Business

‘Big Love’ Star Says Show Is ‘Awful’

"Big Love" star Chloe Sevigny, who plays Nicolette Grant on the HBO series, tells Entertainment Weekly’s Michael Ausiello that she called "Big Love" creators Will Scheffer and Mark V. Olsen to apologize for calling the program’s fourth season "awful" in…

Sinclair Signs ABC Affiliation Pact for 9 TV Stations–Concedes That Part of Deal Is a Pass Through To ABC of Some of Sinclair’s Retrans Monies

Sinclair Broadcast Group has signed a new affiliation agreement with ABC Network covering nine television stations, and as part of the deal Sinclair acknowledged that the agreement includes a license fee, based in part on retransmission consent revenue, MediaWeek reports. According…

DirecTV to Launch ESPN’s 3D Channel

DirecTV has become the fist distributor to announce that it will carry ESPN’s new 3D channel. According to the ESPN announcement, "ESPN 3D will showcase a minimum of 85 live sporting events during its first year, beginning June 11 with…

In Living Color: Fox Picks Up Jamie Foxx Pilot

Fox has picked up a pilot from the multi-talented Academy Award-winning actor Jamie Foxx. Foxx, well known for being on Fox’s popular early 1990s series "In Living Color" before moving on to his own self-titled show, has pitched Fox on…

‘Smallville’ Team Sues Warner Bros. TV

Miles Millar and Alfred Gough, who served as showrunners and executive producers of "Smallville" during its first seven seasons, have sued Warner Bros. TV for breach of contract, The Hollywood Reporter says. Tollin-Robbins Prods., which helped develop the show, is…

CNBC’s Bartiromo Ditches ‘Money Honey’ Trademark for Consumer Products

Maria Bartiromo has allowed the trademarks on her 1990s bull-market nickname "Money Honey" expire for several consumer trademarks, the New York Post reports. While Bartiromo had reportedly initially disliked the name, she filed in 2007 to trademark the term across…

Video: Letterman Tells Jamie Oliver Why Trying to Get Americans to Eat Better Will Never Work

DirecTV In Retrans Conflict with Midwest Stations; Could Affect March Madness at One Station

Citadel Communications is caught in a conflict with DirecTV over retransmission consent, reports B&C. Three Citadel stations, ABC affiliates WOI Des Moines, Iowa and KLKN Lincoln, Nebraska, and CBS affiliate WHBF Davenport, Iowa, will go dark at midnight March 31…

Nikki Finke Says She Was Offered $450,000 Annual Salary, Plus $1 Million Malibu Home, To Become Editor-in-Chief of The Hollywood Reporter

Nikke Finke, of Deadline Hollywood fame, says that in January she was offered an annual salary of $450,000 and a $1 million house in Malibu to become editor-in-chief of venerable trade publication The Hollywood Reporter. In a piece at dealine.com today…

Sports TV Pioneer Chet Simmons Dead at 81

Chester R. "Chet" Simmons, who was a pioneer in broadcast sports before becoming ESPN’s president when it launched in 1979, died Thursday in Atlanta, ESPN reports. He was 81. Simmons started in the business in 1957 at ABC Sports-precursor Sports…