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sales@spotsndots.com Copyright 2018.The Daily News of TV Sales Thursday, March 15, 2018

BIG MVPDs: VIDEO SUBS DOWN; INTERNET UPCABLE LEADS TELCO IN BROADBAND ADDS The cable television business continues to transform—with less and less reliance on selling TV content and more and more on selling broadband Internet access. Full year 2017 data from Leichtman Research Group (LRG) shows that major U.S. pay-TV providers lost nearly 1.5 million video subscribers, but added 2.1 million broadband customers. Also, the broadband growth was focused on cable companies, while the telcos actually lost ground. LRG President Bruce Leichtman noted a continuing share shift from traditional video providers, the MVPDs, to the newer Internet-delivered services, the virtual MVPDs. In fact, the two largest vMVPDs added 1.6 million net subscribers in 2017. DirecTV Now added 888,000 to get to 1.155 million and Dish Network’s Sling TV added 711,000 to hit 2.212 million. “Satellite TV services, DirecTV and Dish TV, had more combined net losses in 2017 than in any previous year, yet these losses were offset by gains from their Internet-delivered flanker brands, DirecTV Now and Sling TV,” noted Leichtman. The two satellite services lost a combined 1.5 million subs. The major cable companies lost a net 660,245 video subscribers in 2017, led by Charter (down 239,000) and Comcast (down 151,000). Comcast remains the pay-TV giant at 22.4 million subs, followed by DirecTV at 20.5 million, Charter just shy of 17 million and Dish 11 million. But while cable pay-TV subs were falling, the companies added 2.7 million broadband subscribers. That put their year-end Internet sub tally at 61.2 million—well ahead of their 48.1 million video subs. The cable companies also command the lion’s share of the 95.1 million total market of broadband subscribers. The telcos, meanwhile, lost ground in both businesses. LRG says telco video subscribers fell 883,000 to 9.2 million and broadband subs were down 625,624 to 33.9 million. AT&T was the only big telco to gain broadband subscribers, up 114,000 to 15.7 million, while its pat-TV service, AT&T U-verse, dropped 624,000 subs to 3.7 million. (AT&T has been marketing its satellite TV service rather than U-verse since acquiring DirecTV.) Verizon FiOS lost 75,000 video subs to 4.6 million, while broadband subs fell 79,000 to just under 7 million. And Frontier saw broadband subs decline 333,000 to 3.9 million as pay-TV subs dropped 184,000 to 961,000. Broadband growth is slowing, though. LRG noted that the 2.1 million net additions in 2017 were 76% of the 2.7 million net adds in 2016. Meanwhile, the pay-TV decline accelerated. Even with the vMVPDs included to get to a total of 92.2 million subs, pay-TV providers lost 1.6% of subscribers in 2017, compared to a loss of 0.8% in 2016.

ADVERTISER NEWS U.S. retail sales fell for a third straight month in February as households cut back on purchases of motor vehicles and other big-ticket items, pointing to a slowdown in economic growth in the first quarter, according to CNBC. The Commerce Department said on Wednesday that retail sales slipped 0.1 percent last month. Much of the decline was tied to lower sales of cars and weak gasoline prices.

Americans also reduced shopping for furniture, health products, groceries and electronics.....Sears Holdings Corp. jumped 17 percent in late trading Wednesday after the U.S. tax overhaul helped the retailer post a rare quarterly profit. Net income amounted to $182 million in the fourth quarter. However, same-store sales dropped 15.6 percent overall. Same-store sales

for the Kmart banner were down 12.2 percent, while Sears’ same-store sales fell 18.1 percent.....Toys “R” Us Chief Executive Officer Dave Brandon confirmed to employees on Wednesday that their U.S. stores will be closing. The company entered this year with more than 800 stores in the U.S. -- under both the Toys “R” Us and Babies “R” Us brands. A total of 30,000 jobs are likely to evaporate. Canadian stores will remain open.....Shares of Ford Motor Co. jumped Wednesday morning after Morgan Stanley raised its valuation of the automaker for the first time in two years, a sign that Wall Street may finally be warming to restructuring efforts under CEO Jim Hackett, per autonews.com. “We see Ford as an out-of-favor self-help story with room to surprise the market with cost-savings and profit repositioning potential,” said Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas...Lexus plans to start selling a 65-foot ultraluxury yacht in the U.S. in the second half of next year. The vessel will have room for 15 guests, three bedrooms with their own washrooms, plus separate quarters for crew. For Lexus, taking to the water is less about selling big, beautiful boats than it is about adding luster to a brand that’s lost some of its luster. Lexus hasn’t held the lead in high-end U.S. car sales for almost a decade....Dean Foods has notified more than 100 dairy operations that their contracts with the company will be terminated at the end of May. According to Farm and Dairy, Dean’s letter blamed an oversupply of raw milk, a decrease in fluid milk consumption and Walmart’s new 250,000-square-foot milk processing facility in Indiana, which will result in 90 million to 100 million fewer gallons being supplied by the dairy giant, per fooddive.com....As online grocery shopping continues to grow, so will online alcohol sales, according to a recent report from Rabobank and cited by Supermarket News. Rabobank analysts reported U.S. online alcohol sales totaled $1.7 billion last year. It’s not that much -- but growth in online channels is outpacing sales at brick-and-mortar retailers.

