Congress.

del Rincón out of Univision

Oh, the drama! For those folks not living in the Miami area, perhaps the scandal has not reached your ears. Fernando del Rincón, host of Univision's Primer Impacto was accused by his former co-host and ex-wife, Carmen Dominicci, of domestic abuse. Her speaking publicly about their divorce, she claims, got her fired in November from the network. Now, Fernando is out of a job as well, although Univision is tight-lipped about the whole situation.

People en Espanol.com confirmed Fernando's exit from the network, although Univision has refrained from stating the reasons or conditions of his departure.

Carmen did a sit down, tell-all interview with Maria Celeste Arraras, going into details of the couple's divorce, the alleged domestic abuse and her claims that Univision fired her unjustly, while supporting an alleged abuser. In the interview, she says company executives told her to "move on" and keep quiet (a clause in her contract prevents her from speaking negatively in public about any co-worker). The public allegations of abuse sparked a lot of viewer complaints on univision.com and from many women's groups.

S.T.'s alternative to more layoffs?

500 Seattle Times employees were told Friday they have to take a one-week unpaid furlough by the end of February to help the company raise as much as $1 million. The mandatory furlough comes in after three rounds of layoffs the last 12 months, including 150 job cuts this month.

Crosscut.com is reporting that the Times Co., which owes its lenders at least $91 million, is being pressured to sell its Blethen Maine newspaper chain and five acres of downtown real estate to pay down the debt.

Telemundo breaks ties with Yahoo, signs MSN deal

Telemundo and Yahoo! had a three-year relationship, but they're calling it quits. Starting January 1, 2009, the Spanish-language network will re-launch its Web site at Telemundo.com, entering into a new deal with MSN.

According to Portada, the deal will include distribution of the new Web site through MSN Latino and other International MSN portals, as well as use of MSN video technology and ad serving. Check out the article to see what the pros and cons could be for either company.

Back in August, Telemundo reorganized its digital operations, possibly a strategic move to prepare for the dissolution of the Yahoo! Telemundo partnership.

Entravision gets NYSE warning

The New York Stock Exchange this week notified Entravision Communications that its stock, which has traded below $1 for 30 consecutive trading days, has fallen below the criteria for continued listing.

According to Radio Ink, Entravision said it plans to tell the NYSE it "intends to try to cure the deficiency." The company has 6 months to get back into compliance. In the meantime, its stock will stay on the exchange.

Entravision isn't the only company operating under delisting warnings from the NYSE - it joins Citadel and Entercom. Westwood One was suspended from NYSE trading last month.

NBCU posts multi-billion profit

NBCU claimed the economy was affecting them just like everyone else and they have been doing some draconian cuts in personnel. But on Tuesday, General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt told company investors that NBC Universal would post a profit of $3 billion this year.

Adweek reports Immelt "cautioned" that NBCU could be down "slightly" in 2009, but that the company's strategy to diversify both geographically and into the cable-network business, has better prepared it to face the recession and "help achieve its goal of 10% annual profit growth once recovery takes hold."

NBCU announced earlier this month it would eliminate 500 jobs as a result of the faltering economy.

Morales to lead new Spanish-language network effort

Ibra Morales, who left his job as Telemundo station group president in May, has been hired by Liberman Broadcasting to lead the launch of a new Spanish-language network.

If all goes well, Liberman hopes to premiere Estrella TV in the first quarter of 2009. The company's COO told Laura Martinez of Multichannel News
the new venture is being built through a combination of acquisitions and the company expects to be in 70% of U.S. Hispanic homes by the end of first quarter.

As for Ibra, he tells me he started talking to Liberman management a month ago and he got hired on the spot. He says he's loving every minute of the new job, which he considers "a great opportunity."

He'll be traveling around the country talking to affiliates to get the network on the air nationwide.

KTSM cancels noon show, Olivas affected

KTSM-9, the NBC affiliate in El Paso has decided to eliminate its noon news show. Melanie Olivas was the anchor of the show. No word yet on what will happen to her, but according to Gary Sotir, the station's GM:"It is in no way a budget cut and no one is losing a job because of this decision."

According to the Newspaper Tree, 2 news photogs did get laid-off from the station.

Melanie started at KTSM as a reporter in May of 2006. She was promoted to anchor of the morning show in October of 2007.

McClatchy puts Miami Herald, Nuevo for sale?

The McClatchy company, which today announced its total revenue fell more than 19% in November due to a continued drop in advertising sales, is apparently looking to unload one of its largest properties - The Miami Herald.

Last week, multiple reports, starting with one from the NYT, indicated McClatchy's intention to sell the Miami paper to ease some of its heavy debt load. And even though the company was not commenting, the Herald itself printed the news of the potential sale in its own paper. Word is that El Nuevo Herald will also be put up for sale.

Farrell named publisher of Vista magazine

Cathleen Farrell has been promoted to Publisher and Editor of Vista magazine effective January 1, 2009. She joined the magazine last year as Editorial Director.

Cathleen previously worked as editorial director of Page One Media, where she oversaw the company’s Hispanic projects division, which included PODER magazine. Before that, she was based in Bogotá for 10 years (1990-2000), where she worked for TIME magazine, the BBC, Bloomberg, The Economist Intelligence Unit and NBC radio.

