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In Depth

Disney Channel opens ad door after 19 years

To eke out new revenue, the ailing Walt Disney Co. is selling advertising time on the Disney Channel, which for 19 years was an ad-free oasis of kid’s cable.The shift is bound to affect the already depressed TV kids advertising…

Editorial: Deregulation’s dead-end path

If you think media consolidation has already gotten out of hand, wait till you see the next round of acquisitions. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington may have opened the floodgates last week when it scrapped the ban on…

Game Show’s `Whammy!’ updates `Press Your Luck’

Game Show Network has ordered 65 episodes of “Whammy!,” a new version of “Press Your Luck” that will debut in prime time on April 15.GSN also telecasts the original “Press Your Luck,” which earns an average 0.7 rating. The order…

Local Listings

Miami’s WTVJ launches 4 p.m. newscastNBC-owned WTVJ-TV, Miami, is scheduled Monday to launch the market’s only 4 p.m. newscast-a one-hour broadcast that will also be the market’s only news show anchored by three people: Jackie Nespral, Trina Robinson and Michael…

Karmazin primed to buy big-market affils

Viacom President and Chief Operating Officer Mel Karmazin says he’s just getting started on a deregulation-spurred buying binge.Topping his list are big-market TV and radio stations-preferably among the top four in any city-cable program services and a second major broadcast…

AOL TW not talking about downgrade

Investors didn’t argue last week with the logic of veteran Lehman Brothers analyst Holly Becker, who has downgraded her rating on AOL Time Warner, warning of negative to marginal growth of its Internet service.And AOL Time Warner executives didn’t even…

Late News

Time Warner says YESNew York-Time Warner Cable will carry the Yankee Entertainment and Sports Network (YES) on all its cable systems in New York state and New Jersey. The deal, which was announced Friday, goes into effect next month. Time…

Tech Briefs

Video-on-demand appeal rises as age fallsCable operators should focus their pitch for video-on-demand on those viewers most likely to order the service-male teens and women 18 to 34, according to the Yankee Group.The technology research and consulting firm’s Digital Home…

Let the buying of TV stations begin

The media mergers and acquisitions sure to be spawned by imminent ownership deregulation has even heavily in debt players sprinting toward a new finish line.Last week’s liberating U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that lifts restrictions against same-market TV, cable and…

WHO IS NEWS

BroadcastingTerry Ferber to traffic manager, WBZL-TV, Miami-Fort Lauderdale, from assistant traffic manager. Also, Lauren Levius to account executive, from sales account executive, Harrington, Righter & Parsons, New York.Rick Henry to president and general manager, WTAE-TV, Pittsburgh, from president and general…