Mediacom vs. Sinclair - the public fight continues

Mediacom, the cable company, and Sinclair, the TV conglomerate, are fighting in public again, just as they did three years ago. Mediacom is claiming on their website that Sinclair is trying to gouge its cable TV customers by overcharging the provider for the right to include its affiliate stations in its cable line-up.

A 3-year agreement between Mediacom and Sinclair ends December 31st and negotiations for a new agreement appear to have stalled over transmission consent fees.

HOW MUCH ARE WE TALKING HERE?

For a little perspective, on its website, Mediacom puts the demand amount at "millions", but neither party will provide a specific amount. AP reports puts the number of affected cable subscribers at 700,000 -- 400,000 of whom are in Iowa.

Let's do some rough guesswork. If Sinclair is demanding Mediacom fork over $5 Million a year, that's about 60 cents per month per cable customer. $5 M divided by 700,000 divided by 12 months. If 100 non-premium channels each charged 60 cents a month for every subscriber, that's about $60 in consent fees per cable viewer every month.

Consider also that Sinclair as more than $1 Billion in debt, nearly half of which is coming due in the next year and a half.

What strikes me in this battle is the utter lack of transparency on each party. What was the old rate? What's the new rate being demanded? What percentage of an increase would that represent? Neither are willing to have an honest debate out in the open.

Viewers who will be affected by losing a channel can complain to the cities' cable franchise liaisons and the bickering parties.

Santorum in Iowa

In political circles, being seen in Iowa is synonymous with a Presidential bid. Arriving at the Clear Channel Radio studios in Des Moines cements that notion.

When Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum (R) sat down with Jan Mickelson (WHO Radio), the question had to be asked. [Watch Windows Media]

Santorum also told a story of when he introduced the "Life Amendment" to No Child Left Behind and how he gained unwitting support from democrat Sen. Ted Kennedy. [Watch Windows Media]

Few Presidential contenders escape the Mickelson program escape without being asked to defend their stance on abortion and whether Roe v Wade is settled law. [Watch Windows Media]

Minimum wage increase generates anti-Obama buzz

Minimum wage is one of those touchy-feely Democratic issues that is supposed to take care of those who are mistreated by their thrifty employers, the same issue that is detested by Republicans, claiming it stifles small businesses and increases unemployment.

But in discussions about minimum wage, you hear few pundits compare minimum wage to a nominal 3% inflation rate (see chart right, showing 29 years of minimum wage vs. the 3% inflation curve).

In 2007, congress created the most recent amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act that resulted in this month's wage boost, however some are blaming the current administration for hurting small businesses through an increase put in place before the election.

If you look at minimum wage since 1980 -- when conservative Republican Ronald Reagan was elected President -- and plot where it should have tracked (through conservative economic incentives designed to produce growth in American industry), it always seems to trail inflation and economic growth by a significantly margin; the US Congress has to make substantial corrections to boost it toward, but never up to, a nominal inflation rate.

Health care workers and agricultural producers are barely getting by, if at all, and corporate CEOs are making tremendous gains.

Why is it that top-end wages have skyrocketed while those of the real laborers have declined or stagnated? In the land of opportunity, this is symbolic of the way opportunity tends to shift toward the wealthy and away from the actual producers and this is yet another example.

In 20 of the past 29 years, you hoped that Republicans would have used their power for the good of main street America, but instead have lined the pockets of their most important constituents; big business lobbyists and their crony political action organizations.

2009 Fair acts: Firefall, Headeast & Pure Prairie League

It's wanting to see shows like these that make me feel both old and nostalgic at the same time. See you old-timers there!

2009 Iowa state Fair, Budweiser Stage sponsored by ABC5:
- Firefall, Thu & Fri (Aug 13 & 14) @ 7:30 & 9:30
- Headeast, Sat & Sun (Aug 15 & 16) @ 7:30 & 9:30
- Pure Prairie League, Mon & Tue (Aug 18 & 18) @ 7:30 & 9:30

HD poorly implemented in Des Moines

Since the digital TV switchover last month, it has become clear that local television stations have not fully embraced their new hi-def capabilities.

Watching channel 8-1 this morning, it's obvious they still use their old standard definition video cameras in the news studio and are simply up-converting the signal to high definition; it's a blurry picture.

Same story for channel 13-1. But in addition to using older SD cameras, whenever they slap in their lower third ticker, they have to drop the 16:9 image back to a 4:3 aspect ratio. So they use SD to shoot news talent, up-convert to HD for a wide-screen shot, then reduce back to SD when using a ticker. Watching this in glorious 16:9 hi-def is a train wreck!

And it appears that channel 5-1 isn't even pretending to be an HD news shop. If it weren't for their low-end SD studio gear, I'd say this is better. Unfortunately, of the big 3, our local ABC affiliate's newscasts remain the most difficult to watch.

