Promotions by FCC in Office of Legislative Affairs: Greg Guice to acting director; Christopher Lewis to acting deputy director … Lobbyist Registrations: AT&T, The Gibson Group, effective May 1.
Lobbyist Registrations: NBCUniversal, Cabralgroup, effective March 31 … Sprint Nextel, Franklin Square Group, effective April 11 … Rural Cellular Association, TwinLogic Strategies, effective April 15 … Ericsson promotes Arun Bhikshesvaran to head of marketing and chief marketing officer … Saffron Digital hires Matt Peterson, ex-Samsung Mobile, as senior vice president, America … Sunrise Telecom adds Helmut Berg, ex-JDSU, to board … Online video technology firm Ooyala board adds Russ Pillar, 5850 Group and the Raine Group.
Rick Boucher, ex-Democratic congressman from Virginia, hired by Sidley Austin as a partner in the Washington office, where he will head its new government strategies practice … 720 Strategies Washington PR firm hires Jeff Oldham, ex-Sextant Public Affairs, as managing director.
Lobbyist Registrations: Pandora Media, TwinLogic Strategies, effective April 1. … General Communication Inc. last month hired Megan Delany, ex-own consulting and lobbying firm, as vice president, federal governmental affairs and counsel in Washington, D.C., office, succeeding Tina Pidgeon, previously promoted to work for company at Alaska headquarters … Weigel Broadcasting changes: Neal Sabin promoted to president of content and networks; John Hendricks, ex-Tribune Broadcasting, hired as executive vice president of sales, new position … Mellanox Technologies promotions: Matthew Gloss to general counsel; Shai Cohen to chief operating officer … BlackArrow board adds Joan Gillman, Time Warner Cable, as member in conjunction with an investment by the cable operator.
Joseph Clayton, ex-RCA and Sirius, named Dish Network president and CEO, replacing Charles Ergen, who remains chairman … Changes in FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau: Howard Parnell, ex-Washingtonpost.com, named chief of new Web and Print Publishing Division; Susan McLean, ex-Public Safety Bureau, moves to chief of Consumer Affairs and Outreach Division … TV One President-CEO Johnathan Rodgers to retire, effective July 31 … RRsat board member Shlomo Shamir becomes chairman, replacing Gilad Ramot, remaining on board … 3D network 3net names Carlos Gutierrez, ex-Discovery, vice president-business affairs and legal … Olivia Dupuis promoted to AMC vice president-public relations.
Broadcaster Q1 results: Westwood One sales fell 2.1 percent from a year earlier to $90.9 million, the company said. Its net loss increased 45 percent to $9.7 million on lower sales and higher expenses. … Cumulus Media sales gained 2.7 percent to $57.8 million from a year earlier. The broadcaster had a profit of $16.1 million versus a $144,000 loss a year earlier, it said.
Bartel Kendrick retires, effective immediately, as public affairs specialist, Rural Utilities Service … Time Warner hires Michael Benson, ex-ABC, as chief creative officer and promotes Kristen O'Hara to chief marketing officer, together replacing Mark D'Arcy, who previously was hired by Facebook as global media group head … TDS Telecom promotions: William Megan to head Hosted and Managed Services operation; Vicki Villacrez to vice president-finance and interim chief financial officer … James Topham, ex-KPMG, joins Norsat board … Lobbyist Registrations: Open Mobile Video Coalition, Podesta Group, effective April 4 … TracFone, Theodosiou Consultants, effective May 11.
SpaceX hires Bret Johnsen, ex-Mindspeed, as chief financial officer … Demand Media promotes Taryn Naidu to executive vice president for registrar services and general manager of eNom domain name wholesaler, replacing Michael Blend, who will now work on special projects.
Former Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, becomes chairman TechAmerica Foundation board.
Q1 broadcast results: E.W. Scripps TV station ad sales gained 3.2 percent from a year earlier to $69 million. Local ad sales gained 3.5 percent to $41.1 million, political ad sales fell 50 percent to $444,000 and national ad sales fell 1 percent to $20.0 million, it said. Compensation from the broadcast networks is a thing of the past for its ABC and NBC affiliates, Scripps said. It took in nearly $800,000 in network compensation in Q1 2010 but none in Q1 2011, it said. Retransmission consent fees gained 47 percent from a year earlier to $4 million, and digital sales gained 29 percent to $2.1 million. Profit at the TV division fell 4.3 percent to $6.3 million. … Entercom ad sales gained 2 percent from a year earlier to $82.5 million while expenses grew 4 percent to $61.8 million. Results were largely in line with analyst expectations, Noble Financial’s Michael Kupinksi wrote investors on Tuesday. “The acceleration in revenue that was anticipated seems to be pushed out a quarter or two.” Shares of Entercom fell 10 percent on Tuesday. … Fisher Communications TV ad sales gained 9 percent from a year earlier to $29.1 million. Local and national ad sales, excluding political spots, gained 9 percent to $22.8 million and TV cash flow gained 47 percent to $4.7 million. Online ad sales gained 89 percent to $1.2 million, about 5.5 percent of all TV sales. Sales at Fisher’s radio stations fell 1 percent from a year earlier to $5.2 million and cash flow at the stations fell 14 percent to $304,000.