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In Depth

At Press Time

Simkins leaves ‘Angel’Los Angeles — David Simkins, who replaced David Greenwalt last May as show runner of The WB’s “Angel,” has departed the show over creative differences, a WB spokeswoman confirmed. “Angel” creator Joss Whedon, along with Tim Minear, will…

For whom production tolls: Small tollin/robbins outfit becoming a giant killer

Hollywood loves a rags-to-riches story. It’s Lana Turner being discovered at Schwab’s. It’s Tony Danza being noticed as he’s working out at a boxing gymnasium in New York. It’s Christie Brinkley getting tapped on the shoulder while she’s walking down…

Autocue system to rival iNews, ENPS

ENPS and iNews have become synonymous with newsroom production systems in much the same way that Kleenex is identified with tissue. But the two entrenched media players are now facing competition from an upstart. Autocue Systems of Charlotte, N.C., has…

He defined the game: Chick Hearn 1916-2002

We lost another of the Ironmen last week. In sports the term “Ironman” is usually associated with two men in particular: Lou Gehrig and Cal Ripen Jr. And the feat the term refers to is the long number of consecutive…

E! sells ‘Anna’ on cumed basis

“The Anna Nicole Show” debuted last week to stellar ratings and scathing reviews.But passing unnoticed among all the double-entendres, the speculation about star Anna Nicole Smith’s possible medication and the critical umbrage over her so-called exploitation was E! Entertainment’s adoption…

The ‘Monk’ model: Rethinking repurposing

In an effort to break out of its two-year ratings slump, ABC has joined with former cable nemeses USA Network and Home Box Office to mount new programming initiatives.On paper, it seemed simple enough: USA Network agreed to let ABC…

Fox weilding its duopoly power

When two stations in a market become a duopoly, is the little station doomed to get the short end of the deal? That’s the question cynics might ask in Minneapolis, where the current UPN affiliate KMSP-TV is swapping affiliations and…

FCC must make everyone share burden of DTV

The recent effort by FCC Chairman Michael Powell to speed up the digital revolution is a welcome sign from a Federal Communications Commission that has been content for the most part to take a hands-off approach to regulating the media…

Tech Briefs

AT&T introduces faster UltraLink AT&T Broadband introduced in late July a faster version of its high-speed service, UltraLink, to its customers in Dallas, Denver, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Seattle and St. Paul, Minn. The service boasts download rates twice…

FCC orders digital tuners in TVs by ’07

The Federal Communications Commission decided last week that broadcasters should not be the only ones to have to shoulder the burden of the transition to digital, but that it should be shared by TV set makers. The FCC last Thursday…