Here is a post from our colleague Shradhha Sharma in Bangalore:

Martha Stewart loves your pet.

The home decorating expert and tastemaker (Macy's good, Home Depot good, Kmart not so good) wants you to buy pet clothing, collars, leashes, bedding, grooming supplies, toys and more, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia said on Tuesday. Pet products retailer PetSmart Inc will sell the accessories starting in the spring of 2010.

Age Group Ltd, which makes licensed products for brands such as Disney, Baby Phat, Hello Kitty and Peanuts, will design the goods.

The announcement adds pet stores to the roster of retailers where you can see Martha's name emblazoned on various products. As we mentioned above, Macy's and Home Depot are two others. One place where you WON'T see her name anymore after next January is Kmart, the discount retailer. The company and Kmart are ending their relationship, something that's been known for months. Stewart's latest comment on that relationship came last Friday when she wished them well and said it would be wrong to interpret earlier remarks she made about Kmart as being inconsistent with her good feelings.

Those remarks, which she uttered on CNBC in September, were more in the spirit of "doberman pinscher" than "cute little kitten," but no matter -- PetSmart no doubt will sport a variety of tasteful Stewart products to suit a variety of temperaments and breeds.

(Photo: Reuters)

After seeing Martha Stewart on CNBC this morning, I was surprised to find that she doesn’t sell a Martha Stewart-branded KA-Bar knife because she seems like she knows how to use one.

Stewart appeared on TV to talk about the company’s new merchandising agreement with Home Depot. The hardware big-box retailer will offer a line of products sold under the Martha Stewart brand. Before they got too far into the interview, they talked about a similar program with discount retailer Kmart that ends in January 2010 — the same time that the Home Depot deal begins.

Here is an excerpt:

The new [Kmart] ownership really has let our line deteriorate. It’s been kind of ripped off, I would say, and really diminished, and the quality is really not what I am proud of. Have you been into a Kmart lately? it’s not the nicest place to shop. …

The stores are not what they were. The shopping experience is not what it was. The products are not there that people go in for. And it’s not a good situation. And as a designer-supplier, I have been extremely disappointed.

CNBC reporter Becky Quick didn’t hide her agreement:

I’ve been in a Kmart recently too and I know exactly what you’re talking about. It’s not only that the quality of the stores has dropped, it’s that it’s hard to find sales people to help you in some of these stores.

And it went on like that for a while. Are you listening, Home Depot and Macy’s? Make sure you keep making good things.

(Photo: Reuters)

Sirius XM Radio has launched its long-awaited App for the iPhone to mixed reviews. That’s not surprising, really, since the legion of Sirius subscribers has never been sheepish about the pay radio service.

Many users like it, so they can get unique programming in a slick iPhone App. Now they can take Martha Stewart Radio, Road Dog Trucking and the Praise Channel with them anywhere. But you can’t listen to exclusive stuff like Howard Stern’s programming, or Major League Baseball games or the Nascar channel. Ouch.

It’s true that only a handful of channels are excluded (for rights reasons) versus the 120 channels one can listen to. But many Sirius XM subscribers are drawn to the service primarily for Stern, Baseball and the NFL, and they are not pleased. Of 421 user reviews on the iTunes App Store, 261 rate it 1 (out-of-5) stars, and its average is 2 stars. By contrast, online radio app Pandora scores an average 3.5 stars (from a much larger survey sample).

For every Sirius App comment that sounds like this from “Garfinkel”:

The app itself works pretty well. It’s been streaming without a glitch…” (3 Stars)

…there are three that read this way from “MXIKN”:

App shows great promise. Glad I didn’t renew my subscription cause there is no HOWARD. What are they thinking? I’m willing to renew if I can get Howard Stern. Many others will agree with me. Give us what we want. (1 Star)

Still others balked because the “free” App requires a Sirius subscription PLUS, in some cases, an additional $3 monthly fee for its online package.

