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Monthly Archives : November 2008

NBC’s Gregory, FCC’s Martin at DTV Event

February’s switchover to all-digital broadcasts will be commemorated Nov. 10 with an event hosted by NBC’s David Gregory that will include Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin and NAB Chief Executive Officer David Rehr, Radio Business Report says. Univision chief…

NFL’s Goodell Lays Block for Network

National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell sent a letter to Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., defending the programming policies of the NFL Network, the Associated Press reports. U.S. senators have said the network, which is available in fewer than 40% of…

Appeals of Media Ownership Rules Sent Back to Philly Court

An appeal of the Federal Communications Commission’s media ownership changes is heading back to the Philadelphia appeals court that overturned the FCC’s last attempt to ease its rules. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals today consolidated various appeals of the…

Number of Households Not Ready for Digital Switch Shrinks

The percentage of U.S. households that remain completely unready for February’s DTV switch is decreasing at a faster rate as the switchover approaches, according to new information from Nielsen People Meter household samples. As of October, only 7.7% of U.S….

High Court Hears Indecency Case

Several Supreme Court justices hearing arguments in a case that may redefine television indecency standards indicated they are hesitant to broadly loosen obscenity rules under the banner of protecting the First Amendment. The questioning today signal the case, which originated…

Customers Speed Switchover Effort

U.S. households sped up their effort to prepare for next February’s switchover to all-digital broadcasts by either buying digital televisions or acquiring digital subscriptions or digital-to-analog converter boxes, Multichannel News says, citing Nielsen. The percentage of so-called “unready” U.S. households…

Netflix Adds HD to Roku Box by Year End

Netflix will add about 300 high-definition titles to its inventory that can be streamed directly to televisions through the Roku set-top box, Video Business reports. Netflix is enacting a similar “soft launch” of HD streaming titles through Microsoft’s Xbox 360…

Discovery Taps Turner’s Schwab

Discovery Channel tapped Turner Broadcasting programming executive Ken Schwab to oversee its programming starting next year, Multichannel News says. Schwab helped boost ratings among younger adults by adding comedies such as “Family Guy” and “My Name Is Earl” at Turner’s…

Showrunner Kring Tries to Save ‘Heroes’

“Heroes” showrunner Tim Kring will try to pull the NBC drama out of its ratings slump by being more involved in simplifying the show’s story lines, Daily Variety reports. Kring, who let executive producers Jesse Alexander and Jeph Loeb go…

NBC Wants to Move ‘Runway’ Case

NBC Universal is requesting that its “Project Runway” breach-of-contract lawsuit against the Weinstein Co. be moved back to a New York state court from a federal court, Multichannel News says. NBC, which says Weinstein failed to gave the network first…