Media Relations at Time Warner

Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (TBS, Inc.), a Time Warner company announced the acquisition of Claxson Interactive Pay Television Networks in Latin America is complete. TBS, Inc. received formal approval from the Comisión Nacional de Defensa de la Competencia in Argentina for the acquisition of seven pay television networks currently operating in the Latin American market. These new channels will be operated by TBS in Latin America, under the direction of its president Juan Urdaneta. The networks include Fashion TV, HTV, Infinito, I.Sat, MuchMusic, Retro and Space. The company announced the acquisition is valued at $235 million. TBS Latin America will be assuming the sales representation rights for Claxon and third party-owned networks in Latin America. In addition, they will provide related technical services to these networks.

I was particularly interested in the announcement of this acquisition because we discussed media relations in my class, so this allowed me to investigate how a company used media relations for an important announcement. I was able to see the approach Time Warner took toward media relations and the tools they used to make the announcement. I learned about the completion of the acquisition on the home page of the Time Warner website, which linked to a press release announcing the acquisition that is located under the Newsroom section of the website. You can check out this press release here: http://www.timewarner.com/corp/newsroom/pr/0,20812,1668740,00.html. I searched the acquisition using Google and discovered that the company issues the press release to other news Web sites who posted the press release. You can find the press release on PR Newswire here: http://sev.prnewswire.com/entertainment/20071004/CLTH04804102007-1.html.

I believe the press release that is posted on the website is very thorough and provides the public, employees, and company stakeholders with sufficient information regarding the acquisition. The press release describes the acquisition and then gives background on both Claxson and Turner Broadcasting System. The actual press release showed me media relations decisions Time Warner made regarding the announcement. The press release stated that the official close of the deal was announced by Louise Sams, president of TBS International and executive vice president and general counsel for TBS, Inc., and Roberto Vivo-Chaneton, chairman and chief executive officer of Claxson. I think it was a good decision by the companies to choose the president, vice president, and chairman and CEO of the companies to make the announcement. The acquisition of two companies is important news that affects a wide range of people, so I think it is important that senior management made this announcement. The press release also includes a quote from the president of TBS international, Louise Sams. This quote explains how the acquisition will enhance the company’s channel offerings, and will allow them to deliver a whole new range of quality programming genres to audiences throughout Latin America. I think the company made a good decision to include this quote in the press release because it shows how the president is concerned with serving the public interest.

I also think Time Warner used good employee relations tactics during this announcement. This past summer I completed an internship in the public relations department of Time Warner, so I am familiar with the efforts they make to keep their employees informed about announcements. Time Warner always posts important announcements on the company’s Intranet and sends weekly e-mails titled “This Week in Review” that summarizes important happenings at the company from the past week. I am positive Time Warner took these measures to inform its employees about the acquisition. I think this is very important because it makes the employees feel like that management is making an effort to keep them in the loop.

I think the public relations department at Time Warner did an excellent job using media relations to make this announcement. I think it was really important that the company posted the announcement on the company’s home page of their Web site and offered a press release announcing the completion of the acquisition. I also think it was good media relations for the company to make the press release available to other news websites. Choosing to use employees that are part of senior management as spokespersons for this announcement was an excellent way of proving their involvement with the acquisition. The messages delivered by Louise Sams in the press release shows that the company is confident the acquisition will enhance the company and that they are concerned with the serving the public’s best interests. If I were a member of the public relations department of Time Warner I would also post a YouTube video of the senior management making the announcement in order to use more new media tactics.