NBC, which desperately needs a hit, apparently let one slip through its hands, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. The story reports: “NBC passed on current cultural favorite ‘Downton Abbey,’ produced by NBCUniversal’s Carnival Films studio in London, believing that American audiences…
Predicting a "great fight" with traditional media companies, billionaire Barry Diller said he plans to expand his new Aereo Web-based television service to 75 to 100 cities within a year, reports Bloomberg. Aereo, which costs $12 per month and allows…
CNN is in advanced talks to buy a social news site, according to sources familiar with the talks, The New York Times reports. The site is Mashable. The story reports: “Mashable, which specializes in stories about technology and social media,…
CBS and Fox battled to a tie Thursday night in the coveted 18-49 demo, as CBS’s “Big Bang Theory” continued to beat Fox’s “American Idol” at 8 p.m., TVbytheNumbers.com reports, citing Nielsen overnights. Both networks averaged 3.6 ratings in 18-49…
The race for viewers among morning shows on the broadcast networks is getting tighter, according to the New York Post. ABC’s "Good Morning America" is closing the gap on NBC’s "Today," the perennial leader, the story reports, noting that the…
NBC apparently wants to keep Matt Lauer on the network’s successful morning show. The network hasn’t made an official announcement yet, but Newsday reports that NBC and Lauer are closing in on a multiyear deal that will keep the “Today”…
Ford and NBC have formed an unusual partnership in which Ford is creating its own programming to run on the network to help launch the car company’s new Escape, Advertising Age reports. The program is a six-episode reality show, “Escape…
The latest controversy over a new prime-time show that has been controversial from the outset surrounds why a major marketer pulled its ads from the show. TMZ.com broke the story that Kraft had pulled advertising for its Philadelphia Cream Cheese…
Steven Spielberg’s dinosaur drama "Terra Nova" might not be history after all, even though Fox canceled it this week, Deadline.com reports. Netflix is talking with 20th Century Fox about saving the drama from extinction, according to the report. The talks…
"Mad Men" creator Matthew Weiner tells The New York Times that he quit during negotiations with AMC over a fifth season for the period drama. "I quit. I had come to terms with the fact that it was over. And…