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
..
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
..
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.
.
MSNBC Gives Ed Schultz New Talk Show
..
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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