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In Depth

Out & About

Sesame Workshop’s Gary Knell, left, and Elmo with New York City Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta.Adelphia’s Jean Akins, left, ESPN baseball expert Peter Gammons, former Red Sox manager Joe Morgan and Adelphia’s Todd Kuhn and John Bohn at a recent fund-raiser…

Haig’s `World Business’ causing public-TV firestorm

A business program hosted by former Secretary of State Alexander Haig that airs on some public television stations flagrantly violates the federal government’s ban on public stations running ads.That’s the conclusion of NPR’s “On the Media” radio show, which conducted…

Major Events

Sportel America 2002Miami, March 25-28. Info: www.sportelamerica.com. TVBNew York, March 26. Info: Janice Garjian, 212-486-1111, or www.tvb.org. NAB 2002Las Vegas, April 6-11. Info: 800-342-2460 or www.nab.org/ conventions.RTNDALas Vegas, April 8-10. Info: Rick Osmanski, 202-467-5200, or www.rtnda.org.Promax & BDA EuropeSeville, Spain,…

From the Louds to the louts

Where lies Lance Loud? The obits I read did not mention a final resting place for the restless young man who became one of the nation’s earliest so-called 15-minute celebrities and who died not too long ago at the age…

Syndication Ratings: Rookie strips climbing

The first week of sweeps saw audiences going out of their way to find off-network and relationship fare as rookies in both genres hit all-time highs, while veterans found their own best scores of the season, according to Nielsen Media…

Talent moves

Anthony LaPaglia has signed to play the lead character in Jerry Bruckheimer’s drama pilot for CBS, “Vanished,” which was written by Hank Steinberg. Mr. Bruckheimer will co-executive produce “Vanished” with Jonathan Littman. David Netter will direct. Mr. LaPaglia is repped…

`Friends’ double-run debate

As NBC contemplated renewing “Friends,” the network discussed the possibility of rebroadcasting each new episode next season in two different time periods within the same week.The reason: To try to build a new night of series hits, according to NBC…

The Insider

Next chapter: Jack Welch, promo starWhen CNBC announced that Jack Welch, best-selling author and ex-chairman of parent company General Electric Co., was going to become a recurring co-host on “Squawk Box,” it said Mr. Welch could appear once per fiscal…

NBC will win sweeps, but UPN sees big gains

While NBC is guaranteed the gold in February sweeps, UPN is closing in on the silver for year-to-year sweeps growth.Fox is still second-ranked in adults 18 to 49, thanks in large part to its ratings spike from Super Bowl XXXVI,…

Time running out for TV sports

Fox Broadcasting’s announced $909 million sports write-down is evidence the company grossly miscalculated the value of its sports fare to advertisers and viewers in the face of a dramatic sea change in TV sports economics.No one forecasted the magnitude of…