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In Depth

Sen. Obama Warns TV to Clean Up or Congress Will Act

If the industry doesn’t take significant steps to make it easier for parents to control what their children view on television, Congress will step in and legislate. That was a warning shot fired by Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., in a…

Discovery Communications Posts Higher Operating Profit

Discovery Holding, releasing its first set of earnings figures since being spun off from John Malone’s Liberty Media in July, reported Wednesday that Discovery Communications’ third-quarter operating profit soared 28 percent to $166 million.Revenue at the company rose 15 percent…

Bundling Initiatives Help Narrow Mediacom Loss

Cable operator Mediacom Communications reported Wednesday a narrowed third-quarter loss of $2.7 million, compared with a year-earlier loss of $12.8 million, as the company’s bundling initiatives helped offset subscriber losses related to a spate of hurricanes in the Gulf Coast…

‘Drawn Together’ Gets Third Season

Comedy Central has ordered a third season of its animated reality parody “Drawn Together,” the network announced Wednesday.“‘Drawn Together’ has given us, along with ‘South Park,’ a solid hour of animated comedy and the creators continue to bring in creative,…

‘Alex,’ ‘Martha’ Grow; ‘Tyra’ Declines

Twentieth Television’s new court strip “Judge Alex” and NBC Universal’s debuting talk strip “Martha” were up for the week in households, while Warner Bros. first-season “The Tyra Banks Show” was down. “Alex” was up 16 percent for the week ended…

CBS Wins Week in Viewers, Adults 18-49

In a week that included the first four days of the November sweeps, CBS took the top spot in both total viewers and the adults 18 to 49 demographic. For the week ended Nov. 6, CBS’s Thursday night “CSI” was…

CBS Orders ‘Survivor’ for 2006-07

CBS has ordered two additional installments of its reality series “Survivor,” marking the 13th and 14th editions of the show. Both installments are slated for the 2006-07 season.The 11th edition of the franchise, “Survivor: Guatemala” has won its time period…

EchoStar Sub Growth Fattens Q3 Profit

EchoStar Communications reported Tuesday that its third-quarter profit more than doubled, as subscriber growth swelled during the period.The company reported net income of $209 million, compared with $102 million in the year-ago period. Revenue jumped 14 percent to $2.1 billion.The…

Top UPN Ad Exec Moves to Fox News

UPN’s top ad sales executive, Mike Mandelker, has been named VP of Eastern sales for Fox News Channel. Mr. Mandelker replaces Kevin Brown, who has left Fox News, and reports to Senior VP of Ad Sales Paul Rittenberg. He will…

Cablevision Loss Unchanged Despite Revenue Growth

Cablevision Systems reported Tuesday that its third-quarter loss was essentially unchanged at around $63 million, even as the cable company posted an 11 percent increase in revenue to $1.2 billion.The company said the revenue growth was fueled by gains at…