Eddie Volkman and Joe “Jobo” Bohannon, once among Chicago’s radio elite, are dipping their toes back in the local market with a new two-hour Saturday-night show for WLS-AM 890.
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Google to launch music service
Google Inc. is planning to launch an online music downloading service tied to its search engine, the Wall Street Journal reported, a move that would pit it against Apple Inc and its popular iTunes site.
Google’s plans are still vague, but it has been “stepping up conversations” about offering music services online as well as over mobile phones that use its Android operating system, the Journal said, citing people familiar with the company’s talks with the music industry. Get the full story »
Sears, Kmart to sell movies, music online
Sears Holdings Corp. Tuesday became the latest retailer to partner with digital media company Sonic Solutions to sell movies and television shows through an online Web site. Under Sonic’s latest multiyear deal, the operator of Sears and Kmart stores has licensed Sonic’s RoxioNow platform to sell digital entertainment under the Sears and Kmart brand names. Get the full story »
Oprah spots sell for premium in final season
Because it will be her final year in broadcast daytime TV, Oprah Winfrey’s syndicator believes it can wring gold from her silver anniversary season. CBS Television Distribution is seeking bigger price hikes for national ads than other top syndicated shows for the coming 2010-11 season, according to Broadcasting & Cable.
It’s an E-reader battle as Amazon cuts Kindle price
A price war is heating up in the electronic reader market, as Amazon cut the price of its Kindle e-reader below $200 Monday just after Barnes & Noble did the same with its competing Nook device.
The rapid-fire moves are fanning flames in the still-small but rapidly growing market that the book industry sees as a major part of its future.
On Monday afternoon, online retailer Amazon.com Inc. slashed the price of the Kindle by $70 to $189, just a few hours after bookseller Barnes & Noble Inc. reduced the price of the Nook by $60 to $199 and said it would also start selling a new Nook with Wi-Fi access for $149.
Get the full story »
Sun-Times in venture to compete with eBay
From Crain’s Chicago Business | Sun-Times Media and more than 300 media and broadcast companies have teamed up with Ranger Data Technologies Inc. to form a national online auction house, Boocoo.com. It is designed to compete with eBay and Craigslist.
Tribune Co. TV licenses face new opposition
From the Wall Street Journal | The owner of a small newspaper in Connecticut has joined the chorus in opposition to Tribune Co. transferring its FCC licenses to the reorganized company when it emerges from Chapter 11. Tribune owns The Hartford Courant and is seeking to hang onto two TV stations in the same market.
Lenders to question Zell on Tribune buyout
From Bloomberg News | Lenders owed $1.6 billion will question Sam Zell under oath June 28 on the 2007 leveraged buyout he led of Tribune Co. The lenders, with a lower payment priority, oppose the reorganization plan filed with Bankruptcy Court.
Oprah gives iPads, cash to magazine staffers
From Advertising Age | Oprah Winfrey dropped by Hearst headquarters on Tuesday to mark the 10th anniversary of O, The Oprah Magazine, and gave every staffer an Apple iPad, a leather iPad case with the staffer’s initials, and a check for $10,000.
Get the full story: adage.com.
Judge in Tribune case orders info from JPMorgan
Associated Press | The judge in the Tribune Co.’s bankruptcy case has ordered JPMorgan Chase to turn over information sought by a group of lenders who oppose the company’s reorganization plan.
Jim O’Donnell, others laid off at Sun-Times
By Phil Rosenthal | Jim O’Donnell, who covered horse racing with brio, penned features that often drew upon his encyclopedic recall of local lore and, periodically, wrote a provocative sports media column in a 13 1/2-year run with the Chicago Sun-Times, was among those cut this week by the newspaper. A spokeswoman for parent Sun-Times Media confirmed that two full-time editorial staffers had been let go, along with a part-timer.
Get the full story: Tower Ticker.
June 15, 2010 at 12:45 p.m.
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Filed under: Advertising/Marketing, Litigation, Media, Real estate Margie Korshak facing eviction from Hancock
From Crain’s Chicago Business | PR diva Margie Korshak is in danger of losing her Hancock Center office digs. Golub Realty Services began eviction procedures last week. A suit filed in Cook County Circuit Court charges that Korshak has not paid rent since June 2009.
Read the full story: chicagobusiness.com
Tribune bondholders protest license transfer
From Bloomberg | In an objection filed with U.S. regulators, Tribune Co. bondholders said the bankrupt newspaper company should be prevented from reassigning its broadcasting licenses to the lenders who financed Tribune Co.’s 2007 buyout. Under the plan, bondholders owed about $1.2 billion would be paid nothing, while the lenders would get more than 90 percent of Tribune Co.
Get the full story: businessweek.com.
Lenders join opponents of Tribune Co. bonuses
Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review | Lenders joined a federal
bankruptcy watchdog in protesting the continued flow of bonuses to top
executives as Tribune Co. seeks to ease its way out of Chapter
11, leaving behind billions in unpaid bills.
Wells Fargo Bank N.A. led lenders behind a $1.6 billion loan to the
publishing company in objecting to the latest round of bonuses proposed
by Tribune — a $43 million package that would bring the total doled out
to management to $115 million. The request also caught the eye of U.S.
Trustee Roberta A. DeAngelis, charged with ensuring that the company
adheres to bankruptcy court protocol and keeps its creditors in mind
when drafting its reorganization strategy.
NBC affiliates fear losing sports in Comcast merger
By Joe Flint | NBC’s affiliates are worried that the network will stop carrying big-ticket sporting events after its deal to merge with Comcast Corp. closes.
In a meeting with commissioners and top staffers at the Federal Communications Commission this week, NBC affiliates said one of the conditions of regulatory approval of cable giant Comcast’s proposed takeover of NBC Universal should be a commitment to keep sports on NBC. Details of the meeting were disclosed in a regulatory filing by the D.C. law firm of Covington & Burling, which represents the NBC affiliate board.
