ASNE cancels 2009 convention

The American Society for Newspaper Editors has announced it canceled its 2009 convention, due to the "challenging times faced by its members."

The event was scheduled to take place in Chicago, April 26-29. Despite the fact plans for the convention were well under way, president Charlotte Hall said ASNE’s leadership had “concluded that the challenges editors face at their newspapers demand their full attention.”

This is only the second time since ASNE was founded that it has canceled a convention. The only other time was in 1945, during the last days of World War II.

Tribune's D.C. TV bureau eliminated

The Tribune Co. today told the 9 broadcasting members of its Washington bureau their positions will be eliminated, effective in March. Only print folks will remain in the trimmed bureau.

TVNewsday reports a Tribune spokesman said the company will service its stations through its news sharing agreements with CNN.

Round of layoffs at Univision

It started with rumors, but after a denial from an Univision spokesperson earlier this week, they've become a reality.

It is now confirmed that Univision today has laid off 6% of its workforce - 300 people. This is the official statement I've just been able to get from a company spokesperson:

“Given the continued economic challenges facing the country and downward pressure this has caused on advertising-related businesses, Univision has been working aggressively to bring its cost structure in line with the current environment. Like many in our industry and across most sectors, we are reducing our workforce. The size of the reduction is approximately six percent. While it is extremely difficult to lose valued employees, we are confident that the steps we are taking will make us more efficient in the short-term and better positioned for growth in the long-term.”

At this point, the company does not want to divulge the areas hardest hit by the nation-wide layoff.

Rocky's final good-bye

The Rocky Mountain News today has published its final edition. Check out the paper's final words.

S.F. Chronicle to shut down?

It has been no secret that the San Francisco Chronicle has been bleeding for many years. People at rival paper San Jose Mercury News, where I worked for almost 5 years, wondered how the Chron could keep hiring as its revenues... and readership dropped. The sense for the folks working at the S.F. paper was that the "mothership" would always provide. Well, that's no longer the case.

Hearst, the Chronicle's parent company since 2000, lost more than $50 million last year and according to a statement on their website, this year’s losses to date are worse. So as a first step, they announced "critical cost-saving measures including a significant reduction in the number of its unionized and nonunion employees." If those savings "cannot be accomplished within weeks, the Company will be forced to sell or close the newspaper."

The Chronicle is currently the 12th-largest in the United States, with a news staff of 275.

Rocky Mountain News shuts down

After a 150 year history, Denver's Rocky Mountain News will publish its final edition tomorrow. Rich Boehne, the CEO of Scripps, the Rocky's parent company, told staff the grim news today at noon. This means Denver will now only have one newspaper - the Denver Post, owned by Media News.

Scripps put the Rocky for sale in December, after reporting a loss of $16 million in 2008, but no one came to the rescue.

Phoenix stations to share helicopter

It's a sign of the times. Starting Sunday, 3 competing news stations in Phoenix - KHPO-5, KTVK-3 and KPNX-12 - are teaming up to share costs and aerial video. That means that the chopper will provide a single shot for each station to work with.

The president and GM of 12 News told the Arizona Republic: "This was done as a response to this economy and for financial reasons."

So... what about the station helicopter reporters? Well, they're going to have to apply for the two available positions - a morning and evening reporter - as employees of Helicopters Inc.

Al Día downsizes

Al Día, Belo's Spanish-language newspaper in Dallas has been scaled back to 2 print editions per week, in an effort to lower costs. The paper will now only be distributed on Wednesdays and Saturdays with a combined press run of about 215,000 copies. The paper previously was available six days a week, on a Monday to Saturday schedule.

The paper's publisher, Alejandro Sánchez, told Hispanic Market Weekly that cutting back to two print editions a week represents significant savings on distribution, newsprint, paper and other supplies. At the time the article was published, Sánchez could not say how many positions would be eliminated.

