News: USA Today to cut about 20 newsroom jobs

McLEAN, Virginia -- Ken Paulson, editor of the nation's largest newspaper, told staff in a memo Sunday evening that USA Today plans to cut about 20 newsroom jobs early next month.

USA Today is owned by WKYC parent company Gannett.

That's almost a 5 percent cut from a newsroom that employs about 450.

The newspaper cut about 45 newsroom jobs last November, and other papers owned by its parent, McLean, Va.-based Gannett Co., endured two rounds of layoffs this year, in August and October.

The newspaper industry is struggling, not just because of the weak economy but also from a years-long decline in circulation and the migration of advertising dollars to the Internet.

Gannett stock closed at $7.29 on Monday, up 15.35%

Source: The Asssociated Press

Monday's Bits and Pieces for 10/27/08

Several interesting pieces of information have crossed the Director's Cut Blog's desk over the weekend.

NBC Reshuffles Wednesday lineup

NBC will revamp its primetime Wednesday schedule to focus entirely on crime dramas. Starting November 5, Knight Rider remains at 8p while Life gets a chance to rejuvenate by moving into the 9p time period and Law & Order will re-launch in the 10p slot. Lipstick Jungle will then switch to Friday nights. Additionally, NBC pushed back the debut of Momma's Boys to December 16 following the season finale of The Biggest Loser; the next week Momma's Boys will air on Monday nights at 9p in the Heroes time slot once it concludes its season. Momma's Boys was originally slated to debut on November 12.

NBC & WKYC Election Night Coverage

NBC and MSNBC will both broadcast from its Rockefeller Plaza headquarters on election night. In addition, NBC announced plans to add new features such as superimposing a huge U.S. map on the Rockefeller Center skating rink as well as projecting Barack Obama's and John McCain's electoral vote tally on the outside of its building at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. NBC and MSNBC will also offer a virtual reality component by expanding Tim Russert's electronic clipboard.

WKYC will have special election night coverage of Monday and Tuesday beginning with special editions of Channel 3 News at 5 PM, election cut-ins during NBC prime which will run from 7 PM until 2 AM. WKYC Senior Political Correspondent Tom Beres will be joined by analysts to discuss the Presidential elections and issues of local interest.

Cleveland Is Running Rich With Political Spending

Broadcasting and Cable reports today that the Cleveland market is seeing a nice influx of money thanks to the Presidential campaign this year where both Barack Obama and John McCain see the region as crucial to winning the election. Stations are airing wall to wall political ads in some cases, while product spots have dropped dramatically.

However after next Tuesday, Cleveland's financial party will end. We'll return to the reality of the moment that the market is hurting badly. WKYC President/General Manager Brooke Spectorsky is quoted regarding market conditions that "Dismal is an understatement."

Gannett Reports An Increase in TV Revenue, Continued Loss Overall

Good news for Gannett's broadcasting arm with 3rd quarter revenues up 3.9% thanks to a strong summer. Results were $197 million, helped by the Olympics on its NBC affiliates ($24 million) and political advertising ($26 million). The owner of WKYC also reported on Friday that Gannett's total reported operating revenue was $1.64 billion for the third quarter, down from $1.8 billion in the same quarter last year. According to Broadcasting and Cable, "While our results this quarter reflect the difficult and volatile economy both here and in the UK, they also highlight our determination to move forward with our strategic plan," said Gannett Chairman/President/CEO Craig Dubow.

Gannett is one of the nation's leading newspaper publishers and broadcast companies.

Gannett acquires a majority stake in CareerBuilder from Tribune Company

Gannett (parent company of WKYC) and Tribune Company announced Wednesday that Gannett has acquired an additional 10 percent stake in CareerBuilder from Tribune for $135 million. The acquisition gives Gannett a 50.8 percent controlling interest in CareerBuilder, the U.S.'s largest online job site.

"CareerBuilder is a terrific company, with great growth potential that just keeps delivering more for Gannett and our partners," said Craig Dubow, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI). "We were delighted when the opportunity arose to acquire more of the company while maintaining a good, solid relationship with our partners."

"We are committed to CareerBuilder and want the team there to continue to do what they do best: grow the company, bring in revenues and deliver the best customer service in the jobs space. We don’t expect any major changes," Dubow said.

"This transaction offers us an excellent opportunity to monetize some of the value CareerBuilder has built over the years, while enabling us to maintain a significant stake in a great online property," said Sam Zell, Tribune's chairman and chief executive officer.

Tribune now owns 30.8 percent of CareerBuilder; The McClatchy Company (NYSE: MNI) continues to own 14.4 percent; and Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) continues to own 4 percent.

Under the new ownership agreement, Gannett has three seats on the six-seat CareerBuilder board of directors. Tribune and McClatchy have one seat each and the chief executive officer of CareerBuilder has one seat.

Gannett cutting 1,000 newspaper jobs

The nation's largest newspaper publisher, and owner of WKYC-TV, is eliminating 1,000 jobs.

The latest cost-cutting move at Gannett includes 600 layoffs. The newspaper industry is trying to cope with declining revenues due to an economic slump and a continuing migration of advertising dollars online.

