According to Washington insiders, News Corp.’s acquisition of DirecTV has been a slam-dunk from the start-at least for Republicans-because it didn’t present clear antitrust concerns and offered the possibility of beefing up the competitive threat that satellite TV presents to…
The Walt Disney Co. said it expects to include in its fiscal first-quarter numbers the financial results of its theme parks in France and Hong Kong as a result of a new accounting rule interpretation, and warned that the same…
Filling some legendary shoes is proving to be a daunting task as Nick at Nite tries to revive “Kids Say the Darndest Things.” It isn’t easy to replace hosts like Art Linkletter and Bill Cosby. “You need someone that is…
Charles Foster Kane thought “It would be fun to run a newspaper.” Did I think it would be fun to write a book? No, I’m not that naive. But the project sounded seductive: a 25-year history of “Saturday Night Live,”…
The following is a list of viewership figures for some of the network newsmags’ biggest “gets” this season, according to Nielsen Media Research:* Mike Wallace’s interview with Lawrence Taylor, airing some dirty linen from Mr. Taylor’s NFL days, on CBS’s…
Fox has found a reality promised land: Eden.The network has ordered 25 hour-long episodes of “Forever Eden,” a new reality series from the producers of its summer series “Paradise Hotel.” Fox plans initially to air the show once a week,…
Last week, in Part One of our annual syndication roundtable, TelevisionWeek’s panel of experts, who this year represent differing aspects of the syndie business, debated the erosion of the daytime audience, competition from cable and the impact of consolidation. The…
HBO dominated the Golden Globe television nominations last week with shows like “Sex In The City” and the miniseries “Angels In America,” but a handful of basic cable networks and some struggling broadcast shows might be the award’s biggest beneficiaries….
Ad buyers and sellers were buzzing last week about a nasty feud between newsletter editor and publisher Jack Meyers and Paul Rittenberg, Fox News head of network sales, that became very public. After the Jack Myers Report published some negative…
NBC and Vivendi Universal on Friday moved a step closer to completing their $14 billion merger of the broadcast network and the French conglomerate’s U.S. entertainment assets by receiving deal approval from the European Union Commission. The all-stock transaction, announced…