Post Co.'s earnings plummet

Uh-oh. The Washington Post's parent company is in trouble. They're reporting they had a 77% drop in earnings in a one year period. The Post Co.'s 2008 fourth quarter net income was $18.8 million on revenue of $1.16 billion, compared with net income of $82.9 million on revenue of $1.13 billion in the fourth quarter of 2007.

The company's newspaper division reported a $192.7 million operating loss for 2008. Almost half of that loss stems from the cost of early-retirement packages taken by 231 Post employees.

The magazine division -- largely Newsweek -- had a $10.9 million operating profit for the fourth quarter but a $16.1 million operating loss for 2008.

Philly papers file bankruptcy

Just a little more than 2 years after a group of Philadelphia-area investors bought the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News from McClatchy for $562 million, they're filing for bankruptcy.

Philly.com reports that CEO Brian P. Tierney assures the Chapter 11 filing is "focused solely" on the company's debt and will not interrupt daily operations.

Philadelphia Newspapers L.L.C., which owns The Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com turned to bankruptcy court after negotiating with its lenders for the last 11 months and accumulating $13.4 million in penalty interest and fees during that period of time.

One tidbit of news that came out of the filing: Tierney had given himself a 38% raise - that's $232,000 bucks. Well... he's giving that money back and will return to his "modest" salary of $618,000. The Philly papers have a debt estimated at $300 million, but a current estimated value of $180 million.

According to a Bloomerg story, the biggest financial losers in the Philadelphia Inquirer’s bankruptcy filing will be its owners and unsecured creditors.

Hernandez out of Daily News

After more than 7 years with the Los Angeles Daily News, entertainment writer and columnist George Hernandez has become another layoff casualty. He was given the news yesterday afternoon, after finishing his Oscar coverage.

Greg blogged about his layoff on his "Out in Hollywood" blog, where he expressed his gratitude to the DN for letting him be an openly gay man: "For about seven years, I spent what have been, so far, the happiest days of my professional life. At times, I felt like I was at Disneyland it could be so much fun."

George was worked out a deal with the DN that will allow him to take his blog and the archives with him. The blog will continue under a new, to-be-determined address to be announced later this week on the current site.

Univision layoffs?

Several insiders have been telling me that Univision will be announcing layoffs in March. The numbers vary greatly. One source says the Spanish-language network is looking to unload over a thousand people. The number was too great and the tips received too many to ignore, so I contacted a Univision spokesperson, who said the company does not comment on rumors.

However, the reality is the company is $10.8 billion in debt. According to a report on Crain's NY, the company has been doing a lot of cutbacks in recent months and is likely to be hit with a round of layoffs. They cite a recent letter from CEO Joe Uva to employees warning “Additional steps may need to be taken,” in order to survive the steep recession.

Piolín interviews Obama

Barack Obama kept his promise to come back on the air on Piolín's morning show when he became president. Last Tuesday he did a phone one-on-one Q&A with the popular Spanish-language radio DJ where he talked about the economic stimulus bill and tackled the issue of immigration.

During the interview, Piolín pointed out that Hispanics have made positive contributions to the country and told the president: "We need your help." Obama admitted the immigration system is broken and emphasized he was "very comitted" to comprehensive immigration reform.

Obama went on the air on Piolín's show several times during his presidential campaign.

Liberman's take on launching new network

As most media companies are downsizing, Liberman Media is preparing for expansion, with the launch of Estrella TV, set for July of 2009.

The Burbank, CA based company, founded by José and Lenard Liberman in 1987, currently has six television and 21 radio stations, but their strategy of owning more stations has now changed with the digital rollout.

Check out what EVP Lenard Liberman has to say about the upcoming launch of Estrella TV and how he plans to compete with Univision and Telemundo in Laura Martinez's Q&A story on Multichannel News.

D-day for DTV switch day

Even the president's signature stamp on a bill to delay the DTV switch to June didn't stop broadasters from dropping their analog signal today. Starting at midnight, more than 400 stations made the transition on the original deadline.

According to CNET, the DTV switch prompted more than 28,000 calls to the FCC from viewers seeking help. The FCC reported most calls were from people who didn't know they had to run the "scan" function on their digital televisions or converter boxes to search for changed channels.

