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While the chances that the proposed Sirius-XM satellite radio merger will go through have improved, Bank of America analyst Jonathan Jacoby still believes that there is still only a 35 percent chance of FCC approval.
Jacoby believes that one of the main dangers to approval of the deal is that the FCC might extend the comment period until after the 2008 elections, writes MediaPost. If that happens, the incoming administration may prove less amenable to perceived monopoly building than the current one.
Jacoby’s improved outlook - up from less than a 30 percent chance a few months ago - comes despite the fact that the two companies failed to make a strong enough case to regulators and legislators that the merger would not create an abusive monopoly.
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…
