Sky News To Launch Arabic Service In 2012

The owner of Sky News announced a joint venture with investment firm Abu Dhabi Media Investment Corp (ADMIC) to bring a new, free-to-air Arabic-language news channel to viewers across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region from 2012.
ADMIC is owned by Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed al Nahyan, who also owns Manchester City football club.

BSkyB says the new company, based in Abu Dhabi, will operate under the Sky News brand and also offer consumers a "video-rich website and mobile applications".
John Ryley, head of Sky News, said: "This venture is a significant step in the development of Sky News.

"We intend to bring viewers a distinctive approach to Arabic news, building on Sky News' strong reputation for independent, impartial and innovative coverage."

The Man City owner also owns ADMIC, which signed the deal with Sky News
Chief executive Jeremy Darroch added: "Sky News is already one of the world's leading news services and now we're looking forward to bringing a new voice to Arabic audiences.

"The Middle East and North Africa is undergoing rapid development and our partnership with ADMIC means we are able to enter this dynamic marketplace with the support and expertise of a strong local partner."

Dr Sultan al Jaber, chairman of ADMIC and the new venture, said the channel would "set a new standard for broadcasting in the Middle East and North Africa".
He added: "The new channel will be an important, independent voice for the Arab world, providing accurate and in-depth reporting of all the interesting developments in the region."

Adrian Wells, previously head of international news at Sky News, has been appointed to work with the ADMIC team to launch the new channel.
A director of news will be appointed in due course to lead the venture on a permanent basis.

News content will be created and delivered by more than 180 multimedia journalists from new studios to be developed at Abu Dhabi's twofour54 media zone.

The channel will have a network of newsgathering bureaux across the region, in London and Washington DC - as well as access to Sky News' wider network of international bureaux.

Digital Advertising is Driving Growth of Traditional Media

Traditional advertising investments in television, print, radio and out-of-home are projected to grow only 1.8% but digital advertising investments in these media will grow by an estimated 28%, spurring total 3.6% growth in traditional media categories, according to Jack Myers Media Business Report's Media Vision 2020: Media, Advertising and Marketing Economic Health Report 2010-2020. The Report projects total 2010 U.S. marketing communications and advertising investments will grow 3.2% to $601.5 billion. The full report is available to Jack Myers subscribers. The newly recalibrated data includes 57 media and marketing categories and, for the first time in any advertising analysis, breaks down digital and traditional investments for 14 traditional media and marketing categories.

Consumer print magazine advertising is projected to increase 1.0%, but magazine publishers' digital advertising is estimated to increase 8.5% to nearly one billion dollars, driving magazine publishers' combined growth to 1.4%.

The new Myers Report includes detailed data on advertiser investments in Online Originated Display Advertising, Online Originated Video Content & Advertising, Mobile & Apps Advertising, Satellite/Internet Radio Advertising, Interactive/VOD/Addressable TV Advertising, Point-of-Influence/GPS Advertising, Videogame Advertising, Social Media/Word-of-Mouth/Conversational Marketing, Offline Public Relations, Branded Entertainment/Product Placement, Search Marketing (Online/Mobile), Experiential/Event Marketing, Cinema Advertising and Out-of-Home/Place-Based Advertising.

The report eliminates the traditional barriers between above and below-the-line marketing budgets. Marketers are integrating their budget allocations to reflect the increasing cross-over between their marketing and sales functions, which have historically been separated. This trend is especially apparent in social media, which is growing 50% to $1.2 billion in 2010. (Most Facebook advertising is accounted for within the new Online Originated Display Advertising category, is which increasing 9.2%.)

In early December, Jack Myers Media Business Report will release forecasts for 2011 and 2012, with long-term forecasts for both traditional and digital investments through 2020. While the data has been aggregated from multiple sources, the digital spending estimates for traditional media are based on primary research and input from industry experts. Since this is the first effort to develop such detailed insights, readers are encouraged to share insights and comments on the accuracy of this data.

Viacom Blocks Google TV

NEW YORK: Viacom joins ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX on the roster of broadcast groups that have blocked access to users of Google TV.