She replaces Gustavo Godoy, who is stepping down as Publisher of Vista after nearly 18 years. He will continue to consult with Vista magazine’s parent company ImpreMedia on its plans for video news offerings across the company’s online sites and portal impre.com.

Impremedia announced it will also honor Gustavo’s lifelong commitment to the Hispanic community by renaming the annual Vista Magazine Lifetime Achievement Award, the Gustavo Godoy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Creditor seeks liquidation of Equity Media

Creditors are trying to change Equity Media Holdings Corp.'s voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy to involuntary Chapter 7 or dismiss Equity's bankruptcy case entirely, in an effort to push for a liquidation of the company's assets.

Arkansasbusiness.com reports a hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas. A complaint against Equity claims the company's management and members of the board of directors repeatedly acted in their own self-interest rather than in the interest of creditors. A liquidation of the assets could take anywhere between 6 to 18 months.

Equity Media Holdings Corp. filed for bankruptcy on Monday after defaulting on a $41.5 million loan. According to Bloomberg, the company listed assets of more than $100 million vs. more than $50 million in debt in its Chapter 11 petition.

The company has 121 low and full power English and Spanish-language stations around the country and 15–year affiliation agreements with Univision, which owns approximately 8% of Equity Media.

Yahoo! to layoff more than 1,500

Inside sources tell mediabistro.com that outgoing Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang sent an email to employees indicating that as many as 1,500 employees will be laid-off on Wednesday.  However, there's word that the job cuts could surpass 2,000.

Back in mid-November, Yang suggested Yahoo! would have to layoff 10% of its global workforce, mentioning December 10 as a potential target date for the cuts.

Tribune files for bankruptcy

It slashed jobs, reorganized, made all sorts of changes to battle declining revenues and a tight market, but the Tribune Co. just hasn't been able to deal with its $13 billion in debt. With the heavy debt load and only $7.6 billion in assets, the media conglomerate today filed for bankruptcy protection.

Tribune owns 12 newspapers including the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune, 23 TV stations, including KTLA-5 in L.A., and the Chicago Cubs. The company has been unsuccessful in selling off some of its assets - its baseball team, Wrigley Field and the company’s share in a regional cable sports network. According to the NYT, the sale could Tribune more than $1 billion.

In its court filing Tribune lists JPMorgan Chase, Merrill Lynch and Deutsche Bank as its top creditors. The AP reports several media companies are also on that list: Warner Bros. Television is owed $23.7 million, Twentieth Television Inc. $8.1 million, Buena Vista Entertainment Inc. $6.2 million and NBC Universal Domestic Television $4.9 million.

Media cuts reach Esparra @ WKYC

WKYC-3, the NBC affiliate in Cleveland, has laid off weekend anchor/reporter Lydia Esparra, as well as several other reporters.

The Emmy-award winning Lydia joined the station in November of 2000 as a general assignment reporter. She previously worked as general assignment reporter for Fox 8 in Cleveland. Before that, she worked in Florida and Georgia.

Rocky Mountain News for sale

After losing $11 million dollars in 9 months, the E.W. Scripps Company decided to sell the Rocky Mountain News. Founded in 1859, the Denver publication is the company's largest newspaper and Colorado’s oldest continuously operated business.

Mark Contreras, the Sr VP for newspapers at Scripps told the NYT the company would assess interest in a sale in mid-January. There are no plans to cut staff in the short term. He said Scripps, which closed The Cincinnati Post last year, doesn't plan to sell its other papers in 14 markets, which are profitable.

Media's Black Thursday

The news was grim today for many in the media industry. Viacom announced this morning it will lay off aproximately 850 people (7% of its workforce), freeze salary increases for senior level management in 2009 and take a series of other measures to reduce costs. Multichannel News reports Viacom has been "plagued by domestic advertising performance" that has affected the industry. Viacom stock has taken a beating. Since January 2, it lost 62% of its value.

NBC Universal also brought down the ax. It's estimated NBCU will slash as many as 500 jobs across the company - about 3% of its total workforce. The Hollywood Reporter says the cuts included as many as 50 jobs at the local media group, 70 on the Universal side of the operations including the film studio, parks and distribution and at least 30 at NBC News. Close to another 80 positions were cut at CNBC. Mark Mullen is among the correspondents who were let go.

Also today, AT&T, said it plans to lay off about 12,000 workers, and reduce 2009 capital expenditures from 2008 levels. While it announces all these layoffs, the company says it is still adding jobs in other parts of the business, including wireless, video and broadband.

CNET reports RealNetworks also did companywide layoffs today, indicating about 130 of the 1800 were given pink slips.

Vizcón leaves WGEN

30-yr TV veteran Roberto Vizcón is no longer the general manager at WGEN-TV Channel 8, the Miami affiliate of Colombia's Caracol network. He was at the station slightly more than 2 years.

On Tuesday afternoon, he sent employees a farewell email stating he had decided to "take a new path" in his career. There is no word yet what that new path will be.

Roberto was previously the GM of WTMO-TV, a Telemundo affiliate in Orlando. Before that, he was the News Director of WSCV-51, Telemundo's O&O in Miami, for over 10 years. He has also worked as a producer with WQBA Radio, Univision Network, and WTVJ-6, all in Miami.