So what did we gain in the digital switchover? We do receive more channels (channel 5's retro feed of old TV shows and channel 8's all-weather source) and most prime time network shows are much more crisp. But sadly for analog set owners, many of the bugs and lower thirds are clipped at the far edges of the screen.

I can't imagine the expense of a full HD transition, so I forgive local stations for a gradual upgrade -- especially in the face of a recession and lower ad revenues -- but I sincerely hope station managers are watching and recognizing how hideous their product looks.

Shawn Johnson with Murph & Andy

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Shawn Johnson sat in with Murph & Andy on KXnO Monday.

DMR: Climate bill unfair to Iowa, utilities say

Burning fossil fuels is a fundamentally flawed plan when it destroys the landscape and detracts from quality of life -- saying nothing of what it may or may be doing to the environment at large. It just makes a lot more sense to intercept the existing energy all around us. Unless, of course, you have an enormous financial stake in traditional energy production and any of the supporting industries. The industry should want to modernize and be more efficient, but the reality is that it's been cheaper for them to pollute the air.

Every rooftop and back yard could have some form of energy collection, whether solar, wind or hydro. The initial costs are coming down and ongoing maintenance is relatively inexpensive compared to all of the oil refined and burned to deliver coal to consumers as energy -- however considerably less profitable for MidAmerican Energy.

Follow the money and use your common sense.

Bob Vander Plaats on Mickelson.

Bob Vander Plaats appeared on Jan Mickelson's show Thursday (6/18/2009) and explained his positions on a state constitutional amendment for banning same-sex marriage, legislative activism and the governor's power to use executive orders to remedy bad court decisions. Bill Salier was guest-hosting that day.

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Real estate sales: no good news

The local media has widely reported improved real estate sales from April to May of this year, citing figures furnish wholesale by the Des Moines Association of Realtors, the real estate lobby group.

Despite those claims, the Polk County Assessor's database shows there were 2,860 residential deeds issued in Polk County, Iowa in the last six months (Dec-May), compared with 4,013 issued during the same six month period a year earlier. That's a 29% drop, not an increase.

The total sales numbers for that period are even worse, suffering a 45% decline from more than $600 M last year down to about $400 M this year. And while realty agents are doing their best to stave off commodity pricing through incentive kickbacks and other perception management practices, even the average sale price took a dive from $152 K to $140 K, an 8% loss.

This look is a broader picture than the one being offered by the realty association because it covers six months, but even residential sales between April & May of this year (and compared to last year) look dismal.

While my research did involve only one county, can the picture for the greater metro look remarkably better? No matter how you slice & dice, there's nothing good in these numbers.

So what's the deal here? Are reporters too lazy to do their own research? Or is there a bigger menace lurking, like media influence? Or maybe I'm just wrong.

Everyone's a social media marketer. Not.

I hear a lot of social media marketing advice pointed at business and it's being circulated by people who've been around a long time. I suppose they're seasoned, and I imagine their audience feels they're adequately qualified.

Nevertheless, this is worth considering. Educated marketing managers have become dispensible comodities because every Joe thinks he's a marketing whiz and can take the reigns on a moment's notice. And largely due to the boardroom's GMOOT syndrome, they get their chance -- for about two years.

Still, almost without regard for the quality of the CMO, budgets often get fixed in the marketing dept. instead of examining the sales strategy.

Real estate numbers drop again

It shouldn't surprise anyone that the National Association of Realtors finds some good news in the realty market, but the real story for Polk County isn't good, according to the County Assessor's numbers.

Residential sales in terms of total sales in May of '09 compared with May of '08 figures are down by almost half. That's inline with the quantity of sales, reflecting 44% fewer sales. The average sale prices was 5% lower than last year's sale.

And the spring numbers aren't getting better, as we might expect. Instead, compared to April of this year, May sucked for real estate pros. A $10M drop in total sales, more than 100 fewer and average price fell by another $10k.

Those are the real numbers, provided by the Polk County Assessor, but don't expect NAR to advertise this fact with the media.

FCC warrantless searches?

According to this story, an FCC agent investigating a possible pirate radio station in Boulder, Colorado this month, posted a note quoting FCC policy at the residence suspected of hosting an unlicensed transmitter.  The statement apparently said, “Whether you operate an amateur station or any other radio device, your authorization from the Commission comes with the obligation to allow inspection.”

This statement alone has spurred concerns by citizen groups that FCC officials might, at some point, engage in warrantless searches of private residences.  It doesn't seem so.

