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A Sampling of Recent Sweeps Stunts on Local Stations

* WPIX-TV, New York, scheduled a February report on honesty in which a reporter dropped money on sidewalks and then snooped on finders with a hidden camera.* WCMH-TV, Columbus, Ohio, sent a reporter to file stories on neck surgery performed…

Ad Market Grows in Fits and Starts

Pat Ivers can tell you where his business will be in 30 days. The picture is a little less clear in 60 days, and by 90 days his cloudy crystal ball goes back in the closet. That’s because he’s working…

CBS, UPN Grow in Viewers, Demo

Viacom-owned CBS and UPN were the only broadcast networks to show growth in adults 18 to 49 and total viewers in the first week of sweeps compared with last year. CBS-which was up 42 percent in adults 18 to 49…

Firms Face Tough Disclosure Issues

As VP of investor relations at media giant Time Warner, John Martin is all too familiar with the various constituencies-investors, analysts and company executives among them-that have a stake in a company’s release of financial information and how the interests…

‘Game’ on for UPN

At UPN, the game is on to lure young video game players back to broadcast television.The network, whose target audience is the 18 to 34 demo, is banking on television’s first CGI-animated television series, “Game Over,” to help do it….

Gigs

ROLESWanda Sykes, right, has signed a six-episode commitment deal with Comedy Central. The half-hour show is scheduled to premiere this fall. … “24’s” Sarah Wynter will guest star in six episodes of USA Network’s “The Dead Zone.” The third season…

GM, Coca-Cola Back Out of Buys

Two major advertisers, General Motors and Coca-Cola, have been dropping commitments to buy ad time, in effect undoing part of last year’s upfront.The moves come at a time when ad buyers are complaining that they overpaid for broadcast airtime last…

Season Highs Across Genres

Oprah Winfrey’s 50th birthday bash was a rating bonanza and syndicators everywhere celebrated their new series and across-the-board season highs for the week ending Feb. 1.From newsmagazines such as “Access Hollywood” and “Inside Edition” to freshmen “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,”…

Clarification/Corrections

In “Kids Ad Picture Clearing” (TelevisionWeek, Feb. 9), Disney has no plan to rebrand its ABC Kids Saturday morning programming package “Jetix.” ABC Cable Networks Group debuted new “Jetix”-branded programming blocks Saturday on ABC Family (mornings) and Toon Disney (evenings)….

Comcast’s Eye on Disney Proves Content Again King

This past summer, at the height of a programming-fee battle between multiple system operators and cable networks such as ESPN, many Wall Street prognosticators declared that distribution had become king and that cable operators with scale would forever steer the…