PTC settles wrestling lawsuit The head of the Parents Television Council, a media watchdog group that opposes sex, violence and so-called “coarse language” on television, has published a personal letter of apology on the organization’s Web site as part of…
It’s always been easy to underestimate Buffy. Particularly if you’re a normal adult. I am nowhere near the right demographic for “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” and indeed, through the first five years of the show, I managed to see exactly…
John Rigas, shame on you.Mr. Rigas is the erstwhile chairman and CEO of cable operator Adelphia Communications.Adelphia has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The cause: Mr. Rigas and his family used Adelphia, a publicly traded company, to guarantee billions of…
News items: Worldcom, Enron, Xerox, Adelphia and, of course, Martha “I’m not a Clone” Stewart. As the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said in an editorial last week, “Since the news of her December 2001 sale of 4,000 shares of ImClone stock-a day…
With teens and college students at home for the summer, the talk show genre was infused with a jolt of youthful eyes and as a result, younger-skewing series hit home runs. Meanwhile, typically older-skewing shows seemed to stumble, according to…
Earning respect has always been an uphill battle for the basic cable networks. But outstanding showings by FX’s “The Shield” and MTV’s “The Osbournes” in Electronic Media’s Spring/Summer 2002 Critics Poll suggest an end to the perception of cable networks…
What’s the matter with kids today? Not a thing.That’s the somewhat surprising message as this year’s drawn-out kids upfront market scrambles to an end.What began way back in March and April with the big sellers’ calls on the big agencies-amid…
Suspect nabbed after ‘Power, Privilege’ profileIt’s not yet “America’s Most Wanted,” but “Dominick Dunne’s Power, Privilege and Justice,” Court TV’s new series that recently premiered to high ratings, has already notched its first captured fugitive.Just two weeks after James Sullivan…
BroadcastingChris Neuman to director, broadcast operations and engineering, KTLA-TV, Los Angeles, from manager, engineering operations.John Hendricks to VP of sales, Tribune Broadcasting, from VP and general sales manager, WFLD-TV, Chicago.Brad Neuhoff to senior producer, KWGN-TV, Denver, from producer, KCOP-TV, Los…
Local broadcasters will be helped more in the long run by pending duopoly deregulation than by the trickle-down boost of the surprise-but not necessarily sustainable-national upfront advertising recovery.But whether there is a big payoff for local TV station owners from…