PAGE 2 The Daily News of TV Sales @ www.spotsndots.com

NETWORK NEWS ABC has announced the renewal of four of its reality franchise shows. The Bachelor, Dancing with the Stars, America’s Funniest Home Videos and Child Support all were picked up for new seasons. The renewals for the first three come as no surprise. They have formed the bedrock of ABC’s in-season unscripted strategy for more than a decade. The game show Child Support, with Fred Savage and Ricky Gervais, premiered in January. The show has averaged a 0.7 adult 18-49 rating and 3.7 million viewers in its first season……Sarah Drew and Michelle Hurd have been cast in the CBS reboot of Cagney & Lacey. Hurd is cast as Lacey, an LAPD detective who is athletic, polished, and a former high-school track star. Drew will play LAPD detective Cagney, Lacey’s nimble and easygoing partner and protégé. Drew recently departed the long-running ABC drama Grey’s Anatomy. Bridget Carpenter (Westworld, Friday Night Lights, Parenthood) will write and executive produce the pilot with CBS Television Studios producing along with MGM Television……Tone Bell has been cast in a lead role in the CBS comedy pilot Fam. He will play a sophisticated NYU professor who comes from old money but is refreshingly unaffected and down-to-earth despite his refined background. Bell’s credits include the Netflix multi-camera comedy Disjointed, the CBS comedy 9JKL, NBC’s Truth Be Told, CW’s The Flash, Bad Judge and Whitney. Bell will join a cast that includes Nina Dobrev, Odessa Adlon, Brian Stokes Mitchel, and Sheryl Lee Ralph……The ABC drama pilot The Fix has added Robin Tunney in a lead role. Tunney will play a lead prosecuting attorney in a trial that gripped the nation. She prosecutes a case where the jury finds a famous actor innocent of a double murder. Tunney’s character is crushed by the shocking verdict and retreats to a quieter life on a horse farm. Eight years later, news breaks that the actor’s girlfriend has been brutally murdered, bringing Tunney’s character back to Los Angeles to face her past. Tunney joins a cast that currently includes Merrin Dungey, Breckin Meyer, Mouzam Makkar, Scott Cohen, Marc Blucas, Adam Rayner, and Alex Saxon. The Fix will be written, and executive produced by former O.J. Simpson prosecutor Marcia Clark, along with Elizabeth Craft, Sarah Fain, David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman, and Laurie Zaks, with ABC Studios producing……Thomas Lennon has been tapped to play the title character in the Fox single-camera comedy pilot Dan the Weatherman. Lennon’s character gets fired from his cushy job as a weatherman at a local TV station and finds it’s not enough to be a charming white man in this world. He reluctantly ends up at the neighboring Spanish TV station. Lennon most recently starred with Matthew Perry in the CBS comedy series The Odd Couple and was the star and co-creator of Reno 9-1-1! Dan the Weatherman hails from The Life & Times of Tim creator Steve Dildarian, Tomorrow Studios and 20th Century Fox TV. Dildarian will write the script for the pilot with Seth Gordon directing.

AVAILS Reagan Outdoor Advertising is a leading billboard advertising company located in Austin, Texas that is experiencing tremendous growth. We’re looking for a detail oriented, research and database guru. You’ll be an integral part of our dynamic team and help us reach new heights. You’ll lead the development of all presentations, proposals, reports, one sheets, and research pieces that will assist in the selling process. Previous experience in Research in OOH, TV or Radio required with a track record of helping organizations meet revenue goals. Bachelor’s degree

and minimum of 2 years’ experience required in media research. Email your resume with a cover letter and salary requirements to kgoumakos@reaganusa.com. No calls please. Director of Sales: Cox Media Group Tulsa seeks a talented, experienced and motivated sales leader to develop and manage the sales strategies in an integrated media market including Radio, TV and Digital assets. The DOS will lead a team of sales managers and

their team of AEs, will create a culture of cross-platform and cross-product selling including radio, television, digital agency and National. Minimum of 7-10 years of strategic media sales management experience – preferably in broadcast TV or radio sales, preferred. CLICK HERE for more info or to apply. EOE. Award Winning Broadcaster WJZY, the Fox Owned and Operated television station in Charlotte, NC is seeking a highly motivated, hardworking Senior AE who will help local and regional advertisers achieve their business objectives through effective TV and digital advertising. Responsible for growing revenue and share from new and existing accounts through effective selling techniques. The ideal candidate possesses excellent communication skills, has an enthusiastic and outgoing personality and the drive to succeed. CLICK HERE for more info or to apply now. EOE/M/F/Veteran/Disabled. See your ad here tomorrow! CLICK HERE for details.