While the statement might look to be asserting authority that transcends Fourth Amendment protections, one should consider the intended audience of this notice and the actual practices of government enforcement officials.  I don't think we're talking about baby monitors rated in miliwatts of transmitting power or devices that generate minimal levels of RF interference.  If a cop asserts some official-sounding administrative rule in order to trick a subject into consenting to search, that's an entirely different matter.

Yes, the Fourth subjects the government to a probable cause standard in the case of private homes.  It seems plausible that if there's an unlicensed station operating on the premises, probable cause is met and a warrant could be issued on that home and its occupants.  If the station is licensed, then it seems that implied consent to inspect is already established.

However, is a warrant even necessary if we're talking about a business, which is generally held to be open to the public during business hours?

And by broadcasting to the public over the public's airwaves, is one holding himself out as a radio station (which is a business operation), therefore no longer a private residence?

One essential question is, does a private residence lose its Fourth protection when it looks and acts like a radio station?  The FCC's position has been that radio stations are open for business during all hours of operation.

If an inspector (or firefighter or rescue worker) observes the presence of contra ban, they can report it to law enforcement.  I believe the Supreme Court has maintained that this is probable cause to issue a search warrant.

Lauren Zakrin interview at 105.1 Channel Q in Ames

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Lauren Zakrin talks to Tony Tarbox of 105.1 Channel Q in Ames, Iowa about the theatrical musical production of Legally Blonde at the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines through February. Lauren has been playing Belle and will play other roles thoughout the musical's tour.

Lauren Zakrin interview

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Lauren Zakrin speaks with CJ of Kiss 107 FM in Des Moines, Iowa about the theatrical musical production of Legally Blonde at the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines through February. Lauren has been playing Belle and will play other roles thoughout the musical's tour.

ADS: Media struggles to monetize wares

A Time article suggests that CNN, AOL/Time/Warner, etc., aren't making a go of it online and their bean counters are marking down the value of their companies -- in some cases to zero + hard assets.

This is a horrible time to judge the value of content in an advertising environment that has lost 30% of revenues...and more. The ugly truth is that media companies and businesses in general don't understand the new media enough to leverage its major strength, which is to highly target consumers in a meaningful way -- both with bona fide content and advertising.

Companies, with guidance from Madison Avenue, should be partnering with social media developers to find the best way to localize their message, learn all it can about the online creature, and finally stop being so annoying.

Media still thinks in terms of channel brands and they should be focusing on the quality of their individual products.

We need a watch dog on the school board

There are six school staff for every student listed on the books, a cost ratio of $87k. It costs $14,500 per student, whether active or inactive. That's $80 per day. For that kind of money, students should be eating gourmet meals and enjoying the safety of steel-reinforced bunkers while receiving the best, most intense education in the world. But they're not getting that because the money goes to administrative BS and world-class salaries instead.

On top of that, the sense among many of us is that the school board approves questionable big money deals and its members have questionable ties to notorious crooks.

So as taxpayers and parents, we need a watch dog to follow the money and hold the school board's feet to the fire. Sure, I'd rather have someone who could effectively communicate with parents instead of making unsubstantiated claims or feeding us shovels full of incomprehensible drivel, but Jon Narcisse is all we've got.

Bob Vander Plaats (R-Sioux City)

Bob Vander Plaats (R-Sioux City) announced his forming of a candidate committee to organize and raise money for the 2010 Gubernatorial race in Iowa on Jan Mickelson's program on WHO Radio (Des Moines) this morning and we caught up with him in the afternoon on Steve Deace's show.  Watch the video below.

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Grassley to meet with Des Moines "Tweeps"

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) wants to meet with members of the social networking web site "Twitter" in what's called a "tweet-up", a physical gathering intended for discussion and networking. This town hall-style "#dmtweetup" is scheduled for Friday April 17, 2009 from 3:45pm to 4:45pm at Impromptu Studio, 300 SW 5th St, Suite 220, Des Moines, Iowa.

Communism is here

The Associated Press reported that an Iowa state trooper pulled over Michael Spahlinger of Cleveland Heights, Ohio on Thursday. According to the story, the trooper pulled the vehicle over on Interstate 80 near Council Bluffs to perform a routine search and eventually discovered 48 pounds of pot.

Without getting into the whole drug debate, let's stick with the Constitutional issue, specifically the Fourth Amendment, which supposedly protects citizens from unreasonable search and seizure. The part of the story that bugs me is the phrase "routine search". As near as I can tell, any systematic searching of vehicles would be prohibited by the Constitution.

Fourth Amendment -- "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

In the years since this was written, the probable cause requirement has been somewhat weakened by the courts. A cop no longer needs probable cause of a crime to search your car without your consent. Now if an officer has reasonable suspicion that you may be armed and dangerous, he may do a weapons check without asking your permission.