Business insider’s Dan Frommer said the App may find an audience, but…

…we have a hard time seeing the app driving significant new subscribership to Sirius, as there’s simply too many other ways to listen to music on the iPhone already. (Which don’t cost $13/month.)

I would tell you how I feel about it, but the Sirius XM Radio App for the iPhone and iPod Touch does not run on 1st generation Touches — like the one I own.

UPDATE: I went back to the App store hours later and it downloaded easily on my first gen Touch. (earlier there was an error message that stopped the download.) Can’t give a full review yet, but as first impressions go, “Top Billin’” by Audio Two on the “Backspin” station is golden.

We’ve recently been wondering who the real boss is at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. You know, the supreme chief, the head honcho, the generalissimo.  At one point we noticed the management team consisted of two co-chief executives, an executive chairman as well as a chief financial officer. All this with Martha herself hovering in the background.

Well we won’t have to wonder anymore. Or maybe we will.

It looks like the company’s top tier is slimming down with co-CEO Wenda Harris Millard stepping down to join Media Link, an advisory firm, less than a year after the ex-Yahoo exec was promoted to (co-) run the lifestyle brand.

Millard’s co-CEO Robin Marino will no longer hold that title but will continue to oversee the company’s merchandising business — and perhaps as consolation for her loss of title the company has recommended her for a seat on its board.

Charles Koppelman, who once ran EMI, will run day-to-day operations in his on-going role as chairman and principal executive officer. According to Koppelman’s Wikipedia page he’s a part-owner of pole-dancing club and his daughter Jennifer co-hosts a Sirius satellite radio show with Alexis Stewart, Martha’s daughter. Nice.

The management musical chairs at MSLO might have its roots in the fact that Stewart has been barred from serving as a corporate officer with financial reporting and other duties for five years under a 2006 settlement with U.S. securities regulators over insider-trading.

But Stewart continues to oversee all editorial and creative functions at the company so in essence is still very likely the real top dawg at the company she founded.

No doubt there will soon be the usual speculation about in-fighting and management fall-outs — or maybe we’re just hoping.

Keep an eye on:

• New York Times first quarter losses mount (NYT)
• Rodgers & Hammerstein catalogue gets bought (WSJ)
• Lions Gate makes anti-Icahn deal with bondholders (LA Times)

(Photo: Reuters)

If you were looking for any positive signs from the advertising industry, perhaps as vendors try to drum up business amid the rough economy, forget it. Times are tough there too.

On Tuesday, France’s Publicis said it expects to see weakness in mature markets and traditional sectors and a “marked slowdown” in the ad industry next year.

And Interpublic Chief Executive Michael Roth said clients’ spending plans were under pressure from the financial crisis.

“While we believe that with our strong performance year to date we remain positioned to achieve our financial objectives for 2008, the impact of an increasingly unsettled and volatile business environment on our sector is not yet clear and creates a risk to meeting our stated goals.”

Even Martha Stewart’s Omnimedia machine said advertising revenue in its publishing division fell in the third quarter, and ad results in the current quarter are down so far.

All this after Omnicom last week said some of its retail and automotive clients had begun to cancel some spending plans.

Keep an eye on:

• The Los Angeles Times plans to cut 10 percent of its news staff. (Reuters)
• MSNBC takes hits for its political coverage. (Hollywood Reporter)
• OK! magazine is unveiling a major leadership shake-up. (New York Post)
  

Step off — CBS and Viacom are not for sale!

That comes courtesy of Sumner Redstone, who should know since he holds a controlling stake in both of the media companies. Here’s what he told the Wall Street Journal in an interview:

Asked whether he would consider selling one of the companies, Mr. Redstone said: “Not a chance. I will not sell Viacom and I will not sell CBS. They’re two great companies.” He added: “We have no intention to sell any more stock and I’m decisive about that.”

Redstone’s interview with the Journal should help clear the air on much recent speculation about the future of Viacom and CBS — both suffering badly in the stock market. In the last month, shares of Viacom have dropped about 30 percent, while CBS shares have fallen a staggering 45 percent.

