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The motion filed by Entercom Communications to dismiss a suit brought against it by New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has been denied by a New York State Supreme Court judge, clearing the way for Spitzer’s payola case to move forward.
The decision, which knocked down all of Entercom’s arguments for dismissal, came six months after Entercom’s filing, and allows Spitzer’s first case against a radio company for fraud and deceptive business practices to proceed to the discovery phase, according to Mediaweek.
The lawsuit claims that the company repeatedly engaged in deceptive schemes of choosing songs for airplay based on payments or non-cash consideration from labels and independent promoters.
Spitzer is seeking settlements from seven radio companies, including CBS Radio, Clear Channel, Cox Radio, and Emmis Communications.
In June, EMI settled with the state of New York over the alleged radio pay-for-play violations, paying a $3.75 million fine (in the form of a charitable donation to New York State not-for-profit music education and appreciation programs). It agreed to reform its radio promotion practices and to stop making payments and providing expensive gifts to radio stations and their employees in return for airplay.
Universal Music, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group also settled with Spitzer earlier in the year.
All sectors of the media business will suffer from the weakened economy in 2008 and 2009, with a slump in local advertising particularly hurting newspapers and local TV, according to a new projection from Goldman Sachs.
Broadcast nets will experience…
The New York Times is shuttering its International Herald Tribune site; NYTimes.com will soon host the international news normally reserved for its sister website.
The move is not about cost savings, but rather about growth, NYTimes.com general manager Vivian Schiller…
Unilever’s Vaseline set forth on an unusual research project in a small town in Alaska. Setting up a storefront, the company began giving away free bottles of lotion and asking recipients to name the person who had recommended they come…
Meet the Press, the show hosted by Tim Russert for 17 years before his death last June, is beginning to slip in ratings.
Last month, CBS’s Face the Nation pulled ahead of Meet the Press for the first time in two…
Bloggers collectively create nearly one million blog posts each day, and half of bloggers believe blogs will be a primary source of news and entertainment in the next five years, according to Technorati’s 2008 State of the Blogosphere Report, MarketingCharts writes.…
Wal-Mart and Costco reported same-store gains in September, with sales rising 2.4% and 9% respectively. Sales at Target stores open at least a year fell 3%, writes Retailer Daily.
Below, fiscal results from the discount retail giants:
Sales of food and…
