Chuck Ross

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Chuck Ross is the managing director of TVWeek.com. He's been involved in the TV business ever since he sold cable TV subscriptions in Santa Monica, Calif., door-to-door in the mid-to-late 1970s. He's had regular gigs reporting and/or editing about TV and advertising for Cablevision magazine,The Hollywood Reporter, the San Francisco Chronicle, Inside Media and Advertising Age. He first joined the predecessor to TVWeek, Electronic Media, in 2000.

Now That Steve Phillips Has Been Let Go, ESPN Drops the Other Shoe

Over the weekend ESPN announced that it had let go of baseball analyst Steve Phillips, who admitted having an affair with a 22-year-old production assistant. It turns out that Brooke Hundley, the 22-year-old production assistant, has also been terminated, a…

MTV Research Guru Leads Exec. Committee for Innovative Measurement Coalition

The Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement has picked its executive committee, and it will be headed by MTV Networks’ Executive-VP Insights and Research, Colleen Fahey Rush, B&C reports. The web site of the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement launches this…

Microsoft is Shocked, Shocked, That Seth MacFarlane Has a Potty Mouth; Pulls Sponsorhip From Show

Seth MacFarlane has proven too racy for Microsoft, Variety reports. The company pulled its sponsorship from Fox’s Nov. 8 MacFarlane and Alex Borstein variety show, "Family Guy Presents: Seth and Alex’s Almost Live Comedy Show," after attending the taping and…

MGM Syndicating Emmy-winning Discovery Channel Show

MGM Domestic Television will be syndicating a two-time Emmy-winning nominated daytime game show that’s produced by Lion Television and seen on the Discovery Channel, B&C reports. The show is "Cash Cab,’ and it will be available to broadcasters on an…

CNN Struggles Mightily in Primetime

October was a cruel month for CNN: Three of its four primetime programs (7-11 p.m.) came in last among cable news networks in their time slots among key 25-54 year old viewers, a new competitive low for the cable news…

Here’s a Switch: Reality Show Producer Wants to Do More Scripted Fare

Audiences like reality series but the shows don’t have much shelf life beyond format sales so Canadian-based Fremantle Corp. is trying to move away from them and concentrate on international co-production of dramas, reports The Hollywood Reporter. Fremantle principal Irv…

Top Job at New Cooking Channel Goes to Food Network Exec

The Food Network’s chief marketing executive, Michael Smith, was named general manager of new sister network Cooking Channel, Multichannel News reports. After a decade at the Food Network, Smith will jump to the former Fine Living Network, overseeing development, staffing and production. According…

Brian Williams to do Leno Show from Afghanistan

Brian Williams isn’t going to let a trip to Afghanistan stop him from appearing on Jay Leno’s show this week, reports B&C. Williams had a long-standing commitment to make his first appearance on the show Wednesday and he intends to…

Comcast COO Steve Burke Would Have No Problem Disabling Fast Forward So Ads Could be Watched

Steve Burke, Comcast’s chief operating officer, says he’d have no problem disabling his customers’ ability to fast forward through shows to make them watch commercials. However, he said he’d only be willing to do that on very high-rated programming. Burke…

NBC Picks Up Two Sitcoms and One Drama for Full Season

NBC has picked up three shows for full season orders, the Los Angeles Times’ Company Town blog reports. The shows are the Thursday night sitcoms "Community" and "Parks and Recreation," and the Wednesday night medical drama "Mercy." –Chuck Ross