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Fox and CBS did it again. For the 2008-09 TV season, Fox has officially claimed its fifth consecutive ratings win among adults 18-49, while CBS wrapped up the season as the most-watched broadcast network for the sixth time in the last seven years. It was a season in which comparisons were made difficult...
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With the television industry slogging through the worst economy in decades, the broadcast networks put their best foot forward at the upfront, then braced for long negotiations with media buyers and advertisers. “I’m surprised by how normal everything felt,” said one veteran buyer, noting the presentations...
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Fri, May 22 2009
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Filed under: Broadcast, Fox, ABC, Advertising, CBS, NBC, The CW, Print Edition, Upfront, Ad Buys
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After spending the last few years telling viewers to “Start Here,” ABC this week will begin telling viewers just where “here” is. During its upfront presentation to advertisers Tuesday, the network will unveil a massive new on-air promotional campaign built around the concept of the ABC House. “Your...
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Steve McPherson is fired up. Along with the rest of the TV industry, Mr. McPherson, president of the ABC Entertainment Group, has struggled through tough times during the past 18 months. He’s had to try to develop new hits while slogging through the twin terrors of a writers strike and a collapsing economy...
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Sun, May 17 2009
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Filed under: Broadcast, ABC, Desperate Housewives, Jimmy Kimmel, Steve McPherson, ABC Studios, Print Edition, Lost, Flash Forward, Modern Family
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For the first two weeks of the May sweeps, CBS is the only broadcast television network posting year-over-year gains among total viewers. The network is also the only one to avoid any losses among adults 18-49, the demographic still led by Fox. Among total viewers, CBS averaged 10.8 million viewers,...
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After the strike-induced tumult and turmoil of last season, broadcasters were praying things would somehow take a turn for the better during the 2008-09 campaign. It didn’t happen. With less than a month left to go before this season ends, four of the five major networks find themselves attracting fewer...
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Broadcast is firing back at cable networks that are trying to take a bigger slice of the upfront advertising pie. Reacting to bold statements from cable executives that advertisers are overpaying when they buy commercials on the broadcast networks—and buyers who predict that money will move away from...
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It may be the age of TiVo and Hulu, but the next few weeks will once again underline an important tenet of the broadcast TV economy: Schedules still matter. Even as networks increasingly adapt to the notion that their programming is being absorbed long after its original broadcast, the day and time a...
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The summer television schedules revealed last week reflect the tension between the broadcast networks’ dual goals: attracting advertisers with quality fare and keeping costs low. In keeping with the trend of recent years, summer will not be light on original programming, with several networks using their...
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Sun, Apr 12 2009
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Filed under: Broadcast, Fox, ABC, CBS, NBC, Wipeout, The CW, Print Edition, Merlin, Big Brother, So You Think You Can Dance, America's Got Talent, The Philanthropist, Dating in the Dark, The Listener, Don't Forget the Lyrics, Mental, Hitched or Ditched, The Bachelorette, The Superstars, Blonde Charity Mafia, Here Come the Newlyweeds, Are You Smarter Than a Grader?, Hell’s Kitchen, More to Love, I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here
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After spending much of the past decade trying to push the envelope creatively, network development executives are headed back to basics with their fall 2009 pilot rosters. Having been burned one too many times by shows that garnered critical acclaim but low Nielsen numbers—from “Arrested Development...
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Fri, Feb 20 2009
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Filed under: Broadcast, Fox, ABC, CBS, NBC, The CW, Print Edition, Heroes, Gossip Girl, Lost, New York, Pilots, ER, David E. Kelley, NCIS, Melrose Place, No Heroics, Ed Zwick, Human Target, A Marriage, Flash Forward, Sons of Tucson, Save Us Then From the Whales, Eastwick, Happy Town, Day One, Absolutely Fabulous, Walorksy, Marshall Herskovitz, V
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If America’s headed for another Great Depression, somebody better tell Hollywood’s celebrity class. While millions suffer through unemployment—and the rest of us wonder if we’ll be next—more than a few residents of Hollywoodland apparently have decided that now would be a perfect time to act like complete...
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Fri, Feb 13 2009
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Filed under: Broadcast, ABC, Grey's Anatomy, SAG, Print Edition, ER, Late Show With David Letterman, Mike Fleiss, George Clooney, James Pickens Jr., Julianna Margulies, Katherine Heigl, T.R. Knight, Joaquin Phoenix
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The recession is finally having a deep effect on the national television advertising market. Last week, major media companies reported that marketers have been exercising options to cancel some of the second-quarter commercial time they bought in the upfront. For TVWeek's comprehensive coverage of...
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Sun, Feb 8 2009
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Filed under: Broadcast, ABC, Advertising, CBS, Print Edition, Upfronts, Scripps Networks, Turner Broadcasting, Peter Chernin, Fox Broadcasting, CPM, Economy, Ad Options
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As the national economy slides deeper into a recession, viewers appear to be turning to familiar favorites to ease the pain, making it harder for many newer shows to get noticed. That's proving to be a challenge for the cable networks that rolled the dice in December and January on several high-profile...
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Sun, Feb 1 2009
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Filed under: Broadcast, Fox, TNT, ABC, CBS, NBC, Print Edition, USA Network, Turner Classic Movies, TV Ratings, F/X. TBS, Cable Networks, Broadcast Networks
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ABC is about to find out if love is blind, while CBS is unleashing an “Undercover Boss.” In the latest batch of reality pickups at the broadcast networks, ABC has greenlit production on “Dating in the Dark,” a relationship-based reality show in which participants go through all the usual mating rituals...
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Some might say the beginning of the 2008-09 broadcast TV season marked a return to business as usual. With the writers strike a distant memory, the broadcast networks are back in the business of providing quality, regularly scheduled programming with new episodes of old favorites and the debuts of new...
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Sun, Jan 25 2009
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Filed under: Fringe, Broadcast, Fox, ABC, CBS, NBC, Desperate Housewives, The CW, 30 Rock, Print Edition, One Tree Hill, Worst Week