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The Insider

Higher note for Alan BellThe ever-quotable Alan Bell was in quotable-as-ever form several days into his new assignment as top dog, El Supremo, Big Kahuna, Big Cheese and Main Man at Freedom Communications.As The Insider’s audience knows, in late August…

Time slots boost ‘Brady’

Syndicators praying that audiences are ready for a new crop of series may have got their wish as the fall season officially launched with the debuts of “The Wayne Brady Show,” “Caroline Rhea” and “Celebrity Justice.” Although HUT levels were…

When 39 weeks just aren’t enough

With all the broadcast networks searching for the next original summer programming hit, it begs the question: Are fall series premieres still of utmost importance or is the much debated 52-week season finally here?A 52-week season is not happening overnight,…

the battle of the time slot

The new fall season offers up some intriguing time-slot battles for picky viewers. As usual, the lead-in shows-consider them the pre-fight hype-may have more to do with the outcome than the relative merits of any of these series. But you…

TVB confab produces ‘sobering’ ad outlook

In this year’s upfront, would General Electric have let NBC’s Keith Turner sell 93 percent of the network’s inventory, or would Viacom’s Mel Karmazin have permitted the sale of almost 90 percent of CBS’s inventory, if they had thought the…

TV news zooms in on Iraq

While President Bush is paving the way to a possible war on Iraq, television news organizations are already preparing to cover it.“We are starting to mobilize,” said ABC News President David Westin, echoing his counterparts at other network news organizations,…

Eisner’s fuzzy vision

Michael Eisner, the beleaguered chairman and chief executive of The Walt Disney Co., recently declared, “Maybe I’m crazy, but we don’t have a crisis.” Mr. Eisner is both right and wrong.Disney has warned it will miss another quarter of earnings…

NATAS makes the right call

On Tuesday, Sept. 10, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in New York City will present Roone Arledge with its first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award.We cannot think of a more worthy recipient of this prestigious honor.If Mr. Arledge had…

Nonprofit partners: Public service pays dividends

Cause-related marketing partnerships with nonprofit organizations are driving TV ad revenue upward in the Baltimore market.Fox News Corp.’s UPN affiliate, WUTB-TV, does three community projects each year. Just recently it launched “Collecting for Kids,” a back-to-school campaign with the Maryland…

Stations share lessons learned from 9/11

For stations coast to coast part of the aftermath of Sept. 11 has been to figure out how to change their news coverage to better serve viewers. For some that has meant increasing their international news coverage, while for others…