In a move that will give FedEx Corp. complementary offerings in the less-than-truckload (LTL) sector, the shipping company has paid $780 million in cash for the LTL operations of the nations largest privately owned long-haul LTL carrier, Watkins Motor Lines, along with certain affiliates, writes DM News.
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Investors in DG Systems, a provider of digital media distribution services, held a special meeting May 26 where they approved a merger with broadcast advertising company FastChannel Network, as well as approved a one-for-ten reverse stock split, which took effect yesterday, writes Radio Ink.
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Internet ad spending growth has yet to slow down, as the Interactive Advertising Bureau projects record first-quarter online ad spending to hit $3.9 billion, up from the same period last year and last quarter 38 percent and 6 percent respectively, writes Adweek.
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Katz Radio Group has signed with HipCricket for its wireless marketing expertise and service, planning to provide Katz Radio Group radio stations with wireless marketing opportunities such as offering electronic media to cell phone audiences, Radio Ink writes.
Visitors to CNN.com usually allow online video ads to play their entire length, according to CNN’s digital research unit’s new study that examined CNN.com video ads in three categories: financial services, telecommunications and luxury cars, writes MediaPost.
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After the announcement that a committee of senior marketing executives, requested by Wal-Mart vp-marketing communications Julie Roehm, had selected reputable eBay as the digital infrastructure provider for the $50 million “test phase” of a new online media trading system set to begin May 12, several ad brokers came forward to point out that an internet media trading system currently exists, MediaPost writes.
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Publishing a magazine for parents is proving to be very difficult, with the closure of yet another parental magazine. With a rate base of 300,000, year-old New York-based magazine Bundle for “pregnant women and moms with babies and toddlers, from 0 to 3″ has published its final issue, writes Media Bistro’s FishbowlNY blog.
Following an 11 percent ratings increase for TNT’s coverage of the NBA Western Conference playoffs over last year’s ratings for the Eastern Conference games, TNT finished out the May Sweeps with increases in key adult demos and wins over broadcasters UPN and WB, according to preliminary data from Nielsen Media Research, writes MediaWeek.
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CBS Corp. CEO Leslie Moonves announced last week at Morgan Stanley’s annual media investor conference his plans to shake things up at Showtime, planning to make the network more like HBO with programming aimed at large audiences rather than television critics, Mediaweek writes.
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MTV has announced plans to launch the first of ten short-form episodes of an original series developed specifically for wireless devices, called Sway’s Hip-Hop Owner’s Manual, featuring MTV correspondent and radio personality Sway Calloway, writes Adweek.
The Securities and Exchange Commission concluded yesterday its investigation begun in 2004 of the alleged circulation fraud at Tribune Co.’s Newsday and Hoy, ruling that the company’s lack of internal controls required to detect and prevent inaccurate reports had resulted false circ figures since at least January 2002 and through March 2004, AdAge writes.
Virgin Mobile, in a joint venture with Sprint Nextel, will give subscribers the opportunity to earn free minutes by agreeing to view and interact with ads, either via text messaging on their phones or on their computers, MediaPost writes. Subscribers can earn up to 75 free minutes per month via the initiative, dubbed SugarMama.
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Microsoft has been in talks for several weeks about a possible acquisition of eBay, reported the New York Post on Friday (via MarketingVOX), citing sources close to the issue. Apparently, Microsoft has considered buying eBay and merging it with MSN in a bid to challenge Google for internet supremacy, but as a result of antitrust concerns the talks have “cooled somewhat,” according to the Post.
Next month, TNS Media Research, a major TV ratings provider outside the U.S., will become the first significant player to challenge Nielsen Media Research domestically since the 1980s, when TNS commercializes its ratings service that’s based on anonymous viewing data collected from Charter Communications’ 55,000 Los Angeles-based subscribers, writes MediaPost.
Eliot Spitzer New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s payola investigations, together with corresponding settlements with three of the four major record companies, have changed the way labels currently approach radio promotion, in turn affecting this summer’s radio station-sponsored festivals, Yahoo writes.
