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In Depth

Mergers Make for Fewer Top TV Jobs

Heading into 2004, fewer top jobs are open in the television industry than have been in recent years.That’s due at least in part to consolidation, which continued to march through the industry in 2003, said one television business staffing expert.“There…

Success Story: Contest Hits Home for Holidays

More than 30,000 viewers entered the Hallmark Channel’s “Hollywood Holiday Sweepstakes” by phone during the first four weeks of the contest, which also benefited cable systems. Viewers were encouraged to watch Hallmark Channel programming on Sundays from Nov. 23 through…

Analyzing Murdoch’s Methods

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…

Disney Numbers Change With Accounting Rule

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…

No kidding

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…

CAPTURING THE HISTORY OF ‘SNL’

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,”…

How the Nets’ Big ‘Gets’ Stack Up

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 First: Reality Soap Opera

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,…

NATPE 2004: Finding Its Rhythm

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 Comes Out on Top

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….