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In Depth

A New Crop of Breakout Stars

The fact that cable-not broadcast-is quickly becoming the most fertile ground to nurture the careers of TV talent was never more evident than at the Emmy Awards telecast earlier this month.Three of the four top acting trophies went to performers…

NBA TV Signs First Three MSOs

NBA TV, a basketball-themed network owned and operated by the National Basketball Association, is expected to announce today that it has signed its first three cable operators to distribution deals. The network already has carriage deals with satellite operators DirecTV…

Speedy Series Sales

This year Major League Baseball celebrates the 100th anniversary of the World Series and marketers are buying into the 2003 fall classic on Fox faster and earlier than last year, according to the network and media buyers. The 2003 Series…

HBO: SEX, THE MOB AND RAY

“Sex and the City’s” Sarah Jessica Parker, with hubby Matthew Broderick, Kristin Davis and Kim Cattrall, made it to HBO’s post-awards bash at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, but Cynthia Nixon went home early, saying she wasn’t feeling…

Editorial: Improving the Emmys Process

This year there seems to be more grumbling than usual about a number of the recent Emmy winners. Some of the most notable grousing surrounded the supporting acting choices. Were Brad Garrett and Doris Roberts really Emmy-worthy again this year?…

HD Catching a Spark

If the burst of activity this month is an accurate barometer, then the promises made about high-definition television over the past several years may be fulfilled. In September alone iN Demand introduced two linear HD channels; EchoStar rolled out a…

Infomercials Take Soft-Sell Approach

You are watching the Discovery Channel one night and an episode of “Monster Garage” ends. You turn off the TV for the evening and fall asleep dreaming of hot cars, chrome and rumbling engines. The next morning, you turn on…

EMMYS BRING ON MENTAL ACID REFLUX

At the Governor’s Ball after the 55th Emmys, I congratulated producer Don Mischer and his team on this year’s show. As always, there were superb technical credits, loads of stars, a classy presentation and the show came in (almost) on…

A ROOM WITH A VIEW

Want to see the future of television? Well, check into the nearest hotel. Many in-room TVs now offer everything from video-on-demand to high-speed Internet to TiVo-like functions, such as rewind, fast-forward and even pause. During a recent stay at a…

‘Miami’ Fixes Its Mistakes

NBC’s “Good Morning, Miami” was last season’s No. 1-rated new sitcom in the advertiser-friendly adults 18 to 49 demographic that the network woos-yet its renewal was no no-brainer. While an average of 13 million viewers tuned in each week, TV…