St. Petersburg Times | May 10, 2007
- May 10--HSN's owners are saying auf wiedersehen to the German-language version of the TV shopping network that emanates from Munich, completing their retreat from the European market.
- Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp which owns St. Petersburg-based HSN Inc., said Wednesday it agreed to sell its interest in Home Shopping Europe.
- The network, which airs as HSE24 in 39-million homes in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, will be acquired by KarstadtQuelle AG, a German department store chain, mail order house and the operator of Thomas Cook and Neckerman Travel.
Backchannelmedia | May 11, 2007
- WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif., May 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- House of Taylor Jewelry, Inc. (Nasdaq: HOTJ) today announced that entrepreneur and lifestyle designer, Kathy Ireland, will introduce her latest jewelry collection, "Ribbon of Love" Exclusively for House of Taylor Jewelry, Saturday, May 12 at Gearys Beverly Hills from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
- "Ribbon of Love" includes a pair of 18 karat white gold earrings with 36 diamonds set to form a dangling ribbon, accompanied by an 18 karat white gold matching necklace.
- These recent additions complement the company's House of Taylor Jewelry and Elizabeth collections, with designs influenced by Dame Elizabeth Taylor.
Backchannelmedia | May 11, 2007
- ARCHDALE, N.C., May 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sealy Corporation (NYSE: ZZ), the largest bedding manufacturer in the world, announced today that as part of the previously announced North American strategy, it is aligning its domestic sales regions with its manufacturing regions to better serve its customers.
- The goal is to optimize the Company's structure in order to best serve its customers from a product supply, marketing and sales perspective.
- "This realignment is part of the ongoing optimization of our North American division as we leverage best practices across regions," said Larry Rogers, President of the North American division.
The Philadelphia Daily News | May 11, 2007
- May 11--A TV ad that attacks Michael Nutter's "stop, question and frisk" proposal was condemned yesterday as "blatantly racial" by the watchdog group Committee of Seventy.
- The ad slams mayoral candidate Nutter for proposing that Philadelphia police be authorized to "stop, question and frisk" people they suspect may be carrying illegal guns.
- Fordham has denied that the ad is racial.
Backchannelmedia | May 11, 2007
- NEW YORK, May 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Y&R announces the hiring of Tarik Sedky to the newly created position of Chief Digital Officer, based in New York.
- This is Y&R's second high profile talent acquisition within the past month, with Mitch Caplan joining as new business director last week, and the agency will continue to build its senior management team with new appointments to be announced over the coming weeks.
- "We are quickly expanding digital as a core agency discipline," said Hamish McLennan.
Associated Press | May 10, 2007
- NEW YORK--Viacom Inc.'s earnings fell 36 percent in the first quarter, weighed down by higher marketing expenses for movies and a restructuring charge at its MTV group, the media company reported Thursday.
- Viacom, which also owns Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks and cable networks VH1 and BET, earned $202.9 million (150 million), or 29 cents a share.
- Excluding the after-tax cost of $35 million (25.87 million) for the charges at MTV, the per-share earnings were equivalent to 34 cents, ahead of the 32 cents that analysts were expecting, according to Thomson Financial.
Backchannelmedia | May 11, 2007
- PORTLAND, Ore., May 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Rentrak Corporation (Nasdaq: RENT) today announced 6 new network groups as subscribers to its OnDemand Essentials(TM) VOD measurement system.
- "With on demand programming continuing to experience substantial growth in all categories, content providers are increasingly interested in experimenting and expanding their offerings and therefore need daily access to their performance data," stated Carol Hinnant, Vice President of Business Development for the OnDemand Essentials Suite of Services.
- At Rentrak, we firmly believe that access to and the ability to analyze usage data at the census level and in the aggregate across MSOs is the key ingredient necessary for content providers to develop strong revenue generating business plans for this platform.
The Atlanta Journal and Constitution | May 09, 2007
- May 9--LAS VEGAS -- Now that cable companies have pulled off what they call their "triple play" of offering bundled telephone, television and Internet service, they're looking for their next big hit.
- If they don't strike out, it could bring consumers new options for cellphone service, e-mail, voice mail and video.
- At the cable industry's annual conference here this week, companies such as Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable Inc. and Cox Communications Inc. previewed their newest services, technologies and partnerships aimed at countering the growing competition from telephone, satellite and Internet companies.