Renato Basile and Michael Seligman have been tapped to produce the Aug. 27 telecast of the 58th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, while Danette Herman is returning to the awards as coordinating producer and executive in charge of talent. Executive producers Ken Ehrlich and Jeff Ross made the announcement last Wednesday. Mr. Basile has worked for Ken Ehrlich Productions since 1988 as producer, associate producer and executive in charge of production. Mr. Seligman has been a producer or supervising producer for the Emmy Awards for 17 years and Ms. Herman has worked on the Emmy Awards telecasts for 18 years. This year’s prime-time Emmycast will be hosted by Conan O’Brien and is being produced by NBC Universal Television Studio. Louis J. Horvitz is directing.

-Christopher Lisotta



Tribune Clears ‘Family Guy’ for Fall 2007 Launch

Twentieth Television has cleared the animated sitcom “Family Guy” on the Tribune Broadcasting station group for a fall 2007 launch in off-network syndication. The series, which profiles the life of the working-class New England family the Griffins, will run in 20 Tribune markets representing 37 percent of the U.S. The Tribune stations set to run “Family Guy” in syndication include WPIX-TV in New York, KTLA-TV in Los Angeles, WGN-TV in Chicago, WPHL-TV in Philadelphia, WLVI-TV in Boston, KDAF-TV in Dallas, WDCW-TV in Washington, KHCW-TV in Houston, KCPQ-TV and KTWB-TV Seattle and WBZL-TV in Miami.

-Christopher Lisotta



Google Video to Offer Sundance Channel Fare

The Sundance Channel will make 18 feature films and three series available for sale or rent on Google Video. Google will charge $3.99 for a 24-hour pass or $9.99 for outright purchase of feature films. For series, Google will charge $2.99 to $3.99 per episode. Google, the world’s biggest Web search company, is expanding its video offerings to compete with free viral video sites and Apple Computer’s iTunes store, the most-used audio and video download service.

-James Hibberd



Granite Secures Credit; Bankruptcy Still Possible

Granite Broadcasting Corp. has arranged $70 million in credit on two secured loans that mature Dec. 1, 2006, the company announced last week. While the new financing does not remove the possibility the company will have to file for bankruptcy protection, Granite said the new infusion of financing would, under the right conditions, allow it to proceed with the previously announced acquisition of WBNG-TV, the CBS affiliate in the Binghamton-Elmira, N.Y., market. The announcement said one loan was to be used last Wednesday to pay some $19.7 million in interest on $405 million in secured notes that was due June 30. Granite still had not completed the sales of WB-affiliated KBWB-TV in San Francisco and WDWB-TV, the announcement said without indicating why.

-Michele Greppi



Minority Journalists See Small Gains at Stations

Local television stations are making progress in hiring minorities in their newsrooms, according to a survey released last Thursday by the Radio-Television News Directors Association. According to the survey, conducted with Ball State University, minorities accounted for 22 percent of local TV journalists in 2005, up from 21 percent in 2004. Minorities are rising in the highest ranks too, the survey found. About 13 percent of news directors are minorities, up from 12 percent in 2004. In addition, the percentage of women news directors jumped to 25.2 percent in 2005, up from 21 percent in 2004.

-Daisy Whitney