Broadcasting & Cable articles from November 2006

Broadcasting & Cable archives from November 2006

Broadband TV Stuck Midstream.
November 6, 2006... By Anne Becker Networks struggle to turn couch potatoes into PC plants Finding full episodes of TV shows on networks' broadband players can sometimes resemble a digital scavenger hunt. It can take several click-throughs just to find an...

And The Winner Is...TV.(Big Three broadcast networks cover midterm elections)
November 6, 2006... By Staff More coverage, higher ad sales and an energized electorate In perhaps the most significant midterm election since 1994, when Republicans swept Congress, a winner has already been declared: TV stations. Thanks to the...

Stations Log Record Windfall.(television broadcasters gain from general elections)
November 6, 2006... By John M. Higgins TV political-ad spending tops $2 billion Television-station managers typically have a straightforward view of politics: It doesn't matter who wins; it's how many ads they buy. The bloodier the fight, the better. ...

Deals.
November 6, 2006... By BIA Financial Networks TVs WAPA(TV) and WJPX(TV) San Juan, P.R. PRICE: $130 million BUYER: InterMedia Partners LP (Alan Sokol, senior invest partner) SELLER: LIN Television Corp. (Vincent Sadusky, CFO/interim CEO) ...

A Morning Warrior Takes the Field.(Jim Bell)
November 6, 2006... By Allison Romano Former Olympics producer Bell brings his passion for live TV to Today Before Jim Bell was named executive producer of NBC's Today show last year, he hadn't produced a single news segment, let alone a top-rated...

Fates & Fortunes.
November 6, 2006... By Melanie M. Clarke Broadcast TV Melanie M. Clarke Randal Gage , assistant creative services director, WTAE Pittsburgh, named creative services director, KOCO Oklahoma City. Cable TV Melanie M. Clarke Elected...

Flash!("Kidnapped" by Sony Pictures Television)(Writers Guild of America upset with change of show timings)(Politicians in the broadcasting industry)
November 6, 2006... Edited By Joel Topcik 'Kidnapped' May Get Its Ransom in the End Joel Topcik NBC may have pulled the plug on Kidnapped , but Sony Pictures Television (SPT), which produced the new drama, looks to be left in the black. While...

Reaping a Midterm Harvest.
November 6, 2006... By Garth Johnston Political ads help a heartland market rebound Politics typically begin to roil the cornfields and county fairs of Des Moines, Iowa, in the run-up to the presidential caucuses. But the state capital has been in the...

Larry Taishoff.(Obituary)
November 6, 2006... By Staff It was Sol Taishoff who built Broadcasting magazine, co-founding it in 1931 almost before there was an industry to cover. Before too long, not only was there a broadcasting business, but Broadcasting itself was its bible (and...

If You Stream It, They Will Vote.
November 6, 2006... By Gary Gannaway When I was 18 and preparing to cast the first vote of my life, I wanted to gather as much information as I could about the issues and the candidates. So I went to the usual suspects: newspaper, radio and, of course, TV....

The Mixed Message to Kids.
November 6, 2006... By Kevin Downey Can TV enlighten children about nutrition and then sell them junk food? Imagine a school-age child channel-surfing among his or her favorite networks. On PBS, Arthur is being taught about the importance of...

The Color of Commitment.(MTV Networks Inc. Nickelodeon launches shows for Hispanics)
November 6, 2006... By Kevin Downey Nickelodeon's diversity menu is more than window dressing Ever since Nickelodeon premiered Dora the Explorer on its Nick Jr. preschool block six years ago, the Latina cartoon character has become a cultural icon whose...

What's the Beef Over 'Mr. Meaty'?
November 6, 2006... By Kevin Downey Nick defends a show that's not good for you There's nothing quite like a good fart joke to get a kid laughing. But in a media environment in which kids' programs and advertisers are under scrutiny, even a simple...

Somebody Listens to Parents!(real-adult role models missing from kids' TV)
November 6, 2006... By Kevin Downey It's PBS, which keeps a close eye on what moms and dads want for their kids When PBS surveyed parents of preschoolers to find out what bugs them about children's television, it wasn't the commercials for fatty foods....

