Centurion Media
For the exclusive use of M. Hossain
Centurion Media: Doing the
Right Thing
Carolyn Conn, St. Edward’s University
Aundrea Kay Guess, St. Edward’s University
Jonathan Hiatt, St. Edward’s University
E
rP os t
NA0005
No
tC
op yo ach time Richard Bennett reached across his desk for the mail and other documents his assistant had placed in his in-box, he smiled because he thought of the friendly disagreement with his wife about the “proper” way to handle this task.
His approach was “top-down.” Whatever was on top of the in-box was dealt with first, then down through the stack until it was all finished. His wife preferred the “priority” method, first sorting through everything to determine the urgency of each item.
Bennett felt that was just a waste of time. “By the time you’ve gotten your stuff sorted,
I’ve probably finished with at least one-third of the items in my in-box,” he had kidded her. Bennett was thinking of his wife again that morning as he sat down at his desk.
Tomorrow, July 12, 2006, was their wedding anniversary. How could forty-one years have gone by so quickly? His reminiscing was abruptly interrupted when Bennett saw the item on top of his in-box.
A special courier had delivered a package from the corporate office of Centurion
Media. Inside the package was a contract signed by Joseph Fowler, the new president of his division. (Refer to Exhibit 1 for corporate structure.) As Bennett read through the contract, he had a sick feeling. The contract required all of the cable television systems in the Centurion cable division to sell their advertising inventory at severely discounted rates to Northpark Media. Northpark was a national buying service that bought and resold commercial spots on cable television systems; Centurion Media owned 25 percent of Northpark’s outstanding common stock. From the wording Bennett saw in the contract, Centurion Cable would lose millions of dollars in revenue both by selling commercials so cheaply to Northpark and by
Centurion Media: Doing the
Right Thing
Carolyn Conn, St. Edward’s University
Aundrea Kay Guess, St. Edward’s University
Jonathan Hiatt, St. Edward’s University
E
rP os t
NA0005
No
tC
op yo ach time Richard Bennett reached across his desk for the mail and other documents his assistant had placed in his in-box, he smiled because he thought of the friendly disagreement with his wife about the “proper” way to handle this task.
His approach was “top-down.” Whatever was on top of the in-box was dealt with first, then down through the stack until it was all finished. His wife preferred the “priority” method, first sorting through everything to determine the urgency of each item.
Bennett felt that was just a waste of time. “By the time you’ve gotten your stuff sorted,
I’ve probably finished with at least one-third of the items in my in-box,” he had kidded her. Bennett was thinking of his wife again that morning as he sat down at his desk.
Tomorrow, July 12, 2006, was their wedding anniversary. How could forty-one years have gone by so quickly? His reminiscing was abruptly interrupted when Bennett saw the item on top of his in-box.
A special courier had delivered a package from the corporate office of Centurion
Media. Inside the package was a contract signed by Joseph Fowler, the new president of his division. (Refer to Exhibit 1 for corporate structure.) As Bennett read through the contract, he had a sick feeling. The contract required all of the cable television systems in the Centurion cable division to sell their advertising inventory at severely discounted rates to Northpark Media. Northpark was a national buying service that bought and resold commercial spots on cable television systems; Centurion Media owned 25 percent of Northpark’s outstanding common stock. From the wording Bennett saw in the contract, Centurion Cable would lose millions of dollars in revenue both by selling commercials so cheaply to Northpark and by
References: Haugsted, Linda. 2006. Online ad market nears. Multichannel News, August 14: 2. Helft, Miguel. 2007. Google, online ad giant, looks at radio and TV. The New York Times, March 29 Nortman, Kara. 2006. The future of television. The Battery Charger, June. Young, Robert. 2006. Google . . . the OS for advertising. Gigaom. November 9.