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January 1, 2008
360AM: Bloomberg Counting Names
Bloomberg Set to Namedrop, Kids' Virtual Worlds, Suddenlink-Lin TV Battle, Fred Dressler Remembered and more news.
By Cable 360 Staff
Cable360AM — News briefing for Tuesday, Jan. 1 »
The Cable 360 staff is renewing old acquaintances. Happy New Year and good morning.
You know it’s a slow news day when The NY Times spends the time to add up how much it would cost Bloomberg TV namesake and NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg to get on the ballot in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. That price tag is $1.3 million. Mr Bloomberg, a Republican who is said to be considering making an independent run at the White House, would have to employ an army of signature gatherers, who usually are paid $2 per John Hancock. For the billionaire mayor, the $1.3 million figure is eminently affordable. [The NY Times]
It’s a new year, and times are changing already. Grammar school kids are the target of a number of major media companies, including Disney and Warner Brothers, who are spending large sums to create virtual worlds for tikes. The kids, these companies say, head to the Internet first, before— gasp—television. Disney is so enamored of its Club Penguin virtual world site, which it acquired for $700 million, that it’s plunked down $5 million-$10 million per site to develop a portfolio of as many as 10 virtual worlds, The NY Times says. [The NY Times]
Briefly Noted
A 6-year-old girl’s essay, which won her tickets to a Jan 9 Hannah Montana concert in Albany, NY, was a fraud, reports say. In it the girl claimed her father died in Iraq. [BBC]
LIN TV and Suddenlink were unable to reach a carriage agreement yesterday. The result was that Suddenlink discontinued carriage of LIN’s KXAN-TV (NBC) in the Austin market and KBIM-TV (CBS) in the Albuquerque market.
The Wall Street Journal Europe eyes Time Warner's Jeff Bewkes as he gets set to begin his tenure as chief executive. His challenge, the paper says, is to “reinvent an entertainment conglomerate in need of a new script.” [WSJE]
Reaching the Web without an Internet connection and IPTV are the way of the future, says BBC News’ Website, which gives its predictions for 5 technologies that might be big this year.[BBC]
Brand awareness seems to be related to product placement on reality series, a new study says. Kraft received a push from product placement on Bravo’s Top Chef, it says, while Propel Fitness Water took off when viewers saw it being quaffed on Bravo’s Work Out series. The downside is that sometimes products are over-saturated on shows. [NY Daily News]
Matthew Weiner, creator and exec prod of AMC’s Golden Globe-nominated series Mad Men, explains with humor how the media has ruined gift giving— and receiving. [The NY Times]
Memories of Fred Dressler
We’ve been inundated with personal messages about the late dean of cable programming execs Fred Dressler, who died last week at 66. Many recall Dressler as a tough but brilliant fair negotiator. Away from the bargaining table, Dressler is remembered for his concern for people, sense of humor and love of life. Below is one of favorite, from Ski Channel Chairman/CEO Steve Bellamy; who recalls Dressler as a businessman and on a personal level.
From Steve Bellamy
I pretty much owe my entire cable business career to Fred. He was instrumental in getting The Ski Channel/Time Warner carriage deal done and The Tennis Channel would have never gotten off the ground if not for Fred.
Even though he was revered as a shrewd negotiator, I think he was one of the easiest guys in television to deal with. He could distill the essence of any transaction down to what really mattered and pinpoint the line of fairness. You knew where you stood because he so clearly knew where he stood. If your proposition overvalued what you brought to the table, you probably wouldn’t leave happy. But there were never “devil in the details” issues with Fred Dressler. The language never came back different than the deal.
On a personal note, Fred was a dear part of our family. He spent a lot of time at the house and brought a tremendous amount of excitement and joy each time he came. It was always just as important for him to play with the kids as it was to jet off to dinner with whatever business mogul it was that night.
I was at dinner with him a little more than 3 months ago and he was the most enthusiastic he had ever been about life. He also said he had a stomach pain and didn’t finish his salad. I am so glad that he got to go to his son’s wedding and got to see his Grandkids one more time. Thanks to Trish for sharing him with all of us!
Editor's Note: Please send your recollections of Fred Dressler to: sarenstein@accessintel.com
For more on Fred Dressler, see CableWorld’s December 2006 salute to him upon his retirement. [CableWorld] http://cable360.net/cableworld/business/deals/20977.html
[Yesterday's Update]
• Got a tip? Email sgoldstein@accessintel.com and sarenstein@accessintel.com
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