FAST GROWING ATTORNEY ADS UNDER SCRUTINY IN D.C.

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FAST GROWING ATTORNEY ADS UNDER SCRUTINY IN D.C.

MILLIONS OF DOLLARS ARE AT STAKE Legal advertising is growing at a solid pace for many local

TV stations, but now comes some rumblings in Washington that could make attorneys think twice about how they market themselves. That's because some members of Congress say the legal spots that discuss specific medical ailments and prescription drugs are causing headaches for doctors.

The concern raised by the House Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice is that legal ads are frightening people to the point where they stop taking lifesaving drugs prescribed to them. "They include a toll-free number like 1-800-Bad-Drug, visuals of an injury and a list of a drug's side effects," Subcommittee chair Steve King (R-IA) said. "The one bit of information that's not always included is a warning to patients about talking to their doctor before discontinuing a medication." King pointed to a Public Opinion Strategies survey that found three-quarters of Americans have seen ads by a law firms about pharmaceutical lawsuits in the last year. And one-in-four people who see a trial lawyer ad about a medicine they currently take say they would immediately stop taking the medicine without consulting their doctor. The American Medical Association has reported similar survey results.

Potentially millions of dollars of ad sales are at stake. "Lawyers are spending a lot of money. They have become a big category," TVB president Steve Lanzano said at the recent S&P Global TV & Radio Summit.

Data backs that up. Kantar Media reports legal services companies spent $657.2 million on TV commercials in 2016, a 4.2 % increase from a year earlier. But Kantar says lawyers spent $177.4 million during just the first quarter of this year. If that trend line holds it would deliver twice as fast a growth rate in 2017. Kantar doesn't report cable billing.

Critics of reining in attorney advertising say lawyers overall spent just a drop in the bucket compared to $6.4 billion spent by pharmaceutical companies. "The real threat to consumers is drug advertising," Rep. Steven Cohen (DTN) said. "Our broadcast, print and online media are full of pharmaceutical ads and it's impossible to escape the ads for everything from erectile dysfunction and a four-hour problem to constipation at any hour of the day--even when children may be watching. Those are areas that are more important to be looked at and screened." Democrats have repeatedly introduced legislation to put limits on pharmaceutical advertising saying it's running up the cost of health care, but those bills have failed to gain traction in a Republicancontrolled Congress.

No legislation targeting legal advertising has been introduced and a recent hearing may amount to a warning shot across the bow of attorneys looking to buy ads. Even if Congress does adopt new restrictions, experts say they're likely to face legal challenges on free speech grounds.

ADVERTISER NEWS After waiting since October, 2015 to get government

approval for a merger with Rite Aid, Walgreens announced that deal (and a selloff of 865 stores to Fred's) is now terminated in favor of a brand new deal in which it will just buy 2,186 Rite Aid stores (about half of Rite Aid's store roster) and related inventory for $5.175 billion. The initial closing of the new deal is expected to occur within six months from now and if this one gets a green light, stores will convert to the Walgreens brand over time. Fred's will receive a $25 million termination fee after it was cut out of the deal......At its retail stores, Walgreens comp pharmacy sales were up 5.8% in its latest fiscal quarter, coming from an 8.3% increase in comp prescriptions filled, while comparable store front-end sales dropped by 0.4%......We

reported yesterday of sales declines at General Mills, and now Advertising Age is reporting the company plans to revive sales by increasing advertising budgets, particularly for the Nature Valley snack line, Old El Paso, and its yogurt and cereal products. That's a complete reversal of last fiscal year's strategy when the company spent about $130 million less than it had invested in the previous year...... Four chicken-oriented formats are among the top ten fastest-growing restaurants chains based on total sales, according to Nation's Restaurant News' annual analysis of the top 100. Raising Cane's, Wingstop, Chick-fil-A and Zaxby's all made the list of top-growers along with two pizza formats (Marco's and Domino's), Dave & Buster's, Jersey Mike's, Starbucks and Panda Express. NRN remarks that it's usually just smaller chains with few units that can produce high gains in percentage growth yearto-year making the increases by Starbucks (already over 13,000 units) and Domino's (over 5,000 locations) noteworthy......Just yesterday we reported on Amazon's growth to the number seven retailer, and one of its weapons for growth is Prime Day. The third annual special event will be held on July 11 this year with new deals being posted as often as every five minutes. Last year, Prime Day sales were up more than 60% over the initial event in 2015......Advertising Age's 2017 Leading National Advertisers report says there were just two brands with U.S. measured media spending above $1 billion last year, Verizon and GEICO. While the latter often has more than one creative application on air concurrently, the Gecko first appeared in the 1999-2000 television season to become an advertising icon. The LNA report also notes all major categories increased spending last year except for telecom where AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint all cut back on their investments.

