Video Age International articles from May 1997

Video Age International archives from May 1997

New season shaped by many problems. (television broadcasting networks)
May 1, 1997... High costs, lower shares, sweeps, repeats... But there's a bright light in the upfront market Studio ownership of a network is causing producers some problems with the new season. Take the case of Home Improvement, which was produced for...

Latin Americans come of age at MIP-TV. (participation of Latin Americans at the MIP-TV exhibition)
May 1, 1997... It took a village It was as busy as usual at last month's MIP-TV. Or was it busier than ever? It depended on who you asked. There certainly seemed to be a whirl of activity, and participants dashed to their 15-minute meetings. They scurried...

My two cents. (analysis of digital television)
May 1, 1997... Digital television is a complicated matter - one need only look at the number of acronyms it has acquired to realize that In Canada and the U.S. digital television is called DTV, in Finland it is DTTV. in the U.K. it is DTT and in Australia and...

Kirch's digital TV needs time and money. (digital TV venture of the Kirch Group)
May 1, 1997... Leo Kirch is trying very hard to get his digital TV venture off the ground. The Kirch Group has invested more than $1 billion over the last year in Germany's first digital TV service, DF1, which offers pay-per-view movies and other services by...

RTL sets record. (German television network)
May 1, 1997... Germany's RTL reports that 1996 was a very good year. For the first time since the company's inception in 1984, its annual turnover exceeded 3 billion marks (U.S.$1.8 billion). The turnover was 3.2 billion marks (U.S.$1.9 billion), a 12.1 percent...

U.S. West plays cable game. (entry of telephone company US West into the cable television industry)
May 1, 1997... While many telephone companies are rethinking their plans to enter the cable arena, U.S. West is still firmly behind the idea. In 1992, the company committed to offering customers in certain cities not only telephone but TV, data and interactive...

WebTV: bang or bust? (Microsoft Corp.'s plan to acquire WebTV Networks)
May 1, 1997... Microsoft's plans to buy WebTV Networks for $425 million may have prompted skeptics to rethink the viability of WebTV and surfing the World Wide Web via the television set, but Bob Broadwater of Veronis, Suhler & Associates remains unconvinced....

DTH software to expand in India. (direct-to-home software for television broadcasting)
May 1, 1997... Television companies in India have submitted their software plans for the planned new direct-to-home platforms. The Indian Foreign Investment Promotion Board has cleared Sony Pictures' and Walt Disney's proposals to invest greater amounts in...

Continued upheaval at BBC. (British Broadcasting Corp.)
May 1, 1997... Fabiola Arredondo, director of International Distribution at BBC Worldwide, resigned early this month. This move comes on the heels of the departure of Sarah Frank, president and CEO of BBC Worldwide Americas. The company attributes...

Smoke and Mirrors: Violence, Television and Other American Cultures.
May 1, 1997... John Leonard, the author of Smoke and Mirrors: Violence, Television and Other American Cultures (The New Press, 290 pp.), a loosely arranged rumination on television past, present and future, is the TV critic for New York magazine, the literary...

Screenings '90: quality, quantity. (television broadcasting industry exhibition)
May 1, 1997... So, it is said that quality programming is coming back into the U.S. networks' schedules. It is also said that this year's L.A. Screenings have been attended by the largest contingent of international buyers ever. It is further said that an...

A tale of two trade shows: Cable '97 and NAB '97. (cable television broadcasting industry conference; television broadcasting industry conference)
May 1, 1997... After landing in New Orleans for Cable '97, after checking into the hotel, the first order of business was a visit to the mighty Mississippi. Swollen by upstream flooding, its current flowing at twice the normal speed, the river rushed past,...

L.A. Screenings '97. (television broadcasting industry exhibition)
May 1, 1997... INDIE PROGRAM SOURCES ALFRED HABER DISTRIBUTION The Bible Format: 32-Hour Mini-Series Package Jack Hanna's Animal Adventures Format: 97 x 30[minutes] Nature Documentary Series Victory Garden Format: 156 x 30[minutes] Lifestyle Series...

Cable babies. (new cable television networks)(Directory)
May 1, 1997... There are now some 163 national cable channels, roughly 49 regional cable channels and some 14 interactive cable channels in the United States, and new ones are testing the waters all the time. This is a list of new cable channels that have been...

Universal rising. (Universal Television)(Company Profile)
May 1, 1997... Universal Television continues its international expansion and steps up network series production When Seagram acquired Universal (then MCA) in June 1995 for $5.7 billion, it was evident that Canada's Edgar Bronfman Jr. had a lot to learn...