Let's assume the trooper asked Michael Spahlinger if it'd be okay if he looked around. The Supreme Court has said that without reasonable suspicion, the trooper cannot demand to search the vehicle unless the driver consents. So at that point, Spahlinger could say simply that he doesn't consent to any searches.

At that point, the trooper either has to let Spahlinger get back on his merry way or call in a drug-sniffing dog within 20-30 minutes of the traffic stop.

For the most part, they've done away with road blocks for the purpose of detecting drugs, although they still get by with them for finding drunk drivers. But even then, cops would have to have a good reason for searching you or your car; they can't arbitrarily search anyone they feel like because they think they might find contraband.

I'm not an attorney, but I've studied the law and court cases regarding search & seizure issues as a hobby.

ADS: Trust between an AE and an advertiser matters

Here's an example of trust breaking down at an important moment, during the production of a radio commercial.

I've been hearing a spot for a service company on the radio recently that I find alarming from an imaging standpoint. The problem is that the client isn't enunciating well throughout the spot, particularly in stating the name of one of his primary products. I don't mean a slight enunciation error, but a whopper! In fact, "airgsher" is how it comes out.

If you heard the spot, you'd probably know what he meant by its context, so you might think I'm nit-picking a bit, but the problem is that the spot makes the business owner seem like a dolt.

I don't want to beat up on the concept of business owners voicing or appearing in their own commercials because history proves they can gain fame and fortune doing their own. Wendy's founder Dave Thomas, popcorn magnate Orville Redenbacher and KFC's Colonel Harland Sanders come to mind immediately as huge success stories. And you might remember local celebrity and college ballplayer Bill Reichardt as the man who owned Reichardt's Menswear -- or Jack from Irwin’s Bike for promising no pressure or hype ever.

But these were successes for specific reasons that have nothing to do with their ability to deliver the intended message; they were great communicators with solid reputations.

At issue is branding, the thing that influences consumers' emotions about things like the professionalism of a particularly business, contributing to overall company image. If you don't exhibit effort to speak clearly while showcasing your products in front of your prospective customers, how hard will you try to perform their installation? Or address service issues after a sale?

Lack of professionalism can become an intrinsic part of your brand; any positive image you hoped to gain from your ad can be lost because your consultants let you sound like dolt.

In this case, I suspect both the account executive and producer both held their tongues while their customer massacred his lines. They should have stepped up and respectfully recommended the client re-read those portions. In all likelihood, he would have done so graciously.

Being afraid to offend a client and risk a cancellation is no excuse for allowing his brand (and the station) to take a hit. The bigger risk is that your client discovers the trust he put in you to help bolster and grow his brand was misplaced. When that happens, he'll never darken your production studio again.

E-mail 'drafts' on Glenwood death kept secret

A couple things:

1) There's a death at a state-regulated care facility and the state regulators appear to be asleep at the wheel; and

2) The Des Moines Register reports that, during this period of time, the governor and his family are on holiday in Florida, at the residence of their longtime family friend of nearly 40 years, Bill Knapp, who coincidentally happens to have donated $112,500 to Culver's '06 campaign and at least $25,000 toward his re-election.

Well, three things, counting the comments readers posted.

3) Wow, commenter JackDM, you sound like a government insider. But like many people who post comments on the Des Moines Register's web site, you perpetuate ignorance. And by the way, if you want to refer us to a law, just give us the code chapter and section so a few of us can at least try to follow along, instead of ensuring none of us can because you don't have the digital fortitude to paste a functioning web address.

As a member of the free press, I feel the Register has an obligation to get to and report the facts regarding the handling of public government matters, just as any other citizen. As regular citizens, we should encourage their efforts to shed light on matters of public interest.

After all, public employees and elected officials have no right to privacy in their government jobs and offices, except in narrow and well defined circumstances. Nearly every action they take should be known or knowable to the public. If they act reasonably in their dealings, then they have little cause for concern. This issue isn't remotely related to the right of privacy we enjoy as citizens in our own homes. Public business on taxpayer time isn't protected.

So to the state, I say open up and be transparent; own your actions, whether right or wrong. People have a tendency to forgive honest errors in judgment, but lack of honesty and integrity is shameful.

And to the person that said court records aren't available online, check the state's judicial web site, if you have the brains, and you'll see they are!

If the story's true, I say good job Register!

People as brands

I hadn't been paying attention close enough to really embrace that people could be brands, although I think we all understand the power of certain individuals (Oprah).

The amazing thing about this dynamic is that there are actually individuals with active audiences. Large audiences. And extremely active. One person has 30,000 people that follow his tweets. When he makes a remark, tens of thousands of people get it, as if he were a walking, talking radio station. And he is, with his wireless device.

There's more about this in this really nice free mini-seminar by David Armano...


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