Baseball Strike Would Leave Costly Void on Airwaves
Media
by Claudia Peschiutta
Baseball fans aren’t the only ones hoping that players and team owners avoid a strike.
Local broadcasters stand to lose millions of dollars in ad revenues if the Major League Baseball Players Association follows through on its threat to go on strike this Friday (Aug. 30th).
Such a walkout would be especially painful this year for a couple of reasons. Both the Los Angeles Dodgers and Anaheim Angels have a chance to make it to the playoffs, which would bring higher ratings to local broadcasters. Also, media outlets are still recovering from an advertising slump that only worsened after Sept. 11.
“A lot of our advertisers are pretty understanding, but the financial ramifications of canceling a month of the season are pretty substantial,” said Greg Ashlock, general manager of Dodger broadcaster KXTA-AM (1150) and Angels’ radio outlet KLAC-AM (570).
“Clear Channel L.A. could lose $1 million as a result, if there is a strike on Aug. 30,” he added. “It definitely throws a damper on the whole thing.”
The other L.A. radio station that could be hurt by a strike is KWKW-AM (1330), the Spanish-language outlet for the Dodgers. On the television side, the losers would be KCAL-TV (Channel 9), home of the Angels, and KCOP-TV (Channel 13), which began airing Dodger games this year.
Part of what helped KCOP succeed in luring the Dodgers away from their long-time home at KTLA-TV (Channel 5) was broadcasting almost twice as many games. Channel 13, which is owned by Dodger parent News Corp., also offered the team more money $8 million for a three-year contract.
Fox Sports Net West 2, a cable outlet for the Dodgers, also could take a hit.
“Clearly it hits our regional sports networks. Clearly it hits our over-the-air contracts,” said David Boylan, vice president and general manager of KCOP and sister station KTTV-TV (Channel 11). He is also in charge of sales, programming and promotions for Fox Sports Net West and West 2.
Baseball talks continued last week, but sides remained far apart. “We’re remaining hopeful that they can work it out,” Ashlock said.
Cooling Connections
Call it a temporary disconnect.
The weekly public affairs show “California Connected” will be off the air until at least next spring. The program, a co-production of KCET-TV (Channel 28) and three other public television stations, premiered in April and recently completed its first season.
“We’re trying to raise money for the second season,” said Al Jerome, the station’s president and chief executive. The first episode of the second season is expected to air on March 27. The show will also be moving to 8 p.m. from 9 p.m. on Thursdays.
Jerome says he isn’t worried about the show losing any momentum during the break but he concedes that, “in the best of all worlds, you’d keep it going.”
When asked if host David Brancaccio, of Minnesota Public Radio’s “Marketplace,” would return for a second season, Jerome says that remains to be worked out.
“We’d have to sit down and talk with him but we certainly think he did a fine job,” Jerome said.
Seeking Inclusion
Gay advocates scored a major win this month by getting The New York Times to start printing same-sex union announcements. Now, an advocacy group is going after other major dailies.
“The issue really is about fairness and inclusion in the media. This isn’t an issue for us of advocating for gay marriage,” said John Sonego, a spokmesman for the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. “Commitment ceremonies are happening. It’s part of the social fabric today and therefore, should be included in newspapers.”
A GLAAD survey of 1,500 dailies nationwide found that only 70 print same-sex union announcements, Sonego said. To change that, the group last week kicked off “Announcing Equality Project,” a yearlong effort to double the number of local and regional papers listing such ceremonies.
Sonego said that GLAAD is “actively working” to set up meetings to discuss the issue with members of the editorial staff at the L.A. Times. However, a Times spokeswoman pointed out that the paper does not publish wedding or engagement announcements. She said they would appear only in paid advertising supplements.
Fineman’s Fight
Reporter Ron Fineman is considering taking legal action against CBS after losing his job at KNX-AM (1070). He claims he was fired for publishing an e-mail on his Web site, RonFineman.com, that was critical of an executive producer at KCBS-TV (Channel 2).
Fineman, until recently a part-time reporter at news station KNX, on Aug. 12 posted an e-mail from a KCBS employee that questioned executive producer Annette Zapata’s qualifications and criticized her for wearing tight clothing. Similar comments from another KCBS staff member were also posted. Both KNX and KCBS are owned by Viacom Inc.
“It’s a personnel matter,” said KNX News Director Ed Pyle, declining to comment further.
The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists is looking into the matter, Fineman said in a recent posting. His site serves as a forum for comments, rumors, critiques and interviews about local television news.
In Other News…
The California Lottery is set to consider the awarding of its advertising account, worth $125 million over five years, on Sept. 10. In a second round of bidding, the lottery chose to award the account to San Francisco’s Foote, Cone & Belding but the L.A. office of DDB Worldwide is protesting the decision.
Staff reporter Claudia Peschiutta can be reached at (323) 549-5225 ext. 229, or at
[email protected].