Full-length episodes of shows from such Viacom-owned channels as MTV, VH1, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and BET are no longer available on the search engine's new Internet TV platform. Internet users can still access Viacom shows on its websites through desktop computers. Users of Google TV, however, are unable to find those Internet shows through the new service.

"We’re blocking access to our full episode content from Google TV’s web browser," the company said in a statement. "We continue to evaluate Google TV to identify opportunities where it may make sense to optimize our web content for the platform."

Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes: Era of Media Moguls Is Over

NEW YORK - The era of media moguls is over, Time Warner chairman and CEO Jeff Bewkes said here Wednesday.

Nowadays, big companies are the stars, and firms from the traditional and new media worlds act on the same stage, he said on the opening day of the 2010 International Council Meeting at The Paley Center for Media in a session that was webcast.
In the old media business world, people spoke of moguls who were often self-promoting guys and undisciplined when it came to deals and the like. "We're not moguls anymore," Bewkes said later. "We're reasonable people" who try to make the right decisions.

Asked about Netflix, which has given industry players headaches as they try to figure out whether it is friend or foe, Bewkes lauded the convenience and "great interface" of its online streaming service.

“We don’t worry about antagonizing Netflix,” he said. “But what you don’t want to do is undervalue the content”

Bewkes also showed no concern about other big tech players, such as Steve Jobs' Apple. If they tried to interfere with content companies' subscriptions, "it wouldn’t be good,” Bewkes warned. “But it’s not going to happen." After all, a tech company that doesn't support the company's popular content only "will degrade the value of their product.”

Asked about his personal media consumption, Bewkes said he reads the major newspapers - whether in paper or tablet form. And he likes to watch all news channels to see how they each cover key news items. Plus, "I watch a little Family Guy" because of his 13 year-old son, and the show is "pretty funny," although he wonders whether a 13-year old should watch that kind of show, Bewkes shared.

The TW CEO also once again signalled that the first half of 2011 will bring the launch of premium VOD films at price points of$20-plus. Asked whether a $50 price could make sense, he said that "seems high."

Discussing CNN, Bewkes said the main challenges is that "we have to do a better job at programming the news" and making it more accessible, understandable and interesting. He reiterated a point his team has often made that CNN attracts more viewers, but ratings overall are lower that those of Fox News, because busy people get news and leave quickly. "Or we bore the hell out of them," he quipped. "We are trying to fix that."

Mecom investor sells 14% stake

Mecom investor Invesco, which joined a shareholder rebellion to oust chief executive David Montgomery, has sold its 14% stake in the pan-European newspaper group.

Invesco's exit will fuel speculation that Montgomery may look to engineer a way to stay on at the company he founded a decade ago in a different role.

In September Invesco, the investment fund manager and Mecom's second-largest shareholder, supported a move by Aviva and Legal & General to try and replace Montgomery with Patrick Tillieux, a former senior executive at broadcasters SBS and ProSiebenSat.1, and introduce a new strategy to focus on its flagship Netherlands operation.

The rebel shareholders, which at the time jointly controlled more than 50% of Mecom, succeeded in forcing Montgomery into what was called a "planned retirement" after the company's pre-close trading statement in January. Plans to install Tillieux and change strategy were dropped as a result.

Invesco's sale of its stake in trading yesterday, which one source said was to a number of "blue chip institutions", leaves the rebels with less than 30% and in a weakened position to force any further changes in Mecom strategy.

Aviva, thought to be the most dissatisfied of the investors and leader of the rebellion, is the largest shareholder with 17.5%. L&G is third largest with 10%.

Invesco has been decreasing its stake since around early July, when it controlled more than 18%. The sale of its remaining stake is thought to be the single biggest trade in Mecom shares in at least three years.

At the time of his planned departure Montgomery said he still had the "complete confidence" of the board, which subsequently said it would start a process to "find the person best qualified to succeed" him.

Montgomery is currently battling unrest at Dutch subsidiary Wegener, which accounts for more than 40% of Mecom's total revenues and 88% of operating profit, over the sudden departure of chief executive Joop Munsterman.

