ABC TV Station Affiliates Mad About Company Moving Live Sports to ESPN

ABC affiliates are complaining about a corporate decision to move some live sports events that they thought belonged to them to ESPN, reports Mediaweek.

Most recently, ESPN said it is picking up eight fall NASCAR races that were originally set for ABC. Earlier, the network gave up the Rose Bowl to its cable sibling, beginning next year, and this year’s British Open.

Station executives complain that the moves will cost them ad revenue, and their ability to promote other shows, particularly to men.

--Elizabeth Jensen

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Yes, Howard Stern is an A*Hole, But He's the Right Choice to Replace Simon Cowell on 'Idol'

Or so says TVWeek Open Mic blogger Chuck Ross. To read why he thinks so, click here.

(I think my colleague Ross may have finally gone too far and his mom is going to be unhappy with him...)

--Tom Gilbert

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Super Bowl Sets Another Record—for Clutter

The Super Bowl had the most viewers of any TV event ever, but it also set another record, for the ad clutter,  the Associated Press reports.

Commercials accounted for about 48 minutes of the game, which was almost three minutes longer than last year, which was the previous record, research firm Kantar Media said. There was more than the usual number of 15-second ads, as well.

--Elizabeth Jensen

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Oscars Get Social Media Makeover to Attract Younger Viewers to Its TV Broadcast

Last year's broadcast of the Academy Awards was the third lowest-rated broadcast in the show's history.

With the nominations of such crowd pleasers as "Avatar" and "The Blind Side," audience numbers should increase dramatically this year, but the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences are not taking any changes.

They are going whole-hog into social media this year, reports Advertising Age. Facebook, an upcoming iPhone app, you name it.

With rigorous analysis and interviews with all the key players, this excellent piece by Andrew Hampp explains the longterm strategy behind the Oscars' social media push, as well as its tactical execution.

--Chuck Ross

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Huh? Toyota Dealers Pull Ads Off Some ABC Affiliates; Dealers Are Mad About 'Excessive Stories' on Toyota Problems

Talk about your mixed messages. Embattled Toyota, trying to reassure the public that it's concerned about safety issues and will fix its cars that have been found to have a potentially deadly acceleration problem, has pulled TV ads off TV stations as a punishment for reporting the story, ABC News reports.

The ads were pulled from ABC affiliates in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina and North Carolina. Those states have 173 Toyota dealers that make up Southeast Toyota. The ad agency used by Southeast Toyota is 22Squared in Atlanta.

According to the ABC News article, the ad agency "told ABC affiliates last week that the shift was due to 'excessive stories on the Toyota issues.' The dealers shifted their commercial time buys to non-ABC stations in the same markets, 'as punishment for the reporting,' according to an ABC station manager." 

The agency tried to talk Southeast Toyota out of the move, the story says, adding that "ABC News and [investigative reporter Ross began reporting on the problem of 'runaway Toyotas' last November in a series of stories that preceded the large recalls ordered by the company, and apologies for quality shortcomings as well as misstatements about the extent of the defects."

The president of Southeast Toyota did not return ABC News' calls by the time ABC News ran the story.

--Allison J. Waldman and Chuck Ross

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SNL Kagan Report Confirms How Bleak TV Station Revenues Have Been

There's a new report from SNL Kagan that shows a huge drop in TV station revenues from 2003-2009 of more than $5.5 billion, reports B&C.

The money went from $24.6 billion to under $19 billion.

The good news is that Kagan predicts that by 2013, the situation will be improved to the level of $21.7 billion. Kagan also anticipates an increase in retrans fees and online revenue.

-- Allison J. Waldman

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Record Smashed! The Super Bowl was Watched by 106.5 Million, Breaking the All-Time Viewing Record Set by 'M*A*S*H' Finale

Twenty-seven years ago, in 1983, Sally Ride become the first U.S. woman in space. Pitchers Nolan Ryan of the Astros and Steve Carlton of the Phillies both broke Walter Johnson's 56 year record for most strikeouts. "Terms of Endearment" won the Oscar for Best Picture.

And on Monday night, February 28, 1983, 105.9 million Americans gathered around their TV sets to watch the finale of "M*A*S*H."

Now 27 years later, that viewing record has been surpassed by Sunday's Super Bowl, which was watched by 106.5 million viewers.

With the advent of increased cable TV programming and the Internet, and video gaming, many thought that the we'd never see an audience again get to a size that could break the record set by the finale of "M*A*S*H."

But as Bill Carroll, vp director of programming at Katz TV Group, told James Hibberd of The Hollywood Reporter's Live Feed Blog about this year's Super Bowl breaking the viewing record, he said, "It's not surprising. When you have a once-a-year event, particularly suited to HD, with little to no competition on broadcast or cable, while in this economy it's mostly watched from home, with a blizzard on the East Coast, it would be more surprising if the game did not set a record."

--Chuck Ross 

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Video: The Best Super Bowl Ad This Year, as Rated by USA Today's Annual Consumer Poll

The best ad on the Super Bowl this year, as rated by consumers in USA Today's annual poll, was not a beer commercial, nor an auto spot.

It was Mars' ad for its Snickers brand, starring Betty White. See it below.

The rest of the top 10, according to the USA Poll, in order: Doritos--dog puts shock collar on owner; Bud Light--house built of beer cans; Budweiser--clydesdale befriends steer; Coca-Cola--sleepwalker finally gets Coke; Audi A3 TDI--Green police; E*Trade---baby talks to girlefriend; Budweiser--human bridge; Bridgestone--whale of a spot; Monster--fiddle playing beaver makes it big. To see these and ALL of this year's Super Bowl ads, our sibling publication Ad Age has them if you click here.

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Cutting O'Brien Out of Poster in Lobby was One Thing--Has NBC Gone Too Far With This Further Excising of Conan?

NBC appears determined to erase any hint of Conan O’Brien’s “Tonight Show” tenure, AllThingsD reports.

According to the report, NBC.com in recent days has removed all seven months of O’Brien episodes as host of "The Tonight Show," and Hulu, the video site which NBC co-owns with Fox and ABC, has taken them down as well.

NBC declined to comment. O’Brien clips are also being removed from YouTube, AllThingsD says.

--Elizabeth Jensen

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Video: The Three Most Unlikely People You'd Ever Think Would Make a Promo Together: The Super Bowl Promo for Letterman's Show (and How It Came to Pass)

Perhaps the biggest surprise on the Super Bowl was the CBS promo for the "Late Show with David Letterman"). See the video below (under the video, read how it was made) Jay Leno wore a fake mustache as part of his disguise to help him sneak into David Letterman’s CBS studio when the two—plus Oprah Winfrey—came together to tape the promo, The New York Times reports. The spot, which was Letterman’s idea, was shot last Tuesday, Feb. 2nd. Winfrey agreed immediately, and Leno soon got permission from NBC’s chief executive Jeff Zucker. Leno’s show had been preempted the night the promo was shot, so it was easy to make the trip to New York. --Elizabeth Jensen more »