‘The Other Half’ renewed
Los Angeles-NBC Enterprises renewed freshman talk show “The Other Half” for a sophomore go-round, clearing stations in nine of the top 10 markets, including WNBC-TV in New York and KNBC-TV in Los Angeles. The syndicator has now cleared 78 percent of the country, including stations from the Hearst-Argyle, Gannett, Belo, Emmis, LIN and Raycom station groups.
O’Hearn leaving CNN
New York-Katherine O’Hearn, the executive producer who launched “American Morning With Paula Zahn,” resigned Friday from CNN, saying she intends to spend the summer recovering from months of sleep deprivation. Until a permanent successor is named sometime this summer, CNN/U.S. network programming VP Bob Brienza and former “Greenfield at Large” executive producer Shelley Lewis will cover the top position on “American Morning.”
Advertising up in Q1
New York-Advertising for the first quarter of this year showed a 1.8 percent increase over the same period in 2001, according to figures released by Nielsen Monitor-Plus. The largest dollar increases were in the automotive category, which was up $170 million. The beer and motion picture categories saw the greatest percent increases-37 percent and 35 percent, respectively.
Powell mulls DTV rules
Washington-Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell last week said he would consider establishing rules to spur the digital TV transition, if the industry fails to comply with his recent call for voluntary cooperation on rollout issues. “We could go to an all-rule approach to this,” said Mr. Powell, in an interview. “I’d be happy to do that.” (See story, Page 6.)#