Young files for bankruptcy

Young Broadcasting Inc., which owns 11 TV stations around the country, announced it filed for Chapter 11 protection in U.S. bankruptcy court. In a press release, the New York-based company said it will continue to operate the stations without interruption.

The company's highest profile station is KRON-4 in San Francisco, which Young bought in 2000 for a record $823 million. Once considered the top-rated station in the Bay Area, KRON's credibility and popularity went down the drain when it lost its NBC affiliation. KRON is currently affiliated with the struggling MyNetworkTV and is an infomercial magnet.

Ibargüen to accept RTNDF first ammendment award

The Radio and Television News Director's Foundation (RTNDF) will present Knight Foundation President and CEO Alberto Ibargüen the First Amendment Award for the foundation's ongoing support of Sunshine Week and open government initiatives.

The awards ceremony will take place on March 12 in Washington, D.C.

Ibargüen was named president of Knight Foundation in 2005. He is the former publisher of The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald.

Univision is most pirated TV network on YouTube

Univision isn't just a hot broadcast commodity. It looks like it's a fave among YouTube users as well, where illegally uploaded video of the Spanish-language network's novelas is booming.

Tube Mogul, an online video analytics company, measured more than 586 million views for Univision's 10 most-pirated shows on YouTube. Fox comes in second place with about 289 million views from their top 10 shows. Of the almost 600 million views for Univision shows more than half are from pirated clips of the novela "Cuidado con el Angel."

According to a story on Advertising Age, Univision has not been effective in preventing the online piracy of the network's content. Univision says it regularly monitors and asks YouTube to take down pirated program. However, Univision doesn't currently have much of an incentive to proactively fight piracy of their content, while they're battling in court with Televisa over who owns the digital rights to Televisa's programming in the U.S.

The judge who presided over the Univision and Televisa programming trial last month, is scheduled to rule on the digital-rights issue in March, although it's considered more likely that Univision and Televisa will once again reach their own settlement first. Univision claims the programming agreement signed in the early 1990's, when digital media didn't exist, covers all U.S. broadcast rights, including on the internet. Televisa insists it should control U.S. internet rights to its shows.

Charter to file for bankruptcy

Charter Communications Inc., the nation's fourth largest cable operator, announced today that it plans to file a prearranged Chapter 11 bankruptcy by April 1.

The AP reports that Charter, controlled by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, has reached an agreement in principle with some debt holders to reduce its debt by $8 billion. Charter's common stock will be canceled in the transaction, meaning shareholder stakes will be wiped out.

Salvador hired as COO of Radio Campesina

Raul Salvador has just been named COO of Radio Campesina. He will oversee the operations of six FMs in California, Arizona, and Washington, as well as the company's network operations. He will be based in Bakersfield

Raul was previously VP/Finance for Mapleton Communications in Los Angeles. He has also worked for Amigo Broadcasting in Dallas and as VP of Operations for the Z-Spanish Radio Network, now part of Entravision.

Radio Campesina is owned by Anthony Chavez, the youngest son of civil rights leader Cesar Chavez.

Azteca America cancels newscasts, lays off more than 20

Azteca América on Friday canceled all newscasts and laid off more than 20 employees, according to several sources at the struggling network. As one outgoing employee put it, "they finished off what they started last year," referring to the round of layoffs and the moving of most of its news operations to Mexico City back in May of 2008.

Employees of the Mexico-based network were told the cuts were a response to the economic crisis. Among the layoffs: reporters Nancy Agosto, Luis Treto, Claudia Mendoza and Carlos Ruben Zapata. Producers: Oswaldo Villazon, Leonel Morales, Jonathan Victoria. Writer Raul Rodriguez and editor Otto Leyva. Cameramen: Juan Carlos Chopin, Nestor Sanchez, Luis Quiroz and Salvador Rico.

Puente leaves ABC for CNN

David Puente, the creator and host of ABC News Exclusiva for over four years, is moving on.

