Time Warner to Spin Off AOL

NEW YORK -- Time Warner announced plans to spin off its troubled AOL Internet unit by the end of the year, bringing to a close one of the most disastrous corporate mergers in history.

The US media-entertainment giant said its board had approved a separation from AOL, formerly known as America Online, to make it an independent, publicly traded company.

"We believe that a separation will be the best outcome for both Time Warner and AOL," Time Warner chairman and chief executive Jeff Bewkes said in a statement.

"We believe AOL will then have a better opportunity to achieve its full potential as a leading independent Internet company."

Time Warner said that before the spin-off goes ahead it will purchase the five percent in AOL owned by Internet search and advertising giant Google, which paid one billion dollars in 2006 for the stake.

Time Warner owns the remaining 95 percent of AOL, which saw its heyday as a provider of dial-up service in the early days of the Internet but has been losing ground as consumers switch to high-speed or broadband services.

AOL is currently the number four Web gateway after Google, Microsoft sites and Yahoo! and has been trying to refashion itself recently as a popular one-stop portal.

Disney To Join in Hulu.com Venture
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LOS ANGELES -- Disney movies and ABC TV shows will be available on Hulu.com now that Walt Disney Co. is taking an equity stake in the popular video streaming site, joining its founders, NBC Universal and News Corp.

The deal announced will bring older Disney movies to the site, along with ABC and Disney Channel shows such as "Lost," "Grey's Anatomy" and "Wizards of Waverly Place" after they run on TV. Disney hopes to gain new online viewers that it does not already capture on ABC.com and pick up new income from sharing ad revenue on Hulu.

The new setup also brings the owners of three of the four major broadcast networks — ABC, NBC and Fox — into a fight for online eyeballs against the video streaming site TV.com, which CBS Corp. acquired last year when it bought CNet Networks Inc. for $1.8 billion. In February, Hulu pulled all its content from TV.com.

Another rival is Google Inc.'s YouTube, which is trying to become more than a repository for clips uploaded by the general public. It recently launched a "Shows" section with older movies and TV episodes from partners Sony Corp., Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., CBS Corp., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. and Liberty Media Corp.

Disney has a deal to provide short-form ESPN and ABC content to YouTube. But in general, ABC, NBC and Fox now will be pitting their premium material against YouTube.

Disney's biggest contribution to Hulu will be its content, but the company will also make a cash investment similar to the amount that General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal and News Corp.'s Fox each contributed in March 2007, according to people knowledgeable about the deal, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the terms were confidential. It is unclear how much Disney paid, but Disney, News Corp. and NBC will all have similar-sized stakes at just over 25 percent.

End of an Era, ABC Radio
Becomes Citadel Media
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NEW YORK -- Marking the end of an era in network radio, Citadel Broadcasting, owner of ABC Radio Networks, has dropped the heritage network radio name and renamed the network Citadel Media.

The name change was inevitable when Citadel Broadcasting acquired ABC Radio's portfolio of stations and ABC Radio Networks in 2007. And with the passing of the legendary Paul Harvey, who has been associated with the ABC Radio Networks brand for decades, there were probably fewer reasons to keep the name.

While it may be giving up brand recognition, Citadel Media, with 4,400 affiliates reaching 110 million weekly listeners, still represents some of the biggest programming brands in network radio, including ABC News Radio and ESPN Radio, via longterm contracts that were inked during the Citadel/ABC Radio deal.

Citadel Media also has a solid syndication lineup including Kidd Kraddick, Tom Joyner via a partnership with REACH Media, Sean Hannity, via a partnership with Clear Channel-owned Premiere Radio Networks. Recent syndication additions include Mike Huckabee, Perez Hilton, Joe Scarborough, Brian McKnight, Rick Dees and Tom Kent to the Citadel lineup.

 

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MSNBC Gives Ed Schultz New Talk Show
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NEW YORK -- Veteran radio host Ed Schultz will have his own hourlong program on MSNBC.

Schultz has spent 30 years in talk radio and has a syndicated show that airs from noon to 3 p.m. each day.

MSNBC announced that he'll replace a politically oriented show currently anchored by David Shuster at 6 p.m. on weekdays.

He's another liberal voice for an MSNBC evening audience that's already used to a leftward tilt with Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow. MSNBC calls him an "avid voice for the middle class."

Shuster will work with Tamron Hall as a breaking news anchor from 3 to 5 p.m.

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