CABLENET CHATTER

CONTINUED DROP FORECAST FOR MVPDs

The Paramount Network's upcoming series Yellowstone

Traditional cable/satellite/telco pay-TV providers will

has added Wes Bentley, Kelly Reilly, Luke Grimes and continue to see subscriber losses, according to the latest

Cole Hauser to the cast. They will join Kevin Costner in findings from Kagan, a group within S&P Global Market

the 10-episode series set to air on the new network next Intelligence. The report says the traditional MVPDs are

summer. Yellowstone follows the Dutton family, let by John facing a video landscape in which streamed bundles, on-

Dutton, who controls the largest contiguous ranch in the line subscription services, self-aggregation and over-the-

United States. The show was described as, "an intense air delivery are playing more prominent roles.

study of a violent world far from media scrutiny ? where

"Changing viewing habits point to mounting losses for

land grabs make developers billions, and politicians are traditional video services, and challengers are lining up to

bought and sold by the world's largest oil and lumber capitalize," said Ian Olgeirson, Research Director, S&P

corporations."......AMC has teamed up with Comcast Global Market Intelligence. "However, the operators are

to launch a new premium viewing

not without significant fortifications en-

experience for Xfinity TV customers that

abling expectations for preserving a ma-

airs programming without commercials.

jority share in the five-year outlook."

With the upgrade to AMC Premiere,

I'm trying to convince my

Looking ahead through 2021, the Ka-

viewers can watch ad-free episodes Seattle in-laws the new travel gan analysis sees accelerated declines

of shows like The Walking Dead and

ban means we can't visit

of traditional multichannel subscriptions

Preacher, even at the same time as the

them this summer.

to 82.3 million, down 10.8 million house-

live broadcasts. AMC President Charlie

holds over five years. Meanwhile, virtual

Collier told The New York Times that

MVPDs, a niche pioneered by SlingTV

AMC Premiere is not a separate service like HBO Now, but rather an upgrade

Conan O'Brien

and Playstation Vue, is seen growing to a mainstream option accounting for

for existing subscribers. AMC Premiere

nearly 11 million households. And house-

will also offer a range of exclusive

holds relying solely on over-the-top de-

premium content, from bonus scenes and behind-the- livery of self-aggregated online content are expected to

scenes interviews to a list of movies specifically curated to reach nearly 18 million, or 14% of occupied households.

match current in-season programming. AMC Premiere soft

launched on Thursday with additional features set to roll DOES AT&T WANT CNN...AND ZUCKER?

out over the course of the summer......Fox News says that

NewsCorp's New York Post is reporting that CNN

GOP Representative Jason Chaffetz of Utah will be joining the network as a contributor. The congressman announced in May that he would be leaving his congressional seat on June 30th, prompting rumors that he would wind up at Fox News Channel. Chaffetz has picked up quite a bit of air time at FNC, especially during last year's presidential election and beyond. Chaffetz begins his job at Fox News on July 1st......Velocity will debut the second season of Iron Resurrection on Tuesday, July 11th at 10 PM (ET). In each episode, the team from Martin Brothers Customs in Austin, TX take on a restoration project for all types of cars, trucks, and motorcycles for a range of clients. Viewers get a detailed look at the creative restoration process from draft sketch though to the last lug nut being tightened and body being expertly polished. Iron Resurrection stars Joe

President (and the former head of NBC) Jeff Zucker might be "neutralized" by AT&T if the company gets approval for its proposed takeover of Time Warner. Sources told the paper the deal could get approval from the Justice Department within the next two months and one source added, "There was early talk about the way Zucker managed that wasn't a good fit for the new organization." One other scenario sees AT&T simply selling off CNN, with media analyst Craig Moffett commenting, "The news business doesn't seem to be central to AT&T's content strategy. They seem much more interested in the entertainment brands. If selling CNN would make regulators happy, they'll sell it. I can't imagine AT&T would let CNN stand in the way of securing approval for the merger."

Martin, his wife Amanda, and best friend Jayson "Shag" Arrington......Pretty Little Liars on Freeform ended its seven-season run with a two-hour series finale Tuesday night. The episode scored a 75% increase in 18-49 viewers and attracted 1.4 million viewers, making it the second-most watched Pretty Little Liars of the season, just behind the season seven opener from June 21, 2016......This weekend, ESPN will air a boxing match between World Boxing Organization welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao and undefeated contender Jeff "The Hornet" Horn. It will be the first time since 2005 that the popular Pacquaio has taken part in a fight that was not limited to pay-per-view. Boxing is not frequently featured on ESPN, but Burke Magnus,

ECONOMIC NEWS Here's some good news to think about as we start a

long holiday weekend: Consumers' assessments of current conditions is now the highest it's been since July, 2001, according to The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index. The Present Situation aspect of the index rose from an already-strong 140.6 in May to 146.3 for June. The Expectations Index, asking for consumers' thoughts about their situation six months ahead, declined by a small amount, although the percentage of people expecting to make more money in the months ahead rose from 19.1% to 22.2%.

ESPN's EVP of Programming and Scheduling said in an interview, "We hope to do more." The bout will air Saturday

CABLE SPOTS returns July 5th

at 10 PM (ET) and will also air on ESPN Deportes.

Our staff works hard each day to find the

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most important stories for the cable industry. We're rewarding them with an extra day off

and a pack of sparklers! Enjoy the 3rd & 4th!



Friday, June 30, 2017

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