USA Today, the largest-circulation newspaper in the country, isn't affected by the latest round of cutbacks, but had 45 job cuts of its own last November.

The latest cuts will affect Gannett's other newspapers, which include 84 dailies such as The Arizona Republic and the Detroit Free Press as well as nearly 900 non-daily publications. Other major newspaper publishers have also been slashing jobs.

Courtesy: The Associated Press

News: Gannett reports 2nd quarter drop of 36 percent

McLEAN, Virginia - Gannett Co., the nation's largest newspaper publisher (and parent company of WKYC) on Wednesday reported a 36 percent drop in second-quarter earnings as the newspaper industry's woes caused a sharp decline in revenue. Shares plunged more than 12 percent.

The profit of $233 million, or $1.02 per share, compared with a $366 million, or $1.56 per-share profit in the year-ago quarter. The earnings matched expectations of Wall Street analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.

The company's shares dropped $2.09 to $15.24 in morning trading.

Gannett, publisher of USA Today and 84 other U.S. dailies, sold several newspapers in the year-ago quarter that added 32 cents per share to earnings. Excluding the sale, profit fell by 18 percent.

Revenue fell 10 percent to $1.72 billion in the quarter.

Gannett stock has lost two-thirds of its value in the last year.

The company announced last month that it plans to take an accounting write-down of $2.5 billion to $3 billion to reflect the company's declining market value. In a press release issued Wednesday, the company said the exact amount has not yet been determined, but narrowed the range slightly, to between $2.6 billion and $2.9 billion.

The write-down will be included in the second quarter in an amended statement to be filed before Aug. 8.

For the year, Gannett has so far earned $424.5 million, or $1.85 per share. That's down 26 percent from the first half of 2007, when it earned $576.2 million, or $2.45 per share.

The vast majority of lost revenue in the quarter stemmed from a 14 percent drop in advertising revenue in the company's publishing business. Retail advertising fell 8 percent, and classified advertising fell 19 percent.

At the flagship USA Today, the nation's largest newspaper, advertising sales fell 17 percent in the quarter.

Newspapers across the country have struggled not only with the generally weak economy but with eroding circulation and a migration of advertising dollars to the Internet. Newspaper Web sites are seeing increased ad revenue, but not nearly enough to offset losses on the print side.

Gannett's broadcasting segment, which includes 23 television stations in the U.S. and accounts for about a tenth of the company's overall revenue, reported a 6 percent drop in revenue, to $193 million.

To read the complete news release from Gannett: CLICK HERE

Courtesy: The Associated Press

News: Gannett buys out remaining stakes in ShopLocal

WKYC parent company and newspaper publisherGannett Co. said it purchased stakes held by Tribune Co. and McClatchy Co. in ShopLocal LLC, a marketing and database services company.

Tribune owned 42.5 percent of ShopLocal, while McClatchy owned 15 percent.

McClatchy said it sold its stake for $7.9 million, which would have placed a value of about $52.5 million on the whole venture. Gannett didn't disclose the price it paid for Tribune's stake.

McClatchy said it used the proceeds to pay down debt. It will record a related charge of about $3 million in the second quarter. McClatchy had acquired a stake in ShopLocal through its acquisition of newspaper publisher Knight Ridder Inc. in June 2006, and later sold a portion of that stake to Gannett and Tribune.

ShopLocal will work in conjunction with Gannett's Internet media company PointRoll to create ads for retailers.

Tribune and McClatchy will remain partners with Gannett in CareerBuilder, Classified Ventures and Topix.net. Tribune and Gannett also jointly own Metromix, a network of local entertainment Web sites, and are partners in online advertising venture quadrantOne.

News: Gannett follows other big media in weak 1st quarter sales

McLEAN, Va. - The nation's largest newspaper publisher Gannett Co. (parent company of WKYC-TV) says its earnings fell about 9 percent in the first three months of the year as the weak economy contributed to a drop in advertising.

The McLean-based publisher of USA Today and 85 other daily newspapers in the U.S. on Monday reported a profit of $191.8 million, or 84 cents a share, compared with $210.6 million, or 90 cents a share, in the first three months of 2007.

Excluding a gain of 7 cents per share for the sale of land, the results were in line with estimate of 77 cents per share of Wall Street analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.

Broadcasting revenues declines 7.0 percent and television revenues were 7.3 percent lower. Based on current pacings, television revenues for the 2nd quarter of 2008 would lag last year's second quarter in the mid to high single digits.

Quarterly revenue fell 8 percent to $1.68 billion from $1.83 billion a year ago.

Courtesy: The Associated Press & Gannett

News: Gannett Out To 'Re-Engineer' Its Stations

A Chat with Gannett's Dave Lougee -

The new head of Gannett's 23-station TV group says big changes in the media marketplace are demanding big changes in the ways that stations do business.

At Gannett, that means more AEs and news producers on the street, close cooperation with the newspapers on the Web, mobile broadcasting and an interactive relationship with viewers.