Meet Miss Lori.(Interview)
November 6, 2006... By Kevin Downey When PBS decided to introduce, for the first time ever, a live host for its PBS Kids preschool block in September, it chose Chicago-based performer, teacher and mother Lori Holton Nash. She appears between programs to...

Fox Works Out Morning Show.(Mike Jerrick and Juliet Huddy to host the show)
November 6, 2006... By Ben Grossman New program to focus on entertainment Run-throughs have begun on the new morning show from Twentieth Television and the Fox Television Stations. Hosted by Fox News personalities Mike Jerrick and Juliet Huddy, the...

'Millionaire': Game On.(Brief article)
November 6, 2006... By Ben Grossman Meredith Vieira may still be settling into her role on Today, but her syndicated game show Who Wants To Be a Millionaire is leading a strong run for the genre. According to the national household ratings for the week...

Mobile DTV Gets Its Road Test.(digital television, Advanced-Vestigial Side-Band)
November 6, 2006... By Glen Dickson Sinclair tries out transmission technology in a minivan If a test on the highways of Buffalo, N.Y., is any indication, broadcasters may be able to use their digital television (DTV) spectrum to reach mobile and portable...

'GMA': Future Is Now.(Good Morning America)
November 6, 2006... By Glen Dickson What will the world look like in 25 years? Good Morning America offered its answer to the question this past weekend, with the help of the latest 3D graphics technology. ABC collaborated with Popular Science on the...

Fast Track.(Broadcast networks permits new shows)(FOX Sports Net to test pay-per-view strategy)(Courtroom Television Network Inc. to promote shorter shows)
November 6, 2006... By Staff Tough Sweeps Decisions Await Staff November to make or break several rookie shows Broadcast networks have given full-season orders to only five freshman shows, half the amount provided by this time last year....

Two News Vets, Two Takes on the Election.(Interview)
November 6, 2006... By John M. Higgins During his 35 years as a journalist-a third of them as ABC's White House correspondent-Brit Hume honed his skills as a veteran political reporter. The anchor of the 6 p.m. news hour Special Report With Brit Hume will...

Two News Vets, Two Takes on the Election.(Interview)
November 6, 2006... By Ben Grossman Tim Russert goes head-to-head each week with the nation's top political minds on Meet the Press. But the NBC News senior VP and Washington bureau chief has also made a name for himself by simplifying politics with ideas...

Where to be and what to watch-.(Neal Gabler reads from his latest literary venture)(Denis Leary performs at the New York Comedy Festival)(John O'Hurley reads from his book)
November 6, 2006... By Michael Malone Monday, Nov. 6 Hollywood chronicler extraordinaire Neal Gabler reads from his latest literary venture Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination , at the 92nd Street Y 's Steinhardt Building in New...

Will MSNBC Rock?
November 6, 2006... By J. Max Robins MSNBC's decade-long identity crisis may finally be over. When the folks at the third-place cable news network decided last week to dedicate a big chunk of daytime to midterm campaign coverage, they were onto something....

Fast Track.(earnings of Disney Channel, News corp.)(DG FastChannel's High Definition commercials for Sony Picture's James Bond movie Casino Royale)(CBS Broadcasting Inc. moves staff to King World Productions in Santa Monica)
November 13, 2006... By Staff Little Sizzle In Q3 Earnings John M. Higgins Disney and News Corp. fail to impress By John M. Higgins The sizzle and flash of the fall TV season couldn't hide mixed results at the broadcast units of Disney and...

Matt's Wake-Up Call.(Matt Lauer)(Interview)
November 13, 2006... By Ben Grossman Ready or not, it's time for the Today show veteran to step up For a professional early-riser, Today show co-host Matt Lauer, 48, is still waking up to the reality that he is now the dean of morning television. Not only...

Talk About the Weather.
November 13, 2006... By Garth Johnston Sunshine State stations race to cover what's on everyone's mind Weather continues to be the top story in West Palm Beach, Fla., where news stations in Nielsen's No. 38 market are fielding new broadcasts and digital...