Stock slide aside, the chatter about a possible sale really began when Redstone had to sell a bunch of non-voting stock earlier this month to help pay off debt at his privately held National Amusements. Now he’s trying to rework some of the convenants related to that debt.

About talks with lenders he says: 

“I have every reason to have some confidence” that we will be able to reach a deal with the banks, Mr. Redstone said. “I have no guarantee though…of course, anything is possible: The world might end tomorrow.”

Ummm, let’s hope not.  

Keep an eye on:

• Ticketmaster agreed to acquire what is widely regarded as the music world’s most powerful artist-management company and install the management company’s boss at the helm of the combined (WSJ.com)
• Rupert Murdoch has raised objections with Michael Wolff and his publisher about portions of a new book, “The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch” (NYTimes.com)
• A rift is developing between Martha Stewart and Wenda Harris Millard, the new co-chief executive of her company (NY Post)

(Photo: Reuters)

Rupert Murdoch’s children have the perfect gift to give to Dad come Father’s Day next year: a book on indoor and outdoor grilling by celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse that will come out on May 12, 2009. It’s the first entry in a 10-book project that Lagasse — now a member of the Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia franchise — prepared for HarperStudio, an imprint of book publisher and News Corp subsidiary HarperCollins.

HarperStudio will promote the book and his other titles written for HarperCollins with video, photography and blogs at its own website, as well as emerils.com, while Martha Stewart Living will market the books on its website and in its magazines, television and radio shows.

Among the recipes, according to the press release: Emeril’s Delmonico Bone-in Rib Steaks, Northern Italian Style Chicken Under a Brick, Grilled Pork Chops with Mixed Herb Chimichurri and Grilled Banana Splits.

Not in the press release: the financial arrangements of the deal. Then again, the best restaurants don’t need to put their prices on the menu.

(Photo of Emeril: Reuters)

Five percent of AOL may not be what it used to be.

Many thought that was the case, but now even Google says so, conceding in a filing that its stake in Time Warner Inc’s AOL unit may be worth less than the $1 billion the Web company paid for it in 2006. “We believe our investment in AOL may be impaired,” Google said in its quarterly financial filing.

Here’s what people are saying about it.

Silicon Alley Insider:

Of course, we knew that already. The highest estimates of AOL’s value these days usually top out at around $10 billion ($15 billion if Microsoft goes into a testosterone-fueled bidding-war rage). This would put the value of Google’s 5% stake at, say, $500 million to $750 million.

What’s most interesting about Google’s AOL note, however, is that the company believes the impairment may be temporary (expressed below as not believing the impairment is other than temporary). This is a polite way of saying that Google is dreaming that AOL might actually recoup some of its vaporized value someday.

 paidContent:

Translated, it means it Google is does not believe the current value of AOL is near $20 billion. Back in December 2005, Google paid about $1 billion for a 5 percent stake in AOL-though it’s debatable whether Google ever believed AOL was worth that much. It was a defensive move-preventing Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) from powering AOL search-so it paid a premium. There’s obviously some legalese here: the asset is still being booked “at cost” on the balance sheet (so no writedown just yet), but this is a new note not present in previous quarters, suggesting there’s been a financial trigger to cause this.

VentureBeat: 

Maybe Google thinks Microsoft or Yahoo will be quick to make a move to buy up AOL’s Internet operations, thus bolstering the investment. (AOL parent Time Warner recently announced it would spin AOL’s dial-up business from the rest of the company - and is likely trying to sell both.) Or maybe Google just doesn’t want to eat the costs at this time. Or maybe it’s thinking about buying AOL at a premium just to avoid the fees.

Okay, that last one is a joke. Any charges Google is assessed for the bad investment would likely be relatively insignificant for the company. Still, any time a company is being looked at for purchase by Yahoo and Microsoft you have to throw Google’s name into the ring as well - especially when it already owns 5 percent of that company.

