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Monthly Archives : December 2008

Charter Retrans Fight With Belo Expands

Charter Communications is in a retransmission battle with two Belo Corp. television stations, St. Louis CBS affiliate KMOV-TV and WFAA-TV, the ABC affiliate in Dallas/Ft. Worth, Multichannel News reports. Both KMOV and WFAA said they are asking for about one…

SAG Delays Strike-Authorization Vote

The Screen Actors Guild said it will delay sending out ballots for a strike-authorization vote until at least Jan. 14, instead of the earlier scheduled Jan. 2, the Associated Press reports. The delay comes after some of SAG’s New York…

ESPN Developing Interactive TV

ESPN is developing three interactive television products called ESPN My Vote, ESPN In Game Extra and My Bottom Line, with the goal of starting them in summer 2009, Advertising Age says. Each service will provide logo placement for advertisers, while…

More Funding for ‘Funny or Die’ Site

Actor Will Ferrell’s Funny or Die Web site raised $3 million from a single, unnamed investor, Reuters reports. Mark Kvamme, a company director and backer, could not be immediately reached for comment. According to a regulatory filing, the investment also…

Ex-‘Sopranos’ Actor Cleared in Killing

Lillo Brancato Jr., 32, a former actor on “The Sopranos” who played a young mobster, was cleared in the killing of an off-duty New York City police officer by a New York State Supreme Court jury, the New York Times…

Hulu Viewers Down After Election

Hulu lost viewers in November from the previous month, the first decline for the video-streaming site, Advertising Age reports, citing figures from Nielsen VideoCensus. Viewers dropped to 7.5 million from more than 9 million, perhaps because the site didn’t have…

‘Yes We Can’ Among Best Ads of 2008

The music video “Yes We Can,” made by will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas, was one of last year’s best advertisements, the Wall Street Journal says. The ad, which promoted President-elect Barack Obama, wasn’t commissioned by his campaign. Still, it…

YouTube-Warner Fight Reveals Tension

The conflict between YouTube and Warner Music Group, which pulled music videos from the online-video site over the weekend, illustrates the increasing tension between music companies and Web sites over advertising and licensing revenue, the Los Angeles Times says. The…

Last Big VHS Supplier Ditches Format

Ryan J. Kugler, the president and co-owner of Distribution Video Audio Inc., sent out his last truck of VHS tapes, after selling more than 4 million of the videotapes during the past two years, the Los Angeles Times reports. While…

ABC Readies ‘Homeland Security USA’

ABC is readying its controversial reality show “Homeland Security USA,” which tracks U.S. border guards, for a Jan. 6 debut, the New York Post says. Executive producer Arnold Shapiro has come under fire for showing the Department of Homeland Security…