About 40% of basic and digital cable subscribers are highly satisfied with their service, less than the 50%-plus of satellite subscribers and the approximately 60% of telecommunications-based TV service subscribers, Parks Associates says. While cable satisfaction levels rise with video-on-demand…
About 15% of U.S. television viewers still receive over-the-air analog broadcasts through their antennas four months before the switchover to all-digital broadcasts in February, and about a fifth of those will let those TVs go dark, ABI Research said in…
BBC1 is planning to develop a Marvel Comics-inspired superhero series slated for a prime-time Saturday time slot, U.K.-based the Stage reports. The series, called “Superpower,” is being written by “Doctor Who” director Joe Ahearne and will feature episodes with stand-alone…
TBS had last week’s best ratings among basic-cable networks because of its coverage of baseball’s American League Championship Series between the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays, Multichannel News reports. Game 7 of the ALCS attracted more than 13.4…
Akamai, which makes Internet content-delivery products, will acquire online-advertising network Acerno for $95 million, MediaPost’s Online Media Daily reports. The acquisition will give Akamai access to Acerno’s collection of information from almost 400 online retail Web sites and give it…
National spot-advertising spending, excluding non-core categories such as political ads, will fall 14% this year, with total ad spending rising as little as 1%, TVNewsday reports. Last year, the Television Bureau of Advertising forecast 2008 spot-advertising spending to rise about…
News-format changes WNBC-TV began enacting five months ago have caused many longtime employees to depart NBC’s New York affiliate while causing others to question the future of the network, the New York Observer reports, citing employees it didn’t identify. WNBC…
Alec Baldwin will join Robert Osborne as the new co-host of Turner Classic Movies’ “The Essentials.” He will begin his co-hosting duties in March, introducing each week’s movies. Mr. Baldwin previously participated in TCM’s “Guest Programmer” series and hosted the…
Online television network ManiaTV slashed 20 jobs, representing nearly 30% of the fledgling Web studio’s work force, the company announced today. The layoffs come as part of a reorganization at ManiaTV under which the company will rely on third-party producers…
BET acquired the first network TV window rights to three films from The Weinstein Co. Two of the films are about to be released theatrically: “Soul Men,” starring Samuel L. Jackson and the late Bernie Mack, and “Hurricane Season,” featuring…