Remembering Ed Bradley.
November 13, 2006... By Michael Malone The 60 Minutes vet touched countless lives Those who were close to Ed Bradley remember him as a "great observer," a "hero," a "phenomenal reporter" and, above all else, a man of unparalleled coolness. The news icon,...

Flash!(CBS Interactive)(Parents Television Council)(Time Warner Cable )
November 13, 2006... Edited by Joel Topcik CBS' Schwartz Cleans Up Bing's BS, Again Joel Topcik Reading the press release naming Quincy Smith as president of the newly formed CBS Interactive last week (see Take Five, p. 3), we had to wonder how much...

Happy Hostilities!(Fight over cable carriage)
November 13, 2006... By John M. Higgins The holiday season brings with it the fight over cable carriage of local TV Broadcasting and cable executives are bracing for their new holiday tradition, the annual outbreak of fights over cable systems' carriage...

NAB"s Blue Blitz.(National Association of Broadcasters)
November 13, 2006... By John Eggerton Broadcasters' PAC shifts more funds to Dems Washington turned Democratic blue after last week's midterm elections, with broad implications for broadcasters and cable operators. The change in the makeup of the House and...

Quincy Smith: CBS" Digital Czar.(Interview)
November 13, 2006... By Anne Becker CBS named 35-year-old Quincy Smith president of its new CBS Interactive division last week, replacing Larry Kramer as head of its digital effort. As an investment banker at Allen & Co., Smith advised clients on Internet...

Where to be and what to watch….
November 13, 2006... By Michael Malone Monday, Nov. 13 It's News Vets Share Their Wisdom Day! Ted Koppel reports his findings from his first trip to Iran since the hostage crisis. The Discovery special Iran: The Most Dangerous Nation screens at the...

The Morning After.(election coverage)
November 13, 2006... By J. Max Robins Last week's midterm elections were a defining moment, not only for Democrats and Republicans, but for the broadcast and cable news organizations that chronicled them. Herewith, the winner and losers from Election Day 2006:...

Let"s Really Measure Campaign Coverage.
November 13, 2006... By John M. Laabs Iam embarrassed that the University of Wisconsin attached its name to the study performed by the UW-NewsLab regarding local television news coverage of campaign issues from Sept. 7 to Oct. 6 this year. There is little...

The Viral Vote.(news coverage of the House elections)
November 13, 2006... By Staff The election didn't mark a shift just to more Democratic power in Washington but to more democratic, small "d," power over how the news of Washington is reported and even made. Internet Broadcasting Corp., which provides news...

Back in the Game.(Ernie Johnson returns to Turner Sports)(Biography)
November 13, 2006... By Ben Grossman Turner Sports' Ernie Johnson returns to the studio after battling cancer Ernie Johnson kicked off another season covering basketball for TNT when his studio show Inside the NBA returned on Oct. 31. The familiar cast of...

Fates & Fortunes.
November 13, 2006... By Staff Broadcast TV Staff Randal Gage , assistant creative services director, WTAE Pittsburgh, named creative services director, KOCO/KOCO-DT Oklahoma City. Cable TV Staff Theresa M. Campbell , senior human...

The First Twenty Years.(Fox Broadcasting Co.)
November 13, 2006... By Ben Grossman Fox Broadcasting became the "fourth network" in the fall of 1986, when it launched The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers . That didn't work. Neither did most other Fox shows in the early years. But by taking chances and...

Fox In a Box.(Fox Broadcasting Co.)
November 13, 2006... By Staff Fox made headlines, even when it didn't always get ratings. Here's a snapshot look back at the network that always dares to go too far. LIGHTER SIDE OF "WOMEN IN PRISON" Staff Evidence that Fox would try anything,...

Fox's Biggest Score.(National Football League)
November 13, 2006... By Ben Grossman The NFL contract surprised everyone--even the executive who helped make the pitch Dan Neimoth was terrified. He had just found out from his son-in-law that the fledgling Fox television network was going to try to steal...

