The UK government’s grand reworking of digital policy, due out Tuesday, has something for every one to chatter about — from funding for a further broadband buildout to reworking television licensing fees to how the country faces up to the issue of media piracy.

But final publication of the Digital Britain report on Tuesday follows the marked deterioration of the economic environment as well as the collapse of the political muscle needed to marshall the report’ more ambitious changes through Parliament.

Stephen Carter, the former U.K. cable executive, named as U.K.’s Minister for Communications, Technology and Broadcasting only nine months ago, plans to leave the government soon after releasing the report.

The current political crisis has Gordon Brown’s government running scared even from the restructuring of the post office. It’s hard to see the Prime Minister creating a major digital legacy for his administration starting from here.

Sanford C. Bernstein has repeatedly argued that British policy is “inching toward a managed economy” in communications. The investment firm makes a rather extreme case that the hobbled fixed-line operator BT Group could win at the expense of successful satellite TV provider BSkyB. It’s hard to see how.

The hefty interim report (click here for 86-page PDF file) calls for, among its 22 action points, a universal service commitment to broadband. But no analyst who closely follows the subject is prepared to make a commercial case for broadband buildout to underserved areas. The closest thing to business case is for high-definition video delivered over landlines. But less costly alternatives exist in most populated parts of Britain, either from satellite or terrestrial providers.

That’s why the government is involved in the first place. While cheap, plentiful broadband may sound like a great vote-getter heading into the next election, the issue is just as likely to produce a backlash when voters tally up the potential costs. At 2-megabits per second, January’s interim Digital Britain report did little to answer the broadband industry’s complaints that Britain has fallen behind in terms of the competitiveness of Internet speeds.

Digital technology policy is a dead sexy matter for politicians of all stripes to opine about. But driving through actual policies changes that would dramatically expand support for digital technology always founders when it comes time to hard budgetary decisions, vote-counting and execution.

Rather than representing a sea change in UK policy thinking about technology, perhaps the most important outcome of the digital strategy revamp will be as a marker in Britain’s slow move away from hands-off communications policies toward continental-style government regulation.

 
Image Credits: UK Dept for Culture Media and Sport and Broadband NotSpot (http://www.broadband-notspot.org.uk/about.html)

Microsoft launches the first wave of the publicity campaign for its new search engine Bing tonight, with a prime time ad linking the recent financial chaos with small animals tapping on keyboards. At least that’s what it looks like:

The reasoning is questionable, but Microsoft won’t care as long as it gets people talking about its new product — which is fully available from today at www.bing.com — and ultimately gets them to utter the word ‘bing’ as a verb.

The first spot, made by ad agency JWT, is called ‘Manifesto’ and will hit in the middle of top shows such as CSI:NY tonight.

“This is not about going out of business. This is about getting down to business.”
So says the latest advertisement from General Motors, which hit the automaker’s web site and YouTube just hours after it filed for bankruptcy protection.

The theme is reinvention (”General Motors needs to start over to get stronger”) and it is the first glimpse of what the folks over at the Interpublic Group agencies that work on GM have planned post-bankruptcy.

Keep an eye on:

• Microsoft offered a look into a future where the Xbox 360 console is the centerpiece of any living room (Reuters)

• DirecTV Chief Executive Chase Carey may be headed back to News Corp (Reuters)

• Lions Gate Entertainment posted a wider-than-expected fourth-quarter loss (Reuters)

Upfront week is winding down, with the CW having rolled out its lineup. As Entertainment Weekly points out, the schedule is straight out of the early 90s. A quick look:

(New series in bold)

Monday:

8-9 pm: Gossip Girl

9-10 pm: One Tree Hill

Tuesday:

8-9 pm: 90210

9-10 pm: Melrose Place

Wednesday:

8-9 pm: America’s Next Top Model

9-10 pm: The Beautiful Life

Thursday:

8-9 pm: The Vampire Diaries

9-10 pm: Supernatural

Friday:

8-9 pm: Smallville

9-10pm: America’s Next Top Model (Encore)

(Reuters photo of “Gossip Girl” star Blake Lively)

Here’s a look at the new CBS schedule, which will be presented to advertisers later today.

(New shows are in bold)

MONDAY

8:00-8:30 PM HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER

8:30-9:00 PM ACCIDENTALLY ON PURPOSE

9:00-9:30 PM TWO AND A HALF MEN

9:30-10:00 PM THE BIG BANG THEORY

10:00-11:00 PM CSI: MIAMI

TUESDAY

8:00-9:00 PM NCIS

9:00-10:00 PM NCIS: LOS ANGELES

10:00-11:00 PM THE GOOD WIFE

WEDNESDAY

8:00-8:30 PM THE NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD CHRISTINE

8:30-9:00 PM GARY UNMARRIED

9:00-10:00 PM CRIMINAL MINDS

10:00-11:00 PM CSI: NY

THURSDAY

8:00-9:00 PM SURVIVOR

9:00-10:00 PM CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION

10:00-11:00 PM THE MENTALIST

FRIDAY

8:00-9:00 PM GHOST WHISPERER

9:00-10:00 PM MEDIUM

10:00-11:00 PM NUMB3RS

SATURDAY

8:00-9:00 PM CRIMETIME SATURDAY

9:00-10:00 PM CRIMETIME SATURDAY

10:00-11:00 PM 48 HOURS MYSTERY

SUNDAY

7:00-8:00 PM 60 MINUTES

8:00-9:00 PM THE AMAZING RACE

9:00-10:00 PM THREE RIVERS

10:00-11:00 PM COLD CASE

Las Vegas should have a line on the upfront market, particularly this year. What’s the over/under on total dollars? What are the odds the networks will hold back big chunks of inventory? How quickly will everything be decided?

