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Media buyers are still calling for price rollbacks going into television’s annual upfront advertising market this week, but network executives say demands for price cuts have softened since the stock market bounced higher. This week, the broadcast networks—plus cable networks Turner Broadcasting System...
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Sexy ladies and poker geeks are joining the primetime lineup at Comcast Entertainment Group’s male-skewing G4. The cable network today will announce greenlights for “2 Months, 2 Million” and “The International Sexy Ladies Show,” with both series set to premiere this summer. They join “Web Soup,” the...
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There’s a certain giddiness in the air at the Sunday morning newsmaker shows these days, with the long election behind them and a whole new set of issues to delve into and guests to pin down. It’s a far cry from a year ago, when TelevisionWeek put together its annual anonymous poll of how the politicians...
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The George Foster Peabody Award is considered by many to be the most prestigious honor in electronic media, akin to the Pulitzer Prize for print journalism. For 2008, the Peabody judges have honored a wide variety of entertainment, news and information media. Among this round of Peabody honorees, HBO...
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CNN laid the groundwork for its 2008 election coverage back in 2005 budgeting meetings, when all it really knew was that there would be a wide open two-party race. The planning paid off, with the Peabody judges singling out the cable network’s primary campaign and debate coverage for an award. “With...
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Media moguls say they’re starting to see signs of a bottom to the recession and the beginnings of an upturn in the advertising market—just in time for the upfront advertising sales season. Last week, several major media companies reported they took their lumps in the first quarter, but their top executives...
Posted to
The Business of Television
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News
on
Sun, May 10 2009
Filed under:
Filed under: Broadcast, Cable, Print Edition, Earnings, Leslie Moonves, CBS Corp., Scripps Networks, Rupert Murdoch, Economy, Walt Disney Co., John Lansing, Bob Iger, New Corp.
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G4 is serving up its own brand of “The Soup.” The network is readying “Web Soup,” a weekly half-hour compilation of the Internet’s best and worst viral videos. Chris Hardwick, Nerdist blogger and tech correspondent for “Attack of the Show,” has been tapped to host the new series, which will air Sundays...
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It would seem that A&E Television Networks could pick a better time to mark its 25th anniversary. But amid an economic recession and a deep slump in the advertising business, AETN is coming off its best year ever, and CEO Abbe Raven sees even better days ahead. “We’re toasting the past and, more...
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To Salaam Coleman Smith, president of the Style Network, putting together a schedule is a lot like putting together a great outfit. “You kind of do the high-low. Mixing high-end designer shoes with a fabulous outfit from Target, you can really put together a great outfit,” Ms. Smith said. Similarly,...
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History has signed up Subaru as the presenting sponsor of “Expedition Africa,” the highly anticipated series from Mark Burnett. Advertisers are interested in becoming part of popular programming, and Subaru’s sponsorship is integrated beyond the traditional 30-second spots that will air. As part of the...
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TLC, in the midst of a ratings rebound, is renewing 10 of its current series. The returning shows range from the long-running “What Not to Wear” and “A Baby Story” to the brand-new “Toddlers & Tiaras.” Also renewed was “Jon & Kate Plus 8,” which wrapped its fourth season with its highest rated...
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Regrettable is the word that comes to mind as we survey the performance of cable news outlets in recent weeks. Their coverage of the anti-tax “tea parties” on April 15 illustrates the extent to which self-described news outlets have departed from their mission and turned to theater. We (quixotically...
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American satirist H.L. Mencken once said: “No one ever went broke under-estimating the intelligence of the American public.” Take P.T. Barnum’s Feejee Mermaid, for example, purportedly the shriveled remains of a tiny washed-up mermaid that wowed audiences in 1842 and essentially launched Barnum’s career...
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It’s time again for TelevisionWeek ’s list of the 10 Most Powerful in TV News. This year’s report card comes at an awkward time: Election-year performances can’t be ignored, and yet they already seem a distant memory, as the industry is roiled by the same economic turmoil as the rest of the nation. While...
Posted to
The Business of Television
by
News
on
Sun, Apr 19 2009
Filed under:
Filed under: Broadcast, Cable, Digital, Phil Griffin, Univision, Print Edition, CNN, Jon Klein, NBC News, Comedy Central, Sean McManus, Fox News Channel, Steve Capus, ABC News, Stephen Colbert, CBS News, Jeff Zucker, Jon Stewart, Roger Ailes, Newspro, Jim Walton, Ken Jautz, Huffington Post, David Westin, Fox Television Stations Group, N.S. Bienstock, Mark Hoffman
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FX may have been one of the first cable channels to air award-winning original scripted drama, but its president, John Landgraf, thinks other networks are tempting fate by trying to cultivate too many original shows. The differing economics of cable and broadcast create risks for cable executives who...