Posted Friday, Oct. 18 Moody’s downgrades Disney Moody’s Investors Service dealt The Walt Disney Co. another blow Friday, downgrading its senior unsecured debt to a Baa1 from an A3 and downgrading ratings for its subsidiaries based on factors including the…
Posted Thursday, Oct. 17. Legislation would force broadcasters to underwrite political ads A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers led by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., introduced legislation Wednesday that would require broadcasters to pay spectrum fees to help underwrite advertising for national…
Posted Wednesday, Oct. 16 Election coverage M.I.A. More than half of the newscasts on major-market local TV stations haven’t included stories on the elections this year. At least that was one of the key findings in a study released today…
Posted Tuesday, Oct. 15 ABC reups ‘NYPD,’ WB extends ‘Family Affair,’ ‘What I Like About You,’ ‘Greetings,’ ‘Do Over’ ABC has confirmed that is has renewed “NYPD Blue” for 2003-04, which will be the Steven Bochco cop drama’s 11th season….
Fox Broadcasting Co. is pricing an integrated marketing package at $26 million for the sophomore season of “American Idol,” the highest for any reality show.The previous record was held by “Survivor,” which asked as many as nine sponsors to pony…
Digital cable network Fine Living is poised to announce a deal that will put a two-hour daily afternoon block of its programming on local-community broadcast stations in some of the United States’ top vacation resort markets.The advertising-supported broadcast block is…
Liberate Technologies last week announced plans for an on-demand music channel and detailed its new technical direction in the wake of its recent Sigma Systems acquisition.The company has partnered with Signatures Network to create on-demand music programming for digital networks….
ABC, CBS and NBC made a big mistake last week not broadcasting President Bush’s speech about the possibility that the United States will go to war against Iraq.On Monday evening, Oct. 7, Mr. Bush delivered a scheduled speech at the…
Banfield canceledNew York-In changes announced Friday, MSNBC has canceled “Ashleigh Banfield on Location” effective immediately and named “Dateline NBC” executive producer Marc Rosenwasser to temporarily supervise the news channel’s 7 p.m.-to-11 p.m. prime-time programming. Also, Phil Griffin will become VP…
Barbara “Bo” ArgentinoExecutive vice president, advertising sales, Sony Pictures TelevisionAlthough she keeps a relatively low profile compared with other women of power in the TV industry, “Bo” Argentino gets a lot done behind the scenes. She is responsible for sales…