Every year the networks’ sales executives and the media buyers talk their books. Fair enough. But this year, many seem to be shrugging their shoulders when asked about the upfront market.

On the one hand, maybe advertisers are ready to open up their checkbooks; after all, they don’t want their brands left out if the economy rallies and consumers start to spend again. On the other hand, do they really believe the economy is about to rally and consumers are about to start spending again?

NBC Universal’s ad sales team didn’t shed a whole lot of light on matters at Monday’s presentation of the new network lineup, which features six new shows. (Really, there should be Vegas odds on how fast some of these shows will be yanked; that seems to be the way of the business these days).

Here’s what Michael Pilot, President, NBCU Sales & Marketing, said when asked by a reporter about the upfront market:

We’ve been in this recession for a year and a half now. Last year’s upfront was exceptionally strong both in terms of volume and price.

After the craziness of the fall, we saw some pullback in second quarter options. But then the second quarter scatter market turned out to be healthier than we had anticipated.

We’re feeling anecdotally that advertisers are leaning forward getting ready to move. If you think about the recovery sometime later this year or early 2010, we’re starting to see advertisers lean into that and get ready for that. But I’m not ready to call it one way or another. I think it’s going to be interesting.

Marianne Gambelli, President, NBC Network Ad Sales, chimed in with the following:

Clients are more focused than they’ve ever been on what’s the right decision and what’s the right mix. Obviously, flexibility is key.

But they also are looking at making commitments when things are more favorable. As this economy recovers, scatter has been known to spike quite high and clients are concerned about that.

I think everybody is trying to get on board to get the right mix. You can’t predict it. It’s too soon to tell. But the conversations are much deeper than they have been before.

(Photo: Reuters)

Nobody likes to be wrong, including the people who run media companies. That’s why you haven’t heard them say things like, “We think the advertising market is recovering!” At a time when every day might bring a fresh descent into financial hell as financial companies and automakers totter, media companies reeling from ad revenue declines are hesitant to say that they’ve hit a bottom.

But consider some of the comments that Viacom executives made during their conference call with Wall Street bean counters this morning to discuss quarterly financial results. Here they are as they appeared in the alerts we sent out on the wire:

• 08:12 30Apr2009 RTRS-VIACOM INC’S <VIAb.N> CEO SAYS NOT SEEING ANY FURTHER DETERIORATION IN THE ADVERTISING MARKET
• 08:33 30Apr2009 RTRS-VIACOM INC’S <VIAb.N> CEO SAYS CUSTOMERS ARE STARTING TO FEEL MORE CONFIDENT ABOUT A RECOVERY EMERGING LATER IN THE YEAR AND GOING INTO NEXT YEAR
• 08:34 30Apr2009 RTRS-VIACOM INC’S <VIAb.N> CEO SAYS “WE’RE FEELING CONSIDERABLY BETTER” THAN TWO OR THREE MONTHS AGO

That sounds suspiciously like optimism. It also fits in with some of the comments that we’ve heard from newspaper publishers such as USA Today owner Gannett Co Inc. Magazine publisher and local TV station owner Meredith Corp had similar thoughts about the ad outlook.

The general story is: We’re still dealing with ad declines when we look forward to the rest of the year, and we’re not saying we’re all that happy about it, but knowing the rate of decline is not worsening is a good sign… if you think about it.

So, what will Rupert Murdoch tell us when News Corp reports its results next week? Murdoch’s recent statements have been pessimistic, but maybe Viacom Chief Executive Philippe Dauman is laying a path for Rupert to tell his employees and investors something they want to hear.

Keep an eye on

• Peter Chernin. The outgoing News Corp No. 2 might do many things after he splits, but joining Viacom isn’t one of them. (Los Angeles Times)
• Swine Flu! It might be bad for you, but it sure is good for companies that get rich from you going hog wild over trying to keep your hands clean. (The Wall Street Journal)
• Baltimore Chainsaw Massacre. Welcome to the new, leaner, meaner Baltimore Sun, courtesy of Tribune Co. The Sun’s management calls it a plan for success, not just survival. (Reuters)(The Sun)

(Photo:Reuters)

John Lennon's "Instant Karma" is an unlikely choice for an advertising jingle. With future murderer Phil Spector manning the boards, the angry ex-Beatle wasted no time warning listeners, "You better get yourself together, Pretty soon you're gonna be dead." Which in fact Lennon was a decade later.
    