Keep an eye on:

• Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia has cut 25 people from its payroll despite reporting strong financial results last week (NY Post)
• A decision that may allow U.S. companies to use their websites to release market-sensitive information could hurt firms that distribute press releases and give some investors an edge over others (Reuters)
• DreamWorks SKG is near an agreement to get $550 million in funding from Indian billionaire Anil Ambani, a person with knowledge of the talks tell Bloomberg.

(Photo: Reuters)

Hear that? It’s the sound of sighs. Sirius Satellite Radio has finally completed the purchase of rival XM Satellite Radio.

“The completion comes after a marathon period of government scrutiny that ended late last week when the U.S. Federal Communications Commission approved the deal, which was first announced 17 months ago,” Reuters reports.

Now that the deal is done, it’ll be interesting to see whether it was worth the wait. Neither company has posted a profit on its own, and, in fact, they have posted huge losses along the way as they’ve paid to build up subscribers.

RBC analyst David Bank put it this way in a note to clients: “While merger is beneficial for Sirius, we remain cautious as significant execution risk exists implementing synergies and recognition of synergies is probably already priced into stock.”

While they will no longer be fighting one another, they will still have to convince audiences to pick satellite radio over traditional radio, digital audio players and iPods. That’s no easy task, particularly when people are worried about gas prices, food costs, a lousy housing market and a fragile job picture. Do people really want to be spending their extra cash on satellite radio?

Keep an eye on:

• Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia reported a quarterly profit, buoyed by higher magazine advertising sales and revenue from deals to label various products with its brand (Reuters)
• AMC’s “Mad Men,” coming off 16 Emmy nominations, scored record ratings in its second-season premiere, drawing nearly 2 million viewers (LA Times)
• The Los Angeles Times new monthly Sunday magazine, LA, will debut on September 7 (Folio)
• Sony Corp posted a bigger-than-expected 47 percent fall in quarterly profit and cut its outlook, hurt by its struggling mobile phone joint venture with Sweden’s Ericsson, while rival Matsushita nearly doubled its profit on rising flat TV sales (Reuters)

(Photo: Reuters)

Susan Lyne is leaving Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, but the shakeup at the lifestyle brand probably isn’t over yet. 

Lyne steered the company through some rough waters as chief executive (let’s not forget she ran things as Martha Stewart trudged off to prison) and now she’ll be replaced by Wenda Harris Millard and Robin Marino. That’s right, Millard and Marino. Co-CEO’s. Two at the top. Power sharing.

How often does that work? ”They are fairly rare and they typically don’t work out to be that great,” said Noble Financial research director Michael Kupinski.

Wall Street’s reaction? Shares fell by about 6 percent yesterday.

Both Millard and Marino joined the company under Lyne’s watch, and have bigtime experience in advertising and retail merchandising. Marino was previously president and chief operating officer at luxury designer Kate Spade, while Millard served as a high-ranking ad executive at Yahoo.

On paper, it would seem a good combination for a media company with footholds in both advertising and retailing. Besides, Millard points out that she and Marino already coordinate closely. “We saw an opportunity for even more collaboration,” she said in an interview with Reuters.

Paul Bernard, who runs executive-coaching and management-consulting firm Paul Bernard & Associates, noted in the Wall Street Journal that the track record of power-sharing deals in the corporate world is “dismal.”

“Inevitably what will happen is someone will be pushed out,” he said.

As one media insider told us yesterday, these sharing things are often an attempt keep everyone happy and onboard — and just as often have the opposite effect.

Keep an eye on:

• A fierce battle has broken out among top executives at Live Nation over the concert-promotion company’s ambitious strategy to reshape the struggling music industry by making wide-ranging but expensive deals with artists such as Madonna and Jay-Z (WSJ.com)
• The Screen Actors Guild on Wednesday continued its campaign against a rival actors’ union’s tentative contract with Hollywood producers (Hollywood Reporter)
• Apple will make less money off each new iPhone, but Wall Street expects only a minor impact on the company’s bottom line as the cheaper price spurs mass-market buying (Reuters)

(Photo of Susan Lyne from Reuters)