They just never learn. Less than a year after a CBS-owned station in Pittsburgh sparked a big brouhaha by using the so-called Time Machine to compress programming and add local spots, another station, Meredith-owned NBC affiliate WSMV-TV in Nashville, is…
Was that an olive branch or a cactus that National Cable & Telecommunications Association President and CEO Robert Sachs was waving last week?That’s the question TV station owners were pondering after Mr. Sachs appeared to indicate a willingness to discuss…
One can’t really call “The Osbournes” a sitcom. It is, after all, unscripted. It’s not quite a reality show, either, because it’s sometimes edited like a sitcom. What the show is, though, is a hit, MTV’s biggest so far. Built…
Posted Friday, Oct. 25 MSNBC axes ‘Curtis & Kuby’: MSNBC has canceled “Curtis & Kuby,” the 4-month-old afternoon show featuring Guardian Angel Curtis Sliwa and defense lawyer Ron Kuby. It had averaged 220,000 viewers and only 125,000 in the preferred…
Posted Thursday, Oct. 24 Sniper coverage registers ratings record The stunning turn of events in the Washington sniper case Wednesday night helped the all-news networks, which already were registering ratings boosts due to interest in the dramatic story, soar to…
Posted Wednesday, Oct 23 ‘Jenny Jones’ ruling overturned The Michigan Court of Appeals this morning overturned the $29 million judgment entered against “The Jenny Jones Show” in 1999 stemming from the murder of a former guest, Scott Amedure, by another…
Posted Tuesday, Oct 22 Powell predicts DTV transition speeding up Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell told broadcasters in Washington today that the transition to digital television will “begin to accelerate exponentially in the next year or so.” Many industry…
WSMV-TV in Nashville, owned by Meredith Corp., is under investigation by NBC for allegedly using a Time Machine to add commercial inventory during prime time. A Time Machine can eliminate duplicative frames in a TV signal’s picture so commercials can…
Interactive TV company Buzztime Entertainment said 42 percent of digital cable customers on Susquehana Communications’ York, Pa., system tuned into and played on its trivia channel during the first three months of its trial run. The operator’s churn rates in…
With a decade of sexual predators, mismatched lovers, on-air confessions and a pair of pregnancies now under her belt, Sony’s daytime staple “Ricki Lake” underwent a makeover in the off-season. Executives, producers and the talk show host herself are touting…