Turner Broadcasting has realigned its senior management with CEO Phil Kent putting David Levy in charge of distribution as well as advertising sales and sports. Former head of distribution Andrew Heller has been named vice chairman of TBS Inc., and…
FX has bought the television rights to “Star Trek,” Daily Variety reports. With the standard four-year movie licensing deal, FX may pay Paramount as much as $24 million for the film if it grosses $200 million domestically, the trade paper…
Dish Network lost 94,000 subscribers during the first quarter, although profit during the period rose 21%, the Wall Street Journal reports. The company has been hurt by the recession as it targets a lower-end of the customer base with a…
Cablevision Systems said it won’t sell its Madison Square Garden division or any other business, although a spinoff of MSG remains a possibility, the Wall Street Journal reports. In a spinoff, the Dolan family would keep control of MSG, although…
Anderson Cooper has been losing viewers this year, the Los Angeles Times reports. His show on CNN has an audience of 933,000 for May, the first time he’s dropped below 1 million since Aug. 2008, the publication says, citing Nielsen…
A&E has ordered a pilot of Jerry Bruckheimer’s “Cooler Kings,” Daily Variety reports. If the police procedural is picked up, the series would debut either in the spring or summer of 2010, the trade paper says. The pilot focuses on…
TBS has tapped Martin Short to host one of three comedy specials, which will start airing June 26, Daily Variety says. The shows will be taped during mid-June’s Very Funny festival, and the other two shows will be hosted by…
Singer Joss Stone will reprise her role in Showtime’s “The Tudors” for its last season, the Hollywood Reporter says. In the fourth season she’ll play Anne of Cleves, who was the fourth wife of Henry VIII and who managed to…
FremantleMedia North America has hired Tony Optican, the former Sci Fi Channel senior vice president of original programming, to run its scripted programming unit, Daily Variety says. He’ll report to the company’s chief creative officer Eugene Young, the trade paper…
The upcoming season premiere of “Jon & Kate Plus Eight” on TLC hasn’t been completed yet because producers are hoping to include some of the stars’ recently real-life drama into the show, the Los Angeles Times reports. Expectations for the…