Last spring, I asked 100 TV executives to predict which new TV technology is most likely to succeed. The choices were high-definition TV, video-on-demand, interactive TV and the digital video recorder. By a 2-1 margin, the TV insiders picked the…
Court TV next month will roll out a new prime-time Saturday lineup the cable channel hopes will attract younger audiences and comply with advertisers’ request that programming get closer to viewers.On Sept. 6 the network will introduce the “Saturday Night…
Watchdog group representatives last week said they will urge lawmakers to make sure that legislation to roll back the national TV ownership cap requires CBS and Fox, which are over the cap, to divest stations to comply with the limitation.As…
A wise man once said, “Man cannot live by bread alone.” In our world, a good media plan cannot live on 100 GRPs/week of network day and prime alone. That may be where most of the money is, and indeed…
Eight years into James Dolan’s tenure as CEO of Cablevision Systems, he faces many challenges. The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating improper accounting of expenses involving 14 former employee (the one subject Mr. Dolan would not discuss, on advice…
Family Television Awards Honor ‘American Dreams,’ ‘8 Simple Rules’ NBC’s “American Dreams” and ABC’s “8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter” won best drama and comedy, respectively, at the Fifth Annual Family Television Awards, held Thursday night in Beverly…
NBC Orders ‘Come to Papa’ NBC has ordered six episodes of the sitcom “Come to Papa” for midseason. “Papa” stars comedian Tom Papa and is based on his stand-up routine. Mr. Papa plays an aspiring writer in New Jersey who…
Moran Joins 20th Century Fox Patrick Moran joined 20th Century Fox Television as VP of drama development. He comes to 20th from UPN, where he developed series such as “Platinum” and “Jake 2.0” as VP of drama development. At 20th,…
Heaton Sick Calls Delay ‘Raymond’ Taping The start of production for CBS’s “Everybody Loves Raymond” was delayed at least another day after Patricia Heaton called in sick today for the second day in a row, a CBS spokesman confirmed. A…
With the Kobe Bryant sexual assault case heating up this month in the tiny Colorado town of Eagle, attention is again focused on how the men and women of TV news go about their business. And in many cases the…