Disney CEO Eisner’s day of reckoning in Comcast’s hometown

A multilayered media war will begin Wednesday in Philadelphia, pitting Walt Disney Co. against Comcast Corp., Disney factions against each other, and media activists against an industry bent on consolidation. Investor demands to unseat Disney Chairman and Chief Executive Michael Eisner may be the main event at the media giant’s annual meeting, which was scheduled for Philadelphia long before Comcast …

Major League Soccer Wants a Brand New Television Deal

Major League Soccer is poised for a breakout, and the league is determined to get a television deal to secure profitability. NEW YORK (TheStreet) – Mark Abbott has been waiting for this moment for 20 years. At the end of 2014, the television rights for Major League Soccer, currently held by Disney‘s (DIS – Get Report) ESPN, Comcast‘s (CMCSA – Get …

Radio’s Biggest Fear Isn’t Losing Howard Stern, it’s the iPod

Consumers get new choices, more control When Jeff Smulyan, chairman and chief executive of the radio and television company Emmis Communications Corp., was asked at an investor conference earlier this year whether Howard Stern‘s impending departure to satellite radio had shaken the industry, he replied that the shock jock’s exit from over-the-air broadcasting wasn’t close …

FCC Lifts Ban on Local Media Cross-Ownership, Inviting Consolidation

A pillar of U.S. media ownership restrictions for more than 40 years has fallen. Owners of local television stations will be permitted to buy a local radio station or newspaper in the same market after the Federal Communications Commissions on Thursday, Nov. 16, voted to lift the ban on cross-ownership that had stood since 1975. …

Leon Lazaroff