Cut to 2009, and Chase has dusted off the song for an advertising campaign, but it has focused on the shiny, happy chorus, "Well we all shine on, Like the moon and the stars and the sun, Well we all shine on..." 
    
That's not Lennon singing on the new version, by the way. Instead Chase went edgy with British goth singer Peter Murphy, who used to front Bauhaus, a rock group famed for the song "Bela Lugosi's Dead" and for inspiring Nine Inch Nails. Cindy Mizelle, who once toured with Mick Jagger, does the backing vocals.
    
The spot heralds Chase's arrival in California following the purchase last fall of Washington Mutual's banking operations by its JPMorgan Chase parent. The black-and-white clip depicts such outdoor pursuits as surfing, swimming and ballooning, and a biker couple riding off into the sunset.
    
"This spot heralds a bright new day and so we chose a song that is upbeat, well known and classic," a Chase spokesman said in an email. "'Instant Karma' is an iconic song and the chorus, 'We all shine on', reinforces an emotional connection with the brand but also demonstrates that 'we're going to get through these trying times together.'"
    
The spokesman declined to discuss financial terms, and a spokesman for Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, did not return an email seeking comment.
    
Murphy recorded the song in full, and hopes it will see the light of day, said David Baron, who produced and arranged the tune with Murphy at a converted church in Woodstock, New York.
    
"Peter is currently working out the details for the new record and the final tracks have not been decided on," Baron said. "Peter would like to release Instant Karma in some fashion so I am sure it will surface."
    
Murphy does not appear in the Chase ad, but he can be seen as "the Blown Away Guy" in a 1980s British ad for Maxell cassettes.

(Peter Murphy photo credit: Koray Birand)

How do you sell TV advertising in this environment? If you’re Scripps Networks, you trumpet the product integration available in your make-over and do-it-yourself programs. You also make no bones about how difficult things are for advertisers and consumers.

At Tuesday’s Scripps upfront presentation (held at Cipriani 42nd Street), executives talked about these “very difficult and challenging times” and described viewers as “disillusioned,” “anxious,” and “frustrated.”

“There has never been a more important time than right now to reach out to viewers about their homes” said one Scripps executive.

Of course, Scripps is in a different spot than many other networks. Home to HGTV, The Food Network, DIY Network, Fine Living Network, and Great American Country, many of its shows are highly aspirational and played to an eager audience when money was flowing and houses were flying off the market.

Now the media company is betting that viewers will look to shows like “The Unsellables” or “For Rent” or “Income Property” as they trudge through the recession.

As HGTV President Jim Samples told the crowd of ad executives and press, “audiences look to us as an authority and they look to us for answers to their questions.”

Now, if you’re the Lifetime Networks, you take a completely different approach to this upfront season. As one executive said to me, “You don’t want to be too flashy, and you don’t want to be too depressing.”

In fact, at the Lifetime luncheon, held in a more modest room in the Hearst Tower, there was almost no mention of the current economic situation. Instead, executives chose to concentrate on the programming slate at the female-focused cable network.

The headliner was the arrival of unscripted fashion competition “Project Runway” this season, a show that Lifetime CEO Andrea Wong said she was “absolutely thrilled” to welcome to the network.

Wong has made no secret of her wish to bring big names to Lifetime, and Tuesday’s presentation gave her a chance to run through a list of well-known Hollywood stars who can be seen on Lifetime channels, either in returning shows and movies or new ones: Kim Delaney, Valerie Bertinelli, Cybill Shepherd, Joan Cusack, Michelle Pfeiffer, Ashton Kutcher, Julia Ormond, Gina Gershon, Rob Lowe, Jeremy Irons and Joan Allen, among others, will soon be turning up on Lifetime Network or Lifetime Movie Network.

As it turned out, Allen made one of the only references to the economy, saying it is a “tough time to make movies” and an “even tougher time to make movies about women.”

(Reuters photo of Joan Allen at the UK premiere of the Bourne Ultimatum in Leicester Square in London August 15, 2007)

How bad is the advertising market? Pretty bad, says Viacom Chief Executive Philippe Dauman. And it’s only going to get uglier.

“It is clear that while as cable network owners we are in a more favorable media segment than most, advertising comps are likely to get worse before they get better,” he said on a conference call today.

This comment may seem dry, but we’re totally ready to cut him some slack since it came shortly after this poetic gem: “And despite the orgy of pessimism prevalent of the late, the economic tide in our economy and our industry will rise again.”

Dauman, whose job means he oversees MTV, VH-1, Comedy Central and so on, assessed the situation this way: Advertisers who committed dollars during the upfront for the first quarter are holding solid, but are getting shaky for the second quarter.

Viacom finance whiz Tom Dooley expanded on that. “In terms of second-quarter option exercises, many of the moves have been shifting dollars from quarter-to-quarter. Some advertisers have done so but come back later in the quarter to make smaller buys in the scatter market. It is this activity combined with the overall economic trends which leads us to believe that ad market will get worse before it gets better.”

Not exactly an orgy of optimism, guys.

(Photo: Reuters)