Fox thinks there’s something fishy about NBC’s new season promotions. Members of Fox’s on-air promo department noticed what they consider striking similarities between their efforts last year and NBC’s this year, so they promptly cut a tape comparing one with…
The definitive merger agreement that General Electric’s NBC and French conglomerate Vivendi Universal are expected to sign this week, combining NBC’s broadcast and cable networks with Vivendi Universal Entertainment, is expected to create a show business behemoth with synergies that…
For the first time in a quarter of a century, the ad industry is planning to alter its basic model for measuring the effectiveness of advertising, including media buys. The changes ahead are likely to place an even greater responsibility…
With their new-season shows failing to live up to the ratings guarantees promised to advertisers in last spring’s $9.3 billion upfront market, the broadcast networks appear to be offering new guarantees to sell fourth-quarter commercial time in the scatter market,…
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent special session on the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act considered questions that will fundamentally affect the way political campaigns are funded throughout the nation. It also begged another question: Why wasn’t the session televised?Judicial proceedings in…
Fewer young viewers watched television during the broadcast networks’ premiere week than last year, and the Big 6 networks’ ratings likewise fell off-prompting some nets to question Nielsen’s data.Television usage was down 5 percent among adults 18 to 34, down…
About the time that media chief executives were extolling the virtues of their broadcast and cable networks at Goldman Sachs’ annual Communacopia conference Sept. 30, Bernstein Research released a compelling report on how on-demand personal video recorder technology will kill…
Nobody has to ask how closely Felix Schein, MSNBC’s reporter assigned to the presidential campaign of Howard Dean, is following his subject. For about two weeks, if you saw Mr. Dean, you saw Mr. Schein. He appeared twice during George…
Monday, Sept. 22, 2003-Sunday, Sept. 28, 2003TV Season Week No. 1In the first week of the new TV season NBC won the adults 18 to 49 title (5.1/14), powered by its Thursday lineup and the “Law & Order” franchise, while…
“This season, I’ve noticed a trend of series that target women viewers. I find this interesting because it shows an initiative to attract an alternative demography. I like to watch `The West Wing’ because it proves that a diverse cast…