Tuesday, November 18, 2008

November 18, 2008

BET

BET names Loretha Jones and Stephen Hill co-presidents of programming

BET Networks has announced two new leadership appointments to its Programming team, with Loretha Jones and Stephen Hill both named President of Programming. Both Jones and Hill will report directly to Debra L. Lee, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, BET Networks. Hill will continue to be based in New York, while Jones will be based in Los Angeles, and both appointments will take effect immediately.

BET scores big with third season debut of original series, 'Keyshia Cole'

A total of 1.4 million households and 1.94 million viewers tuned in on Tuesday night, giving the show's season debut a 1.54 coverage rating, according to Nielsen Media Research. The third season premiere of KEYSHIA COLE posted a 10% increase in viewing among households versus last year's premiere, maintaining the series' consistent year-to-year household growth with each season premiere (1.18 million and 1.24 million households for season one and two, respectively).

CBS

CBS Rolls Out Play.it Streaming Radio
CBS's radio division is quietly rolling out its Play.it music streaming service, which allows listeners to create customized stations, play artist-themed stations or listen to over 340 traditional channels from CBS Radio and AOL Radio. Play.it runs off of a catalog of about 1.3 million songs.

Redstone's CBS, Viacom See Value Drop
Wunderlich Securities has downgraded shares of CBS and Viacom to neutral from buy, citing a "rapidly weakening" advertising market. CBS shares have fallen more than 60% since the beginning of September, while Viacom's value has been nearly cut in half.

MTV

MTV Networks Ramps Up Live Streaming with Inlet’s Spinnaker

Inlet Technologies, a leading provider of advanced encoding solutions for new media, announced today that MTV Networks (MTVN), a division of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B) will use the Spinnaker™ 7000 live streaming appliance to stream online events, such as episodic “After Shows,” bonus footage and tent poles. In the past, MTVN has utilized Spinnaker for the Flash live stream of “The Hills After Show.”

AFRICA

Cholera Epidemic Reaches Dangerous Levels in Zimbabwe

According to doctors in Zimbabwe, the cholera epidemic in Harare is claiming many lives and the government is massively under reporting the death statistics from this easily preventable disease. Peta Thornycroft reports that broken water pipes and sewage systems are responsible for most of the cases in Harare at a time when almost all government health services have collapsed.

GBC to implement HIV/AID work policy

Resource persons at the forum emphasized the need for Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) as a state media organization whose mandate is to educate and inform the public to have such a policy, so they can educate other organizations to follow suit.

Media praised for educating public on HIV/Aids

The Tanzania Commission for Aids (Tacaids) executive chairperson, Fatma Mrisho has praised the media for actively fighting against HIV/Aids by effectively informing and educating the public about the infection.

ASIA

Police seize fake medicines in Asia

Interpol says police in China and five countries in Southeast Asia have seized $6.6 million worth of counterfeit antibiotics, anti-HIV drugs and other medicines.

Study finds: Misconceptions "still cause AIDS stigma" in China

This situation means that many people are unwilling to live in the same household, have meals or work with an HIV-positive person, which should be a cause of concern, said Bernhard Schwartlander, UNAIDS China Country Coordinator.

HIV/AIDS AND SEXUAL HEALTH NEWS

Nursing-Home Sex Becoming More Acceptable

Nursing-home residents have sexual needs too. And now researchers are finding ways to educate staff on the taboo topic and provide accommodations for the elderly to shack up under some privacy.

MULTI CULTURAL NEWS

ANA study: Advantages of multicultural marketing still largely untapped

For the third time in eight years, the Association of National Advertisers has surveyed its membership about their multicultural marketing initiatives, and the results suggest that little has changed since the first survey was fielded.

Joint Center Media and Technology Institute will study blacks and media usage

With the goal of strengthening knowledge and generating policy development activities in a critical area, the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies today launched a new institute to study how the media industry and emerging communications technologies affect African Americans and other people of color.

NO/AIDS Task Force Awarded Internship in Leadership Development

The internship prepares future leaders for lasting leadership roles within organizations that support the LGBT movement. NO/AIDS Task Force is one of the oldest and largest AIDS service organizations in the Gulf South, providing critical and compassionate services to men, women and families affected by HIV and AIDS for over 25 years. NO/AIDS has selected Eric Knudsen to be the ultimate beneficiary of the internship program.

PR Newswire doubles African American reach with Black PR Wire partnership

PR Newswire has partnered with Black PR Wire to offer the issuers of press releases the most robust distribution available to reach the African American and U.S. Caribbean media, and influential political and religious leaders, it was announced today.

SOCIAL MEDIA NEWS

Obama, the first social media president

How about social networks as a means of encouraging civic engagement, online video as a means of informing the citizenry and a Google search-minded approach to the sharing of government documents?

OTHER NEWS

Media Shares Fall As Ad Concerns Grow
Viacom, Disney, News Corp. and other media companies traded lower Monday as concerns increase about a rapidly deteriorating advertising market. Also: While media stocks may look cheap, investors should be cautious since 2009 is "still unclear," according to analysts.

Milwaukee's Teen Birth Rate Lowest In Almost 30 Years

"This news is extremely encouraging," said Commissioner of Health Bevan K. Baker. "Teen pregnancy is a public health crisis in our community and this is one step in the right direction for bringing about change."

Nielsen announces plans to return to radio ratings service

The new service, which will generate a once-a-year report based on a Spring survey of radio listeners in 50 markets, will release its first ratings estimates next August

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