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After Martha Stewart Ratings Woes, Hallmark Forces out Key Programming Executive

UPDATE 2:40 pm, PT, Oct. 11, 2010. Fixed typo on "joined" After receiving anemic ratings with Hallmark Channel’s reinvention using programming from lifestyle maven Martha Stewart, the company has forced out a key programming executive who joined just four months…

Can’t Make Money When Consumers Zip Through Ads? TiVo Has a Pitch for That

TiVo is finding a way to make money from many consumers’ habit of zipping through television ads, reports Claire Atkinson in the New York Post.  The company is offering to tell advertisers which of their TV ads are the worst…

Journalist Who Was Held in North Korea Will Restart TV Career at E!

One of the two journalists who was detained in North Korea during 2009 will restart her television career at E!, the entertainment channel, after taking time off following her departure from Current TV last fall, reports the New York Times’…

With Fights Over Fees, TV Blackouts Have Risen to Highest Level in a Decade

Fights over fees have led to five television blackouts this year, the most since 2000, reports Bloomberg News, pointing to pay-television operators resisting paying more to content providers as the reason.  About 19 million pay-TV customers have been affected this…

Despite Investigation by State of Utah, Star of ‘Sister Wives’ Marries Fourth Wife

Despite an investigation by the state of Utah for felony bigamy, the husband featured on reality show "Sister Wives" has married a fourth wife, reports TMZ.com.  The story says that Kody Brown has 21 mouths to feed after marrying Robyn…

A Former Executive Producer of ‘Today’ Show and ‘Nightly News with Tom Brokaw’ in Talks to Produce Piers Morgan’s CNN Show

A former executive producer of  ‘Today’ show and ‘Nightly News with Tom Brokaw’ is in discussions to become the executive producer of Piers Morgan’s new CNN talk show, reports B&C.  Itt’s Jonathan Wald, whose most recent postion at NBCU was at CNBC during the…

ABC Family Orders More ‘Melissa & Joey,’ Greenlights Four Pilots

"Melissa & Joey" has been given a backorder, bringing the series episode total to 30, from ABC Family, which has also greenlit four pilots, reports B&C.  The pickups come after the network canceled the new drama "Huge," the story points…

October NewsPro: Environmental Journalism

An astonishing number of breaking stories so far in 2010 have been about the environment. TV viewers and newspaper readers were bombarded by dramatic pictures and accounts of the environment run amok, from the coal ash spill in West Virginia;…

Universal Pulls Vince Vaughn Movie Trailer After Anderson Cooper Blasts Its Use of the Word ‘Gay’

Universal Studios has pulled a trailer for Vince Vaughn’s new comedy “The Dilemma” out of theaters after CNN’s Anderson Cooper criticized the clip for its negative use of the word "gay," E! Online reported. The studio said in a statement:…

Another ‘Two and a Half Men’ Star Inks a Big-Bucks Contract

While most of the attention has been focused on how much Charlie Sheen made when he renegotiated his deal for two more years of CBS’s "Two and a Half Men," another cast member stands to collect a hefty sum as…