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The note to staff any media CEO would like to write

I’ve never quoted an entire blog post without permission before, but in this case, I’m asking forgiveness rather than permission because you really should read this without another click.

John Paton is CEO of the Journal Register Company and by all accounts is doing a great job transforming this newspaper company, which spent five months in bankruptcy in 2009, in a multi-platform direction.

This is a blog post Paton made to his staff on March 14, 2011:

I Promised – You Delivered – The Checks Are Cut

By jxpaton

Folks,

Take a bow – you did it!

Our goal was to hit $40M in profit in 2010. Well you did better than that – you hit more than $41M. Not bad for a bankrupt, beat up old newspaper company people had written off as dead in 2009.

But we didn’t write ourselves off. We picked ourselves up and got working.

We learned to harness both cloud and crowd. Using new tools and working the new news ecology we produced new digital products and revenue streams AND reduced costs. We focused on what we do best and linked to the rest.

We learned how to put out out daily newspapers and websites using only free web tools. And the Ben Franklin Project was born. We established the ideaLab and you came up with more and better products.

We put about 1,000 Flip cams in your hands and we now produce about 4,000 minutes of original local news video per week. Stay tuned for more on that next quarter – think JRC TV.

You changed our culture and how we think. And we are a better Company for that.

AIl of that change is reflected in our bottom-line.

I promised you would all share in that profit, so look in your pay check tomorrow – you will all find an extra week’s pay. All, that is, except for our senior executives. They have a bonus plan and it’s enough already.

I promised and you delivered. And I cannot thank you enough for your effort this past year.

Together, with your help, we are transforming the Journal Register Company into a modern news media company. A transformation powered by its employees.

Until next time, John.                           

Congratulations.  --Dennis

Misunderstanding public broadcasting in the U.S. | #pubmedia

One of the difficulties that public media face as they struggle to maintain tax-based and viewer/listener-sensitive income is that the recommendations of so many people betray a misunderstanding of the very structure that exists in the U.S.  This even includes our most distinguished supporters.

Case in point is an article in the April Atlantic by the great Newton N. Minow, the former FCC chairman in the Kennedy Administration and a former PBS board chairman and author of the famous “vast wasteland” speech. Surely he would get it right:

…we need to give greater support to public radio and public television. Both have been starved for funds for decades, and yet in many communities they are essential sources of local news and information—particularly public radio, which is relatively inexpensive to produce and distribute and is a valuable source of professionally reported news for millions of Americans. There is virtually nothing else like it on the air. Public-television stations, as I saw when I was the chairman of PBS, are overbuilt, sometimes with four competing in the same market. Where that is so, stations should be sold and the revenue dedicated to programming a national news and public-affairs service, built on the foundation of the splendid PBS NewsHour. And a crucial part of that service—as with public media around the world—should be to promote the country’s arts and culture. [emphasis added]

Well, not really. Here he calls for the 30 or so independently-owned overlapped stations to be sold (requiring 30 separate sales) with the money aggregated somehow (sorry, Licensee, you can’t use it to fund other problems you have), to enhance a program service that probably none of the 30 carry now. At the announced sales price of public TV stations in two top-25 markets, that could raise roughly $90 million, which, invested after sales costs, would generate about $4 million per year – again if, miraculously, you could somehow aggregate it. The CPB base grants these stations have would be easier to aggregate and yield more – $12 million per year – but then we have the problem of the remaining 140 or so eligible recipients also feeling the big hurt and needing relief. Even if these problems could be solved and the money aggregated, it’s too small.  While not chump change, is a long way from being sufficient to build the kind of service Minow envisions – even if it was done far more cheaply in radio or on the web.

Mr. Minow is one of public media’s most distinguished and articulate champions, but this misses because it misunderstands the nature of what brings NPR, PBS and other programs to Americans every day.

--Dennis

Jeffrey Dvorkin on developments in #pubmedia funding

Jeffrey Dvorkin is a Canadian [update] and American, a former head of NPR News and its ombudsman, and now heads up the Organization of News Ombudsmen. He’s been writing recently on the threat to U.S. public broadcasting’s federal funding. Here’s a collection of recent posts worth reading:

April 15: Public Broadcasting is Saved! Now What?
April 5: NPR’s Condition: A timely warning for the CBC
March 22: Government Funding: A Blessing or a Curse?
March 17: De-Funding NPR: Just Political Theatre or Something More?
March 10: The Stumbles of Two Public Broadcasters

--Dennis

Jessica Clark’s [@beyondbroadcast] “Pubcasting Battle” series | #pubmedia

Jessica Clark (@beyondbroadcast on Twitter) has added a post to her “Pubcasting Battle” series on the Center for Social Media Blog.