Senior executives at the company have claimed that at several meetings Montgomery has said he will remain at the company. Mecom declined to comment.

In Mecom's most recent results, for the first six months of the year, the company showed signs of an improved financial performance, beating analyst expectations with pre-tax profits of £24.6m.

It is thought that Mecom's performance has shown continued improvement, which Montgomery is likely to use as evidence that the strategy is working and he should stay at the company.

A group called Governance for Owners, which controls a stake of about 14% in Wegener, requested an extraordinary general meeting, which is due to take place on 22 December.

BBC to Sell Discovery Its Stake in Joint Venture

PARIS — Discovery Communications, the U.S. operator of science and entertainment television channels, stepped up its expansion plans Monday, saying it had agreed to buy out the BBC’s 50 percent stake in their international joint venture.

Discovery said it would pay $156 million to BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the publicly financed BBC, for its half ownership in the venture, which operates the Animal Planet channel in Europe, Asia and Latin America and the Liv network in Latin America.

At home in Britain, the BBC has come under pressure from commercial rivals and some politicians over the breadth of its ambitions in areas ranging from magazine publishing to the Internet. The BBC Trust, which oversees the broadcaster, last year urged the BBC to focus on developing channels that bear the broadcaster’s own brand name, like BBC America.

John Smith, chief executive of BBC Worldwide, said the talks with Discovery on the sale of the stake predated the BBC Trust report, but said the proceeds would be spent on marketing and distribution of its own branded channels, as well as programming for them.

The BBC and Discovery extended one part of their partnership, under which Discovery invests in BBC science and nature programs like “Life” and “Planet Earth,” and acquires the U.S. rights to them. The BBC previously sold its 20 percent stake in the U.S. Animal Planet channel to Discovery.

For Discovery, full ownership of Animal Planet and Liv will provide greater latitude to revamp their programming, said Mark Hollinger, chief executive of Discovery Networks International. Discovery has been trying to broaden the audience for channels like Liv, previously known as People+Arts, by adding more entertainment shows.

“The BBC has been a great partner, but when you own something 100 percent you can do things that you can’t if you are in a partnership,” he said.

Discovery has struggled to develop “flagship” networks that could help generate more lucrative advertising and distribution deals internationally, Mr. Hollinger said. In an effort to build audiences, Discovery introduced its TLC channel, which is popular with women in the United States, in dozens of other countries this year.

Following the review by the BBC Trust, BBC Worldwide is also moving to sell a stake in its magazine business, as well as its 50 percent share in UKTV, a group of British channels that are available on cable, satellite and other digital TV systems. BBC Worldwide’s commercial activities contributed £73.6 million, or $118.6 million, to the BBC’s budget in its latest financial year.

Mr. Hollinger is one of several candidates to buy the stake in UKTV, which the BBC jointly owns with Virgin Media, the biggest British cable company.

“We are looking at that portfolio; it’s a great portfolio,” he said. “It’s hard to know how it will turn out.”

Forbes Goes Outside the Family for President, CEO

In a major break with tradition, Forbes Media named publishing vet Mike Perlis as its new president/CEO—marking the first time a non-Forbes family member is running the 93-year-old company.

Steve Forbes, the chairman and editor in chief of Forbes Media, will give up the CEO title. His brother, Tim Forbes, will relinquish the COO title while remaining chairman of Forbes Digital, a member of the Forbes Media Board and what Steve Forbes called “one of the company’s chief strategists.”

Perlis most recently was a general partner at SoftBank Capital, a venture cap firm focused on digital businesses after a traditional print media publishing career that included stints as president, CEO of Ziff-Davis Publishing and president of the Playboy Publishing Group. His appointment begins Dec. 1.

The brothers reportedly started looking for new leadership early this year.

“This is an unprecedented time in the media business that demands bold moves,” Steve Forbes said in an announcement.

It’s been a year of major changes for Forbes during turbulent times for its print business. Earlier this year, the company bought True/Slant and hired its founder Lewis D’Vorkin to overhaul the namesake magazine and Web site by giving advertisers and unpaid contributors a bigger voice.