In this interview with TVNEWSDAY Publisher Kathy Haley, Lougee talks about other parts of the Gannett strategy—stations and newspapers working together on the Web to exploit their combined 100-market footprint, a joint venture with Tribune that is creating new community sites, preserving extra digital spectrum for mobile broadcasting and developing a "true" interactive relationship with viewers.

It's a fascinating insight into what the Director's Cut Blog has been telling you for the past year about how we see the future of TV.

To read the interview: CLICK HERE

Courtesy: TVNewsday.com

News: Former NBC News President Joins Gannett Board

Neal Shapiro, president of WNET in New York City, the largest public television station in the U.S., has been elected to the Board of Directors of Gannett Co., Inc. - parent company of WKYC, effective immediately.

"Neal's diverse experience with network news and public television will be a tremendous asset for Gannett as we move forward with our strategic plan," said Craig A. Dubow, Gannett's chairman, president and chief executive officer. "We are extremely pleased that Neal has chosen to join Gannett's Board."

Shapiro served in various executive capacities with the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) beginning in 1993 and was president of NBC News from May 2001 to September 2005.

With Shapiro's election, Gannett has nine directors.

Courtesy: Gannett

News: WKYC's Parent Company Buys Sports Sites

Gannett, the parent company of WKYC-TV, has acquired a controlling interest in Schedule Star LLC, which operates the popular HighSchoolSports.net and the Schedule Star solution for local athletic directors, the two companies said today. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

HighSchoolSports.net is the leader in the increasingly competitive world of online high school sports, with more unique visitors than any other site, according to Nielsen//NetRatings NetView.

Schedule Star is the #1 scheduling solution for high school athletic directors, and is the engine that dynamically drives the HighSchoolSports.net network. It accurately generates and updates school's schedules, scores, stats, and game directions, and it can even alert parents and fans to game changes or cancellations.

To read more about today's big announcement: CLICK HERE

Spotlight Article: A Visit From Gannett Corporate

As with any business, you get at least a yearly visit from the "big wigs" in Corporate who stop by to see everything is in order. In TV we are not exempt being owned by a major media company, Gannett.

Thursday was one such visit that gave us an opportunity to meet our new head of Gannett Broadcasting Dave Lougee. Dave replaced Roger Ogden in that role last month, and was introduced to the Channel 3 staff by Gannett CEO, Craig Dubow.

I found Dave to be quite an impressive individual - very articulate - who speaks in a manner that leaves you with a clear vision of where we are headed. Craig's presentation has always been one of my favorites.

Media in general is at a crossroads right now with the emergence of so many outlets for consumers to get their information. In TV, we are competing against radio, other TV, cable, satellite, the Internet, ipods, Google, Yahoo...and dozens of other sources for your attention and the advertising dollar. The money pie is getting sliced into smaller pieces at all times, and it's our mission to make sure we remain a leader in the local TV market.

Without going into specifics since this blog is read by our competitors, I came away with a strong feeling that Gannett knows where it is headed. The road may be bumpy, but we are going to get there. The next 100 years will be as exciting as the past 100 years have been.

Craig clearly understands his mission and has told us ours. It's to provide the best local content to our viewers and readers as we can. But, we must be adaptive to the changing nature of the business in order to survive. At WKYC, we have the right mix of people to get that job done.

You are already noticing it, whether you realize it or not. We are expanding beyond just one broadcast channel. We are multimedia: WKYC, WKYC-HD, the Akron Canton News on cable, WKYC.com, North Coast Moms.com, North Coast Brides.com, WKYC Outdoors.com, the Director's Cut, Fair Weather Fans on the Internet...and Sportstime Ohio on the sports side...with Browns and Indians programming you won't find anywhere else...because no one else has the capabilities and the talents this facility has in its employees.

I would be remiss to say that we don't occasionally run into issues or have labor disagreements with the company...or have to deal with tightening of the financial belt with Gannett... but Gannett is a respected leader in the industry and its encouraging that the corporate managers take the time and make the effort to talk to the employees.

But as everyone knows - it's sure a relief when they leave - and they knew that too.

News: WKYC & Gannett Go Mobile

Breaking news, sports, weather and other must-have local information now can be accessed easily by mobile phone users in more than 100 local markets, including Cleveland...WKYC's parent company, Gannett, has announced.

WKYC news and information is available on virtually any mobile phone or handheld device. We are your mobile window to the world, anywhere you go, any time of day.

With FREE content specially formatted for your small screen device, WKYC Mobile allows you to stay in touch with all the latest breaking news 24x7.

There are three easy options to access this free service on your mobile phone:

*Simply type m.wkyc.com into the web browser on your Internet-enabled mobile device.

*Text WKYC to 59523 and we will send you this link to your phone via text message.

*Via links from the home pages of all Gannett newspaper and broadcast Web sites. For a complete list of links available: CLICK HERE

Requirements: Although the service is free from WKYC, carrier charges may apply for receiving a text message. Bookmark this address in your mobile browser and you'll always have robust, up to date mobile news and information from WKYC Mobile available whenever you need it.