April 16:  Pubcasting Battle: Unlikely Bedfellows

Here are the others, all worth your time.

• April 5: Pubcasting Battle: Government Shutdown Edition
• March 30: Pubcasting Battle: Sifting Through the Evidence
• March 23: Pubcasting Battle: Top Five Pieces this Week
• March 17: Pubcasting Battle: Highlights and Low Blows from the Past Week
• March 9: Pubcasting Battle: Breaking Responses to Schiller's Ouster
• March 8: Pubcasting Battle: Now it Gets Ugly
• March 3: Pubcasting Battle: A Slight Reprieve, and a Push for Reform
• February 22: Defend or Defund? Advocacy Ramps up as House Nixes Pubmedia Budget
• February 14: Public Broadcasting Faces Harsh Congressional Challenges

--Dennis

Martin Busch, public broadcasting pioneer, died today | #pubmedia

 

My good friend and professional mentor, Martin Busch – died today in Kansas.  He began his broadcasting  career at KUSD-AM in Vermillion, S.D., and was executive director of South Dakota Public Broadcasting from 1960 to 1984.  Along with his engineering colleague, Jim Prusha, he built a statewide network of public television stations and began a statewide public radio network as well before his retirement – which itself was a statement of principle with a former governor.

Martin and his friend, the late Jack McBride, from whom he took inspiration, were among the pioneers of regional broadcasting – efficient operating models for rural states that now increasingly look like efficient models for the rest of public broadcasting.

I saw Martin last in October when South Dakota Public Broadcasting dedicated its television studio to him.  In spite of suffering from one of the insults of old age (I think he was 89 87 in March), he gave a nice speech and, as always, looked debonair.  Here is the citation for this event on the SDPB web site:

On Friday, October 1, 2010, during the USD Dakota Days celebration, SDPB dedicated our TV Studio in honor of Martin Busch. Martin was the Executive Director of SDPB from 1960-1984, and hosted "The Bookshop" on SDPB Radio from 1960-2002. Speakers included Julie Andersen, Executive Director of SDPB; James Abbott, President of the University of South Dakota; Ted Muenster, former member of the ETV Board; Dr. Tom Kilian, an early supporter of SDPTV; Stephan Busch, Martin's son; and Martin Busch. View the ceremony here: MARTIN BUSCH STUDIO DEDICATION

RIP, friend.

Update 18 April 2011:  Rapid City Journal article on Martin.  Thanks to Ron Hull and Burnie Clark for updated picture and news article link.  South Dakota Public Broadcasting's "Dakota Midday" 4/18/2011 program on Martin.

--Dennis

Moyers: test case for #pubmedia disintermediation?

Yesterday evening, I sent the following on Twitter: “BM: If anyone doesn’t need common carriage, it’s you – Go direct…”  This is an expansion of that thought.

A few days ago, I published a guest post by Howard Blumenthal of MiND TV on public television and disintermediation.  By the standards of this modest blog, it got a lot of attention, including some thoughtful comments.  Then I read Elizabeth Jensen’s New York Times piece saying that Bill Moyers had ended his effort to return to PBS with a weekly series because: “PBS has informed us there is no time slot available in which the series could be designated for simultaneous common carriage across the country. …”

I’ve spent 38 of my 41-year career in stations and now in semi-retirement work half-time as executive director of a station organization, so I certainly believe in the value of local stations.  And I’ve argued for the power of common carriage in both the station community and as a former PBS board member.  But we can’t deny the disintermediation that’s going on all around us on multiple platforms and we need to figure out how to make it work for public media.

There’s a lot of room between denial and embracing, but it seems to me that if anyone could be successful in doing self-distribution – going direct to viewers – it’s Bill Moyers.  Unless his proposed show’s content would be fishwrap a few hours later, he has the brand, following, and (probably favorable) demographics to make disintermediated distribution work.  Amazon, FORA.tv, Hulu, Netflix, Roku, YouTube and many more are all waiting – not to forget non-common carriage public TV distribution via American Public Television, etc.  And a plethora of social media tools can both get the word out and encourage the conversation that Moyers’ programs have always generated.