In a facebook message he sent out Saturday, he tells his viewers that he has decided to "pursue another exciting opportunity - this time with CNN at Anderson Cooper 360 and www.AC360.com."

David has been working with ABC news since 1999.

News Corp posts more than $6 billion in losses

It's not going so well for Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. Late last week the company announced it had a loss of $6.42 billion in the final three months of 2008.

Mediaweek reports Murdoch told analysts during News Corp.’s FY Q2 earnings call that the results “are a direct reflection of a recession that’s deeper than any one could have predicted.”

The loss of local advertising has been brutal: “The big thing that really is killing us is the lack of automobile advertising,” Murdoch said. “In local stations, automobile advertising was at least 30 percent of total revenue and there’s precious little of it around at the moment.”

Only the company’s cable networks unit, which includes FX, Fox News Channel, the regional sports nets and National Geographic Channel has seen a rise in operating income of 27% to $428 million.

Lozano named to Obama advisory board

Mónica Lozano, Senior VP, Publisher & CEO of La Opinión and Sr VP of Impremedia, has been named to President Obama’s newly formed Economic Recovery Advisory Board.

Mónica is the only Hispanic and one of 3 women on the 15 member board, which will be presided by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker.

According to a White House press release, the Economic Recovery Advisory Board, established initially for a 2 year term, will provide regular briefings to the President, Vice President and their economic team.

WSJ job cuts

It seems like it's all about layoffs this week. In a memo to staff, the Wall Street Journal announced yesterday it will cut 14 positions, to the already 11 eliminated through attrition during its reorganization. The New York-based Fashion and Retail group will be closed.

In the same memo, the WSJ's managing editor says "there are no plans for lay-offs at Dow Jones Newswires, where our international expansion is continuing, most recently through the launch of a Spanish-language venture and in India, where we are creating a new reporting team to take advantage of that country’s economic development. And we will continue to hire journalists for the Journal for projects of strategic significance."

Bloomberg cuts 100 jobs

For the first time in its 28 year history, Bloomberg news will be doing layoffs. The company is cutting 100 jobs in its radio and television divisions, as it tries to reduce overlapping jobs within its network of international programming and channels.

The NYT reports most of the jobs eliminated are in Bloomberg's NYC headquarters. The cuts represent about 1% of the company’s more than 10,000 employees.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg founded the company after leaving Wall Street in 1981. He is the majority owner, but no longer plays a day-to-day management role.

The job cuts came as a surprise, because it seemd Bloomberg was "largely immune to the economic downturn."

Estrella TV expands

Four Texas stations have signed up to join Estrella TV, Liberman Broadcasting's new Spanish-language TV network. According to Mediaweek, KTSM (NBC - El Paso), KVEO (NBC - Brownsville), KWKT (FOX - Waco) and KETK (NBC - Tyler), will clear Estrella TV on their digital multicast channels sometime in late second quarter or early third quarter of this year.

KMPX and KZJL, LBI Media's owned-and-operated stations in Dallas and Houston currently air Estrella TV on their main signal. As part of the affiliation deal, LBI Media will handle national sales.

House postpones DTV switch

Congress today passed the "DTV delay" bill, 264-158, pushing back the digital transition to June 12. The DTV switch was originally scheduled for Feb. 17, but there was fear that millions of people, particularly minorities, would be left in television darkness.

A similar version of the bill failed just last week. For more details on the vote, check out the UPI story.

Telemundo layoff update

More info is trickling in about the cuts at Telemundo. A company rep confirmed about a dozen network news employees were laid-off last week, due to the "extraordinarily tough times in our economy." Alfredo Richard, VP of Telemundo Corporate Communications says the "Network News team is strategically reorganizing and consolidating its operation," as the company seeks to survive the economic crisis.

Another source tells me among the layoffs, announced last Thursday, were reporters Liliana Marín and Galo Arellano.

Telemundo layoffs

An insider tells me there has been another round of layoffs at Telemundo network. Several network producers and reporters working for the news magazine "Al Rojo Vivo" have been given the boot. Stay tuned for an update...