Backchannelmedia

Media Week, November 6, 2006

Inside Media

Pre-election, CNN to Stream Pipeline Free

CNN will offer CNN Pipeline, its subscription-based video service, free for 24 hours starting today, Nov. 6, the day before Americans go to the polls. The four-channel broadband platform will deliver comprehensive pre-election coverage. Pipeline will stream a variety of live footage of various candidates making their last-minute pitches to voters, including campaign speeches and events and congressional debates. Pipeline, which is normally available for a monthly subscription fee of $2.95 per month ($24.95 per year), will also provide viewers with behind-the-scenes looks at CNN's New York studio as the network navigates covering key congressional and gubernatorial races across the U.S.

Serwer Replaces Pooley as Fortune M.E.

Andy Serwer, most recently Fortune's editor at large, has been named managing editor of the Time Inc. biweekly business magazine. He succeeds Eric Pooley, who spent just 18 months at the helm. Pooley will shift over to investigative projects and work with Time Inc. editor in chief John Huey and Time Inc. m.e. Jim Kelly. Since 1998, Serwer has written the "Street Life" column as well as stories about the personalities and behind-the-scenes action on Wall Street. He writes a daily market briefing on Fortune.com and is a business anchor on CNN's American Morning show. Serwer joined Fortune in 1985 as an intern.

NBCU Renews Martha Stewart Show

NBC Universal Domestic Television Distribution has renewed syndicated talker The Martha Stewart Show for a third season on a number of leading broadcast groups, including the NBC owned-and-operated stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco, and stations from Gannett, Belo, Fisher and Scripps. Season to-date (through Oct. 16, 2006), Martha ranks No. 10 out of 13 talkers in the category with a 1.3 household rating, according to Nielsen Media Research; that's a drop of 24 percent from the year prior.

Hallmark COO FitzPatrick Steps Down

Crown Media Holdings last week announced the resignation of COO and executive vp Paul FitzPatrick, a six-year company veteran. The parent company of the Hallmark Channel, Crown did not disclose FitzPatrick's reason for stepping down, although his departure neatly coincides with the Oct. 4 appointment of Henry Schleiff as president/CEO of the company. In addition to growing the channel's distribution to nearly 75 million homes, FitzPatrick has been credited with beefing up Hallmark's ratings.

CBS TV Names Two Affiliate Sales Execs

The recently formed CBS Television Distribution Group has announced a new management structure for its affiliate sales division. Joe DiSalvo was named president of sales and Scott Koondel was named executive vp, off-network, cable and digital media. DiSalvo had been president, domestic television sales for King World Productions, while Koondel was executive vp, distribution at CBS Paramount Domestic Television. DiSalvo will now oversee all first-run and off-network sales to broadcast stations, while Koondel will handle off-network station sales and the sale of all off-network and original programming to cable and digital media.

Cond Nast Acquires Reddit.com

Cond Nast Wired Digital group, which includes both Wired.com and Wired News, last week acquired Reddit.com, a Web site that aggregates and ranks news content based on its users' feedback. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Cond Nast had previously partnered with Reddit.which has been compared to Web 2.0 darling Digg.com.to launch Lipstick.com, a site that similarly aggregates and filters celebrity news. Reddit, which reaches 1 million unique users a month, according to Cond Nast, will continue to operate independently.

Brightcove Adds Free Video to Web Site

Broadband technology and syndication company Brightcove has relaunched its corporate Web site as consumer destination for watching online video. The site features content from publishers who already use Brightcove to deliver video content on the Web, ranging from Newsweek to MTV Networks' The N to smaller independent brands like The Horror Channel. Currently, the site is not ad supported, but plans are in the works to add video advertising down the road.

Air America Courts Potential Buyers

Air America Radio is talking to several parties about a possible sale and hopes to reach a deal before Thanksgiving, according to the Associated Press. A lawyer for the liberal talk radio network told a U.S. bankruptcy court on Oct. 31 that the privately held company was in discussions with seven parties about a sale and was "very hopeful" of striking a deal by Nov. 22, saying there was a "significant amount of interest." The network filed for bankruptcy protection on Oct. 13. The lawyer declined to say who the potential suitors for the company were, and a rep for Air America also declined comment.