The Insider
How to shoot a hole in one the way Sony Pictures television Chief Steve Mosko recently did: Take MediaCom executive Jon Mandel up on his offer to stop long enough on your way to MIPCOM to wedge in a round…
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Editorial – One more time: Squeezing in spots is wrong
They just never learn. Less than a year after a CBS-owned station in Pittsburgh sparked a big brouhaha by using the so-called Time Machine to compress programming and add local spots, another station, Meredith-owned NBC affiliate WSMV-TV in Nashville, is…
HBO: The power of the brand
Almost 30 years ago, not long after I graduated from college, I sold cable TV subscriptions door to door for Theta Cable Television in Los Angeles. I was paid 100 percent on commission, and it’s a job I had for…
At Press Time
New York-At deadline Friday correspondents and crews from ABC, CNN, Fox and NBC News had been told by Iraqi authorities they must leave Baghdad. In some cases it may have been merely that short-term visas had expired. In others, the…
Tech Briefs
Execs added to show listBroadband Plus, formerly the Western Show, has added a number of cable industry executives to its speaker list. Added names are Carl Vogel, president and CEO, Charter Communications; Michael Willner, vice chairman and CEO, Insight Communications;…
The High Life
We were very proud of it, although it didn’t have a long run on HBO-about eight or 10 episodes. Adam Resnick, who has worked with David Letterman for a long time and who is a smart, very funny guy, wanted…
Tracey Takes On
HBO thought Tracey was incredibly talented, and they hired her because they loved what she did. She had a clear vision and a real edgy point of view, and they never said, “You can’t do that on TV.”But I remember…
Not Necessarily the News
We tried to sell the idea to ABC, but they weren’t buying, so we took it to Michael Fuchs at HBO and in seven days we got a pilot. As soon as they looked at it, they ordered six episodes….
Film directors zoom in on TV
Legendary Hong Kong action filmmaker/director John Woo is the latest marquee name to bring his talents to television. Mr. Woo and Terrance Chang, his production partner in Lion Rock Productions, are hanging their TV shingle at 20th Century Fox Television…
Geographic girds for dual feed
The National Geographic Channel, one of the more impressive cable launches of the past decade, is pruning its signature show and rejiggering its schedule in anticipation of a switch to dual programming feeds and still more growth in 2003.National Geographic,…