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Monthly Archives : June 2008

ESPN Heads Into Late Night

ESPN wants to expand into late-night television with “ESPN Timeline” next April, Broadcasting & Cable reports. A format for the program has not been decided, but the network wants to follow it up with a more comedic-slanted show along the…

Tuesday Night TV Gets Crowded

Tuesday’s premiere of “Wipeout” and “I Survived a Japanese Game Show” on ABC will create the most competitive night of broadcast TV this summer, MediaWeek reports. Tuesday night will also mark the premiere of NBC’s “Celebrity Family Feud,” which was…

More Protection of Indie Cable Nets Urged

The chairman of a U.S. Senate antitrust panel is urging the Federal Communications Commission to take steps to make it easier for independent cable channels to get on cable systems and limit bigger rivals from using channel bundling to disadvantage…

Fox to Seek Viewer Feedback Online

Fox is inviting viewers to weigh in on programming and marketing decisions via a deal the broadcaster inked with technology firm Passenger. Under the deal, Fox will launch an online community for viewers in the 18-to-49 demo to express their…

Comedian George Carlin Dead at 71

Comedian George Carlin, whose famous “Seven Dirty Words” routine forced a Supreme Court decision on television obscenity, died today in Santa Monica, Calif., at age 71, Reuters reported. Mr. Carlin complained of chest pains and was admitted to a Santa…

ABC Shows to Be Offered Online on Veoh

Disney found another suitable home for its television networking programming online. The media company has inked a deal with video-sharing site Veoh Networks to offer ABC shows and ESPN.com short content. Veoh Networks will integrate ABC.com’s full-episode player into its…

Brokaw to Fill In for Russert

Tom Brokaw will serve as moderator for “Meet the Press” through this year’s presidential elections following the sudden death of Tim Russert earlier this month, TelevisionWeek reports. While several other NBC News personalities had been mentioned for the job, “Anyone…

FCC to Prepare New Placement Rules

The Federal Communications Commission this week is expected to begin the process of creating new rules about letting viewers know when advertisers have paid for product placement in programming, the Wall Street Journal reports. “You shouldn’t need a magnifying glass…

Should Arnold Weigh in on SAG?

In light of the economic effect the Writers Guild of American strike had on California, some are asking Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to intervene should the current Screen Actors Guild talks with producers fail, the Los Angeles Times says. SAG, which…

Broadcast Summer: Not So Hot

Broadcast networks already are hitting a summer ratings slump, TelevisionWeek reports. Nielsen numbers for the first three weeks of the summer schedule are expected to show the networks will be down from this time last year as a slew of…