Ashley Tisdale, star of Walt Disney Co.’s “High School Musical” franchise, is close to an agreement with “American Idol” producer FreemantleMedia to develop television projects, Daily Variety reports. Ms. Tisdale is also in talks with United Artists about appearing in…
ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox are among the more than dozen companies sued by a Pennsylvania company that says it has the patent on the technology needed for next February’s digital switchover, the Associated Press reports. The claim by Rembrandt…
Fox signed Harry Lennix to play Eliza Dushku’s bodyguard in the pilot “Dollhouse,” Daily Variety reports. Mr. Lennix’s previously appeared in “24,” “Commander in Chief” and “House,” the newspaper says. Additionally, Fox signed Andrea Parker for the Bernie Mac series…
Cindy McCain, wife of presidential candidate John McCain, will co-host ABC’s “The View” next Monday, the Associated Press reports. Mr. McCain has made four appearances on “The View,” the wire service says. — Danny King
Discovery Communications has named James Hitchcock the marketing and branding officer at the Discovery Channel. Before joining Discovery, Mr. Hitchcock was senior VP of marketing at MTV Networks’ CMT. Before that, he was a director at creative firms Kirshenbaum Bond…
Media consultant company MediaXchange will hold its first drama summit June 24-26 in Los Angeles. The conference, “Drama for Television, New Frontiers, New Partners,” will bring TV drama creators, writers, producers and executives together for a weekend of discussions and…
NBC Universal International Distribution and Bravo Media have inked an exclusive programming and branding deal with Australian network Foxtel. The multiyear agreement will bring Bravo programming and its “Watch What Happens” campaign to the southern hemisphere. It marks the first…
Bill Cella, chairman-CEO of the Cella Group, has joined the advisory board of online content production company Next New Networks. Mr. Cella will work with the company’s advertising sales department on its strategy and client development. Next also has signed…
Ben Silverman will give his predictions for the 2008 ad sales season in a keynote at TelevisionWeek’s annual Upfront Summit on May 1 in New York City. The NBC Entertainment/NBCU TV Studios co-chairman will join TelevisionWeek publisher Chuck Ross for…
Scripps Networks, which is increasingly creating programming for specific advertisers, found a natural match when it produced a special for Unilever’s Country Crock spread for its Great American Country cable channel. Using ingredients including singer Amy Grant, already a Country…