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Monthly Archives : November 2008

HDTV Sets Now in One-Third of U.S. Homes

Research by the Leichtman Research Group found high-definition television sets are slowly becoming the de rigeur way to watch TV, with 34% of American households owning at least one HDTV, Multichannel News reports In the past 12 months, HDTVs made…

Digitalsmiths Lands $12 Mil From Investors

Video search and publishing firm Digitalsmiths raised an additional $12 million in venture funding, the company announced today. The Series B round was led by .406 Ventures, with money also coming from current investors Chrysalis Ventures and Aurora Funds. The…

Fox, NBC Stations Form Local News Service

Fox Television Stations and NBC Local Media are setting up a local news service to generate general video news coverage and thus reduce costs. The service will start in January 2009 in Philadelphia, where Fox owns WTXF-TV and NBC owns…

‘Good Morning America’ Lands Ayers Interview

“Good Morning America’s” Chris Cuomo has landed the first exclusive TV interview since the election with William Ayers, the 1960s radical-turned-Chicago-activist whose association with President-Elect Barack Obama became a campaign controversy. Mr. Ayers will appear live in the studio Friday,…

BET Names Jones, Hill to Top Programming Posts

BET named new two presidents to run its programming operations. Former MTV executive Loretha Jones joins BET as president of programming. She will be responsible for original programming, news development, planning and acquisition. The Viacom-owned cable network promoted Stephen Hill,…

Mobile Video Firm Transpera Gets $8.25 Mil in Funding

Mobile video technology firm Transpera landed $8.25 million in a Series B round of funding, the company announced today. The round was led by Flybridge Capital Partners and included investment from Labrador Ventures. The cash is earmarked for product expansion…

NBC Ends ‘Enemy,’ ‘Lipstick’; CW’s ‘Privileged’ Wins

NBC has canceled freshman series “My Own Worst Enemy” and sophomore show “Lipstick Jungle” due to struggling ratings, TelevisionWeek reports. The CW, meanwhile, has ordered another five episodes of its first-year dramedy “Privileged,” bringing the episodes count to 18 for…

‘Flip This House’ Creator Wins $4 Mil

A real estate investor who helped create A&E’s “Flip This House” was awarded $4 million by a federal jury in South Carolina, the Los Angeles Times reports. He had sued A&E for allegedly reneging on a promise to share half…

QVC to Lay Off 700 Workers

Liberty Media’s QVC shopping channel expects to lay off 700 workers over the next 14 months, after already having pared 160, the Wall Street Journal reports. The cuts will trim operating costs by $30 million to $40 million, the paper…

Showtime, Stan Lee Develop Gay Superhero

Showtime is developing a gay superhero project with comic book legend Stan Lee, Daily Variety reports. The hour-long series, based on Perry Moore’s book “Hero,” will follow a superhero and the challenges he faces while hiding his secret identities. Lee…