'Geraldo' Takes Manhattan.(Geraldo Rivera, television news programs)
November 13, 2006... By Jim Benson Fox newsmag bests Couric in a few big markets With most of the attention focused on how CBS Evening News newcomer Katie Couric is faring against Brian Williams and Charles Gibson, Geraldo at Large has been largely...

Comcast's High-Def Art Gallery.
November 13, 2006... By Glen Dickson New VOD service sends da Vinci paintings and nature photos to HD sets The latest high-definition flat-panel televisions, wall-mounted and elegantly designed, can resemble picture frames waiting for a painting. Toward...

Avid Streamlines Election Coverage.(Brief article)
November 13, 2006... By Glen Dickson Some 140 stations used specialized software from editing and graphics supplier Avid Technology to automate their election coverage last week. The system, called LeaderPlus, helps stations cover voting results by ingesting...

Syndication Breakdown.(Television syndication)
November 20, 2006... By Jim Benson The first-run syndication business is broken. Stations blame syndicators for ignoring their needs. Syndicators stay stations won't invest in their shows. As talk shows tank, studios turn to cheaper game and court shows. With...

Syndicators Bet on Game and Court Shows.
November 20, 2006... By Ben Grossman With costly new talk shows struggling, studios look for cheaper alternatives--and the next 'Deal or No Deal' Syndicators are playing it safe this development season. After a fall in which King World's Rachael Ray...

Deals.
November 20, 2006... By BIA Financial Networks TVs WNJX(TV) Mayaguez, WKPV(TV) and WTIN(TV) Ponce, WAPA(TV) and WJPX(TV) San Juan, WJWN(TV) San Sebastian, and WIRS(TV) Yauco, P.R. PRICE: $130 million BUYER: InterMedia Partners LP (Peter Kern,...

Life in the Unfast Lane.(television audience ratings)
November 20, 2006... By Garth Johnston Though hurt by car slump, Flint still "boisterous" With the American auto industry in a sustained depression, business isn't exactly booming in Flint, Mich., the 66th-largest broadcast market in the country. But it...

Does HBO Have a Digital Strategy?(Home Box Office Inc.)
November 20, 2006... By Anne Becker While Showtime and Starz plunge into broadband, the leading premium channel takes it slow In the past year's multiplatform party, HBO has been something of a wallflower. While broadcast and cable networks--including the...

Flash!(Christopher Guest's "For Your Consideration")(The Center for Creative Voices in Media mocking at Federal Communications Commission by ads on coffee mugs and t-shirts)(Jewelry Television targeting men consumers)
November 20, 2006... Edited by Joel Topcik Guest Film Skewers Charlie Rose, Billy Bush Joel Topcik In his new film For Your Consideration , Christopher Guest skewers the awards-season buzz machine that begins cranking up right about now. The movie...

Wall Street Money Shuns TV.
November 20, 2006... By John M. Higgins What the Clear Channel deal means for other broadcasters If you believe in the dictum "follow the money," last week offered a sad commentary on the state of the television business. Some of Wall Street's biggest...

Charter Tests On-Demand Ads.
November 20, 2006... By Glen Dickson Cable operator deploys "dynamic insertion" in St. Louis While cable operators have wrestled with how to make video-on-demand (VOD) compelling for advertisers, Charter Communications thinks it has the solution. Charter...

Tech Talk.(Widevine Technologies signs deal with TELUS Corp, DIRECTV Inc uses software from ChoiceStream Inc)(Brief article)
November 20, 2006... By Glen Dickson Widevine Does Telco Deal Glen Dickson Widevine Technologies has signed a six-year deal with Canadian telecommunications provider TELUS to provide its video-content-protection technology across TELUS' broadband,...

Stations Kill O.J. Special.
November 20, 2006... By Jim Benson Controversy over Simpson interview may snowball After worldwide condemnation of Fox's two-part sweeps special, O.J. Simpson: If I Did It, Here's How It Happened , North Dakota's Prime Cities Broadcasting is refusing to...

Zaslav"s Big Discovery.(David Zaslav moves to Discovery Communications )(Interview)
November 20, 2006... By John M. Higgins David Zaslav's jump to Discovery Communications is not the first time he has replaced Discovery Communications CEO Judith McHale. When he was a young lawyer in 1988, long before rising to become president of cable and...

