Conan Covers Staff Salaries Conan O’Brien is offering to pay 80 non-writing staff members of his show “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” for the foreseeable future, Daily Variety says. Mr. O’Brien joins David Letterman in opting to pay staff through…
In what looks like a watershed moment in negotiations between the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers and the Writers Guild of America, the producers offered a new-media plan that they claim will add $130 million in compensation for…
“Perplexing” is the word Comcast is using to characterize plans by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin J. Martin to schedule a December FCC vote that would reimpose an overturned cap on any one cable provider reaching more than 30% of…
HD programming picks for Nov. 29-Dec. 5: “Family Plot,” “The Closer,” “The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show” “Family Plot” (HDNet). Saturday, Dec. 1, 7:15 p.m.: Alfred Hitchcock’s final film, about a phony psychic and her cohort hired to find the lost…
Booking Continues, Even If Late-Night Shows Don’t Late-night shows might not be currently in production, but their celebrity bookers needs to be ready at a moment’s notice in case production resumes, Daily Variety reports. Late-night bookers are still trying to…
Crown Media Holding said it completed a renewal of its agreements with the nation’s largest cable operator, Comcast, to continue carriage of Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movie Channel. Hallmark’s carriage agreements with four of its largest distributors—Comcast, Time Warner Cable,…
Jane Root, who has helped lead the Discovery Channel to a comeback over the past year, is leaving. Discovery Communications named John Ford, who returned to the company earlier this year, to head its flagship channel. Discovery veteran Clark Bunting,…
In a major victory for the cable industry, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin J. Martin is pulling back on his proposal to impose new curbs on cable. Mr. Martin this morning told reporters that a forthcoming FCC video competition report…
VH1 plans to put celebrities through rehab in a new reality series. Dr. Drew Pinsky will host “Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew.” The eight-episode series, set to debut Jan. 10, will follow Brigitte Nielsen, Chyna, Daniel Baldwin, Jeff Conaway, Jessica…
Discovery Communications said it plans to change the name of its Discovery Times Channel to Investigation Discovery starting Jan. 27. Discovery Times was launched as a joint venture with the New York Times Co. in 2003. The joint venture was…