Frances Fragos Townsend is joining CNN as an on-air contributor providing analysis on national security issues, TVNewser.com reports. Townsend recently stepped down as President George W. Bush’s chief anti-terrorism and homeland security adviser. She remains a member of President Bush’s…
Fine Living Network has added four original series to its lineup, Multichannel News reports. The design competition show “From the Ground Up,” featuring Canadian designer Debbie Travis, will premiere June 1, followed by eco-series “It’s Easy Being Green” on June…
Ion Media Networks signed a deal with satcaster SES Americom’s IP-Prime to distribute its suite of programming, Multichannel News reports. IP-PRIME will carry Ion Television Network, children’s network qubo and Ion Life, the newspaper says. —Vlada Gelman
The 21st season of MTV’s “The Real World” will be set in Brooklyn, the New York Observer reports. MTV also is expanding the series into 13 one-hour episodes to air in early 2009, the newspaper says. —Vlada Gelman
Interim Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir will star in Spike TV’s “The Ultimate Fighter,” Multichannel News reports. The two champions will also square off in the ring for a UFC…
Starz Entertainment will launch Encore HD this July, the fifth high-definition channel in its roster. Programming for the subscription movie channel is set to include HD versions of the films “Cars,” “Click,” “The Guardian” and “Talladega Nights: The Legend of…
A study conducted by advertising agency Prime Access and San Francisco-based media company PlanetOut found that Bravo, Showtime and HBO are the most gay-friendly networks, Broadcasting & Cable reports. Bravo placed first among the 5,000 people surveyed, which constituted a…
ESPN talked about its plans to expand its “SportsCenter” franchise into daytime at its upfront presentation to advertisers Tuesday. The sports network also plans new shows in daytime and late night, and several original programs produced for its Web site,…
HBO became the first programmer to secure flexible pricing on Apple’s iTunes store, in a deal that was officially announced today. The Apple-HBO deal, which had been speculated about for months, calls for HBO to provide its top-rated series to…
Apple agreed to sell some HBO episodes on its iTunes service for more than the standard $1.99 price, though specifics on the price and shows weren’t disclosed, Daily Variety reports. HBO’s “Sex and the City” and “The Sopranos” will begin…