Fast Track.(The News Corporation Ltd taps Peter Levinsohn as president, Verizon Communications Inc and Rainbow Media Group Inc stucks deal, NFL Network sues to force Comcast Corp)
November 20, 2006... By Staff UK Gets Tough On Junk-Food Ads John Eggerton, P.J. Bednarski Spots are banned in shows popular with kids under 16 The United Kingdom is banning all TV ads for foods high in fat, salt or sugar in programming aimed at...

WCAU Remakes Evening News.(WCAU-TV )
November 20, 2006... By Paige Albiniak Philly station switches to longer stories and lone anchor Starting next month, WCAU Philadelphia hopes to revitalize its afternoon news block by going back to basics. The NBC Universal-owned station, which runs local...

Where to be and what to watch...(Calendar)
November 20, 2006... By Michael Malone Monday, Nov. 20 A pair of Hiltons --not those Hiltons--are hopping with industry types today. Out L.A. way, it's the Friends of the Los Angeles Free Clinic 's Annual Dinner Gala at the Beverly Hilton, honoring...

NBC"s Executive Shuffle.(National Broadcasting Company Inc)
November 20, 2006... By J. Max Robins Tales of turmoil in the executive suites at 30 Rock reached a crescendo last week with the departure of two key players and rumblings about an imminent exit for NBC Universal (NBCU) Chairman Bob Wright. With NBC finally...

Immoral Convictions.(television programs)
November 20, 2006... By Staff If viewers were guaranteed to flock to a snuff film, would that justify putting it on TV during sweeps? We're not suggesting Fox is putting on a snuff film, exactly--it's more like an "if I had snuffed" film--but the point is...

Kids Ads Need Healthy Reform.
November 20, 2006... By Dale Kunkel Childhood obesity concerns are no passing policy fad. Surgeon General Richard Carmona predicts that obesity will displace tobacco use as the No. 1 threat to the nation's health in less than a decade if current patterns...

Fates & Fortunes.
November 20, 2006... By Staff Broadcast TV Staff Trey Fabacher , VP/general manager, KSTW Seattle, named VP/general manager, WWJ/WKBD Detroit. Ward L. Huey , local sales manager, KFOR Oklahoma City, named general sales manager, KTUL Tulsa, Okla....

The Other Man Behind Current TV.
November 20, 2006... By Anne Becker Legal-services pioneer Hyatt aims to democratize media and empower young viewers Current TV, the year-old user-programmed and youth-targeting cable network, is chiefly associated with Al Gore. Indeed, the former U.S....

Debmar-Mercury Snags "Feud".(gains distribution rights to FremantleMedia game-show strip 'Family Feud')
November 20, 2006... By Jim Benson Marcus and Bernstein also gain with Payne When Mort Marcus and Ira Bernstein merged their syndication companies into Debmar-Mercury in March 2005, they planned to sell reruns of Comedy Central's South Park to stations as...

Power to the Viewer.(Broadcasters are using viewer generated content to market their services)
November 27, 2006... By Anne Becker Networks ask viewers to get creative. But what happens when they don't color inside the lines? Networks like to talk about creating relationships with their viewers. But, as with any relationship, it's all about the...

Where to be and what to watch-.
November 27, 2006... By Michael Malone Monday, Nov. 27 It appears they still haven't caught those brothers who busted out of prison last year, because the season finale of Prison Break rolls on Fox at 8 p.m. ET. Dubbed the 'Fall Finale' (what is this, a...

Climbing the Hi-Def Mountain.(Brief article)
November 27, 2006... By Staff On Christmas Eve 1996, the FCC approved the high-definition television standard that launched a new era. Ten years later, broadcast networks now offer the bulk of their primetime programming and major sports coverage in HDTV....

Two Years And Counting.
November 27, 2006... By Glen Dickson and John Eggerton The clock is ticking for analog conversion and the hi-def revolution The eventual success of high-definition television (HDTV) rides on the country's conversion to digital TV (DTV). Last December,...

