Ad Ops Daily Briefs: February 12 2009

Superbowl-ads.com Names the “Top 10 Super Bowl 2009 Commercials” and Makes Them Available for TV Viewing
A new Superbowl-ads.com poll identifies the top 10 ads for Super Bowl 2009, with “Free Doritos” at #1. A special partnership using the GridCast TV service lets viewers watch all the Super Bowl ads on their TVs, using an Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, or Internet-enabled TV.
Superbowl-ads.com, a leading Web portal for watching and reviewing Super Bowl TV commercials, today announced this year’s top 10 Super Bowl ads, based on post-game audience polling.
Because Superbowl-ads.com uses the GridCast TV service, viewers can watch all of the newest Super Bowl videos from the site on their TVs, including ads from this year’s Super Bowl as well as the top ads from Super Bowl 2008. GridCast TV can be viewed by anyone with an Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Internet-enabled TV, or other UPnP (universal plug and play) device, without a set-top box or any additional hardware.



President and CEO of Sun-Times Media Group Resigns
Sun-Times Media Group, Inc. (Pink Sheets: SUTM) President and Chief Executive Officer Cyrus Freidheim announced his resignation. The resignation is effective February 28, 2009 to allow for an orderly transition. No replacement has been named.
As previously reported, Davidson Kempner (DK), a large shareholder of the Company, recently succeeded in a consent solicitation that removed from the Company’s Board of Directors Mr. Freidheim and all but one of the previous Board members and elected three new members to the Board.
Mr. Freidheim joined the Board in October 2005 and became CEO in November 2006. He saw the Company through a number of crises and one of the worst print advertising markets in memory. During the past two years, the Company has downsized dramatically, successfully outsourced a number of functions, consolidated plants and departments, and significantly improved financial reporting and controls. Over the past year, the Company improved its advertising market share, and the Chicago Sun-Times and several community papers stabilized and grew circulation in a declining but intensely competitive market.