One week after the announcement of the stunning merger of America Online and Time-Warner, Co-Chief Operating Officer of Infinity Broadcasting Corporation/CBS Radio David Pearlman said yesterday that the future of communications lies in these one-stop shopping "media bundle" that corporations like his own CBS/Viacom can offer consumers.
Pearlman spoke to about 40 people, mostly students, in 105 Dartmouth Hall last night,
While he said he regrets that individual business capitalism has suffered at the hands of media giants -- he created his own company when he was a sophomore at Boston College, buying radio air time and then selling it again, using it to broadcast hockey and basketball games to local audiences -- he explained that those corporations offer consumers more specialized information.
"We can tailor something to specifically meet your needs," he said, but the off-shoot is the "starting from the ground on up is now virtually impossible in today's world of gargantuan corporations."
Before media consolidation, small companies attempted to target a wide and broad audience, Pearlman explained. This means that individual consumers often did not receive the product that they wanted.
"The consumer wins," said Pearlman of the new trend in media business. "Now when a company owns seven stations in one area, it can have them cover specific genres, and there are more diverse choices for the customer."
Specifically, Pearlman trumpeted the role of CBS in this rising trend in the business world, referring especially to the creation of CBS Plus, a consolidation created by CBS's merger with Viacom.
Pearlman said that existence of CBS Plus now allows CBS to offer consumers what he calls a "multi-platform of media."
Interested consumers can publish books at Simon & Schuster, produce films at Paramount, and utilize franchises such as MTV, Nickelodeon, Blockbuster Video, VH1, and the company that produces Oprah Winfrey's talk show, all under the CBS umbrella.
A promotional CBS video, used to interest investors in putting money into the company, was shown to the audience during the forum. Boasting of CBS's new ability to create "custom-cross productions starring your brand," the three-minute tape showed how companies could reach a broad range of consumers with spots on CBS's sports presentations, the TNN network, and the 166 radio stations that are owned by CBS.
CBS has already secured a $15 million contract with Pennzoil, among other lucrative deals.
Pearlman praised CBS for "firing the first shot" by merging with Viacom and creating the vast investment and advertising opportunities that it has. "We're there and everyone else is still talking about it," he said.
Commenting on the recent merger of Time-Warner and AOL, Pearlman said it was an effort to catch up to CBS after its merger with Viacom, because Time-Warner realized "that they were no longer the biggest media corporation in the world."
Pearlman cited new plans for network coverage of this February's presidential primary as an example of what media consolidation can offer to consumers.
"Instead of having seven cameras covering one event during the primary, we'll have only one which will create a single uplink to send information back to the station," he said. "Then producers can edit the way they like, but costs will have been cut."
Passionately speaking about the medium of radio, Pearlman called the radio "theater of the mind," and said that the key to creating a successful media company is to "look into the eyes of a city and figure out what will super-serve that city."
