Scattershooting on the Media Economy

It's been relatively slow in terms of news that deserves commentary the past couple of weeks.  Here are few random thoughts on what few things seem of interest to this blog and its readers.

The NAB Performance Royalty.  I wrote about this on October 26, and the only significant change is that most of the radio industry--make that the small and medium market station groups--are railing against the NAB for trying to reach a deal with the devil.  Radio Ink magazine and publisher Eric Rhoads called for an industry-wide vote on the issue, which seems like the reasonable thing to do. Since then, he has recanted and feels the "term sheet" negotiated is a good deal for radio.  I still don't understand how giving up a potential 1% of your revenue makes sense.  I'm also amazed the NAB jumped in to this prior to the elections, and with a Republican majority in the House the likelihood of legislation passing to enact the PRA seems unlikely.  Stay tuned for more rhetoric.

Moving way south--Nestor Kirchner's sudden death in Buenos Aires could usher in a new wave of media relationships with the government in Argentina.  While his wife Christina remains President, she is not perceived as being the hard-liner that her husband was, especially towards big media groups like Clarin.  Argentina is vital to the economy in South America, and letting the media operate on its own without government control will spur more economic growth.  The government doesn't need to be engaged in battles with the media--Argentina has plenty of other problems to solve.

Turning to the far East, former Fox executive Peter Chernin is working with a group of investors to develop a media company in Hong Kong that will be engaged in television, film, and digital entertainment.  The business-friendly Hong Kong market is the perfect place for a launch to cover the Asian region, and Chernin is a smart executive.  If successful, the new company could become a power in the region.

The Wall Street Journal on November 8 ran a very interesting infographic in the marketplace section called "When Screens Collide."  Very interesting, and illustrates how web and TV advertising are changing to resemble one another.  Pretty cool, check it out.

The Media Economy is always evolving.  Stay tuned.