Washington Post 2007 Annual Report Download - page 9

Download and view the complete annual report

Please find page 9 of the 2007 Washington Post annual report below. You can navigate through the pages in the report by either clicking on the pages listed below, or by using the keyword search tool below to find specific information within the annual report.

Page out of 106

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • 16
  • 17
  • 18
  • 19
  • 20
  • 21
  • 22
  • 23
  • 24
  • 25
  • 26
  • 27
  • 28
  • 29
  • 30
  • 31
  • 32
  • 33
  • 34
  • 35
  • 36
  • 37
  • 38
  • 39
  • 40
  • 41
  • 42
  • 43
  • 44
  • 45
  • 46
  • 47
  • 48
  • 49
  • 50
  • 51
  • 52
  • 53
  • 54
  • 55
  • 56
  • 57
  • 58
  • 59
  • 60
  • 61
  • 62
  • 63
  • 64
  • 65
  • 66
  • 67
  • 68
  • 69
  • 70
  • 71
  • 72
  • 73
  • 74
  • 75
  • 76
  • 77
  • 78
  • 79
  • 80
  • 81
  • 82
  • 83
  • 84
  • 85
  • 86
  • 87
  • 88
  • 89
  • 90
  • 91
  • 92
  • 93
  • 94
  • 95
  • 96
  • 97
  • 98
  • 99
  • 100
  • 101
  • 102
  • 103
  • 104
  • 105
  • 106

Even continued high capital expenditures have a small bright spot. Much of the spending
comes from customers ordering DVRs, a sought-after feature that makes the whole cable
package more attractive.
Post–Newsweek Stations remains the best in its class — it has high quality,
high margins and excellent stations.
TV stations face two of the same issues as newspapers: a fragmenting mass audience and
advertiser demand for more targeting. But TV stations have a lower cost base and the chance
to increase their revenues by improving their position in a local market. They also have “re-
transmission consent” negotiations with cable companies as a possible revenue source
(since we own Cable ONE, we’re on both sides). TV stations also face some uncertainty as
the deadline approaches for a federally mandated switch-over to digital broadcasting.
Alan Frank’s management of Post–Newsweek Stations produced some important pluses:
number-one stations in early and late news in San Antonio and Jacksonville, continuing im-
provement in Orlando and a surprise in Miami, where Dave Boylan’s astute changes in
program lineup continued to generate a big improvement in early and late news ratings.
At Newsweek, Rick Smith stepped aside after 16 years as an outstanding
CEO of the magazine; he’ll continue as chairman. We were fortunate that Tom Ascheim
joined us from Viacom; he will join corporate vice president Ann McDaniel and editor Jon
Meacham in driving Newsweek’s success.
The worst news at The Post this year was not financial. Salih Saif Aldin,
one of a large staff of Iraqi journalists working in our Baghdad bureau, was killed
while photographing a story.
2007 Annual Report 7
Customers love Cable ONE’s
high-speed data service, and growth
remains strong.