MOM & DAD STILL PAYING SOME BILLS A survey of Millennials finds that even among those with full-time jobs, nearly a quarter (24%) say their parents still pay at least one of their bills. And most of those, 79.7%, are not still living with their parents. The survey of 800 Millennials employed full-time was conducted by the Internet car-buying site instamotor, using the Pollfish survey platform. The most common expense being paid by mom and dad is the Millennial’s cell phone bill (53%). That’s followed by car insurance (30.7%), car payments (29.7%) and utilities (also 29.7%). More than 4 in 5 (84%) Millennials say their parents would help them if they had a financial emergency like car trouble or medical expenses, and more than 3 in 5 (62.4%) say their parents have or would help them pay for their wedding.

3/15/2018

Jimmy Fallon

Elon Musk was asked recently who inspires him, and he said Kanye West. Kanye then said, “What a

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The Daily News of TV Sales @ www.spotsndots.com PAGE 3

MOODY’S: USED CAR PRICES TO STABILIZE Look for the decline in used car/light truck prices to slow this year and drop to a rate of only 1.07% in 2019, according to Moody’s Analytics. That’s a sharp improvement from the 3.63% decline in 2017. The latest Moody’s Analytics Used Car Price Outlook, available here, says off-lease volumes will continue to rise, yet at a decreasing rate, giving dealers a better chance to adjust to the higher volumes. This trend, together with tightening credit standards among lenders, rising interest rates, and attractively priced, high-quality used inventory will cause consumers to seriously consider alternatives to buying new cars, stimulating demand for used vehicles and supporting prices through 2019. “Decreasing new vehicle demand and tightening credit conditions will have important implications for used vehicle markets over the next few years,” said Moody’s Michael Vogan. “We forecast new vehicle sales to drop to just over 16 million by 2020, and with that will come a decline in dealer-consigned trade-in sales at auction.” The Moody’s Analytics AutoCycle model predicts that average 3-year-old light truck and SUV residual values will decline steadily from 56% to 50% of list prices over the next three years, while car residual values are expected to rise from 47% to 49% of list prices during the same period. That convergence will give the market equilibrium by the end of the decade.

iHEART MEDIA FILES CHAPTER 11 iHeartMedia has struck an agreement in principle with holders of more than $10 billion of its debt and filed for bankruptcy protection last night. The company says the agreement reflects “widespread support” across its capital structure for a comprehensive balance sheet restructuring that will reduce its debt by more than $10 billion. As with Cumulus Media, which began a similar restructuring route in November, iHeart says it will be business as usual for its radio stations. It’s subsidiary, Clear Channel Outdoor, is not a part of the filing.

ACCOUNT ACTIONS Office Depot, Inc. and Y&R announced that Office Depot has selected WPP’s Y&R-led Office Depot Partnership as the brand’s new marketing partner. The move brings together resources from across the WPP network. Y&R will lead extensive brand platform development and creative campaign work, with Landor handling brand identity development, VML focusing on digital transformation and ecommerce solutions, and MediaCom handling media duties……MediaCom USA announced that it has been named media agency of record for premium window and door manufacturer Pella Corporation. MediaCom will handle all of Pella’s planning and buying from its Chicago office in partnership with Eleven, Inc., the client’s creative agency……Barbarian, New York, an agency of Cheil Worldwide, has been named global AOR for the L’Oreal nail polish brand essie. The brand spent about $24 million on measured media last year according to Kantar Media.

THIS AND THAT Despite a booming job market, U.S. retail sales fell for the third straight month in February. The Commerce Department reported weakness in car sales, of course, but retail sales were also down across a wider variety of categories. Overall retail sales were down 0.1%. But excluding volatile auto sales and gasoline, the monthly measure was up 0.3%, led by spending on building supplies and restaurants……A report from Excentus Corporation says U.S. consumers have ranked fuel savings as their preferred loyalty currency over cash-back rewards for

the third year in a row. Fuel savings, a currency that helps consumers save on the price of gas, have become a more attractive and valuable rewards currency, as 39% of consumers prefer fuel savings whereas only 35% prefer cash-back on credit cards……Walmart is expanding home delivery of groceries ordered online to more than 100 markets by the end of this year. The concept has already been tested in six markets—Dallas, Denver, Orlando,

Phoenix, Tampa and San Jose—using Uber for delivery. The expansion will use Deliv as well as Uber, and possibly other partners……Ford has recalled about 1.3 million 2014-18 model Ford Fusion and Lincoln MKZ vehicles for potentially loose steering wheel bolts that could result in a steering wheel detaching from the steering column.

DONE DEALS WDIV-TV, Graham Media Group’s NBC affiliate in Detroit, has named John Cook to the position of Local Sales Manager. Cook most recently was WDIV’s National Sales Manager, a role he took over in 2016. He joined the station in 2012 as an Account Executive before becoming Digital Sales/New Business Manager two years later. Prior to joining WDIV, Cook spent 17 years in the print industry as VP for a regional direct mail magazine.

3/15/2018

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