Hasta La Creative!

The New York Times is running an article that says advertisers are sticking with their network broadcast commitments despite the lack of new television programming, because there isn’t a better alternative at the moment.

In a column on Wednesday, Wayne Friedman, the West Coast editor of MediaPost, noted that broadcast television continues to deliver a significant audience.

“Where can advertisers turn?” Mr. Friedman wrote. “Not to the Internet right now; it’s not ready. Some money may go to cable, as well as syndication, or even local TV. But the bulk of TV advertising points will still remain on network TV.”

The internet’s not ready? Harsh.

According to Chicago Tribune, HBO is rolling out a new service today to allow subscribers to watch HBO programs, movies and sports shows on their computers.

The service will be offered first in Milwaukee and Green Bay, Wis., through HBO’s sister company Time Warner Cable, which is also part of the Time Warner Inc. media conglomerate.

The service is only available to HBO subscribers who also use Time Warner Cable for high-speed Internet access.

HBO is in talks to expand the service to other areas and also to other cable providers.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Jana Partners LLC, which holds an 8.1% stake in CNET Networks Inc. plans to nominate seven people to the San Francisco company’s board, saying there is a need to revitalize the “underperforming company.”

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Jana said its nominees — including a former AOL chief executive, Jon Miller — will increase shareholder value at CNET by leveraging the company’s editorial content and staff, broadening the company’s properties and by focusing on return on investment. Jana wants to increase CNET’s board size to 13 directors from eight. Jana said it believes CNET has “significantly lagged peers in value creation and performance.”

CNET said in a press release that it has considered Jana’s proposal for board seats and determined that it is improper under its bylaws.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Liberty Media is paying more than $100 million to buy the stake of BodyBuilding.com from the site’s founding family and a private-equity firm.

Once known primarily as an investor in media companies, Liberty has taken steps in recent years to become more of an operator of its own businesses. In the past couple of years it has assembled a sizable portfolio of Internet ventures to complement its QVC home-shopping network, whose growth has slowed as retail sales shift to the Web. Last year, Liberty purchased Buyseasons Inc., which operates an online costume site, and a controlling stake in Backcountry.com, an outdoor and action-sports retailer. In 2006 Liberty paid nearly $500 million to buy Internet flower and food seller Provide Commerce Inc.

Liberty Chief Executive Gregory Maffei said the company is committed to acquiring more high-growth Internet businesses targeted at narrow customer segments, viewing them as highly attractive as audiences fragment online. “We would do as many such deals as we could get our hands on,” he said, stressing that the number of independent companies that meet those criteria is relatively small.

These are big numbers dished out by a media company for what is essentially a retail business, but online. We live in interesting times.

Scott Karp of Publishing 2.0 has some great advice, as always, for those working to understand the new advertising culturescape.

Google turned search advertising into the most profitable media business on the web by following the basic principle that advertising must create value for consumers. Search advertising is so powerful because the ads are relevant and USEFUL.

The most successful new advertising models will be those that create huge value for consumers, not those that manipulate users or violate their privacy (i.e. be like Google, not Facebook).

TV is a totally passive medium. The interwebs is the polar opposite. So, it’s no surprise to learn that Internet video watchers are 47 percent more engaged by the advertising they encounter than traditional TV viewers.

The same study found that viewers were 25 percent more engaged in the content on the shows, as well.

[via ars technica]

According to The New York Times, real estate tycoon, Samuel Zell, is shaking things up at The Tribune Company. After completing an $8.2 billion deal on Thursday that makes the media company a privately held operation, Zell made himself chief executive, announced a new set of directors and managers, and declared that the troubled company would look to raise revenue.

He disparaged the conventional wisdom that the newspaper industry — and the Tribune Company in particular — was suffering through a long, unavoidable contraction, and repeatedly stated that Tribune could increase its revenues.

“I’m sick and tired of listening to everybody talk about and commiserate about the end of newspapers,” he said. “They ain’t ended. And they’re not going to be.”

He said of Tribune, “I think it’s a very low-risk investment, but this wouldn’t be the first time that my opinion diverged from everybody else’s.”

“What this company needs is an owner,” he said later. “It needs someone who accepts the responsibility for what this company does.”

With an estimated net worth of $6 billion, Zell is the 52nd richest American as ranked by Forbes. He’s also a blast from the past—a time when newspapers were run by strong leaders, not by committee.