HD Express For Local News.(high definition)
November 27, 2006... Allison Romano Only a few outlets have made the switch, but the conversion is picking up steam By Allison Romano When Phoenix-area viewers tuned in for the late news on KPNX Nov. 2, the first night of November sweeps, the NBC...

Pretty Pictures, And Much More.(Documentary filmmakers using high definition)
November 27, 2006... By Glen Dickson Documentary filmmakers are finding HD a new way to see the world Providing stunningly lifelike images, HDTV has been a boon to documentary producers. Programmers like Discovery Networks, PBS and Voom HD Networks offer...

Fast Track.(Walt Disney Co. and Comcast Corp. signs 10 year distribution deal)
November 27, 2006... By Staff Comcast, Disney Ink Wide-Ranging Deal By Glen Dickson Stations, cable networks and on-demand are covered Walt Disney Co. has signed a 10-year distribution pact with cable operator Comcast that covers the ABC...

Fates & Fortunes.
November 27, 2006... By Staff Broadcast TV Staff At CBS Television Stations: Joannne Calabria , head of communications, KYW/WPSG Philadelphia, named VP, public affairs, CBS TV stations; Mike Nelson , director of communications, KCBS/KCAL Los...

Staffers Thrive Under "Office" Manager.(Greg Daniels)
November 27, 2006... By Michael Malone Greg Daniels mixes humor and attention to detail on the Emmy-winning NBC sitcom After years of crafting lines for the likes of Homer Simpson and Hank Hill, the patriarchs on Fox's The Simpsons and King of the Hill...

O.J. Hangover: Networks Say "No" to Juice.("O.J. Simpson: If I Did It, Here's How It Happened")
November 27, 2006... By Andrew Tyndall Flash! asked B&C Contributing Editor Andrew Tyndall to consider the coverage of O.J. Simpson's latest appearance in the news cycle against the record coverage he inspired when he first rose to infamy a decade ago. ...

A Reporter's Story.(John Higgins)(Obituary)
November 27, 2006... By Mark Robichaux Celebrating the career and life of John Higgins John M. Higgins, longtime journalist and business editor of Broadcasting & Cable Magazine, died last week of a heart attack in a hospital in New Jersey. He was 45. ...

Indecency Court Challenges Begin.(broadcasters challenge the rulings by Federal Communications Commission)
November 27, 2006... By John Eggerton Networks fire opening shot at FCC profanity rulings The broadcast networks, with the exception of ABC , are taking aim at the FCC 's stepped-up indecency/profanity-enforcement regime, beginning the court battle that...

New Metrics in Texas.
November 27, 2006... By Garth Johnston Local people meters energize a competitive news market It has been a good year for news broadcasting in the Dallas-Ft. Worth market, which overtook Boston this year to become the country's 6th-largest. Business is...

Open Mike.
November 27, 2006... Staff The loss of John M. Higgins inspired hundreds of letters. You'll find the complete version of tributes on our Web site, broadcastingcable.com. Below are excerpts from just a few: We flunked out of Notre Dame together in the early...

The Man in Black & White.(John Higgins remembered)(Obituary)
November 27, 2006... By J. Max Robins When I took the reins at Broadcasting & Cable nearly three years ago, I hadn't been on the job four days when John Higgins saved my newbie-editor-in-chief ass. I recall that now as we mourn the loss of Higgins-always...

NATPE Wired for Business.(National Association of Television Programming Executives)
November 27, 2006... By Ben Grossman January show to focus on digital delivery Having a magazine editor deliver the keynote address at the 2007 National Association of Television Programming Executives (NATPE) convention might seem a bit strange. But...

Wiley Defined Hi-Def.(Dick Wiley, Wiley, Rein & Fielding, Former Chairman of Federal Communications Commission)(Interview)
November 27, 2006... By John Eggerton Former FCC Chairman Dick Wiley has been a driving force on the HDTV issue since its beginning almost two decades ago. Now a partner in the Washington law firm Wiley, Rein & Fielding, Wiley headed the FCC's Advanced...