Gannett

Many news organizations are finding that their journalists — both print and broadcast — are much more productive when equipped with the very versatile phone powered by an ever-growing number of apps. “Now everybody’s a newsgatherer,” says KPNX Phoenix News Director Mark Casey. “Our photojournalists use traditional pro video cameras, the point-and-shoot or the iPhone — and sometimes all three.”

Gannett Co. acquired Fantasy Sports Ventures, a network of independent sports websites led by TheBigLead.com, underscoring big media companies’ focus on online sports news. The deal, terms of which weren’t disclosed, could make Gannett’s USA Today Sports Media Group one of the five biggest properties online in a category dominated by Yahoo Sports and ESPN.com.

With a towering 3 million-plus uniques in October, Gannett’s carefully nurtured online operation, which combines the efforts of its NBC affiliate KPNX and its Arizona Republic, swamps its nearest competitors, MyFoxPhoenix.com and Scripps’ ABC15.com. Along with winning in audience, AZCentral now generates 20% of Gannett’s total revenues in the sprawling Phoenix DMA.

The partnership will offer a “second screen” app in early 2012, allowing viewers to tap into related content and swap comments with friends watching the same broadcast TV show at the same time. Broadcasters hope the app with lead to increased revenue, greater engagement and better tune-in promotion. Participating station groups include those of Pearl, the joint venture formed last year to pursue the mobile DTV business. They include Belo, Cox, Scripps, Gannett, Hearst Television, Media General, Meredith, Post-Newsweek and Raycom.

This latest deal with Gannett puts the new over-the-air multicast network targeted to African Americans at more than 50% coverage of the U.S.

Susan Ness, who served on the FCC during the Clinton administration, has been elected to to the Gannett board. “Susan has been a strong voice for consumers and understands the enormous value technology brings to people’s lives,” said Gannett Chairman Majorie Magner.

But factoring out the lower political revenue, that changes to a 4.7% gain, driven by improving auto advertising. Retrans revenue was up 26.7% and online grew 27.5%.

Gannett-owned MomsLikeMe announced that it will be shutting its sites Friday, Oct. 14. A notice posted on MomsLikeMe.com, which operates in 90 cities, said Gannett made a business decision to invest in other online digital initiatives.

Health problems force him to step down. He’s being replaced by Marjorie Magner, who’s named chairman, and  Gracia Martore, who becomes CEO.

McGraw-Hill has begun shopping its four-station group and is said to be drawing interest from the likes of Nexstar, Meredith and Belo. Based on its financials for 2010 and 2011, the group is worth between $150 million and $200 million, although bidding and the expection of big revenue gains from political advertising in 2012 could push the number higher.

After much talk about the future of news relying more on user-generated contributions, Gannett’s early experiments in crowd-sourced local news content has fizzled. It shuttered the company’s 17 hyperlocal news sites in New Jersey, which operated under the umbrella InJersey.com site.

In an internal memo distributed Tuesday, Gannett’s U.S. newspapers division president Bob Dickey announced that 700 employees — or approximately 2% of the company’s overall workforce — would be laid off.

In a market with fierce competition from a myriad of newspaper and television sites vying to be No. 1, Gannett chooses the sunny Tampa-St. Petersburg market as the online proving ground for its bold experiment in hyperlocal news sites.

But after factoring out political spending and ad losses due to absences of Olympics and Super Bowl this year, Gannett said, revenue was up 7.5% over the first quarter of 2010. Based on current trends, Gannett expects total TV revenues for the second quarter to be flat and core to be up in mid-single digits.

Gannett moves him from leading its KTHV Little Rock, Ark., to the top slot at its CBS affiliate in Greensboro-High Point-Winston Salem, N.C.

In today’s earnings call, execs highlight the strong contributions from broadcasting in the fourth quarter and see positive signs in retrans and low singlt-digit gains in ad revenue in this year’s first quarter.

“Significantly higher” political money, solid core ad demand and 16% higher retrains revenue boost the fourth quarter figures.

Station group executives say that with growing multiplatform opportunities for stations, the need for compelling, creative syndicated programming is growing in importance. Said Post-Newsweek Stations’ Alan Frank: “No one does it like television. No one sells emotion like we do.”

Paul Saleh today was named senior vice president and chief financial officer of Gannett Co. Saleh reports to Gracia C. Martore, president-COO, who was promoted to president and COO earlier […]