--Dennis 

Public television disintermediation | #pubmedia

Howard Blumenthal, CEO of MiND: Media Independence in Philadelphia, circulated the following “efficiency chart” among some public television CEOs today.  I thought it was worth sharing and am posting it here with Howard’s kind permission.  --Dennis

Howard writes:

Please allow me to explain the chart…

1. As we all know too well, one of the key media trends has been "disintermediation." We now buy music from musicians, so record labels, record distributors and record stores no longer control the music business; same for many other media. And so, the top chart, with just "You Tube" in the distribution path, is a disintermediated model. Replace YouTube with any single system or distribution brand. Disintermediation is efficient, mostly because it eliminates "middlemen."

2. It would be difficult to find a media model that's more intermediated than public television. That's the second model, filled with entities and brands and expenses that each require staff, technology, handling, priority in the eyes of the viewer, and more.

As we contemplate the future of public media, and the role of the stations in that future, we must seriously consider the model that we have built. It's clunky, costly, challenging to innovators, and ultimately, adds only marginal value to the consumer who wants to watch, say, Antiques Roadshow. If the brand is "pre-school children's programming," perhaps several program brands (Curious George, Sesame Street) can be clustered under a master brand. Unfortunately, we've got a whole lot more than just two brands happening in the second model.

If we're going to succeed long-term, we need to face this challenge. Otherwise, other, more efficient models will take the place of our well-established institutions.

Enjoy the chart. If you want to discuss, I'm available.

AT&T’s acquisition of T-Mobile more about market share/pricing than spectrum

Yesterday’s surprising (maybe) announcement of AT&T’s acquisition (pending regulatory approval) of T-Mobile is being billed as a spectrum play for 4G, a move in response to the U.S. Administration’s goal of covering America with wireless broadband.  See the Wall Street Journal’s interview with Kevin Werbach for a perspective on this.

However, one analyst says that 70%-90% of AT&T’s current spectrum currently sits unused.  AT&T acquired two nationwide aggregations of spectrum that lie mostly unused for roughly one-twentieth of the price they paid for T-Mobile.  Interestingly, this (the 1/20th figure) is what the NTIA and CEA said in a recent white paper that broadcasters would need to be paid to clear enough spectrum to meet FCC goals.

You pay a 20-fold premium over bare spectrum because this spectrum – all of which they won’t use – comes with customers and this new customer base will make them the largest wireless provider (they and Verizon will control 70%).  So this is really about that market share and the control over pricing this will give them.

In addition to the links above, also see Om Malik’s, What AT&T and T-Mobile Merger Means for Innovation.  --Dennis

Preparing for Unbundled Television [@terryheaton, #pubmedia]

Terry Heaton is a consultant primarily to commercial television who in my view has a great track record of anticipating disruptive change for broadcasters and recommending responsive strategies.  His latest essay  titled above is right on, for both commercial and public television.

Terry writes:

Unbundled television is the polar opposite of the broadcast model, and media companies aren't prepared whatsoever to compete in this new universe. Everything that we know, everything that we practice, everything that we believe in is tied to that which bundles the content we create or distribute to the infrastructure that's doing the distributing. Separate the two, and we are fish out of water, flopping helplessly on the dock of user demand.

Don’t miss this essay, especially his eight recommendations.  The only one I’d amend is the 7th on RSS, to which I’d add API distribution.

Link:  Local Media in a Postmodern World.  --Dennis

Stephen Hill: Six steps to a user-supported #pubmedia system

The following quotes from a dear colleagues email sent by Hearts of Space producer, Stephen Hill, earlier today.  See also this related post.  --Dennis

SIX STEPS TO A USER-SUPPORTED PUBLIC MEDIA SYSTEM

FOR STAKEHOLDERS
1. Re-define the role and identity of stations as "locally-focused public media network nodes."

2. Extend the Public Media Platform to every station web site as a matter of system policy, so all public media content is available at every point of entry to the network. This can be as elegant as a single Public Media Player on mobiles or the web, or a full service embedded "site-within-a-site."

3. Re-align the financial relationships and incentives between networks, stations, content producers and affiliates so everyone has a stake in the success of the network as a whole.

4. Define a practical set of revenue-sharing policies between stations, networks, producers and affiliates. (For example: ultimately stations might not pay dues and program fees to NPR, but receive a net revenue share from it.)

FOR THE PUBLIC
5. Create a comprehensive set of free, voluntary and paid digital service models for the public as a means of attracting significant new revenue for the system.

6. Create a national Public Media Network membership for end users, with multiple tiers of service and access to premium digital services and archival content as benefits of paid membership.